Wait! The liturgical calendar said that the liturgical color for this Sunday’s feast of Christ the King is white! So why is the altar in gold? Gold is permitted as a substitute for white on solemn feasts such as this, and so you can imagine that when you see gold on the altar, the likely choice for the commons will be Mass II, designated for solemn feasts. And that, in turn, implies the use of Credo III, which works nicely with Mass II.
This is a big day, liturgically, one of only a few days throughout the year with a prescribed liturgical procession. Others include Candlemas, Corpus Christi, and Palm Sunday.
Clearly, the theme of the Mass is the Kingship of Christ and so we began with Hail, Jesus, Hail as the processional hymn. And of course, at the Offertory, we once again implored Our Lady’s intercession to end the current pestilence, singing Stella Coeli Extirpavit.
At the Communion, we sang the Vespers hymn for the Feast of Christ the King, Te Saeculorum.
Father had previously exposed the Blessed Sacrament on the altar after the Communion. When a procession immediately follows Mass, rather than sing Ite Missa Est, father sings Benedicamus Domino, there is no last Gospel nor a recessional hymn. Father went immediately to the sedilla to put on the cope and returned to the altar to incense the Blessed Sacrament exposed as we sang O Salutaris Hostia. He then sang, Procedamus in pace (let us proceed in peace) and the procession began. As is conventional, we started with the first four verses of Pange Lingua, and followed that in procession with To Christ the Prince of Peace. We went in procession to the outdoor altar and then sang verses five and six of the Pange Lingua, a version of the Tantum Ergo, in preparation for the first benediction.
After the first benediction, returning in procession to the church, we sang To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King. As the congregation filed back into the church, we sang Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above in honor of the corresponding Queenship of Our Lady. As soon as everyone was settled, we sang the prayer for the Pope, Oremus pro Pontifice, and followed that with a different version of Tantum Ergo, in preparation for the second benediction. After the Divine Praises, we chanted the Litany of the Sacred Heart, which is prescribed for the feast.
We concluded with Adoremus in Aeternum – or we intended to. A minor delay at the altar gave us a reason to hastily add on Holy God we Praise thy Name, which is a common enough way to end Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.