Zabriskie Plot

I know, Halloween is almost over. I wanted to write this earlier in the day but I had to run over to another law firm with a laptop to type in some confidential documents that couldn't be copied or otherwise leave the building. I had a nice visiting attorney office all to myself overlooking Times Square, quiet and unbothered, but I really hate laptops and the dim screen plus the poor copies I was typing from have left me nearly blind. But I digress.

For some reason, on Saturday I woke up and thought of going up to Trinity's uptown cemetery at 153th St. west of Broadway to visit the graves of two of St. Ignatius' most dedicated churchmen from the first years of its founding, Christian Zabriskie, Jr. and his son, Charles Frederic Fabriskie. I didn't realize you need an appointment to visit the cemetery (who knew and the gate was open) so I was almost arrested for trespassing, but I told the guard that these were my family, so he had pity on me. I didn't feel like I was really lying since I have felt very close to these guys for about 20 years. Some times I think I may be channeling one or all three of them. Yes, there were three generations of Zabriskies that were on the vestry of St. Ignatius. Charles Lemaire Zabriskie, Charles Frederic's son, is not buried there. I will tell you more about these fascinating men in days to come, but right now I need to rest my tired eyes.

A Trip to the Geranium Farm

Last Thursday, October 20, I went over to the Geranium Farm with my Cursillo reunion group. Kathy, Bill, Janet and I skipped out of work early and took the train over in mid afternoon. Q met us at the station and while Barbara started dinner he gave us a tour of the garden while it was still light enough to see the Farm in its late October glory. What's Her Name and Noodle, two of the house cats, greeted us warily and then headed for higher ground. Ethel Merman, the hummingbird, had left weeks ago for Mexico but we hope to meet her next summer.

After a little liquid refreshment Barbara led us across the street and showed us around St. Luke's, her first church and now her home parish when she's not on the road. It has a lovely nave and sanctuary, and the parish house has a lot of space for activities and classes, and a beautiful kitchen.

We crossed back to the Geranium Farm and Barbara showed us around the front yard and gave us some sprigs of lavender, two different types. The yard is lush and a bit wild with a kind of untamed beauty. There was the obligatory pumpkin and a whole lot of firewood on the front porch. We went in and Barbara then Q started a fire for us, since it was starting to get a bit nippy. We sat around talking and drinking wine, basking in the warm fire, while Barbara finished making a scrumptious and healthy meal of chicken and buckwheat dumplings, asparagus and carrots. For dessert we had a baked apple and vanilla ice cream.

After dinner we sat around the table and had our reunion group, which consisted tonight only of the Piety section, wherein we shared our spiritual aids and told of our moments closest and farthest from Christ since we last met. We then offered our prayer requests, many and various, a new feature to our reunions which has proven to be quite powerful. We ended the evening with another round of Grand Marnier before hustling back to the station and NYC. Thank you, Barbara and Q, for having us over. It was a wonderful reunion. You may pay a virtual visit to the Geranium Farm here: http://www.geraniumfarm.org/home.cfm

The Feast of St. Ignatius

Today, October 17, is the feast day of our patron saint, St. Ignatius of Antioch, 2d bishop of Antioch, martyred in 115. More about him here: http://saintignatiusnyc.org/patron.htm. We celebrated the solemnity yesterday in fine High Church style. I was thurifer and I think I managed to smoke up the place pretty good. We only processed halfway around the church since the south wall is covered with scaffolding right now, undergoing a bit of a facelift. We sang "Blessed feasts of blessed martyrs", one of my favorite. The mass setting was Guerrero's Missa "Simile est regnum", heavenly! The first reading was from the Epistle of Blessed Ignatius to the Romans, wherein he embraces his martyrdom with open arms. The motet was Victoria's marvelous Cum Beatus Ignatius, with the rather graphic text: "When Blessed Ignatius was condemned to the beasts and heard the lions roaring, his eagerness to suffer made him exclaim: I am the wheat of Christ: let me be ground by the teeth of beasts..." The offertory hymn was a new edition of a hymn written by our second rector, Fr. Arthur Ritchie. It was a lovely Vaughn-Williams-like tune arranged by our organist, Douglas Keilitz, with words edited by James Bush. The last verse says it all: "O dear Ignatius, pray in heav'n, for us on earth below; so to us here may grace be giv'n, that we Christ-like may grow." Amen!

Our conversation is in Heaven

Today is the 122nd anniversary of the death of our proto-rector, Dr. Ferdinand Cartwright Ewer. In true High Church style, he collapsed while preaching a sermon at St. John the Evangelist in Montreal and died shortly thereafter. His text was Philippians 3:20: "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ…”

Here's a link to a Project Canterbury document about Dr. Ewer:
http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/fcewer/memoir.html

High Church, small wedding, no thanks

I was thurifer last Saturday afternoon (Oct. 1) at a solemn mass blessing the marriage, which had happened about a year ago, of two new members of our parish. I spent several hours before the service making sure the church was properly cleaned (I usually do that anyway, but trying to get it done by 3pm was not easy) since I heard they were expecting over 100 people there. So it was rather surprising when we processed in that there were only a handful of people in attendance on each side of the aisle. I believe we counted 11 people in the congo, plus 8 in the choir and 7 in the sanctuary. It was a lovely service nonetheless, with the Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli mass setting and enough music, all of it glorious, for a crowd of 300 at communion. The video camera was set up in the Lady Chapel so I tripped on the tripod on my way in after the censings, but there was so much smoke that it probably wasn't noticeable. The bride had insisted on no flowers, which was very odd. She said she didn't believe in distracting from the altar, which is a nice attitude, but weddings should have flowers, imho. Afterward the bridal party took pictures for close to an hour but never invited the clergy or altar servers to be in any of them. The MC had spent a few hours setting up, putting away and directing the flow of the service and the other four of us that were not clergy (who did get paid) had given up several hours of a beautiful Saturday to bring the service off for these people we scarcely knew, and not a nod, not a word of thanks from the bride or groom or any of the others in the party. Not that we expected money or anything, although it is traditional to give at least a small offering or gift to those in the altar party, but at least a word of thanks would have been a nice touch. I'll tell you, there are alot of people out there with no manners these days. I hope they have a happy marriage anyway. Next Saturday it will be a High Church funeral, and at least we can look forward to a nice reception afterward.