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Sometimes, things don’t go according to plan. We had snow the night before the Mass and the roads were icy so the church was practically empty. We managed to muster enough men to sing the Mass, but couldn’t marshal a full complement of servers so we had to settle for a low Mass.

We did sing some of the same hymns that we would have sung had we had a sung Mass.

• Processional: O Come all ye Faithful
• Offertory: Stella Coeli Extirpavit
• Recessional: Good Christian Men Rejoice

And had we had a sung Mass, we would also have sung:

• Commons: Mass XI with Credo I
• Propers: From the feast

An interesting aside: The Communion antiphon is particularly long for this mass and has within it what is doubtless the most interesting musical phrase in the entire Gregorian repertoire. It occurs at that point where the wine steward exclaims: Thou hast saved the best wine until now! You can hear the excitement in his voice!

Listen to it here: https://youtu.be/lyXbC8V7oug?t=51

This feast is only a second-class feast, but for those of us in the Holy Name Society, this is a big day.

The men of the Holy Name Society entered the church behind our banner in the procession of the clergy as we sang the Processional, O Come all ye Faithful.

Most of the men then occupied the first two pews in the church. Those of us in the Schola proceeded to the back from where we sing.

The propers we sang were for the feast.

The Commons, in keeping with the glorious Christmas season were from Mass II and Credo III.

All of the joy of the day was somewhat muted at the Offertory as we once again sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring Our Lady to obtain for us relief from the current pestilence.

At the Communion, we sang the Vespers hymn from the same Feast of the Holy Name, Jesu Dulcis Memoria.

To conclude, we sang the Holy Name Anthem (We Stand for God) for the recessional.

The Feast of the Holy Family is a Second-class Feast. Earlier in the week, we had the Feast of the Epiphany which is, of course a First-class Feast and a Holy Day of Obligation. We certainly could have solemnized the Epiphany and Father could have said that Mass instead of the Mass for the Feast of the Holy Family. It is discretionary, but we chose, rather, to celebrate the feast of the day (Holy Family) owing to the importance of the family and the need to pray for families during these times when the very idea of the family is under attack.

Thus, for the Propers, we sang those of the Feast of the Holy Family.

For the Commons, still deep in the Christmas season, we chose Mass II and Credo III.

For the Processional, we sang Good Christian Men Rejoice.

And of course, at the Offertory, Stella Coeli Extirpavit.which we have been doing now for almost two years.

At the Communion, we managed six of the fourteen verses of Puer Natus in Bethlehem.

To close, we paid our homage to the three sainted Magi Kings, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar, with We Three Kings.

As you can imagine, a lot of thought goes into planning the music for the Mass, and it all must get done beforehand so that you can be sure everyone will be prepared.

We had everything planned out for Fourth Sunday of Advent.

Well, sometimes, things don’t go according to plan. COVID and various other things hit our singers pretty hard, and we ended up with something extremely rare for us – a Mass completely without music!

We are presently in the season of Epiphanytide, which occurs within Christmastide. The Third Sunday after Epiphany is a Second-Class feast. For such a feast, the priest wears green, and that typically would call for Mass IV (for Ordinary Feasts) or perhaps Mass XI (for Sundays throughout the Year). Wanting to hold on to the Christmas spirit just a little longer, we went with the more glorious Mass II.

Our processional hymn was very much about the joy of Christmas, Good Christian Men Rejoice.

At the Offertory, once again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring Our Lady to obtain for us relief from the current pestilence. We will soon move this to be sung after the Mass.

At the Communion, we had time to sing eight (of the fourteen) verses of the tender Puer Natus In Bethlehem.

For the recessional, we sang the utterly delightful little tale, Noël Nouvelet, a very loose English translation of a French carol from the end of the 15th century.

As a more meditative piece, after the recessional, we sang Resonet in Laudibus, a Gregorian Christmas hymn, from the 14th century.

Today, known as Gaudete Sunday (because Gaudete is the first word of today’s Introit), is one of only two days during the year when the priest wears rose-colored vestments – the other being Laetere Sunday, during Lent. Normally, the organ is not used during Advent and Lent, but it is permitted on these same two days, Gaudete Sunday and Laetere Sunday.

The use of rose-colored vestments also signals the use of Mass XVII (for the Sundays of Advent and Lent). There are two versions of the Kyrie for Mass XVII. We typically will sing the first version during Advent and the second version during Lent. Of course, there is no Gloria. We paired the Kyriale with Credo I.

Our first consideration in choosing hymns for the day is the liturgical season, which, of course, is Advent. English-language hymns are not permitted during a sung Mass but they are permitted for the processional and recessional (neither of which is during the Mass), so we sang O come, O come, Emmanuel as the processional.

At the Offertory, yet again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring Our Lady to obtain for us relief from the current pestilence. We will soon move this to be sung after the Mass.

We also managed to fit in but a single verse of Rorate Coeli Desuper. The title of this hymn is from the opening words of Isaiah 45:8:

Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant justum. Aperiatur terra et germinet salvatorem.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just. Let the earth be opened and send forth a Saviour.

The text is used frequently both at Mass and in the Divine Office during Advent. It occurs daily as the versicle and response at Vespers.

At the Communion, the mixed choir sang Sancta et Immaculata. This is a polyphonic rendering of the sixth responsory from Matins of Christmas. The Schola will sing the Gregorian setting at Matins.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception occurred earlier in the week, so we concluded with Immaculate Mary as the recessional.

The liturgical color on this day is violet. That calls to mind several things:

• There will not be flowers on the altar

• We will not hear the organ

• We will sing Mass XVII (for the Sundays of Advent and Lent)

• We will not sing the Gloria

There are two versions of the Kyrie for Mass XVII. We arbitrarily chose the first. We paired the Kyriale with Credo I.

