Hearts & Saints

It’s called the I Love St. Anthony Festival, with love replaced with the ubiquitous heart as in, I heart N.Y. I’ve been prone to a deeper word play appreciation of late so I wonder if they are loving the Saint Anthony Festival or if it is a Festival for those who love Saint Anthony. As J.C. street fairs go, it is of a recent vintage, I believe this was the third. I go every year
(here's last year's blog). It’s a celebration of everything Polish. So, along with the usual carnie games and cash bars, there’s an amazing selection of authentic, home cooked, Polish cuisine. Keilbasa, Pergois, Potato Pancakes, Stuffed Cabbage, as well as selection of Polish DVDs, and other enthnic items. They’re a lively bunch here in town and this festival attracts both the newly arrived and the second and third and fourth generation from far and wide.

This great polka band, Joe Stanky & The Cadets, played a truly delightful set of polka. I’m not about to run out and buy a Polka box set or anything like that, but it is hard not to dig the sound. Dylan (always Dylan), put a polka song on his Christmas Carol record and it’s pretty hard not hear the Polka Influence in Lily, Rosemary & The Jack of Hearts from Blood on the Tracks. Tex-Mex, Western Swing, Cajun as well as up-tempo country waltzes are just variations of the same accordion-centric dance music. Polka used to have its own Grammy Award. Very enjoyable and these cats could really play.

During the festival the sponsoring Church, Saint Anthony, named for the patron saint of Miracles, a Franciscan friar and thaumaturgist known for his devotion to helping the poor and extraordinary gifts of oratory, holds an open house. One of the oldest churches in Jersey City, it is also one of the most beautiful, with extraordinary statuary, stain glass and mosaics. Rumors abound that the church will be closed during the next wave of consolidations implemented out of Newark seat of the Archdioceses. A heart breaking idea that will certainly be met with protests. In any event, try to check out this church. Regardless of your beliefs, the art will astound you.

This bigger than life cross is said to be the only statue to survive an 1895 fire.

A statuette in a tiny wall alcove, “A Quiet Moment,” the holy family, Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. Such a warm ideal is presented and notice the details of the toes, sandals, cloth of the robes. This sculpture expresses the divine in the human.

A mosaic of the Last Supper on the altar flickers with reflected light.

Black Madonna, a traditional Polish Blessed Virgin Mother icon has its own side altar with a tribute to Pope John Paul II. His canonization is a popular prayer topic, one assumes.

Stations of the Cross in Polish, I’ve never seen that before.

These are hat clips, a standard item in pews for many centuries, or decades at least. We used to play with them incessantly when I was in grammar school. Except for the winter, this was in the post-hat era. Churches built in more recent years do not have them. Maybe with the revival of chapeau wearing the clips might likewise have a comeback.