Category Archives: Catechesis

Catechesis

Michaelmas September 29

The Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel commonly known as Michaelmas, will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, 29 September, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Peter Langevin, Parochial Vicar of the Cathedral of St. Patrick, Norwich, will be the celebrant and homilist, and the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant 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 scandal-ridden days, 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.

Catechesis

High Mass on September 15

The schedule of High Masses in the traditional Latin form at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, will resume this fall with the celebration of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Sunday, September 15, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Richard Cipolla, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant and homilist, and the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant for the service.

The Feast of the Holy Cross commemorates the finding of the True Cross by St. Helena, Mother of the Emperor Constantine, who erected churches upon the sites of the Holy Sepulchre and Calvary. The dedication took place on the 13th and 14th of September of 335. In this feast we memorialize Christ’s death on the Cross, which was at once His sacrifice and His victory. He Himself foretold on the eve of His Passion: “The prince of this world is to be cast out. Yes, if only I am lifted up from the earth, I will attract all men to myself.” (Gospel). St. Paul also points out that the law of exaltation through suffering may be said to have governed the whole of Christ’s life. (Epistle), and draws the moral that “it behoves us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Introit).

The external celebration of this feast has special significance for the members and friends of the St. Gregory Society. It was on this feast day in 2007 that Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum went into effect, granting all priests of the Latin rite Church the right to celebrate Mass in the traditional Latin form and the faithful to request such celebrations be regularly available in their parishes. It is, therefore, a most fitting occasion for us thankfully to rejoice in the Holy Father’s provision for widespread use of the traditional Roman liturgy.

Catechesis, Devotion

July is the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus

July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. July 1st is the particular feast day for the Precious Blood.

It was Blessed Pope Pius IX who instituted the feast in 1849 recognizing the devotion is as old as Christian dispensation.

You may know that the early Fathers taught that the Church was born from the pierced side of Jesus Christ on the cross, and that the sacraments were brought forth through His Blood.

“The Precious Blood which we worship is the Blood which the Savior shed for us on Calvary and reassumed at His glorious Resurrection; it is the Blood which courses through the veins of His risen, glorified, living body at the right hand of God the Father in heaven; it is the Blood made present on our altars by the words of Consecration; it is the Blood which merited sanctifying grace for us and through it washes and beautifies our soul and inaugurates the beginning of eternal life in it.

More on this important month, visit this link.

By the Precious Blood of the Lamb are we saved!

Catechesis

Corpus Christi Sunday 2019

Accademia – Procession in piazza San Marco by Gentile Bellini

The Feast of the Most Sacred Body and Blood of our Lord, or Corpus Christi, will be celebrated in a High Mass in the traditional Latin form at St. Stanislaus Church in New Haven on Sunday, June 9, at 2:00 pm. The celebrant will be The Reverend Peter Langevin, Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich, the Reverend Dr. Richard Cipolla will be the deacon and preach and William Riccio will serve as the subdeacon.

In 1208 St. Juliana of Mont-Cornillon had a vision in which Christ instructed her to work for the institution of a feast in honor of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. Responding to local establishment of such a feast in French dioceses on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of Corpus Christi universally in the Western Church in 1268. The pope requested that St. Thomas Aquinas compose the texts for the liturgy of feast, which include the propers sung at Mass notably the the sequence Lauda Sion and the chants sung in the procession.

The procession following the Mass reminds us of how the Israelites revered the Ark of the Covenant as the Presence of God among them. The Ark was carried before them by the Levites in a cloud of incense and the singing of the multitude. We Christians have a treasure far more precious, for in the Eucharist we possess God Himself.  Let us feel a holy pride in forming His escort and extolling his triumphs while He is in our midst.

Music for the service, sung by the Schola Cantorum of The Saint Gregory Society, will include the Gregorian Mass Ordinary IV, “Cunctipotens Genitor,” the Eucharistic hymns Pange lingua, Verbum supernum, Adoro te devote, and Sacris solemniis, the proper Gregorian chants, and organ music by Jean Titelouze and Guillaume de Nivers.

Catechesis, Easter

Fifth Sunday after Easter

The Fifth Sunday after Easter will be celebrated in a High Mass in the traditional Latin form at St. Stanislaus Church in New Haven on Sunday, May 26, at 2:00 pm. The celebrant will be The Reverend Peter Langevin, Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich and Parochial Vicar of the Cathedral of St. Patrick, Norwich.

The proper texts of the liturgy for this Sunday’s Mass continue to sing of Christ’s victory and of the salvation of Christian people whom He has redeemed. During the Rogation Days that follow, the Church exhorts us to pray in “His name” and ask for what is necessary for us, salvation first and foremost; these prayers will unfailingly be granted us “that our joy may be full.”

We must ask, too, that we may be worthy to enter with Him into His Father’s kingdom, while acknowledging that prayer that is sincere implies generosity: St. Jame’s Epistle reminds us that it is not enough merely to pray; we must also be “doers of the Word.”

Music for the service, sung by the Schola Cantorum of The Saint Gregory Society, will include the Gregorian Mass Ordinary for Eastertide (Vatican Edition I: “Lux et origo,” Easter antiphons, and the proper Gregorian chants.