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Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P.
Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, OP was raised in Phoenix, AZ where he attended Brophy College Preparatory. He graduated from the University of Arizona with a double major in English and Philosophy. From there, he went to law school at the University of Chicago, where he obtained his Juris Doctor. Upon graduation, he worked for three years in the Corporate and Securities practice of Sidley & Austin, a large international law firm based in Chicago. Upon reflection and discernment, he left the practice of law to enter religious life. He entered the novitiate for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2002, where he took the religious name "Pius", after Pope St. Pius V, one of the four Popes who were first Dominicans. As part of his initial formation, Fr. Pius studied for the License in Sacred Theology. His thesis was on St. Thomas Aquinas's account of Knowledge and Love in understanding the persons of the Trinity. Fr. Pius was ordained to the priesthood on May 23, 2008 and served at the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, OH. In 2010, Fr. Pius was appointed by President Barack Obama to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that promotes equal access to justice and provides grants for high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. Fr. Pius is currently in studies pursuing a degree in Canon Law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum).
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Dominican Lenten Devotion
Devotion to the Passion of Our Lord according to St. Catherine de Ricci
Posted by Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P. on March 31, 2009
Saint Mary's Church, New Haven CT.
Fr. Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P. and the priests of St. Mary's Church in New Haven, CT have presented for the parish the Devotion of St. Catherine de Ricci, a third order Dominican sister and noted mystic. A copy of the program for the devotion can be found here. Fr. Hugh Vincent describes the devotion and its popularity in the parish:
The Dominican friars at St. Mary's New Haven have introduced the Dominican Lenten Devotion on the Passion according to St. Catherine de Ricci to the parish. Every Friday night during Lent at 7 pm the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, scripture is read, and one of the priest friars preaches. The Devotion of Catherine de Ricci is then sung by cantors. The devotion was written by St. Catherine de Ricci and is a compilation of verses from scripture; including the psalms, prophets, and gospels, with one line coming from the Te Deum. Certain lines are repeated by the entire congregation. At the conclusion of the verses is Benediction and reposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The congregation then comes forward to venerate the crucifix while the cantors sing the hymn Vexilia Regis. The crucifix then remains for a half-hour for private prayer after the example of our Holy Father St. Dominic, among whose nine ways of prayers is meditation before an image of Christ crucified. The crucifix used during the devotion at St. Mary's was blessed by St. Padre Pio.
St. Catherine de Ricci was an enclosed sister of the Dominican Third Order who was born in Italy in 1522 and died on the Feast of the Presentation in 1590. She was known for her mystical experiences relating to contemplation on the Passion of Christ. During her lifetime, she corresponded with her contemporaries, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi and St. Philip Neri.
St. Catherine's devotion on the Passion is scriptural and contemplative. St. Mary's has seen between 50 and 100 people each week in attendance. The cantors, Joshua Copeland, Stephen Ogden, and Christian Huebner are all graduate students at Yale and members of the St. Mary's Young Adult Group. Stephen and Christian sing at the noon mass while Josh has his master's degree in voice from Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music, and is now pursuing an Artist Diploma in the Yale Opera program. These three young volunteers are all converts to the faith. There are also many other young adults attending the devotion, some of whom are non-Catholics. Members of the lay fraternity of St. Dominic and the Knights of Columbus also attend.