I’m one of those people that tends to be fond of tradition and history, and attending Midnight Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore this year appealed well to both of these inclinations. In the case of tradition, no, my family does not have a long-standing practice of attending Mass at the Basilica on Christmas (in fact, this was the first time that I ever set foot in the building!), and no, the Mass was not celebrated according to the Tridentine Rite (nor would I have appreciated it if it were). I did grow up attending Midnight Mass on Christmas eve, however, and this is where the tradition part comes in. You see, so many parishes near where my family lives now no longer offer a Midnight Mass. Rather, they offer a Solemn Mass at 10pm or some other seemingly random time. According to Church law, this is all good and fine. Indeed, we have vigil Masses in the early evenings every weekend, right? But, I like the traditional understanding of vigil, that is, a keeping watch prayerfully at night during the hours when one would normally be sleeping. And so, when it comes to Christmas, I like the idea of attending Mass at midnight, of welcoming in the first seconds of the new day, the day in which we remember Christ’s birth, with celebration, praise, and thanksgiving. In the past few years, I have given in to attending the 10pm Mass at my parish on Christmas eve, primarily out of convenience, but this year, I decided that wanted to go back to that tradition of truly keeping vigil into the early hours of the new day by attending Midnight Mass. And this decision meant that I needed to find a Church which could fulfill my longing for a prayerful and joyous midnight celebration.
Enter the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In searching for a parish to attend for Midnight Mass, a couple of options popped into my head. I could go back to my old parish that I attended during middle school. But that parish is really small now and many of its members are up there in age, so the celebration might be rather lacking in enthusiasm. Another option would be the parish that I originally attended as a child, the parish where my Midnight Mass attendance first began. But, Midnight Mass at this parish was always in Polish and English, so it was super long, and these days, the new pastor tends to disapprove of non-Polish parishioners (he wouldn’t let my sister-in-law’s mother do RCIA there because she isn’t Polish!), so that might not be a great choice either. Searching a bit deeper, I thought of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC, but that would mean getting home really late because of the hour commute each way. Or the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, but the Mass there would probably be packed and perhaps a bit too showy for my tastes. And that’s when I thought of the Baltimore Basilica, co-cathedral of Baltimore and the nation’s first cathedral! Midnight Mass at the Basilica would be celebrated by the Urban Vicar rather than the Archbishop, so things were bound to be well-done but perhaps not as intense at at the Cathedral. And, I had never been to the Basilica before! How could I, the one who loves history and all things Catholic, have never set foot in the first Cathedral in the United States when it has been here in my backyard for my whole life?!
So, I did indeed attend Midnight Mass at the Basilica, and the whole experience was just perfect. The church itself has recently been renovated to restore it to its original design, and while this renovation brought about serious changes and therefore controversy, I must say that the church looks absolutely beautiful. The design is very simple and modeled after the design of the famous buildings of DC (think Capitol, White House, etc). Indeed, the same architect was responsible for both the DC buildings and the Baltimore Basilica – Benjamin Henry Latrobe. But the simplicity is definitely elegant. Another notable feature of the church’s design is the very light interior. The pews are white, the marble floor is white, the ceilings are light-colored. And to contrast with this white, the presider’s chair and the lectern are adorned with beautiful and bold red and yellow fabric. Here are some pictures:
In addition to the beautiful setting for the Mass, the Mass itself was also really well-done. The choir and musicians sounded great, yet it was also obvious that they were parishioners rather than professional musicians hired for the occasion. Bishop Madden celebrated the Mass with the rector of the Basilica concelebrating, but that was it. No huge to-do with a million priests. The lector was a woman, most likely a regular parishioner. And for communion, several lay people assisted the two priests with distribution. All in all, the Mass was reverent, joyful, participative, and relatively controversy-free, just the way a Mass should be! Â
To learn more about America’s First Cathedral, visit the Basilica’s website at www.baltimorebasilica.org.
I definitely think I made a good choice for Christmas Eve and hope that I can make it back to the Basilica sometime in the near future to check out the historical displays and other fascinating aspects of the church.
