I went to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception this morning for confession and the Mass commemorating the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and now I have my plenary indulgence erasing all of my potential time in purgatory (if such a place exists). It's like getting a papal Get Out of Jail Free card.
The Basilica is built in the Byzantine (eastern Roman empire) style, which means it has domes and lots of mosaics instead of gothic flying buttresses and stained glass windows, with a Romanesque feel, and it's said to be one of the ten largest churches in the world. Since construction was not begun until the 1920s, the architectural designs are interestingly modern. It's very pretty on the outside as you can see (and they even have their Christmas wreaths up!), and the inside is vast, impressive, and visually stunning.
This is a view of the crossing altar, flanked by huge floral sprays in blue and white (the "Marian" colors) flowers and with a large arrangement in front. The "permanent" altar is in the back of it under the marble canopy topped with a dome and a statue of the BVM.
While you can see some organ pipes in the crossing area, that's really the antiphonal set, as the bulk of the pipes are in the back balcony, where the console is located. This is a large instrument: it's a 210-rank, four-manual Moeller, and while it can certainly thunder, the unusually large size of the basilica still could use even more organ power (I like to be able to feel the walls and pews shake).
It's a good thing I showed up early today, intending to shop in the bookstore and in the giftshop down in the undercroft, because I had to stand in line for nearly an hour to go to confession, and they were running four confessionals simultaneously. I guess the priest thinks I've been bad, cause he assigned me three chapters of the Gospel according to St. John to read for my pennace!
The principal celebrant and homilist (a/k/a "preacher") for the noon Mass was His Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States (think "Vatican Ambassador" and very, very important), assisted by twelve concelebrating priests. Music was provided by the capable professional Shrine choir, which sounded particularly good with Gerald Near's "Agnus Dei" from Missa Orbis Factor, which was done as a motet whilst the eucharistic ministers were being communicated. They also sang Palestrina's "Ave Maria à 5 voce" for the post-hymn offertory anthem and Luca Marenzio's "Magnificat" for a communion anthem (which was rather too long given the use of a communion procession hymn between the Near and the Marenzio). My only criticism of the choir isn't really a criticism, just more of an observation and request, that they should try to sing some of their anthems without using microphones and loudspeakers; I would love to hear voices in the natural acoustic of the church. While the choral selections today were lovely, the hymns and service music were insipid in that unfortunate post-Vatican II American way. The cantor was a female who sang straight-tone and was quite good.
The musical highlight for me, though, was the postlude: Shrine organist Robert Grogan played Eugène Gigout's "Grand Choeur Dialogué," which was magnificent played on a 210-rank organ in such a huge and reverberant space. For those of you not familiar with French organ literature, this is a piece played in a room with two sets of organ pipes, typically one in front and one in back, and there is a call-and-answer "dialogue" between the sets of pipes, ending in a glorious cacaphony of organ sound.
I don't know who gets Mother Angelica and her Eternal Word religious broadcasting network, but the Mass today was filmed and broadcast by them. Did anyone see me on TV?
(a D.C. tourbook aerial photo)
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