Blessed Virgin Mary, Catechesis

Assumption Mass 2021

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, 15 August, at 2:00 p.m. Father Robert Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the celebrant and homilist, and the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant and polyphony for the service.

Belief in the Assumption of our Lady goes back to early Christian tradition, having found expression in the writings of the Church Fathers as well as in various liturgies in the East as well as the West. In the 18th century Pope Benedict XIV declared the Assumption to be a truth that no one is permitted to doubt, but it was not then defined as a dogma. Finally, on 1 November 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed solemnly ex cathedra that “the Immaculate Mother of God, at the close of her earthly career, was taken up into heaven, body and soul.”

The texts for the Mass on this feast present the glorified Virgin as the person of the Woman clothed with the sun (Introit, Apoc. 12.1), as the King’s Daughter in golden robes (Gradual, Ps. 44), and as the Woman, who, with her Son, will be the victorious enemy of the serpent (Offertory, Gen. 3.15). The various collects of the Mass exhort us to follow Mary’s example in longing for heaven, obtaining the glorious resurrection, and enjoying everlasting bliss.

Music for the service will include the Missa Marialis Ordinary (Vatican ed. IX/X), the proper Gregorian chants of the feast, motets by Orlando di Lasso and Ludovico Viadana, and organ music Organ music by Girolamo Frescobaldi and Girolamo Cavazzoni.

Catechesis

TLM for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, July 11, at 2:00 pm. The Rev. Richard Cipolla, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant, and members of the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant and polyphony for the service.

The texts for the Epistle and Gospel on this day remind us that that “not everyone that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father…” True wisdom guides us fidelity in our service to God.

We should implore God to keep us in the way of His commandments by removing from our lives all that may hurt us and by bestowing upon us all the is for our good.

Music for the liturgy will include the Gregorian chant ordinary “Missa Orbis factor (Mass XI), the proper Gregorian chants for the day, motets by Orlando di Lasso and Ludovico Viadana, and organ Music by Claudio Merulo and Girolamo Frescobaldi.

Catechesis

Corpus Christi Sunday 2021

The Feast of the Most Sacred Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, or Corpus Christi, will be celebrated in a High Mass in the traditional Latin form at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, June 6, at 2:00 pm. The Mass will be followed by Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The celebrant for the service will be Father Robert Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford.

While the origins of the Feast of Corpus Christi date from the early 13th century when St. Juliana of Mont-Cornillon urged the French hierarchy establish a feast celebrating the Real presence of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the elements of Eucharist in northern France, in was in 1268 that Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of Corpus Christi universally in the Western Church. The pope requested that St. Thomas Aquinas compose the texts for the liturgy of feast, which include the propers sung at Mass, notably the sequence Lauda Sion and the chants sung in the procession and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Benediction that follows the service is the supreme devotional ceremony of adoration of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, in which prayers and hymns are addressed to Our Lord in the Host exposed in a monstrance placed on the altar. The concludes with the reposition of the Sacrament in the tabernacle.

Music for the service, performed by members of the Schola Cantorum of The Saint Gregory Society, will include the Gregorian Mass Ordinary IV, “Cunctipotens Genitor,” motets by Charles Gounod and César Franck, the proper Gregorian chants, and organ music by Alexandre Guilmant and César Franck.