Many of our readers are already acquainted with our dear friend, Louis Tofari, and his work for the traditional Mass, via Romanitas Press. Recently, he has launched a redesigned website, offering many new features we are pleased to bring to you, our readers.
Chief among these are Mr.
Tofari’s training and
consultation services for the training of altar servers and clergy (either
on-site or remotely), consultation on rubrical matters and aiding architects
and artisans with their ecclesiastical designs, to name a few. You can also see
a resume of his extensive liturgical experience on his About page.
In addition to an upcoming series
of instructional videos
(the first set will cover how to use a thurible), Mr. Tofari has also announced
that he will soon be offering online
training seminars for Masters of Ceremonies, and the servers' Latin Mass
responses. Being able to learn certain aspects of serving from
the comfort of your home is obviously a big benefit for both adults -- and adults whose boys are being trained (especially for some of our TLM crowd whose church is over an hour away).
For those of our readers who
would like to expand their general liturgical knowledge, Mr. Tofari also
provides on his site links to prior podcasts of his weekly program, Learning
About the Roman Liturgy (or LARL for short), hosted weekly at the online
radio station, Magnificat Media.
The new
Romanitas Press site also helpfully offers on an aptly-named page, Where can I find…? resources
on liturgical requisites, from vestment makers to manufacturers of
ecclesiastical metal ware to resellers of rescued church items. For the
rubricist type, there is a Reading Resources
page that provides a bibliography of important references along with an image
of each one and even where you can obtain a copy.
Mr. Tofari has
continued to make available the offerings of his former site, such as his own informative articles (including a new one on the altar bell), the witty Peregrinus stories of
Fr. Matthew Chapman, and the various
books that he has published. These publications includes Mr. Tofari’s
self-authored General Principles of the
Ceremonies of the Roman Rite and Server’s
Mass Response Card, and reprints of such classics as The Liturgical Altar and Candles
in the Roman Rite, and now a new one, A
Guide for Altar and Sanctuary. And if you would like to see what future
publications he has coming down the pike, see the bottom of his Support page.
Finally, I'll point out the detailed ceremonial notes that
Mr. Tofari has compiled for the traditional Roman Liturgy, also accessible
through his Romanitas Press website. These serving notes are not merely
relegated to the standard parish ceremonies of Low and High Mass, but also treat
of annual rites, such as Holy Week.
