Syskeyia
10-06-2004, 17:18
The ceremonies began at the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, as they should have, with Mass, as usual. The Holy Sacrifice was celebrated with particular solemnity and reverence, with Theophilius Cardinal Sanghorn, Archbishop of Syskeyiapolis and Primate of Syskeyia, as the main celebrant and a host of priests as the concelebrants. At the end of the Mass, however, there was no blessing or dismissal. Rather, in accordance with Church customs, the Host was placed in an elaborate, golden monstrance, and the procession began.
The procession was a grand affair. Leading it were three acolytes- a cross bearer flanked by two candle-bearers. Following them were various religious associations and sodalities, as well as many monks, friars and nuns in their respective religious habits. Behind them were the city's First Communicants of that year, little boys and girls in white suits and saris, strewing flowe petals on the ground like a carpet worthy of their divine King. After this came clergy in cassocks and surplices, followed by the concelebrants of the Mass and then came the center of the procession. Two altar boys, walking backwards, alternated incensing the divine Host with thuribles. Sheltering the Lamb of God was a splendid golden canopy: which was held by some very notable people, Syskeyian President and First Consul Benedict Michael Sukothai, Syskeyiapolis Mayor Philip Yi Sung, Parliamentary Opposition leader Susanna Chunakin, and Strategos Strategôn Five-Star General Vincent Ferrer Chalermchai. Holding the Host and monstrance itself was the Cardinal, clad in a gold-white cope and flanked by two deacons in dalmactics, who held back His Eminence's cope. As a large number of people followed this host, the entire procession was guarded by soldiers of the Syskeyian Army, all dressed in their best dress uniforms.
The procession proceeded from the Basilica through the city, stopping at four altars at the northern, southern, eastern and western axes of the city. Along the processional route people had lashed green sapling trees to the fronts of buildings, while other faithful had adorned house, restaurant building and office buidling alike with religious tapestries and banners. Some of these reflected the Asiatic-Norman-Byzantine art that characterized the pre-1510 Republic, others displayed religious pictures that spoke more to the "traditional" style of Western Christian art. All of them exuded their artist's faith in the eucharistic and incarnate Lord.
At each stational altar a section from the Gospel was read. (There was one Gospel per altar- at the first station, a section from John; the second, a passage from Mark, followed by a reading from Matthew at the third station and a selection from Luke at the fourth.) After the Gospel had been read, the Primate gave a sermon, afterwhich he said a prayer before blessing the people with the glorified Host. At these benedictions the soldiers fired their guns in salute to Christ whom the wafer had become.
Finally, the procession ended near where it began: at the Forum, on an outdoor altar- prepared for occasions like this- at the foot of the Basilica. The Cardinal incensed the Host, as usual, prayed the Divine Praises, and then lifed up the Host in monstance in for a final, solemn Benediction. When he blessed the people with the Sacrament, a soldier on top of the Parliament building radioed his comrades at the Citadel, who then fired three artillery salvoes from the Citadel in a triune salute to the Most Blessed Sacrament. Then, as the archbishop covered the monstrance with his humeral veil while going into the Basilica to repose the Sacrament, the whole mass of people assembled for there ceremony sang this ancient hymn:
Te deum laudamus
Te dominum confitemur.
Te æternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes angeli,
tibi cæli: et universæ Potestates.
Tibi Cherubim
incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus:
Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra
majestates gloriae tuae.
Te gloriosus
Apostolorum chorus.
Te Prophetarum
laudabilis numerus.
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Te per orbum terrarum
sancta confitetur Ecclesia.
Patrem immensae majestatis:
Venerandum tuum, verum,
et unicum Filium.
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe, tu Patris
sempiternus es Filius.
Tu ad liberandum
suscepturus hominem,
non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Tu devicto mortis aculeo,*
aperuisti credentibus
regna caelorum.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes,
in gloria Patris.
Judex crederis, esse venturus.
Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni,
quos pretioso
sanguine redemisti.
Aeterna fac
cum Sanctis tuis in Gloria numerari.
Salvum fac populum tuum Domine,
et benedic hereditati tuæ.
Et rege eos, et extolle illos,
et extolle illos usque in aeternum.
Per singulos dies, benedicimus te,
et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum saeculi.
Dignare Domine
die isto sine peccato nos custo dire.
Miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri.
Fiat misericordia tua Domine super nos,
quem admodum speravimusin te.
In te Domine speravi
non confundar in aeternum.
The Cardinal then walked, veiled monstrance in hand, to the tabernacle of the basilica, where he reposed the Sacrament in its place, to be adored and received.
Much festivity and socialization occurred after that.
