Father Z has taken a poll to get me a Beretta, I mean a biretta. I don't have either, but I do have a 22 pistil someone gave me that is still in its box and untouched. If someone breaks into the rectory, which always looms a very real possibility, I intend to show the home invaders the box with the 22 pistil in it to warn them off!
You can read Father Z's post by pressing here and the votes taken thus far and some of the comments. But folks what about the Faure's Requiem sans biretta?
29 comments:
Pistol, not pistil. A pistil is a sex organ of a plant!
Your Faure requiem was great. Next year try Durufle's.
Beretta, biretta, pistil, pistol, I don't have any of these!
check you email.
Let's get this done.
No money for a hat, but how much for a new vehicle? Tsk tsk...
Father,
Based on the pledge responses on Fr. Z's blog (53 people pledging to give $5 and over 40 pledging $1) you should be more than able to purchase a very high end biretta for yourself as well as for your permanent deacon!
All we need are some hat sizes sent to rcg or someone who has posted here who can take care of this little "headache" of the hermeneutic of continuity (NOT 666!!).
By the way, a couple of years ago, I saw a priest in Myrtle Beach, SC use a biretta when processing and when seated in a Sunday Novus Ordo Mass. Do you consider this a liturgical abuse or is it mutual enrichment? I don't recall ever seeing anything expressly suppressing or forbidding the use of birettas in the OF rubrics but they are certainly customary (at a minimum) in the EF Mass.
This is really stupid.
Many have repeatedly offered to purchase a biretta for Fr. McDonald for over 5 years now. He has repeatedly refused for reasons I won't mention specifically. I know this from firsthand accounts.
Now, there is a "public outcry" and he is being portrayed as the "victim" of lazy or non-giving parishioners.
Father, I hope you'll come clean with the Catholic blogging world and stand up for your parishioners!
(And, yes, I am being deliberately over-dramatic. But, this is really bothering me.)
If Fr Z gets another fifty dollars we can get him hair plugs.
Seriously: Fr M seems to be doing this with his usual tongue in cheek. I think the public outcry is in the same vein.
Joseph Johnson,
The biretta is not required for use in the OF. It is not suppressed or abrogated. The maniple is in the same situation. The priest you saw in Myrtle Beach may very well be Fr. Christopher Smith, now pastor of Prince of Peace parish in Taylors, SC.
Furthermore I do not believe the biretta is in the rubrics of the EF. I believe its use at Mass is governed by decrees of the SCR.
ytc,
I can't recall the name of the priest I saw in Myrtle Beach but he was an older man and a late vocation. I later read in the bulletin there (or on the parish website) that he was a widower with adult children and was a retired USMC colonel. After his retirement from the USMC (but before becoming a priest) he had been associated with the FSSP in a lay capacity, I believe as a finance person.
I can't recall the name of the parish but I do recall that the crucifix over the altar had the corpus of Jesus wearing traditional Gothic vestments (complete with maniple). The altar boys wore black cassocks and surplices while the altar girls wore the white albs. Unfortunately, the parish had an overabundance of EMHC's who came out at Communion time to more or less block access by those in the rear of the church to the priest and the altar.
I spoke with this priest at the front door after Mass (where he was allowing a small boy to try on his biretta). I learned that he was not the pastor--only an assistant. When I complimented certain aspects of the parish he responded, "But the tabernacle still needs to be in the middle!" This church still had the "presiders' chair" in the middle.
From what I know, this Fr. Smith to which you refer is a younger man, if I am not mistaken.
ytc,
By the way, I generally agree with what you say about the use of the biretta in the OF and EF. I have attended EF Masses whenever and wherever possible since about 1993. While my experiences may not be representative of the norm, I have seen the biretta being used in the EF almost every time (here, I refer to Little Rock Arkansas and Atlanta, Ga. both with the FSSP; Savannah, Ga. with Msgr. O'Neill; two locations in Jacksonville, FL; Oxford, UK; Vidalia and Waycross, Ga.; and Hanceville, AL) To see an EF without it has been the exception in my experience (of which Fr. McDonald's Masses are an example). To my knowledge, some cowled religious orders wear the cowl (hood) in place of the biretta in the EF.
By the time the NO came out in 1970birettas had largely gone out of use. Hat-wearing generally dramatically declined in the 1960s. English Oratorians wear the biretta in the OF Solemn Mass - the Oratory version has no pom-pom and looks slightly taller. It is not generally known that deacons and priests are entitled to wear a black zucchetto. This was rare even before the Council, and I know of only one priest who always wears one for Mass, and this is the OF in a fairly 'liberal' parish. They are are ideal for not-so-young priests who have been tonsured by Mother Nature.
ytc,
I was just thinking: Maybe some of the rationale for the use of the biretta or cowl while proceeding and recessing as well as while seated (for the singing of the Credo, etc.) is to de-emphasize or partially cover over the individual identity of the priest (this is especially true with the cowl).
