Alexandria With Alexandra

Continuing with our dual perspectives of the evening we present Week 12 of Roamin' Catholics: Body and Soul...

HERS:
This week's Roamin' Catholics was truly a delightful experience; I don't think it was due to the church we attended or the restaurant where we dined, but it was because of our special guest... but more about her later... the blog title might be a bit of a give away.

Our church selection was based on our guest. She lives in Virginia, so we knew that we would be crossing state lines from Maryland into Virginia this week. Is it embarrassing to admit we chose the church based on our restaurant selection? It is what it is, as they say. Lou suggested that we eat at an Italian Restaurant in Alexandria, VA named Landini Brothers that he has frequented for work on many occasions. With our dinner destination chosen, I quickly got to work to find a nearby church and landed squarely on The Basilica of St. Mary's a few blocks away from the restaurant. There were plenty of churches in Alexandria, but I reasoned, why go to a regular church when we can go to a basilica?

And this is when I have to admit that even after seventeen years of Catholic schooling, I had no idea what a basilica was. So naturally, I do what everyone does these days and Googled "Basilica". The word "basilica" is a Greek word meaning "royal house". In Catholic terms, a basilica is a church that has been designated to receive special privileges by the Pope. There are four major basilicas in the world, all in Rome. There are also 1,580 minor, or lesser basilicas throughout the world, with 69 of them in the United States. Minor basilicas are designated based upon their  architectural and artistic character, historical value, dignity, significance or ancient past. There are three items that all minor basilicas share: a silk canopy in traditional papal colors (red and yellow), a processional bell, and the papal symbol, crossed keys that can be displayed in the church. Because this was the start of Holy Week, the canopy was shrouded in purple cloth, the bells were not used, and I did not see the crossed keys. St. Mary's became a basilica in January of this year. The seal of St. Mary's Basilica is shown below. The canopy and keys are part of the seal.

Click HERE to learn about the other parts of the seal and what they represent.

Pardon me for the history lesson, I usually leave those to Lou, and he is more than willing to oblige, but I learned something new and had to share. Since I am certain he will discuss the history of the church and Church, I will just say that congruous to the age and history of this church, I would describe the nature of the mass with two words... OLD SCHOOL. 

Here are my personal reasons for this designation:

• The parish was founded in 1795

• The crucifix and statues in the church were shrouded in purple fabric for Holy Week. I can remember this being done at my childhood parish, St. Patrick's church. The purpose of this practice is to heighten our awareness and create a longing for Easter Sunday and Christ's resurrection. 

• The change in the priest's vestments during the mass. I believe I have seen this done when I was young. I'll admit that I didn't know why this was done, so I educated myself. The priest processes down the aisle and blesses the palms wearing what is called a cope, or cape. Traditionally, this cope is worn during solemn celebrations outside the mass. When mass has begun, the priest changes into the chasuble, or the outermost vestment worn during mass.

Cope

Chasuble

• The use of the Communion-plate. This is the round metal "plate" with a handle that the altar servers hold under the hands (when receiving communion in the hand) or face (when receiving Communion by mouth) to "catch" the Communion wafer if it should happen to fall by accident. I remember this being done when I was young, but the practice seemed to dissolve after Communion began being received by hand.

• Militant altar servers, I say partially in jest. I have noticed that the actions of the altar servers often show the strictness of the church. The altar servers at St. Mary's Basilica were extremely well-trained as observed by the way they presented the water and wine to the priest - with left hand on their heart. Also, the ringing of the bell at the consecration was done with precision timing and melody. Prior to Communion they held the Communion-plate in the same fashion with military precision. There was a lead altar server as observed by the red of his cassock (ankle length robe). The other servers wore black.

• Finally, there is one thing that I have never witnessed in the Catholic Church in my 51 years, and if we weren't sitting at the very front of the church, I would probably have gone my entire life without seeing. At Communion time, there were two occasions where the parishioners did not hold out their hands properly to receive the Body of Christ. In the first instance, the priest repeatedly told the recipient to hold out his hands properly and in the second instance the priest showed the recipient how to hold out his hands to receive the Body of Christ. I'm on the fence with this one. There is a fine line between someone showing respect for the Body of Christ and between the priest showing respect for the congregation.

The homily consisted mostly of a rundown of the happenings at the church during Holy Week. But, there were a few highlights that have me pondering. Fr. Hathaway talked about the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ and commented that all three had to be present. If there was no Resurrection, than what is the basis of our religion? He very briefly related that to our lives. I think he was saying that if our lives were about suffering and death without the promise of Heaven, then why are we here? He had the basis of an inspiring homily, but alas, the priority was about informing the congregation about the upcoming Holy Week!

So, about our special guest this week... our eldest niece, Alexandra joined us for this week's Roamin' Catholics. It was truly special to have her with us. The three of us moved on to dinner at Landini Brothers Italian Restaurant, also in Alexandria.

I joked with Alexandra a week prior that we would be naming our blog this week, "Alexandria With Alexandra". So just a little bit about our niece. Alexandra is on the precipice of beginning her career as a Hospitalist in Harrisburg, PA. She has worked tirelessly over the past several years to become a Physician's Assistant. I think the word amazing is very overused these days, but I would describe Alexandra as an amazing individual. We have watched her grow from a rambunctious toddler, to a somewhat awkward tween (sorry, Alexandra), to a strong-willed yet loveable teen, to an ambitious college student up to present-day... amazing woman. Alexandra is a beautiful soul, both inside and out.  Over the past several years, she has deepened her roots (family and values) and grown wings (becoming her independent self) and she made a few comments over the course of dinner that inspired me to look at some things in a different light. I am confident that she will take Harrisburg on by storm and inspire others.

