Category Archives: High Mass

High Mass for Christmas Day at St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven

The Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ will be observed in a celebration of High Mass on Christmas Day, Monday, December 25 t 2:00 pm, at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven. The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport, will be the celebrant and homilist. The Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the music for the service.

The Christmas liturgy gives far greater emphasis to the majesty of the Child Jesus than to the lowly sate of His birth.  As we contemplate the crib, it behooves us to acknowledge there the Word, the very Son of God, who, in the wake of all the prophets, came Himself to bring us tidings from the Father and who, having made “purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the Majesty on High.”

These lofty considerations are admirably fitted to show the place of the mystery of Christmas in the scheme of salvation and help us to understand how far it affects us: “Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that as the Saviour of the world born on this day is the author of our divine generation, so He may Himself also be to us the giver of immortality,

Music for the liturgy will include the Missa de Angelis (Vatican edition VIII) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for Christmas Day: “Puer natus est nobis ,” motets by Orlando di Lasso (“Hodie apparuit in Israel”) and Cristóbal de Morales (“Puer natus”),  Latin  Christmas hymns, and organ music by Sir Charles H. H. Parry and Louis-Claude Daquin.

High Mass for Gaudete Sunday (Advent III) at St. Stanislaus Church

The Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday will be observed in a celebration of Solemn Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, December 17, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Richard Cipolla, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant and homilist, and The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport,  will serve as Deacon. The Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant for the service.

Gaudete Sunday marks the midpoint of Advent. As on Laetare Sunday, the midpoint of Lent, the penitential character of the liturgy is relaxed; the organ is played, flowers are permitted on the altar, and violet vestments are replaced with rose.  The Introit at Mass exhorts Christians to rejoice at the coming of Christ at Christmas in anticipation of His Second Coming at the end of time.

Saint John the Baptist preaches in the Gospel at today’s Mass, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord … the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.” Following John’s exhortation to prepare for the coming of the Lord, the Church urges her faithful in the Communion Antiphon to “take courage and fear not: behold our God will come, and will save us.”

Music for the liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society.  will include the Missa Cum jubilo (Vatican edition IX) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for Advent Sunday: “Gaudete in Domino semper,” motets by Nicholas Renouf (“Ne timeas Maria”) and Palestrina (“Alma Redemptoris Mater”),  the Advent Hymn, “Veni Emmanuel,” and organ music by Jean Titelouze and Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers.

Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation., will be observed in a Low Mass offered in the traditional Latin form on Friday, December 8, at 5:30 p.m. at St Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven. The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport, will be the celebrant.

The infallibly defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Latin Catholic Church reveals to us that “God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son. In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate. This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).

Mary is the “New Eve,” the Mother of God, Mother of us all. As such, we believe that Mary Immaculate is a type of the Church and the perfect model of holiness for all Christians.

Under the title is the Immaculate Conception she is the patroness of the United States of America. May she intercede for us before the Throne of Grace!

High Mass for the First Sunday in Advent

The first Sunday in Advent will be observed in a celebration of High Mass in the traditional Latin form on Sunday, December 3, at 2:00 pm at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven.  The Reverend Richard G. Cipolla, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk will be the celebrant.

During the season of Advent, the Church reflects upon the twofold coming of our Savior: His birth at Bethlehem which will enlighten the world until the end of time, and His return at the last judgment when He comes to condemn the guilty to the flames and call the just with a loving voice to heaven.

Let us prepare for the Christmas feast by holy prayers and fasting and by reforming our lives, that we may be ready for that last great assize upon which depends the fate of our soul for all eternity. And all this with confidence for those “who wait upon the Lord will never be confounded” as expressed in the Introit, Gradual and Offertory of the Mass on this day.

Music for this service will include the Gregorian Mass Ordinary XI (“Orbis factor”), the Gregorian chant proper for the first Sunday in Advent (“Ad te levavi,” the motet“Alma Redemptoris mater” by Felice Anerio. and the hymn “Conditor alme siderum” by Guillaume Dufay.

Solemn Mass for Gaudete Sunday

The Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday will be observed in a celebration of Solemn Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, December 11, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Richard Cipolla, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant and homilist, and The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport  will serve as Deacon. The Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant for the service.

Gaudete Sunday marks the midpoint of Advent. As on Laetare Sunday, the midpoint of Lent, the penitential character of the liturgy is relaxed; the organ is played, flowers are permitted on the altar, and violet vestments are replaced with rose.  The Introit at Mass exhorts Christians to rejoice at the coming of Christ at Christmas in anticipation of His Second Coming at the end of time.

Saint John the Baptist preaches in the Gospel at today’s Mass, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord … the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.” Following John’s exhortation to prepare for the coming of the Lord, the Church urges her faithful in the Communion Antiphon to “take courage and fear not: behold our God will come, and will save us.”

Music for the liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society.  will include the Missa Cum jubilo (Vatican edition IX) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for Advent Sunday: “Gaudete in Domino semper,” motets by Nicholas Renouf (“Ne timeas Maria”) and Palestrina (“Alma Redemptoris Mater”),  the Advent Hymn, “Veni Emmanuel,” and organ music by Jean Titelouze and Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers.