Another feast day

What better place to observe the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary than at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception?

I went to the Basilica at noon today to hear the Archbishop of Washington say Mass and preach. It's a holy day of obligation for Catholics; the jury is still out in the Episcopal Church as to whether or not we believe in this Romish doctrine (my usual parish on K Street observes the day, but there are no special Masses and it's on the calendar as just the "Conception of the BVM;" I guess we like the occasion for a party but we don't want to commit to the doctrine).

Anyway, the basilica—the largest Catholic church in the country—was full and the television cameras were rolling for a national broadcast on the EWTV network (Mother Angelica's network). They had all the bells and smells of a solemn high Mass with full choir and the archbishop being assisted by about a dozen concelebrating priests.

Hymns today were "Come, let us worship" by Anthony Corvaia for the processional (all nine verses—but they needed the time by the time the altar got smoked), "The God whom earth and sea and sky" (Eisenach) at the offertory, a setting of the Magnificat by Leo Nestor during communion, and "Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing" (Lourdes Hymn) for the recessional. For the Ordinary of the Mass, they used Richard Proulx's Mass for the City setting during the Consecration, and both a Gloria and an Agnus Dei by Gerald Near. The Kyrie and Lord's Prayer were Gregorian chant.

The choir did an uncited introit based on Isaiah 61:10 and a communion antiphon that both started off as chant and ended up being interestingly modern in tonality. They also sang two Ave Marias, one by Tomás Luis de Victoria for the offertory anthem and a lovely rendition of Rachmaninoff's setting from the All-Night Vespers as a post-communion motet. The choir sounded fine today, but as always, I am disconcerted by the basilica's tradition of miking the choir, which allows individual voices to stick out and keeps us from enjoying the full ambiance of sound in the highly reverberant marble cavern that is the basilica. I saw my friend Ted up there singing tenor today.

The organist offered Ave maris stella by Girolamo Frescobaldi as the prelude and Magnificat en Sol Majeur by Jean-François Dandrieu as the postlude.

Today also happens to be the patronal feast day of the basilica parish. They also make a big deal out of it because the Immaculate Conception of Mary is the patron saint of the United States of America. Each year, the basilica, in conjunction with the Catholic University of America, presents a patronal medal award to someone for the "advancement of Marian devotion." After communion, they presented this year's award to Msgr. Paul Lenz, the retired former national director of the church's Black and Indian Mission Office. He also served as vice-postulator for the canonization cause of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha to become the first Catholic American Indian saint. What a coincidence that they would honor an Indian missionary on this day; as I was walking in to the church, my Blackberry was buzzing with the news alerts that the longstanding Cobell v. Salazar Indian trust litigation case had been settled this morning.

So, I'm good for another holy day. That should cover me til Christmas.