On Monday, June 29, 2009, thirteen first-year seminarians received their cassock from Monsignor Gilles Wach; they were tonsured on June 30 by the Most Reverend Basil Meeking, Bishop Emeritus of Christchurch, New Zealand. Bishop Meeking also conferred minor orders the same day to over forty young men, in addition to ordaining several subdeacons on Wednesday, July 1.
Archbishop Burke reads a sermon at the priestly ordinationsOn Thursday, July 2, the Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, ordained three priests — Canon Jason Apple (United States), Canon Raphael Ueda (Japan), and Canon Frederic Goupil (France) — at the magnificent Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano in Florence.
That same evening, the Most Reverend Giuseppe Betori, Archbishop of Florence, offered Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament with Te Deum in the seminary chapel of Gricigliano. Archbishop Burke and Bishop Meeking, as well as the Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone, Bishop of Oakland, California, assisted at this solemn Liturgy, which was followed by a festive dinner on the seminary terrace and fireworks display.
The next day, each of the newly ordained priests offered his first Mass. On Sunday, July 5, Canon Ueda celebrated his first Solemn High Mass.