Welcome To Tradition

There was a lot of head scratching among the Faithful this Sunday morning! It was the 24th Sunday after Pentecost. What Mass will Father be saying? Fifth Sunday after Epiphany? What? Epiphany was 43 Sundays ago! Why is that!? Here is the explanation:

The liturgical year is divided into two broad cycles. The first is the Incarnation Cycle, and it is centered around Christmas, the date of which is fixed. The Incarnation Cycle begins on the first Sunday of Advent and continues through the Sundays after Epiphany.

The other cycle is the Paschal Cycle, and it is centered around Easter, which date can vary by as much as 5 weeks. Easer can be as early as March 22 and as late as April 25. The Paschal Cycle follows the Incarnation Cycle and begins on Septuagesima Sunday, which, correspondingly, can vary by 5 weeks.

Epiphany is, of course, always January 6. Given the 5-week variance in the date of Septuagesima Sunday, there can be as few as one and as many as six Sundays after Epiphany.

The date of Pentecost is a fixed number of days (50) after Easter, and so it, too, varies by 5 weeks. There can thus be as few as 23 and as many as 28 Sundays after Pentecost.

Note that the number of Sundays after Epiphany plus those after Pentecost will always sum to 29. So, for example, this year, 2021, Easter was on April 4th, in the middle of the range, and there were three Sunday after Epiphany. Thus, there will be 26 Sundays after Pentecost.

Regardless how many Sundays after Pentecost there will be, there is a specific Mass to be said for the ***Last ***Sunday after Pentecost. And the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost has its own Mass. The problem comes in when there are more than 24 Sundays after Pentecost. We need some extra Masses. Where do they come from?

There are six separate Masses for the Sundays after Epiphany. When there are fewer than six Sundays after Epiphany, those Masses are paused until the need arises for them between the 23rd and the Last Sunday after Pentecost. At that point, the paused Sundays are resumed. In fact, these are referred to as Resumed Sundays. You can need as many as four. Which ones do you use? The table below shows the 6 possibilities. (Note that you will find a similar table in your Missal.)

As it turns out, this year, we will need to use two Resumed Sundays, and so, this Sunday, we used the 5th and next Sunday we will use the 6th, and then the following Sunday, we will use the specific Mass for the Last Sunday after Pentecost.

Interestingly, while the various readings change for each of the six Sundays (from 23rd to 28th), the five propers sung by the Schola (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, and Communion) do not change.

As a simple Sunday after Pentecost, this Sunday 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.

November is the month of the Holy Souls and so we sang Help, Lord, the Souls as the processional. This is an extraordinary hymn, the lyrics of which are essentially a catechism of Catholic teaching on Purgatory.

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.

This was the first Sunday of the month so the men of the Holy Name Society made their observances and we sang the rousing Holy Name Anthem (We stand for God) as the recessional.

And finally, as a meditative piece after Mass, again in honor of the Holy Name, we sang Jesu Dulcis Memoria, Vespers hymn from the Feast of the Holy Name.

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.

After all the fanfare Sunday, Monday, one of the greatest feasts throughout the year, was rather anticlimactic. Of course, All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, but we live in a post-Christian and anti-Catholic world and the world does not care about our Holy Days, so, today was a workday, and thus, attendance was somewhat reduced for this Mass. We were also shorthanded musically, having only two singers and not having an organist. Rather subdued, it was.

You will have noticed that we did not have a processional hymn, as such. Why not? The Asperges is only sung on Sundays, and it is sung before the Introit is chanted. Thus, on Sundays, the processional hymn comes before the Asperges and before the Introit. During the week, since there is no Asperges, it is desirable to sing the Introit as the processional.

Once again, we are celebrating a solemn feast and so once again, we sang Mass II and Credo III. At the Offertory, we sang our customary Stella Caeli Extirpavit.

At the Communion, we sang the Magnificat, and preceded that with the Antiphon proper to the feast of All Saints. We should also have sung it afterwards as well, but ran out of time! We concluded with the Gloria Patri of the Magnificat.

As Our Lady is Queen of All Saints, we concluded with Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above as the recessional.

This was once again a rather straight-forward Sunday, musically. The priest was wearing green, which is called for on the Sundays after Pentecost, and that makes Mass IV and Credo IV suitable. We are still in the month of the Holy Rosary so we again sang O Queen of the Holy Rosary, this time for the processional.

Once again, at the Offertory, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit.

At the Communion, the mixed choir did the four-part Dixit Maria by Hans Leo Hassler, the lyrics of which are particularly appropriate in this month of the Rosary.

Dixit Maria ad angelum: Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.

Mary said to the Angel: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me, according to thy word.

This was also the feast of the Archangel Raphael, so we sang Dear Angel Ever at my Side at the recessional.

And once again, after Mass, we sang the full Angelus, continuing with the theme of the earlier Dixit Maria.

