Devotion

Requiem Mass

“I look forward to the resurrection of the dead

and the life of the world to come.”

This year, our observance of All Souls Day, the spiritual work of All Souls Indulgence, and the Purgatorial Society Mass bear an unusual weight for Catholics across the world. We turn to God the father in faith, hope and love begging for His consolation and mercy. Many of us have confronted the anxieties of this era with prayer, fasting and almsgiving for the souls who have died. In fact, no day goes by without recalling before the Lord of Life the names of our beloved families and friends who have died, including those who died from complications to COVID 19.

November is the month of Souls in Purgatory. We begin special observances on November 2 and continue through the month.  A particularly important observance for all of us is the annual Requiem Mass offered for those souls enrolled in the St Gregory Purgatorial Society.

We invite you to enroll your departed loved ones whom you would like remembered at the altar of the Lord. The enrollment form is here:  St Gregory Purgatorial Soc Form.

The Solemn Purgatorial Mass will be Saturday, November 21, at 11:00 a.m., at St Stanislaus Church, New Haven. The traditional chants for the Requiem will be sung. The absolution at the catafalque will be prayed.

Catechesis

Christ the King Latin Mass 2020

The Feast of Christ the King will be observed in a celebration of Solemn Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, 25 October, at 2:00 pm. Father Richard Cipolla, Pastor emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk will be the celebrant and homilist, and Father Robert Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the Deacon. Members of the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant and polyphony for the service.

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in his Encyclical Letter of Quas primas of 1925. In this letter showed how laïcism and secularism, by organizing society without any reference to God, lead to the apostasy of the masses and the ruin of society because of their complete denial of Christ’s Kingship, which is one of the greatest heresies of our time. The Pope proposed this feast as an annual liturgical assertion of Christ’s divine right of Kingship as an effective means of combating this pernicious heresy.

By its position on the last Sunday in October, towards the end of the Liturgical Year and just before the All Saints Day, the feast of Christ the King comes at the climax of the celebration of all Christ’s mysteries and a kind of earthly anticipation of his everlasting reign over the elect in the glory of heaven.

Music for the liturgy will include William Byrd’s “Mass for Three Voices” and the Mass proper for the feast of Christ the King (“Dignus est agnus”), and organ music.

Devotion

Purgatorial Mass 2020

The annual  High Mass for those enrolled in the Purgatorial Society will be offered on Saturday, November 21st at 11:00 a.m. at St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven.

Fr. Richard Cipolla will be the celebrant and homilist.

The form for enrolling your family and friends may be found on the Purgatorial Society’s page. Or, you may email the St. Gregory Society and the enrollment form can be emailed to you. The address: saintgregorysociety@gmail.com

News

Solemn Latin Mass this Sunday

The schedule of High Masses at Saint Stanislaus Church in New Haven will resume on Sunday, October 4, at 2:00 pm, with the observation of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Celebrant will be Father Richard G. Cipolla, Rector Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, and the Deacon will be Father Robert Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford. Members of the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will perform the Gregorian chants for the service.

Instituted by Pope Pius V as the feast of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the defeat of the Ottoman Turks at Lepanto in 1571, which was attributed to the power of the Rosary, the title of the feast was changed to Our Lady of the Rosary by Pope Gregory XIII.

According to pious tradition the Rosary was given to Saint Dominic by the Blessed Virgin Mary during her apparition to him during the year 1214. He propagated this prayer in his campaign against the Albigensian heresy, and the devotion subsequently spread throughout Christendom over the centuries. In this time of great challenges to Christian faith and morals, let us have recourse to this most powerful defense against the snares and deceptions of the evil one.

Please bring family and friends to participate in this festive celebration. Music for the service performed by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society, will include the Gregorian chant Mass of Our Lady (“Cum jubilo, Vatican ed. IX), the chant propers of the feast, polyphonic motets, and organ music.

News

New Haven’s Latin Mass during Covid

Catholics throughout the world have been confronted with a serious obstacle to the practice of their faith by the Covid-19 pandemic during these past months: access to the sacraments, the heart of religious life, has been challenged by possible mortal health consequences. Submission to local authorities, both religious and civil, limited this access significantly during the late spring with the closing of churches for the public celebration of Mass. Beginning in July, public celebration of the Eucharist resumed with carefully defined restrictions, including the wearing of masks and social distancing directives.

In the New Haven community, we rejoice that the Traditional Latin Mass is again celebrated at St. Stanislaus Church every Sunday at 2:00 pm and on the First Friday of each month at 8:00 am. At. present, only Low Mass is offered, owing to the challenges presented by the pandemic with regard to the physical interaction among servers and choir members at High Mass.

The Saint Gregory Society invites all who are committed to the Traditional Liturgy, as well as those who would like to learn more about it, to attend these services and make their availability known to others.

We also encourage all those who visit this page frequently to have recourse to the “Prayer in Time of Pestilence” below.