OOC: Just giving you a glimpse of what Catholicism is like in Syskeyia. We've got large, public religious ceremonies like this on major feasts days and such. Holy Week we go all out, and I planned on saying what they have, but I never finished researching it. :D If you have people in Syskeyiapolis (whether they be merchants, ambassadors, journalists or whatnot), feel free to post their responses/reactions to the event if you want.
God bless,
The Republic of Syskeyia
The procession was a grand affair. Leading it were three acolytes- a cross bearer flanked by two candle-bearers. Following them were various religious associations and sodalities, as well as many monks, friars and nuns in their respective religious habits. Behind them were the city's First Communicants of that year, little boys and girls in white suits and saris, strewing flowe petals on the ground like a carpet worthy of their divine King. After this came clergy in cassocks and surplices, followed by the concelebrants of the Mass and then came the center of the procession. Two altar boys, walking backwards, alternated incensing the divine Host with thuribles. Sheltering the Lamb of God was a splendid golden canopy: which was held by some very notable people, Syskeyian President and First Consul Benedict Michael Sukothai, Syskeyiapolis Mayor Philip Yi Sung, Parliamentary Opposition leader Susanna Chunakin, and Strategos Strategôn Five-Star General Vincent Ferrer Chalermchai. Holding the Host and monstrance itself was the Cardinal, clad in a gold-white cope and flanked by two deacons in dalmactics, who held back His Eminence's cope. As a large number of people followed this host, the entire procession was guarded by soldiers of the Syskeyian Army, all dressed in their best dress uniforms.
The procession proceeded from the Basilica through the city, stopping at four altars at the northern, southern, eastern and western axes of the city. Along the processional route people had lashed green sapling trees to the fronts of buildings, while other faithful had adorned house, restaurant building and office buidling alike with religious tapestries and banners. Some of these reflected the Asiatic-Norman-Byzantine art that characterized the pre-1510 Republic, others displayed religious pictures that spoke more to the "traditional" style of Western Christian art. All of them exuded their artist's faith in the eucharistic and incarnate Lord.
At each stational altar a section from the Gospel was read. (There was one Gospel per altar- at the first station, a section from John; the second, a passage from Mark, followed by a reading from Matthew at the third station and a selection from Luke at the fourth.) After the Gospel had been read, the Primate gave a sermon, afterwhich he said a prayer before blessing the people with the glorified Host. At these benedictions the soldiers fired their guns in salute to Christ whom the wafer had become.
Finally, the procession ended near where it began: at the Forum, on an outdoor altar- prepared for occasions like this- at the foot of the Basilica. The Cardinal incensed the Host, as usual, prayed the Divine Praises, and then lifed up the Host in monstance in for a final, solemn Benediction. When he blessed the people with the Sacrament, a soldier on top of the Parliament building radioed his comrades at the Citadel, who then fired three artillery salvoes from the Citadel in a triune salute to the Most Blessed Sacrament. Then, as the archbishop covered the monstrance with his humeral veil while going into the Basilica to repose the Sacrament, the whole mass of people assembled for there ceremony sang this ancient hymn:
Te deum laudamus
Te dominum confitemur.
Te æternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes angeli,
tibi cæli: et universæ Potestates.
Tibi Cherubim
incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus:
Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra
majestates gloriae tuae.
Te gloriosus
Apostolorum chorus.
Te Prophetarum
laudabilis numerus.
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Te per orbum terrarum
sancta confitetur Ecclesia.
Patrem immensae majestatis:
Venerandum tuum, verum,
et unicum Filium.
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe, tu Patris
sempiternus es Filius.
Tu ad liberandum
suscepturus hominem,
non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Tu devicto mortis aculeo,*
aperuisti credentibus
regna caelorum.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes,
in gloria Patris.
Judex crederis, esse venturus.
Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni,
quos pretioso
sanguine redemisti.
Aeterna fac
cum Sanctis tuis in Gloria numerari.
Salvum fac populum tuum Domine,
et benedic hereditati tuæ.
Et rege eos, et extolle illos,
et extolle illos usque in aeternum.
Per singulos dies, benedicimus te,
et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum saeculi.
Dignare Domine
die isto sine peccato nos custo dire.
Miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri.
Fiat misericordia tua Domine super nos,
quem admodum speravimusin te.
In te Domine speravi
non confundar in aeternum.
The Cardinal then walked, veiled monstrance in hand, to the tabernacle of the basilica, where he reposed the Sacrament in its place, to be adored and received.
Much festivity and socialization occurred after that.
OOC: Just giving you a glimpse of what Catholicism is like in Syskeyia. We've got large, public religious ceremonies like this on major feasts days and such. Holy Week we go all out, and I planned on saying what they have, but I never finished researching it. :D If you have people in Syskeyiapolis (whether they be merchants, ambassadors, journalists or whatnot), feel free to post their responses/reactions to the event if you want.
God bless,
The Republic of Syskeyia