When you walked into the Church on Sunday, perhaps something seemed amiss. It was the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, and yet the altar was dressed in white!
Recall the general principle that says that if a reasonable number of the Faithful are unable to attend Mass on a major feast, the Mass for that feast can be celebrated on the following Sunday. This provision is referred to as solemnizing the feast, which is then referred to as an external solemnity.
Earlier in the week, on September 3rd, we had the feast of Pope Saint Pius X. This is, on the universal calendar, a third-class feast – hardly a major feast, and normally, not one to be solemnized. However, within the Priestly Fraternity that bears his name, the feast of Saint Pius X is a first-class feast, and so, on this day, we celebrated the External Solemnity of Pope Saint Pius X.
There is something else that we had to consider on this day. This was the first Sunday of the month, the day on which the men of the Holy Name Society have special observances in honor of the Holy Name.
We started as the men of the Holy Name entered with the clergy in procession, singing the glorious hymn, Sancte Pie Decime, in honor of the feast.
We’ve covered in the past how there is a correlation between the liturgical color of the day and the Kyriale. Given that the color for this day was white, which is for solemn feasts, it was fitting to sing Mass II (for Solemn Feasts), and we paired that with Credo III.
At the Offertory, we sang our customary Stella Coeli Extirpavit, continuing to implore Our Lady, Star of the Heavens, for relief from the current pestilence.
The month of September has two very closely related devotions, that of the Holy Cross, and that of Our Lady of Sorrows. It is worth noting that Our Lady of Sorrows is also a patron saint of the Priestly Fraternity (Society) of Saint Pius X. At the Communion, therefore, we sang the Vexilla Regis, normally sung during Passiontide. 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 the lyrics are modified for the purpose.
O Crux ave, spes unica, in hac triumphi gloria!
Hail Cross, of hopes the most sublime! In this glory of triumph!
Then, also at the Communion, we sang Jesu Dulcis Memoria, vespers hymn for the feast of the Holy Name.
As part of the First Sunday Observances of the Holy Name, as the men processed out with the clergy, we sang the Holy Name Anthem, We Stand for God.
As a meditative piece after Mass, as the Faithful made their thanksgiving, the Schola sang the Stabat Mater, the Sequence for the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH
It was on this day that our former priest, Father Dominique Bourmaud, passed away. Our current priest, Father John Bourbeau, celebrated a Requiem Mass for Father Bourmaud, who had also been his priest some 30 years previously.
Father said a low Mass, but we were able to do something interesting with respect to the music; we sang various elements from the Requiem Mass, essentially as hymns during a low Mass.
As the processional, we sang the Introit, Requiem aeternam. As Father was starting the Collect, we started singing the Sequence, the Dies Irae, concluding singing it as Father himself concluded reciting it.
At the Offertory, we sang the Offertory Antiphon, Domine Jesu Christe. At the Communion, we sang the Communion Antiphon, Lux aeterna, and followed that with the Responsory from the Absolution, Libera me.
As a recessional, after the Leonine Prayers, we sang In Pardisum, as the bell was tolled, once for each year of Father’s life.