Today, Gaudete Sunday we had the privilege of having the solemn Mass offered.
Focus on the eternal joy that is found when center on the Most Holy Trinity. Anything else leads only to disappointment.
Fr. Peter J. Langevin, celebrant
Fr. Robert L. Turner, deacon
Mr. William V. Riccio, subdeacon
#LatinMassNewHaven
Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent) will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, December 15, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Peter J. Langevin, Chancellor, Diocese of Norwich, will be the celebrant and homilist, and The Reverend Robert L. Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Church, North Branford will serve as Deacon. The Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant for the service.
Gaudete Sunday marks the midpoint of Advent. As on Laetare Sunday, the midpoint of Lent, the penitential character of the liturgy is relaxed; the organ is played, flowers are permitted on the altar, and violet vestments are replaced with rose. The Introit at Mass exhorts Christians to rejoice at the coming of Christ at Christmas in anticipation of His Second Coming at the end of time.
Saint John the Baptist preaches in the Gospel at today’s Mass, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord … the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.” Following John’s exhortation to prepare for the coming of the Lord, the Church urges her faithful in the Communion Antiphon to “take courage and fear not: behold our God will come, and will save us.”
Music for the liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will include the Missa Cum jubilo (Vatican edition IX) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for Advent Sunday: “Gaudete in Domino semper,” the Antiphon “Alma Redemptoris Mater” set Felice Anerio, the Advent Hymn, “Veni Emmanuel,” and organ music by Jean Titelousze.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, December 8, at 2:00 p.m. The Reverend Matthew Mauriello will be the celebrant, and the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant and polyphony for the service.
Although the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady was defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1854, the veneration of Mary’s spotless holiness is far more ancient. The feast was observed in the East from the 8th century, in Ireland from the ninth, and in England from the eleventh.
As we anticipate the birth of Our Lord on Christmas, let us rejoice with the cry of admiration that the Church puts in our lips in the liturgy: “Tota pulchra es, Maria! – Thou art all fair, O Mary, unstained by original sin.” And so, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, coming in the course of Advent, heralds the splendors of the Incarnation of the Redeemer.
Music for the liturgy will include the Gregorian chant ordinary “Missa Marialis (Vatican ed. IX/X, the proper Gregorian chants, polyphonic motets by Guillaume Dufay and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and organ music by Jean Titelouze.
#LatinMassNewHaven
The Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, December, at 2:00 pm. Father Peter J. 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.
Gaudete Sunday marks the midpoint of Advent and, similar to Laetare Sunday in Lent, the penitential character of the liturgy is relaxed; e.g., the organ is played, flowers are permitted on the altar, and violet vestments are replaced with rose. These externals are easily observable, but less obvious is the significance of some of the texts that the Church has selected for Gaudete Sunday’s liturgy. For example, verse one from Psalm 84 occurs twice in the Mass propers for the day; first as the Introit verse, and then again as the Offertory Antiphon.
While the appropriateness of some scriptural verses for proper texts is obvious, other scriptural verses often give the impression that they are generic without a close connection to the feast or season. To ascertain the rationale behind the selection of a particular psalm verse often requires an understanding of how the psalm is interpreted as a prefiguration of Christ. A note at the head of Psalm 84 in the Douay Bible summarizes the meaning of the psalm as representing “the coming of Christ, to bring peace and salvation to man.” Additionally, The Saint Andrew Daily Missal explains verse one’s reference to the rescue of Jacob’s people from their captivity in Babylon as representing Christ freeing His people from the bondage of sin. With these insights, may our prayerful participation in this Sunday’s liturgy be enriched.
Music for the liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will include the Missa Cum jubilo (Vatican edition IX) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for Advent Sunday: “Gaudete in Domino semper,” the Antiphon “Alma Redemptoris Mater” set by Joseph Kempter, and the Advent Hymn, “Veni Emmanuel.”
All in attendance at this Mass are cordially invited to a coffee hour sponsored by the Saint Gregory Society immediately following Mass in the Holy Name Society room in the basement of the school building next to the church.
The First Sunday of Advent will be observed in a celebration of High Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, December, at 2:00 pm. The Rev. John Pikulski will be the celebrant, and the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant for the service.
The Post-Communion collect from the First Sunday of Advent sums up the purpose of this liturgical season praying “… that we may prepare with due reverence for the coming festival of our redemption.” Providing all of her great feasts with preparatory periods, during Advent the Church prepares us for the twofold coming of Christ; His first coming when He took flesh, which will be commemorated at Christmas, and His second coming mentioned in the gospel reading when we “… shall see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with great power and majesty.”
While Advent does not require obligatory acts of penance, the Church’s liturgy suggests that penance and repentance are the best means of preparation for the coming of Christ. St. Paul admonishes us in the epistle reading to “… cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light …” that we may “… walk… not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy…” Furthermore, the penitential character of Advent is expressed liturgically through the use of violet vestments, the removal of flowers from the altar, the omission of the Gloria, the silence of the organ, etc. In fact, the liturgy during Advent is akin to Lent with the exception that the Alleluia is retained. Therefore, may we use this Advent season profitably in preparation not only for Christmas, but for the eschaton, i.e., the end of days and last things.”
Music for the liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society will include the Missa Orbis factor (Vatican edition XI) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for Advent Sunday: “Ad te levavi,” the hymn “Condite alme siderum” by Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474), and the Advent prose, “Rorate caeli desuper.”