Lumen ad Revelationem Gentium: Academy Student Choir and Schola Sing for Candlemas

This day is a feast day in the Church and is also a day when seminarians take the cassock and when Fransican postulates take the postulant veil. Two of OLHCA's alumni received their cassocks at the seminary in Virginia, Mr. Adam Banks and Mr. Paul Bushnell, both from the Class of 2022.  Fr. Gerard Beck presented postulant veils to two other former students, Miss Isabella Conder (Class of 2022) and Miss Elizabeth Pfeiffer (Class of 2021) at the Franciscan Convent of Christ the King in Kansas City.

Here at the Academy, the school celebrated this feast day with a sung Mass at 8:00 am. The students had been practicing during music class for this feast day for over a month. The fruits of this practice were evident during the Mass as the school sang a new piece, the “Ave Maria” by Thomas Vittoria, and the boys from the high-school schola chanted the Propers of the Mass.

The Feast of Our Lady’s Purification is also known as Candlemas, because during this Mass the faithful receive candles as the Canticle of Simeon is sung. The faithful are encouraged to think of Christ as “lumen ad revelationem gentium”: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, as they receive and hold their candles.

A procession also takes place on this day. The students followed behind the priest with their candles while singing Marian hymns. This procession was not held without difficulty as the weather was cold and chilly and the north side of the church was icy.  Everyone survived, however, and after the Mass gathered for breakfast and the remainder of the school day.