It hardly seems possible that a week has passed since I was at the wonderful conference held in Fort Lauderdale and Miami—“Gregorian Chant and Modern Composition for the Catholic Liturgy: Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique as Guide”.  Tournemire (1870-1939) was an organist and composer who is best known for his monumental cycle of organ pieces, L’Orgue Mystique.  The cycle consists of fifty-one suites (of about five pieces each) for every Sunday and feast day of the liturgical year for which an organ could be used.  The conference began on Wednesday evening, February 1st, with an organ recital by Jonathan Ryan.  Thursday, February 2nd, was a day of all organ recitals and lecture recitals at Miami’s Church of the Epiphany.  That evening was the crowning event, a Solemn High Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form for Candlemas, celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski, of Miami.  The Feast of the Purification (Presentation) is a beautiful feast day that hardly ever gets celebrated, and almost never as a Pontifical Mass.  The blessing of candles and the procession of clergy that preceded the Mass was impressive, as about sixty priests and seminarians of the archdiocese were in attendance.  Archbishop Wenski is to be congratulated on his generosity in consenting to celebrate this Mass and on the example he gave to his clergy.  Thomas Schuster, organist at the Church of the Epiphany, played Tournemire’s pieces for the Purification, from L’Orgue Mystique and the Gregorian Chants proper to the day were sung by a women’s schola under the direction of Dr Jennifer Donelson, organizer of the conference.  A brand new choral setting of the Mass was sung by the Florida Schola Cantorum, under the direction of Dr Edward Schaefer, as well as a new setting of the Nunc dimittis, by Paul Weber.  The Church of the Epiphany, which seats 1200, was filled to overflowing.  The liturgy was long, but it did not seem long; it was a true foretaste of the heavenly liturgy.  To watch a video of this beautiful Mass, visit livemass.net.  The next day, Friday, was a day of scholarly papers on subjects relating in various ways to Charles Tournemire.  Much stimulating discussion was generated by the papers presented.