At Catholic high schools and colleges across the Arlington diocese recently, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge has celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit — marking the start of a new academic year with a rite that dates back to the 16th century. On Sept. 1 at The Catholic University of America in Washington, the liturgy featured something even older: a 15th-century chalice that survived the Protestant Reformation, went missing for centuries and will be on display at the university’s St. Michael Chapel in Maloney Hall through October.
Bishop Burbidge, a member of the university’s board of trustees, was the principal celebrant at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, filled with more than 3,000 faculty, staff and students.
“Today is joyful because, at this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we encounter Christ Jesus, Our Lord, whose Spirit enkindles in us the fire of true joy,” he said in his homily. “This year, then, may we resolve to pray every day … so that the Spirit may enkindle in us the fire of true joy and our joy may be complete.”
He also became one of the only priests — and likely only bishop — to celebrate Mass with a pre-Reformation Irish chalice (c. 1480), one of only a handful of chalices known to have survived efforts to suppress Catholicism that began in Ireland in the 16th century.
The chalice is believed to have disappeared in the mid-1500s after King Henry VIII sought to suppress the practice of Catholicism. It was discovered and sold in the 1930s, but then lost again, until found in a simple box inside a garden structure.
“Some soldier centuries ago thought he was putting an end to Mass by looting this chalice,” said Dominican Father Aquinas Guilbeau, university chaplain. “Well, his efforts were futile. The Mass continues — even with this very chalice.”
The day marked the first Mass of the Holy Spirit for the university’s new president, Peter Kilpatrick. “What a great blessing to begin each year with a tradition like this one, to come together and reflect as a community before God on the journey that lies ahead,” he said.
His wife, Nancy, and three students brought up the gifts at the Mass.
The Irish chalice previously made stops at Villanova University and Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Md. After leaving Catholic U., it will be displayed at the Irish Cultural Center in Boston and then the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany, N.Y., before returning to Ireland.
