Today I had several errands to run in the City and I decided to incorporate Sunday Mass into the list of things to do in that part of town. I went to Latin Mass at St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Mission and 4th Street.
If you have never been to Latin Mass I highly recommend doing it at least once. Most of the Mass is chanted in Latin.
St. Patrick's is San Francisco's Historic Landmark # 4 and was founded in 1851.
The pastor, whom channels the image and personality of Star Trek's George Takai clearly relishes this Mass! This is my second time attending and both times he has started the Mass by asking how many people are visiting St. Patrick's. It quickly becomes clear that St. Patrick's is a tourist destination because very few people appear to be actual parishioners.
And now the Pastor's show begins!
Until now, I always thought incense was only used on Holy Days and for very special funerals. But during Latin mass the incense is brought out every few minutes.
The Pastor also kept asking if the people in attendance over the age of 50 could remember the Latin prayers from pre-1965 when the Mass was only said in that language.
The Latin Mass is a little bit longer than the English Mass but very much worth it.
The Song Of The Day - Kyrie by Mr. Mister
Yes, I remember the latin responses and could probably still be an altar server. In the pre '65 era the altar server had to know all the latin responses, there was no interaction by the congregation.
ReplyDeleteDad
I thought you heard Mister Mister on the radio and were going to announce that they were getting back together, again...oh well.
ReplyDeleteWe just went to a Greek Funeral and the entire mass was sung (in Greek) but they burned incense every 5 minutes. Oh the memories of being an altar server.
Brian
The altar server was saying all the responses in latin! I was impressed. That all while managing all that incense. =)
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