Dr. Marcel Antonio Brown
Mass, Markets, and the Economy of Salvation
Each year as Christmas draws near, the markets go one way and the sacred liturgy another. In retail shops everywhere,…
The Holy Ghosts of Halloween: Resurrecting a Catholic Feast
Halloween’s not what it used to be—but with the right costume and disposition of heart, Marcel Brown insists, paganism won’t be able to hold a jack-o-lantern to this Christian feast
Liturgy Works—York Plays: Recovering the Lost Tradition of Sacred Drama
Some six-hundred years before the Second Vatican Council taught that devotions should be derived from and lead to the liturgy, the faithful of York, England lived this prayerful principle in their annual York Plays. Dr. Marcel Brown sees in these a rich treasure for us to mine today.
“I see him not!” — Mary Magdalene in Old York
In the ancient English city from which our own New York takes its name, a centuries-old tradition of Sacred Drama flourished from the late 1300s to the late 1500s. Each year for two hundred years and more, the civic authorities of the City of York worked together with religious and lay leaders to produce biblical mystery plays which were substantially shaped by Christian liturgy.
St. Joseph in Old York: Recovering the Lost Tradition of Sacred Drama
With liturgical celebrations devoted to St. Joseph dating as far back as the eighth century, it may come as no surprise that the Solemn Feast of St. Joseph has been observed in the West on March 19th since the 1400s.