Sometimes, things don’t go as planned!
This was the 16th Sunday after Pentecost according to the Temporal Cycle of the liturgical year. According to the Sanctoral Cycle, the date, September 12th is the feast of the Holy Name of Mary.
The plan for the Processional hymn was to sing I’ll Sing a Hymn to Mary. This is particularly fitting because it twice makes a reference to loving and blessing the name of Mary. The plan for the Commons was to use Mass IV and Credo IV.
Plans changed when we ended up without an organist. We opted instead to sing the Marian antiphon Salve Regina as the processional, and Mass XI with Credo I. We did so because the congregation is much more familiar with those, and sings them quite well, even unaccompanied.
The Offertory went according to plan, singing Stella Coeli Extirpavit, but also adding another Marian antiphon, Ave Regina Coelorum.
This being the month of the Holy Cross, at the Communion, we again sang the Vexilla Regis, normally sung during Passiontide. Recall that the penultimate verse of this hymn begins with the following phrase:
O Crux ave, spes unica, hoc Passionis tempore!
Hail Cross, of hopes the most sublime! Now, in the mournful Passion time;
Clearly, that is not fitting outside of Passiontide, and so we sang the modified version.
O Crux ave, spes unica, in hac triumphi gloria!
Hail Cross, of hopes the most sublime! In this glory of triumph!
September is also the month of Our Lady of Sorrows, so for the recessional hymn, we sang the first six verses from the English translation of the Stabat Mater, At the Cross Her Station Keeping.
After Mass, as a meditative piece, we sang the solemn setting of a third Marian antiphon, Alma Redemptoris Mater.