For the processional, we sang O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

At the Offertory, yet again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring Our Lady to obtain for us relief from the current pestilence.

This being the Sunday on which the men of the Holy Name Society make their observances at Holy Mass, we sang the Vespers hymn from the Feast of the Holy Name, Jesu Dulcis Memoria at the Communion. Having thus honored Our Lord, in honor of Our Lady, we chanted Ave Maris Stella with a very pretty harmony underneath the chant.

To conclude, we sang the Holy Name Anthem (We Stand for God) for the recessional.

The picture is the statue of Our Lady Star of the Sea (Stella Maris) venerated in the church of Sliema, Malta.

The liturgical color on this day is violet. That should immediately call to mind Mass XVII (for the Sundays of Advent and Lent), and indeed, that is what we sang. There are two versions of the Kyrie for Mass XVII. We arbitrarily chose the second version. We paired that with Credo I.

Something else to notice when the priest wears violet: The organ is silent. And so, all the music of the day was sung a cappella – unaccompanied.

Perhaps you noticed that the Introit was preceded by a bit of chant that is not in your missal, referred to as a trope. A trope, in liturgical music, is a musical text written for the purpose of amplifying and embellishing an otherwise complete liturgical text. In this instance, the trope was used to introduce the day’s Introit, and, in effect, to introduce the entire liturgical year of Gregorian Chant. Here is a translation of the words:

When the most holy Gregory poured out prayers to the Lord that He might surrender to him from above a musical gift in song, then the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and enlightened his heart to such a degree that at last he began to sing saying thus:

We then continued directly singing the introit: Ad te levavi…

For the processional, we sang O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, rather a staple for the season.

At the Offertory, yet again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring Our Lady to obtain for us relief from the current pestilence.

But wait! At the Communion – the Dies Irae? But, isn’t that for the Requiem Mass! Why would we sing it during Advent!?

As Father pointed out in his homily, the season of Advent, and thus also the new Liturgical year, begin with the theme of the end times. This is from the Gospel of the day:

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves: men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand. … So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand.

The Dies Irae speaks exactly to those same themes. This is how it begins:

Day of wrath! O day of mourning!

See fulfilled the prophets’ warning,

Heaven and earth in ashes burning!

Oh, what fear man’s bosom rendeth,

When from heaven the Judge descendeth,

On whose sentence all dependeth.

Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;

Through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth;

All before the throne it bringeth.

For the recessional, we sang that other staple of the season, Hark a Herald Voice is Calling.

There can be as few as 23 and as many as 28 Sundays after Pentecost. It all depends, of course, on the date of Easter, which can vary by as much as 5 weeks. This year, as it turns out, there were 26 Sundays after Pentecost, and this was the 26th, and thus the last. Regardless how many there are, the Mass said for the last of these Sundays is always the same, and it is referred to in missals as Dominica XXIV et ultima post Pentcosten, or the 24th and Last Sunday after Pentecost.

The five propers sung by the Schola for the Mass of the Last Sunday after Pentecost (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, and Communion) are taken from the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.

As a simple Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday was a second-class feast, thus Father and the altar were wearing green, and so, we sang Mass IV (for Ordinary Feasts). And as is usually the case, we paired that with Credo IV.

According to the cycle of Sundays (the Temporal Cycle), this was the last Sunday after Pentecost. According to the calendar date (from the Sanctoral Cycle), this date, November 21st, is the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple. In many cultures, this feast (which was added to the Church’s calendar before the feast of the Holy Name of Mary was added), is celebrated as the name day of those named Mary. Thus, we chose as the processional hymn, I’ll Sing a Hymn to Mary, which twice promises to love and bless the name of Mary.

At the Offertory, we once again implored Our Lady for relief from the current pestilence, singing Stella Coeli Extirpavit.

At the Communion, with the Holy Souls in mind, the mixed choir sang Francis X. Witt’s setting of the De Profundis. Given the limited remaining time, the schola managed two verses of Languentibus in Purgatorio.

And at the recessional, again, with the Holy Souls in mine, we sang Help, Lord, the Souls.

Finally, to conclude, the schola sang the simple Gregorian setting of the Salve Regina.

There was considerably less head scratching among the Faithful this Sunday morning! Having been through the confusion of last Sunday, most people now understood that Father would be saying the Mass for the ***Resumed Sunday ***for the 6th Sunday after Epiphany.

The various readings change for each of the last several Sundays after Pentecost, but the five propers sung by the Schola (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, and Communion) do not change, and are taken from the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.

As a simple Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday was a second-class feast, thus Father and the altar were wearing green, and so, we sang *Mass IV *(for Ordinary Feasts). And as we do, we paired that with *Credo IV*.

It’s always the intent to have a solid rationale for making a particular musical selection. It must be admitted that in this instance, the motive was a bit slender. Earlier in the week, we had had the feast of the Dedication of the Pope’s Cathedral, St. John Lateran. This church is formally known as the Archbasilica of the Holy Savior. So, for the feast of the Dedication of the Archbasilica of the Holy Savior, we sang *Soul of My Savior *as the processional.

The Alleluia for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost is noteworthy.

In the Alleluia itself, there is a very clear wailing, as of the Holy Souls in purgatory. Toward the end, this dissipates and resolves into a very beautiful and peaceful melody. The same thing then occurs again in the alleluiatic verse:

> ℣. De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: Domine exaudi orationem meam.

> ℣. Out of the depths I have cried unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my prayer.

You can hear it at the link, below.

At the Offertory, we once again implored Our Lady for relief from the current pestilence, singing *Stella Coeli Extirpavit*.

At the Communion, again with the Holy Souls in mind, we sang *Languentibus in Purgatorio*.

And at the recessional, *Help, Lord, the Souls*.