Author: Jim De Piante

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.

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Sunday, August 22nd was the feast of the same name. It is a second-class feast, and so the Sunday takes precedence in the Liturgy. Thus, the propers we sang were for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost.

We sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit before the processional. As the processional, we sang Immaculate Mary. There are two versions of this hymn in the hymnal. The verses are identical between the two; All that changes is the refrain, one of which is commonly sung in processions at Fatima, and the other more commonly sung at Lourdes. On this day, we sang the Lourdes refrain.

We did something a little different for the offertory. Of course, we sang the offertory antiphon for the Sunday, but following that, instead of a hymn, per se, we sang the offertory antiphon from the fourth Sunday of Advent, the words of which happen to be the Ave Maria.

At the communion, we gave homage to Our Lord, as is fitting, but we also made an oblique reference to Our Lady by singing Cor Arca. This is the Lauds hymn for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and thus we honored the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but also the Immaculate Heart of Mary, because it is so closely united to the Sacred Heart.

For the recessional, we looked back to the feasts of St. Philomena and St. Clare, and sang O Crown of Virgin Choirs, Vespers and Lauds hymn for feasts of Virgins. [as an aside, it is worth noting that when the Church speaks of Virgins, she means women who have consecrated their virginity to God. In most cases, this means as nuns.]

After Mass, as a brief meditative piece, in honor of the Queenship of Mary, we sang Ave Regina Caelorum (Hail, Queen of Heaven).

This was another Sunday in Green, and that means Mass IV, and that means Credo IV. The propers were for the Sunday, and the preface was that of the season after Pentecost, that of the Blessed Trinity.

In this, the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the processional, we sang the ever-popular Immaculate Mary. At the Offertory, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, as is our custom for the time being.

When we choose the music for a given Mass, we consider:

• The liturgical feast
• The liturgical season
• The readings of the day
• The dedication of the calendar month

But sometimes, we consider another factor as well, and that is other events happening before, during or after Mass that are not part of the Liturgy, per se. For example, there might be a May procession, or first communions. This Sunday was the first Sunday of the month, and that is the Sunday on which the men of the Holy Name Society have their Sunday observances. They enter in procession, sit together in the front pews, and receive communion all together. Thus, in honor of the Holy Name, at the Communion, we sang Jesu Dulcis Memoria, the vespers hymn for the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.

As part of the First Sunday Observances of the Holy Name Society, after Mass, the men recite the Holy Name Pledge, then we all sing the Holy Name Anthem, We Stand for God. This is a very rousing tune, at one time the Anthem of the Papal States.

After Mass, in order to assist the faithful in their thanksgiving, we sang Adoro Te Devote.

Current events are seldom a consideration in choosing the hymns we will sing. On this Sunday, July 25, the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, we chose two hymns with current events in mind. More on that in a moment.

We’re into the green Sundays, second class feasts for which any of the following are fitting:

• Mass IV (for Ordinary Feasts)
• Mass VIII (for Second Class Feasts)
• Mass XI (for Sundays throughout the Year)

From among them, our preference (it is no more than that) is for Mass IV, and that works nicely with Credo IV. Our visiting priest, Father Horvath, likes the Ite Missa Est from Mass VIII, and that is what he sang, so we rolled right along with him!

We again went with Hail, Jesus, Hail as the processional hymn, in honor of the Precious Blood, during this, the month of the Precious Blood.

Of course, since we are no longer in Paschaltide, we sang the Asperges me (rather than the Vidi aquam).

The first instance in which current events influenced our choice was at the Offertory. We sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, once again imploring Our Lady to beseech her Son, in our behalf, to end the current pestilence. This time, the men of the schola did it in three parts, in an arrangement that is distinctively medieval, and which was written by one of our men. We had a wee bit of time remaining so we also included the Regina Coeli, finishing just in time to avoid delaying Father and the Mass.

At the Communion, the mixed choir sang Aichinger’s Factus est repente. This is an interesting polyphonic mashup of the Communion antiphon (Factus est repente) and the Offertory antiphon (Confirma hoc Deus) from Pentecost Sunday. It is very fitting at communion time. We had sufficient time to also sing a few lines from Adoro te devote, a great classic from Thomas Aquinas.

Our recessional is one of the most stirring hymns in the hymnal, Let all mortal flesh keep silent. This is taken from the Liturgy of Saint James, whose feast day it was today.

Before his sermon, Father read the very moving letter from the Superior General of the FSSPX, Father (Don Davide) Pagliarnai. This was his response to the unfortunate Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes, which further restricts the availability of the Traditional Latin Mass. In this letter, Don Davide implores us to entrust our intentions to the Patroness of the FSSPX, Our Lady of Sorrows. Father Horvath made the same request of us in his sermon. In general, we do not like to improvise, but we decided, in view of this dual request, to sing the Stabat Mater, the Sequence from the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, after the recessional, as the faithful made their thanksgiving. And this was the second instance where current events influenced our decision.