With the assistance of clergy, servers, singers, and devoted laity, our 2nd Annual O Tide tour around Southern California was a great success. Thank you to everyone who provided help, and we hope to be invited back to your parishes soon! Hopefully we'll even be able to sing Vespers for all 7 days!
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| Preparation before St. Thomas Vespers at St. Anne's |
Our first service in Murrieta was officiated by Holy Martyrs' visiting Norbertine Father from St. Michael's Abbey, Fr. William Fitzgerald, who makes great sacrifices to provide the faithful with sacraments and catechesis in his old age. We left our home base in Murrieta the next day to have Vespers in Victorville, taking with us various supplies for the road and for the night's service, including stools, vestments, binders, mangos, bread, and even a member of Chorus Breviarii San Diego. Despite it being a Sunday evening, we still faced plenty of traffic heading north. The snow-capped peaks of San Gorgonio and San Jacinto towering over the Inland Empire gave us a peak at the bitter cold we were about the experience heading into the desert!
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| Snow-capped peaks in the distance! |
St. Joan of Arc in Victorville is located along the southern bank of a section of the Mojave River that crosses perpendicular to Interstate 15, and it was likely this river that served as a massive heat sink, rendering the surrounding desert air extremely cold. We thankfully made it into the parish sacristy, where we were able to arrange the necessary supplies for Vespers with the help of two altar boys from the parish. Some of the parishioners provided us with goodie bags filled with posada treats while we were getting ready, asking if we were seminarians or clergy. The pastor of St. Joan of Arc, Fr. Hyacinth, was very helpful in arranging what was necessary, and though we lacked a violet cope, we carried on with what we had, reminded of the scarcity of appropriately-colored vestments in many medieval parishes. After Vespers, we dined at a local restaurant at the recommendation of one of our members, Vincent-Valentine, who ended up being our de facto meal coordinator!
Monday evening rush hour traffic delays and other slowdowns didn't interfere at all with our timely arrival at our next event: Monday Evensong at the century-old Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Chino. There, we were introduced to one of the parish acolytes, a young man drawn by beautiful Church liturgies who helped us navigate the sacristy and who we would certainly love to have sing and serve with us more often. Another acolyte from Holy Martyrs also assisted us, and as we had no priest available to celebrate with us, we selected one amongst ourselves to be the lay hebdomadary. Like the night before, the weather was quite chilly, making the mere action of going out to dinner a bit of penance, as some of us were stuck choosing between bitter cold or the air fryer-like car heater. Dinner was spent at another restaurant selected by Vincent-Valentine, where our members frequently amused themselves by sharing comically-edited photos of each other.
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| Cesar with John Polhamus of the Brothers |
After our break on Tuesday, about a dozen of us drove down to San Diego on Wednesday evening for the apex of our liturgical tour, that being 2nd Vespers of St. Thomas the Apostle at St. Anne Catholic Church. Other than some initial rush hour traffic while getting onto the freeway, our drive to San Diego was relatively quick, and we were quickly welcomed by our San Diego brethren to join in practicing small pieces of music for the imminent service. Our large numbers combined with the presence of Christmas decorations in the sanctuary prevented all of us from being seated on liturgical stools in the normal manner, so most of us sat in the first two pews of the nave. Following the service, we gathered in the parish courtyard and enjoyed an assortments of cheeses and drinks, including delicious limburger and festive eggnog!
Our last day at the old Guasti church was one of the most hectic, and Friday traffic and last-minute schedule adjustments put us under immense pressure. By the grace of God, we were able to pull through in this celebration of Vespers, and what our member Jake describes as "a gift back to the traditionally-minded community" was complete. God-willing, we hope to be able to include all seven days of O Tide in next Advent's tour, even churches like the distant Sacred Heart in Palm Desert, or St. Mary's in Escondido. We encourage our readers to also check the photos from the Brothers in San Diego at the link HERE.
Happy New Year and blessed Epiphany from Chorus Breviarii Murrieta!
Courtesy: Cesar, Jake, Judith
