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Catechesis, News

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.

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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.

Catechesis, News

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.

Catechesis, News

Solemn High Mass for the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel

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The Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel, commonly known as Michaelmas, will be observed in an external celebration of Solemn High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, 3 October, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Richard G. Cipolla, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant and homilist, and the Revered Robert L. Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the Deacon. The Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant and polyphony for the service.

The Hebrew name Michael means “Who is like unto God?” and recalls the battle in heaven between the prince of the heavenly host and the devil, a battle that began with Lucifer’s rebellion and continues down through the ages. In this tremendous struggle Michael and his angels, together with the Church and her saints, are Christ’s allies against Satan and his demonic cohorts. At the offertory of the Requiem Mass, the church prays that God’s Standard-bearer Michael may lead the departed Christian soul into heaven.  The offertory at Michaelmas reminds us that St. Michael also presides over our worship, for he is the angel whom St. John saw in heaven near God’s altar, censer in hand, offering the fragrant incense of the prayers of the saints.

As the Church Militant faces these days the assault from within and without, it behooves Christians everywhere redouble their devotion to St. Michael and to invoke him daily in the prayer ordered by Pope Leo XIII to be said after every Low Mass:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Music for the liturgy will include Gregorian Mass IV (Cunctipotens genitor), motets by François Couperin (Factum est silentium) and Jean-Baptiste Lallouette (O Sacrum Convivium), the Gregorian chant proper of the Feast of St. Michael (Benedicite Dominum, omnes Angeli), and organ music by Guillaume Nivers and Jacques Boivin.