Fr. Ronold Pazik, RIP

Tridentine Community News (December 12, 2009):

A prominent figure in local Tridentine Mass history passed away on November 30, 2009: Fr. Ronold S. Pazik, CSB. A member of the Basilian order, Fr. Pazik was the primary celebrant of the Windsor Tridentine Mass between 1999-2001, and a substitute celebrant before and after those dates. Most of his priesthood was spent as a Spanish professor, first in Rochester, New York at the Aquinas Institute, then in Windsor at Assumption University and the University of Windsor. Fr. Pazik was a true academic, pursuing advanced theological studies even after retirement. He donated a vast quantity of missals, breviaries, and reference books to Assumption Church, which have proven invaluable in the training of priests to offer the Extraordinary Form. He had a great love for the historic liturgy of the Church and was a good friend to many of those who presently attend Assumption and St. Josaphat.

Readers of this column might be interested to learn that Fr. Pazik was baptized at Sweetest Heart of Mary Church and attended its grade school. The unusual spelling of his first name came about when Canadian authorities misspelled it during his application for Canadian citizenship. Rather than correct it, he thought it an interesting conversation starter.

Ánima ejus et ánimæ ómnium fidélium defunctórum per Dei misericórdiam requiéscant in pace. Amen.

Christmas Masses in the Extraordinary Form

We are pleased to announce that a number of options exist for those who wish to attend Tridentine Masses during the Octave of Christmas:

Christmas Eve:

Midnight Mass at St. Joseph Church, Detroit
Celebrant: Fr. Peter Hrytsyk
Choir and chamber orchestra will perform
Franz Joseph Haydn’s
Missa St. Joannis de Deo

Christmas Day:

9:30 AM Mass at St. Josaphat Church, Detroit
Celebrant: Fr. Wolfgang Seitz
2:00 PM Mass at Assumption Church, Windsor
Celebrant: Fr. Peter Hrytsyk
At both Masses:
Choir and chamber orchestra will perform Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit de Noël

New Year’s Day:

9:30 AM Mass at St. Josaphat Church
2:00 PM Mass at Assumption Church, Windsor

The O Antiphons

The resurgence of interest in the Extraordinary Form of Holy Mass has brought with it an interest in other aspects of the Church’s liturgy which have gone unemphasized in recent decades. One example is the so-called “O Antiphons”:

With the exception of the Feast of St. Thomas on December 21, the week prior to the Vigil of Christmas, December 17-23, is comprised of the Greater Ferias of Advent. These are Second Class Ferias on which the Mass Propers of the preceding Sunday are used. Most Votive Masses are prohibited on these days. The Church wants us to focus on Advent, not on other Feasts, during this week of anticipation. The Antiphons for Vespers of this week are correspondingly known as the Greater Antiphons, but more commonly known as the O Antiphons because of their wording.

Each Antiphon addresses Jesus with a title which comes from the prophecies of Isaiah that anticipate the coming of the Messiah. The first letters of the titles in the original Latin in reverse order spell “Ero Cras”, which means “Tomorrow, I will come”. The verses of the hymn Veni, Veni, Emmánuël (and its English translation, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel) are reworded versions of the O Antiphons, with the last being the first verse.

December 17 - O Sapiéntia: O Wisdom Who camest out of the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come and teach us the way of prudence.

December 18 - O Adonái: O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, Who didst appear to Moses in the flame of the burning bush, and didst give unto him the law on Sinai: come and with an outstretched arm redeem us.

December 19 - O Radix Jesse: O Root of Jesse, Who standest for an ensign of the people, before Whom kings shall keep silence, and unto Whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication: come to deliver us, and tarry not.

December 20 - O Clavis David: O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, Who openest and no man shutteth, Who shuttest and no man openeth: come and bring forth from his prison-house, the captive that sitteth in darkness and in the shadow of death.

December 21 - O Óriens: O Dawn of the East, Brightness of the light eternal, and Sun of justice: come and enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

December 22 - O Rex Gentium: O King of the Gentiles and the Desired of them, Thou Corner-stone that makest both one: come and deliver man, whom Thou didst form out of the dust of the earth.

December 23 - O Emmánuël: O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for December 12, 2009. Hat tip to A.B.]