Professor Lockwood's Funeral

Good Welcome, again.

The funeral was a true homecoming for a lot of the people in the cortege, as the Church of St. Joseph of Cupertino was next door to the convent that Pedro had rented as his “Casa De Amor”, and where Ramona and Francesca had worked, before all adopted the ways of St. Sybian.
The Pastor, Father Raynor, who had made the rental agreement with Pedro, was now back to bingo and bakesales to raise money. The convent, the scene of the “suicide” of Bishop Bassanni and Pedro’s fatal heart attack, sat empty.
During the funeral, the four “Priestesses of Sybian” performed a liturgical dance to the last organ piece Felix Culpa had written, “Litany of the Rivers of Love”. Maxine gave the music to the parish organist who said he would “try to make some sense of it.” I recorded the music on my laptop…



Ramona, Esperanza, Francesca, Maxine
Dancing at Funeral of Patrick Lockwood
Si. Joseph of Cupertino Church, Chicago, Il

River Litany.mp3

Everyone in the congregation was incredibly moved not just by the stunning dance, but by the mesmerizing, engulfing organ music ------ I myself was shaking, so much it brought back the spirit of Felix Sebastian Culpa!!! As Maxine was leaving the church, she rushed over to thank the organist coming down the stairway in a daze. He told Maxine and the others that as he was getting ready to play the ”Litany,” an older man stinking of booze came up and motioned him away, took his place on the organ bench and began to play as if he knew the instrument and the music intimately. When he was finished, he nodded to the organist and left down the “sexton’s stairway”, which is normally locked as it leads only to the convent next door. The organist’s description left us all amazed, as it fit Felix perfectly.



After the funeral cortege had left, I lingered, still overwhelmed by the power of the ceremony I had just witnessed. All alone in the church, I wanted to take more photos of the church for the computer. All the while, I felt I was being watched. It was not until I put the pictures on the computer that I saw something in the balcony. Or did I?



At the cemetery, Father Raynor, just smiled and said it must have been the “smoke of the incense rising to the ceiling” and without further comment, left with the three altar girls.