THE 20TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST AND THE EXTERNAL SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY ROSARY: Grace Notes: Why we sing what we sing

Recall that there is a general principle that says that if a reasonable number of the Faithful are unable to attend Mass on a given feast, the Mass for that feast can also be celebrated on the following Sunday. This provision is referred to as an external solemnity.

Universally, there are two feasts which may always be solemnized in this way, simply at the discretion of the priest. They are the Feast of the Holy Rosary and the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Naturally, we chose to solemnize the Feast of the Holy Rosary, which had occurred in the previous week, which means that we sang the propers of that feast. Thus, Father wore white vestments, rather than the green that is characteristic of the period post Pentecost.

In honor of Our Lady, we sang the commons of Mass IX (with a minor exception, noted below), and Credo III.

For the processional, we chose O Queen of the Holy Rosary and at the Offertory, Stella Coeli Extirpavit.

We sang Ave Verum Corpus for Our Lord, as is fitting at communion. Our original intent was to also sing the Magnificat, which is the perfect hymn to sing for the feast. An interesting and happy consequence of the COVID crisis and the Traditionis Custodes crisis is that our ranks have swelled and our little chapel was quite full this day. We had very many people who would receive communion, and so we made a last-minute change to not only sing the Magnificat, but to also sing the antiphon of the Magnificat that is proper to the feast – and of course, that means both before and after the Magnificat itself.

As noted, the commons were from Mass IX (for feasts of the Blessed Mother). As it turns out, our delightful visiting priest has a predilection for Mass VIII, and so, notwithstanding that we intoned the Ite Missa Est from Mass IX, he sang the one from Mass VIII, and, of course, we responded in kind.

We had the feast of Saint Francis earlier in the week, and so, for the recessional, we sang Blessed Francis Father. We concluded after Mass with the Angelus, which commemorates that event in Scripture that gives us the first words of the Hail Mary.

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