Why did we sing Good King Wenceslaus!?
That question was on a lot of people’s minds as we left Church on Sunday morning! Good question! But first…
This was the first Sunday of the Month of October, dedicated to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. It was also the 19th Sunday after Pentecost.
The plan was to do Mass IV and Credo IV. Owing to a bit of a miscommunication, we ended up singing Credo I, which set the poor congregation to flipping pages in their hymnal!
The propers were for the feast, with no special solemnities. Given that last week we had the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels (on October 2nd), we opened with Dear Angel Ever at my Side as the Processional.
And, of course, at the Offertory, once again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring Our Lady’s intercession to end the current pestilence.
At the Communion, we sang the vespers hymn Te Splendor in honor of Saint Michael the Archangel, whose feast was also last week, on September 29th.
As this is the Sunday after first Saturday, the men of the Holy Name Society had their observances in honor of the Holy Name, and so at the Communion, we also sang the vespers hymn for the feast of the Holy Name, Jesu, Dulcis Memoria. In keeping with that theme, as is our custom, we sang the rousing Holy Name Anthem, We Stand for God as the recessional.
As a second recessional, we had a lot of people scratching their heads as the Men of the Holy Name sang Good King Wenceslaus, with a great many of the congregation singing along from memory. But why a song that is so closely associated with Christmas? Well, there actually is no reference to Christmas in the Song. The closest it comes is that it merely mentions that the lovely story that it recounts takes place on “the feast of Stephen” – which is December 26th. Those of you who pay close attention to the liturgical calendar know exactly why we sang it! The Good King’s feast day was last week, on September 28th.