Tridentine Mass at the Gettysburg 150th Reenactment

[Veritas Vincit]

I just had the pleasure of attending the 150th Gettysburg, PA, Civil War  reenactment, and much to my surprise and shock, they held an actual Tridentine Mass on Sunday morning! The Mass was celebrated by Father Charles Vreeland, FSSP, who was just ordained on June 1. This was a drastic improvement from the typical 'interfaith' (i.e. protestant) services they usually hold, or at best, the occasional Novus Ordo Mass. Father Vreeland was late for the Mass due to the heavy vehicle traffic in the area, so that gave us time to pray the Rosary beforehand. Due to it being '1860', the Fatima prayer was not yet in use, so we replaced it with a sung Ave Maria. I wish I could remember the version, but it's fairly common, I think. That's me on the left wearing the grey coat and crazy vest.



There were at least 150 people attending, and for most it was their first experience with the Tridentine Mass. Some were clearly uncomfortable with the Latin, prolonged kneeling, and silence, but for most, they seemed to appreciate it very much. I'm sure at least a few of them will seek out the traditional Mass in the future. There was a bit of awkwardness, in that I was sitting near the front, and therefore led most of the others when kneeling or standing. The awkward part came when I genuflected, stood back up, and everyone else continued kneeling. Following this, they had a Lutheran service, which was very poorly attended compared to us Catholics.

There was also a great impression of a period nun (ignore the paper cups . . .), of which I'm unsure of the order.



All in all, it was an amazing experience to have Mass outdoors at a location like that, surrounded by period tents, and in the distance, cannon fire.

[Unum Sint]

Looks like a flying nun to me.

[jovan66102]

Looks like a flying nun to me.

The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul!



They abandoned the cornette (what the headdress is called) on 20 September 1964, surprise!!! :eyeroll:

[Deidre]

So cool!  :grin: And congratulations and prayers for the new priest!

[JayneK]

I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, it exposes more people to the TLM.  On the other hand, it feeds into the claims of those who equate love of the Church's liturgical traditions with historical reenactment.

[Philosoraptor]

Usually I'm not a fan of abandoning trad habits*, but I think an exception might be in order there  :LOL:



*A polite way of saying it inclines me to froth at the mouth

[introibo]

I just replied on the Facebook page where you posted this...but as I said there, there was a local reenactment here in CT a few years back, and I was there on the Saturday..I was asking some of the folks whether, to be authentic, there would be a trad Mass, and they basically said it wasn't allowed.  I confirmed with a fellow Fishie who also attended on Sunday that it was indeed a new Mass, complete with "Amazing Grace."  Really authentic.  I tried, when the next reenactment was going to be held, to enlist a local priest to volunteer to say a trad Mass, and I contacted the organizers, but although I got some sort of bland response about putting this before the board, I don't think it materialized, unless I'm mistaken (I didn't attend that later one).

Christina