As a prosecutor, I am always telling the police officers that I work with that I think they should always wear their leather-billed peaked police caps or hats (with the metal badge on them) as this makes them look more like an official representative of the State rather than a bare-headed guy who happens to be a police officer (there's something about that leather bill or hat brim shading over the brow and that official badge over their head that looks more authoritative and impersonal).
Yikes! What does the biretta really mean? (WDTBRM) How can this be so controversial? It is amazing what will cause Catholics to screech at each other.
I do hope you get your biretta soon, and that someone doesn't mistakenly give you a beretta, which would require you to get a permit...but then you could be a detective like Baretta!
Did anyone else hear the "The Lonely Man Theme" from The Incredible Hulk while reading this...I think if we made a video slideshow for donations, you could have a biretta for each liturgical season! :-P
If you're going to get a mass hat, at least get one with a little style and pizzaz. I recommend the Spanish Bonete. You can see am example at http://www.bordadosinfantes.com/bonete-espanol/
Heck, even I could be tempted to wear something like that!
There seems to be some disagreement about whether the biretta is required for the 1962 Mass. The Ritus servandus in the 1962 Missale Romanum--which is alleged to have the same legal force as the Rubricae generales--specifies numerous times when the celebrant is to cover and to uncover his head. For instance (in the English translation provided in the current FSSP Ordo):
II.2. When he comes to the altar, standing before its lowest step, he uncovers his head, hands the biretta to the minister, [caput detegi, biretum ministro porrigit in the original Latin] and bows profoundly to the altar . . .
XIII.6. . . . After the reverence, he takes the biretta from the minister, covers his head, [accipit biretum a ministro, caput cooperit in Latin] and with the minister leading, returns to the sacristry . . .
The "minister"--the master of ceremonies at solemn Mass--should be intimately familiar with both the General Rubrics and the Rite to be Observed in the Celebration of Mass, so he can direct the celebrant accordinly.
I don't know why a priest wouldn't want to wear a biretta. They just look cool (like the cassock).
Biretta and cassock: The garb of the prish priest!
Disuse of the biretta is probably associated to some degree with the disuse of hats amongst men in the general population...
PI, now that's a Birreta! Hats fell out of use in the 60's when we guys fell in love with our HAIR, our long beautiful give me a head of hair and life has never been covered again!
Pater Ignotus,
I'm glad to see that you like the Spanish variant of the biretta. Perhaps the use of these should be incorporated into the Spanish Masses. Maybe we need to get your hat size too!
You can get birettas that fold flat like an opera hat and can be slipped into the pocket.
Marc, what's a prish priest? Sounds scismatic to me.
Pater, if you're serious, I will happily take up a collection.
Fr. McD, what about those of us who don't have long beautiful hair (or the home for fleas it provides, if I remember the lyrics to that gem correctly)? That's why I'm one of the few parishoners who do wear hats.
John Nolan,
The birettas that fold flat and will fit into your pocket are exactly the kind that I have ordered for two priests in the past. They have a nice angular shape when folded out (like the ones cardinals receive). I order them from the American company, Leaflet Missal Co. and they are made in Italy. They probably now are about $150.00 (U.S.).
A prish priest is the result of typing a comment on a stupid Apple device that incorrectly autocorrects some words and leaves others uncorrected.
I wear a hat all the time. Got used to it. When I was finally allowed to grow my hair, most of it was AWOL.
If he would wear it, I would contribute to getting PI a Bonete. All the Euro magistrates wear them.
JN and 5 - Thanks, but I will only allow myself to be tempted by the Spanish version! I would not wear a Bonete any more frequently than I wear my black skullcap...
And I wonder which is the "variant" here? The biretta itself is a MUCH evolved fashion statement in itself. And, if you look around online, you'll see that there is a host of variations currently "en vogue."
@ Joseph Johnson
Agree absolutely about hatless cops. The first time I was stopped by a traffic policeman who got out of his car without putting his cap on, I told him he was incorrectly dressed; without headdress, how could he salute me? I still got booked for speeding.
Pater Ignotus,
You're absolutely right about the biretta being "much evolved." It is interesting to look back at its origins (along with the mortarboard of academic dress and the legal mortar). When I speak of the Spanish hat to which you referred as being a "variant" it is because I am seeing the usual Roman version (the one like the cardinals receive) as being the "norm." I have seen Oratorian priests wearing an un-pommed version which was wider and more "squat" in appearance. They also look "pretty cool" in my opinion. As you can surely surmise, I just like hats--especially formal hats which have long histories behind them.
I would love to see the general decline in hat wearing which was most noticeable and accelerated in the 1960's reversed!
Father McDonald,
Bottom line, if you give me your hat size, I will get you a biretta. If you give me the hat size of your deacons, I will get them birettas as well. If you give me the hat size of of any of your installed acolytes (yes, there is a specific biretta for them as well), I will get them birettas.
There is no animosity there is nothing snide, there is simply a guarantee that if you get me the required information, we will put this to bed, with no questions, insults or fist-a-cuffs.
I still like the .22 caliber flowers.
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