Crossing the Threshold of a New Year with Faith, Family and Friends

Circa Brewing Company's mouthwatering "Shroom" pizza
Photos by Andrew Giordano and New York Scugnizzo

Picking up where we left off on Sunday, Christmastide is in full swing.

Monday, December 30th — The Feast of San Raniero di Forcona, Vescovo

After an amazing faith-filled weekend, our Christmas festivities continued Monday with a jovial luncheon at Circa Brewing Company (141 Lawrence St.) in Downtown Brooklyn. Ever since the changing of the guard at our old watering hole, we made this relatively obscure brewpub our new spot whenever we’re in the neighborhood. Seasonal beers and crack wait staff, this winter I’ve been enjoying their Duke O’ Eichele, a smooth Imperial stout that quickly warms me up and surprisingly compliments the pizza.

I know they have more items on the menu, but honestly I only order the pizza or the big calzone, which in and of itself is a culinary masterpiece made with wild boar, dry aged beef ragù, guanciole, mozzarella and goat milk ricotta. As for the pizza, my favorite is the “shroom” pie with mozzarella, smoked idiázabal, a farm egg, and, of course, wild mushrooms.

Pizza Margherita

As good as the food was, the highlight of the evening was getting a couple of old religious medals from my friends. Sadly, they belonged to a recently deceased relative, but knowing my devoutness they thought that I would appreciate them; and they were right.

Raphael’s putto medal

The small medal has one of Raphael’s iconic putti on the front and gott schütze dich, German for “God protect you,” inscribed on the back. The larger one has Our Lady of Fátima on the obverse and a depiction of the famed Marian apparition witnessed by the three shepherd children in Portugal on the reverse. Evviva San Raniero!

Our Lady of Fátima medal

Tuesday, December 31st — The Feast of San Silvestro il Primo and New Year’s Eve

As much as I wanted to attend the 11:30pm Tridentine Mass for the Feast of St. Sylvester I at Holy Innocents Church (128 West 37th St.) in Manhattan, I just couldn’t bring myself to go into the city on New Year’s Eve. Even on a good day the city is overcrowded and annoying, I can’t imagine how much worse it must be with all the revelers converging at Times Square.

Instead, I stayed home and spent my evening cleaning out the closets and cupboards of unnecessary items in an effort to cleanse myself of clutter and gratuitous worldly possessions. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good party (in fact, I’ve been celebrating almost daily with family and friends since Christmas Eve), but in recent years, while trying to keep more in tune with the Church’s Liturgical calendar, I’ve come to think of the first Sunday of Advent as the real beginning of the New Year.

I finally got to open my Kris Kringle present, a bottle of
Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. small batch Kentucky bourbon

Just the same, I still like to reflect on the previous year and figure out what I can do to improve myself in the new one. Fasting and praying for the vigil of the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord, I was not totally without creature comforts. I treated myself to a stiff drink and toasted St. Sylvester. I also had a couple of dried figs, since fresh ones weren't available, in an effort to make the upcoming year sweet. At midnight I spoke with and texted loved ones, then called it a night. Evviva San Silvestro!

Wednesday, January 1st — The Octave Day of the Nativity and Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord

Wednesday morning I joined my Fratelli della Santa Fede (Brothers of the Holy Faith) brethren at Holy Innocents Church and attended both the 9:00am Tridentine Low Mass celebrated by our pastor Fr. Miara, and the 10:30 am Tridentine High Mass sung by Fr. Michael C. Barone, Chaplain for Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey and the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George.

Saying our daily prayers of thanks and praise, we also sang Veni Creator Spiritus (Come Creator Spirit), a 9th century hymn attributed to Frankish Benedictine monk Rabanus Maurus (c.780-856). A plenary indulgence under the usual conditions (Confession, Communion, praying for the intentions of the Holy Father, etc.) is granted to those who sing or recite the hymn in church on January 1st. 

Pupu platter 

Skipping coffee hour in the parish hall, we headed back to Brooklyn for our group’s celebratory luncheon. Seeing as most Italian American restaurants are closed for the holiday, we chose to go to Silver Star, an old-school Chinese restaurant in Bensonhurst for a lark. Curiously, there seemed to be more Italians at the packed restaurant than at some of the Italian eateries we frequent these days.

The Happy Family

Bringing back a lot of fun childhood memories, our party ate its fill of classic American-style Chinese specialties, like wonton soup, the “Happy Family,” and the once ubiquitous pupu platter, a mélange of meat and seafood appetizers. We even got fortune cookies with our pistachio ice cream.

All in all it was a very enjoyable meal; the food was plentiful, the price was right, and the waiters were super-friendly and helpful. Even so, it did seem a little strange not having sausage and lentils on the holiday. So when I started feeling a bit peckish later on, I began browning the sausage and simmering the legumes. While I didn’t miss the champagne, baked ham or macaroni, it was only after I plated the hearty stew that it really started to feel like New Years. Buon Anno!

~ Giovanni di Napoli, January 3rd, Feast of St. Genevieve