Our conversation with Alexandra over dinner covered so many different topics: her impending career, her recent trip to Italy, Greece and France, family, the mass, food and wine, and many more. The food was delicious, but the company fed my mind and spirit. This has been one of my favorite weeks so far!

HIS:

This week’s visit brings us to a new church, a new Diocese and a new guest.  We were joined by our niece, Alexandra (our favorite oldest Walsh niece) and visited the Arlington (VA) Diocese and the Basilica of St Mary, located in Alexandria, VA.  The Basilica of St. Mary’s, recently designated as a Basilica, has a rich and deep history.  Originally founded in 1795, it was the first Catholic church in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which included the territory of West Virginia at the time.  Part of the funding at the founding of the parish came from our first president, George Washington, an Alexandria resident.  The parish was established as the church of St Mary only eight years after the founding of Georgetown College by the president of what would later become known as Georgetown University.  Father Francis Ignatius Neale, SJ was also the pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown.  A parish we visited in week four of our journey feeding both our soul and body.  St Mary’s church was administered by a succession of Jesuit priests.  Today, however, the parish is administered by a Sulpician, Very Reverend Edward Hathaway.  A member of the Society of St Sulpice.  The order was founded in 1641 in France and first came to the United States in 1791 in Baltimore, MD.  Sulpicians dedicate themselves to helping bishops by providing seminary education and ongoing formation for seminarians and priests.  This would explain a little about this week’s celebrant and Rector of the Basilica of St. Mary.

This week is Palm Sunday, the beginning of holy week leading up to Easter Sunday and the celebration of the resurrection of Christ.  The holiest week of the church’s year.  Holy Thursday marks the end of Lent as well.  Holy Thursday is the beginning of the shortest liturgical season on the church calendar, Holy Triduum.  Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ triumphant return to Jerusalem where palms were waved and thrown down in his path as he rode in on an ass.  This week is also one of the longer masses during the year as we read The Passion.  The story depicting the crucifixion of Christ.  Each of the four gospels recounts the story.  This year we heard the Gospel according to Mark.  As I contemplated on the story of the crucifixion I couldn’t help but think that its lessons can easily be applied to our world today.  The Gospels tell us of this “radical” who is trying to change the way the world thinks.  Shaking up the establishment.  In the process, threatening the control that the establishment has on society.  Seeking to rid themselves of this nuisance, they rile up the crowd to force the authorities to “handle” this rabble-rouser.  In fulfilment of the scriptures, Christ is crucified and only then do they see that he is truly the Son of God.  I’ve seen this movie far too many times….

Not much of a homily this week due to the length of the reading of the Passion.  Father Hathaway seemed to give more a schedule of things to come during holy week.  He laid out what happens on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Saturday vigil leading up to Easter and the resurrection of Christ.  I did learn that the reason the Saturday vigil does not start until after sundown is that is when the Sabbath begins, as is the Jewish tradition (their Sabbath beginning at sundown on Friday.)  Having said that, this would lead me to believe the Church is using a little liturgical license the rest of the year with Saturday vigil masses as early as 2:00.  Unless we live up in the northern reaches, I don’t think the sun ever sets that early!

The Basilica of St Mary is an old school church.  The pastor was very formal in his approach to mass.  The altar servers wore the old school vestments that I remember from when I was a kid.  They held their hands in prayer versus clasping them.  When it came time for communion, the celebrant was assisted by two priest from the parish, a practice I haven’t seen since my days at the communion rail at Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Hartford, CT.  The altar boys (no girls at this mass) also held little metal disks with handles to catch any errant communion wafers that might miss their mark, again another thing I haven’t seen since my (much) younger days.  There is one additional thing the celebrant did that was a bit of a surprise but goes to what seems to be his conservative orthodoxy.  He gave instruction to a couple of attendees on the proper way to receive communion.  Apparently, Father Hathaway didn’t approve of the manner in which these folks approached to receive the Host and he corrected them.  He schooled them in the proper manner in which to hold one’s hands in order to receive Christ in your hand.

Dinner this week had us going to Landini’s on King Street in Alexandria.  This is one of my favorite Italian restaurants that Mary had not yet been to so this was a perfect opportunity to remedy that.  I had never had a bad meal here and tonight was no exception.  The food, wine and company were all exceptional.  I truly enjoyed catching up with Alexandra on her recent European travels as well as her move into the professional world following her graduation from PA (Physicians Assistant) School.  By the way, setting aside Alexandra’s frustration with the process of getting licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it is nice to hear how rigorous it is.  Two thumbs up to Pennsylvania, sorry Alexandra. 😊

We should have dined at a lazy susan.  We each got to try each others entrees and I was impressed with everything on the table.  I had a penne with a tomato cream sauce, Mary had a veal dish similar to veal picata and Alexandra had a salmon stuffed with spinach.  The food was delicious but the company was even better.  Another week in the books.  I look forward to next week for a lot reasons.  Not the least of which is that it is Easter.  We will be visiting another church and another diocese.

And of course, we end with our Soulfie... and although we mentioned it at dinner, we were negligent in getting our picture with Alexandra. We were having so much fun, we forgot.