Category Archives: Catechesis

Catechesis, 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.

Blessed Virgin Mary, Catechesis, High Mass

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!

Catechesis, High Mass

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.

Catechesis, Sacred Liturgy

Solemn Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament 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, 29 October, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport, 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.

Catechesis, Sacred Liturgy

High Mass for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost will be observed in a High Mass in the traditional Latin form at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, October 15, at 2:00 pm.  The celebrant for the service will be The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport.

The texts of the Liturgy during the October reflect on how merciful God is to his children when they repent of their unfaithfulness. The Epistle at Mass on this day exhorts us to turn from worldliness in order to be filled with the Holy Ghost and offer praise and thanks to God.  In the Gospel, our Lord heals the dying son of the nobleman because the man has shown faith in Him.

Let us ask God to nourish our own faith, so that it becomes unshakeable ind triumphant after the example of the faith of nobleman in the Gospel

Musc for the liturgy, sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society, will include: the Gregorian Mass proper for the 20th Sunday, “Omnia quae fecisti”; the motets “Non avertas faciem tuam” and “Adoramus te, Christe” by Orlando di Lasso; and organ music by Girolamo Cavazzoni and Girolamo Frescobaldi.