Meetings on taking part in the Eucharist at St. Giles’ Church, 2005

The Dominican Liturgical Center organized a series of liturgical catecheses devoted to Holy Mass. Each meeting includes the Eucharist and a talk. During the Eucharist, Fr. Michał Adamski OP will preach homilies explaining the rites of the Mass. After Mass, Br. Tomasz Grabowski OP will speak about the history of the Dominican liturgy.

In the first centuries of Christianity, bishops or priests specially appointed for the purpose gave what are called mystagogical catecheses. These catecheses explained the meaning of the sacraments. They were always given during the celebration of the sacraments or shortly after the faithful had received the holy mysteries. The mystagogues – the teachers – spoke to those who had taken part in the holy mysteries in order to make them aware of the meaning of the rite.

The liturgical catecheses at St. Giles’ draw on this ancient tradition. Father Michał Adamski OPwill give a series of talks in which he will discuss the individual parts of the celebration. He will explain what really happens every time we take part in Holy Mass.

After the Eucharist, Brother Tomasz Grabowski OP will speak in short talks about the history of the liturgy of the Mass. He will focus especially on the Dominican Rite – a now almost forgotten form of celebrating the sacraments, which was once in force in the Order of Preachers.

The singing during Mass will be led by the newly formed early music ensemble Redivivum – eight singers who for years worked with the lutenist Antoni Pilch as members of the group Bractwo Lutni. The ensemble mainly performs Renaissance and Baroque music. It also performs contemporary multi-part liturgical music.

For those who do not know Kraków: St. Giles’ Church is on Grodzka Street, at the foot of Wawel Hill. It is one of the two churches (formerly also a friary) of the Kraków Dominicans. Built in the first half of the 14th century and rebuilt at the end of the 16th century, it has kept its original Gothic character. Although small (a single nave with a three-sided presbytery), it forms a clearly sacred space. The high altar is late Renaissance – it was moved here from the chapel of St. Hyacinth in the Dominican church on Stolarska Street. The portals in the presbytery and nave, the stalls and the decoration of the presbytery walls came to St. Giles’ in 1629 and also come from elements of the tomb in St. Hyacinth’s chapel.

Inside the church you cannot fail to notice the rood beam with a late Gothic Crucifixion group: a crucifix from around 1520 and figures of the Mother of God and St. John from around 1470. The church is easy to recognize from outside, because on the wall of the presbytery there is a 17th-century painting of the Virgin and Child. In addition, in 1990 a cross commemorating the victims of Katyń was erected beside the church.

Homily topics preached by Michał Adamski OP:

• 07.02.2005 – On the first step to heaven.
• 21.02.2005 – On singing, or life in the key of love.
• 28.02.2005 – On the kiss of the one who has been forgiven much.
• 07.03.2005 – On the silence that gives birth to the Word.
• 21.03.2005 – A guest preacher.
• 04.04.2005 – On the Marseillaise, the angelic revolution and worship.
• 18.04.2005 – On the African bush, Byzantine market women and the treasure of the Church.
• 25.04.2005 – On a drop of water immersed in wine.
• 09.05.2005 – On waiting for a love that is late.
• 16.05.2005 – On the temptation of the Missal.
• 30.05.2005 – On the touch of the Holy Spirit.
• 13.06.2005 – On broken bread and broken lives.
• 27.06.2005 – Go in peace and abide in me.

Topics of the talks given by Tomasz Grabowski OP:

• 07.02.2005 – The democracy of the dead, or researching the sources of the liturgy.
• 21.02.2005 – The Church of the Dark Ages, or the bright age of celebration.
• 28.02.2005 – The dispute between preachers and beggars, or the origins of the Dominican Rite.
• 07.03.2005 – A guest speaker.
• 21.03.2005 – Teutonic Knights, monks and Armenians, or the origins of the Dominican Rite.
• 04.04.2005 – Slowly does it, or the role of time and ritual in the liturgy of the friars of St. Dominic.
• 18.04.2005 – Small, white and nothing to see, or the church of the Friars Preachers.
• 25.04.2005 – On an empty stomach, or a reconstruction of the Mass in the Dominican Rite.
• 09.05.2005 – Musicians from Paris, or the chant wrongly called Gregorian.
• 16.05.2005 – And keep praying, or a reconstruction of the Mass in the Dominican Rite.
• 30.05.2005 – Right in the middle, or the history and theology of the Roman Canon, part I.
• 13.06.2005 – A dance, or the history and theology of the Roman Canon, part II.
• 27.06.2005 – From the beginning, or the adaptation of the rite to the reform of the Second Vatican Council.