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Annual St. Gregory Purgatorial Society High Mass of Requiem

The annual St. Gregory Purgatorial Society High Mass of Requiem will be offered this Thursday evening, November 10, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Stanislaus Church for members and friends of the Society as well as those enrolled in the Saint Gregory Purgatorial Society .  The Reverend Robert  L. Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the celebrant.  This beautiful Mass of the Dead offered in the traditional rite is one of the most edifying experiences to be had by a faithful Christian. We urge our members and friends to attend and to enroll departed family members and friends in the Purgatorial Society for 2022-23. Please click the ”Purgatorial Society” button to the left for further information and access to the enrollment form.

Mass for the Feast of All Saints

The Feast All Saints will be observed in a celebration of Low Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Tuesday, 1 November, at 5:30 pm. The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport, will be the celebrant.

Solemn High Mass for the Feast of Christ the King

The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King will be observed in a celebration of Solemn High Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, 31 October, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Canon Joel Estrada, ICKSP, Pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish and Oratory, Waterbury will be the celebrant, and The Reverend Robert L. Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the deacon.

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in his Encyclical Letter Quas primas of 1925. This letter explained 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 sung by the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will include the Gregorian Mass Ordinary IV, the motets “Gloria tibi” by Wm. Byrd,  and “O Sacrum Convivium” by Ludovico Viadana, the Gregorian chant proper of the feast (“Dignus est agnus”), and organ music by William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons.

Altar Servers needed

The Saint Gregory Society seeks to increase the roster of men and boys who serve at the altar for the traditional Latin Masses celebrated at St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven.  Those interested should contact the Society’s Master of Ceremonies, Mr. William Riccio Jr., at wmvrjr@yahoo.com.  Mr. Riccio can arrange for training of those who have not served before at the traditional Mass.

High Mass for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost will be observed celebration of Solemn High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, 16 October, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Robert L. Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the celebrant and the Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, the Diocese of Bridgeport, will be the deacon. The Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant and polyphony for the service.

The Gospel for this Sunday features the Parable of the Wedding Feast, in which a king invites his friends, presumably the high-ranking men and women of his kingdom. When they do not come, the king orders them killed and then invites anyone who will come. Among them is a man who is not wearing a wedding garment, whom the king has thrown out into “outer darkness.”

All of us are called by God into his Church and are received indiscriminately. But at the last hour those who have not put on the garments of faith and charity will be cast out, for “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

Music for the liturgy will include Gregorian Mass XI (Orbis factor), motets by Claudio Monteverdi (Domine Pater et Deus) and Orlando di Lasso (Adoramus te Christe), the Gregorian chant proper of the feast (Salus populi), and organ music by Girolamo Frescobaldi and Girolamo Cavazzoni.