Eight days after the Nov. 28, 2020 Consistory in Rome where Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrated a Dec. 6 Mass at St. Ambrose Church in Cheverly, Maryland, where parishioners presented him with a special birthday gift -- a birthday cake with red icing shaped like a biretta, the hat that cardinals wear.
The cake was presented to the cardinal, whose 73rd birthday was the next day, by a family on behalf of the parish, Nelson and Deyse Calderon and their children Araini and Nelson Mateo.
Father Alejandro Diaz, St. Ambrose's pastor, told the Catholic Standard that Araini was dressed like a little nun and Nelson Mateo was dressed like a little priest, to represent future vocations from the parish. Elmer Rodrigues, a St. Ambrose parishioner who is entering the seminary for the Archdiocese of Washington, assisted at the Mass.
Elmer Rodrigues, a St. Ambrose parishioner who is becoming a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington, assisted at the Dec. 6 Mass celebrated there by Cardinal Gregory. (CS photo/Mihoko Owada)
St. Ambrose's pastor said a local woman who has a bakery business prepared the special cake.
“People believed it was a real biretta,” Father Diaz said.
The priest said Cardinal Gregory joked that the week before he received a biretta from the pope, but it wasn't as sweet.
Cardinal Gregory speaks at the Dec. 6 Mass at St. Ambrose Church in Cheverly. (CS photo/Mihoko Owada)
Father Diaz said it was a great honor for the parish to host the new cardinal after he returned home from Rome.
People pray during Cardinal Gregory's Dec. 6 Mass at St. Ambrose Church. (CS photos/Mihoko Owada)
The Mass also was a celebration of the feast day of the parish's patron saint, St. Ambrose, a fourth century Italian bishop and Doctor of the Church known for his preaching skills. St. Ambrose's feast day was the next day, Dec. 7, which is also Cardinal Gregory's birthday.
Cardinal Gregory preaches at the Dec. 6 Mass at St. Ambrose Church in Cheverly which also honored the next day's feast day of the parish’s patron saint, St. Ambrose, depicted in a statue in the sanctuary. In the photo below, the cardinal celebrates the Mass, joined by St. Ambrose's pastor, Father Alejandro Diaz. (CS photos/Mihoko Owada)
Before the Mass, Cardinal Gregory blessed the renovated rectory at St. Ambrose Parish, formerly the convent there that now houses the rectory and parish offices.
Assisting Cardinal Gregory at the Mass was his priest secretary, Father Charles Cortinovis, who recently served as the pastor of St. Ambrose Parish and who accompanied him to the Consistory in Rome.
Father Charles Cortinovis, at center in the photo above, serves as Cardinal Gregory's priest secretary and assisted at the Dec. 6 Mass at St. Ambrose, where he recently served as pastor. In the photo below, Cardinal Gregory blesses the St. Ambrose congregation as he processes from the altar after the Mass, walking behind Father Cortinovis. (CS photos/Mihoko Owada)