This was a fairly straight-forward Sunday, musically. The overall theme was for Our Blessed Lady, but it was not a Marian feast, per se, so we did not do Mass IX, but rather chose Mass IV, and with that, Credo IV.

For the processional, we did I’ll sing a Hymn to Mary; at the offertory, Stella Coeli Extirpavit.

We had the feast of Our Lady’s Maternity last week, so we sang Salve Mater at the Communion.

And for the recessional, we sang O Queen of the Holy Rosary, fitting during this month of the Rosary.

We concluded after Mass with the Angelus, which commemorates that event in Scripture that gives us the first words of the Hail Mary.

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.

Why did we sing Good King Wenceslaus!?

That question was on a lot of people’s minds as we left Church on Sunday morning! Good question! But first…

This was the first Sunday of the Month of October, dedicated to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. It was also the 19th Sunday after Pentecost.

The plan was to do Mass IV and Credo IV. Owing to a bit of a miscommunication, we ended up singing Credo I, which set the poor congregation to flipping pages in their hymnal!

The propers were for the feast, with no special solemnities. Given that last week we had the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels (on October 2nd), we opened with Dear Angel Ever at my Side as the Processional.

And, of course, at the Offertory, once again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring Our Lady’s intercession to end the current pestilence.

At the Communion, we sang the vespers hymn Te Splendor in honor of Saint Michael the Archangel, whose feast was also last week, on September 29th.

As this is the Sunday after first Saturday, the men of the Holy Name Society had their observances in honor of the Holy Name, and so at the Communion, we also sang the vespers hymn for the feast of the Holy Name, Jesu, Dulcis Memoria. In keeping with that theme, as is our custom, we sang the rousing Holy Name Anthem, We Stand for God as the recessional.

As a second recessional, we had a lot of people scratching their heads as the Men of the Holy Name sang Good King Wenceslaus, with a great many of the congregation singing along from memory. But why a song that is so closely associated with Christmas? Well, there actually is no reference to Christmas in the Song. The closest it comes is that it merely mentions that the lovely story that it recounts takes place on “the feast of Stephen” – which is December 26th. Those of you who pay close attention to the liturgical calendar know exactly why we sang it! The Good King’s feast day was last week, on September 28th.

This Sunday, Father had to leave very quickly after Mass to go on a sick call. Thus, we did not have a sung Mass. Had we done so, we would have sung the Propers for the Sunday, and Mass IV with Credo IV.

As it was, we had a low Mass, and so the only music we had to choose was hymns. For the Processional hymn, we sang I’ll Sing a Hymn to Mary, in honor of her holy name. This is particularly fitting because it twice makes a reference to loving and blessing the name of Mary.

We again invoked Our Lady at the Offertory with Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring her intercession to end the current pestilence.

At the Communion, we sang the Vexilla Regis, vespers hymn from Passiontide and from the Feast of the Holy Cross. We followed that with Ave Verum Corpus, always fitting at Communion.

And at the Recessional, we sang several verses from the English translation of the Stabat Mater, At the Cross Her Station Keeping.

“Why white?” That question greeted me as soon as I walked into the choir room on Sunday morning before Mass.

Good question. According to the calendar, the Sunday was the 17th after Pentecost, and the liturgical color would be green, but the servers had already put white on the altar and tabernacle. Why so?

Earlier in the week, on September 15th, the Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. This feast, not surprisingly, comes immediately after the feast of the Holy Cross, and these two feasts are what give rise to the dual devotions for the month of September – The Holy Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows.

Of course, the great patron and name Saint of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (the SSPX) is the sainted Pope himself. But the SSPX has also chosen Our Lady of Sorrows as a patron. Thus, within the SSPX, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is a first-class feast, and so the feast can be solemnized on the following Sunday and is celebrated as what is referred to as an external solemnity.

Then came the follow-up question: “Well, then, why not violet?” Well, because violet is not fitting for a first-class feast! And that brings up another interesting point. The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is very unique in that there are two such feasts, the first of which is on the Friday of Passion Week, one week before Good Friday and rather like Our Lady’s own Good Friday. At that Mass, the liturgical color is violet.

The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is also unique in that it is one of only five Masses that still has a Sequence. The five are:

1. Pentecost (Veni Sancte Spiritus)
2. Corpus Christi (Lauda Sion)
3. Our Lady of Sorrows (Stabat Mater)
4. Easter (Victimae Paschali Laudes)
5. Requiem (Dies Irae)

For the feast that occurs during Passiontide, the Sequence is preceded by the Gradual, and a Tract. Naturally, there is no Alleluia. For this feast, the Sequence is preceded by the Gradual and an Alleluia. Note as well that when the Sequence is sung outside of Lent, the word Alleluia is appended after the Amen.

As you might expect, we chose Mass IX, for feasts of the Blessed Virgin (Cum Jubilo) for the commons. And a Credo that works very nicely with Mass IX is Credo III.

Having missed the opportunity last week, as the Processional hymn, we sang I’ll Sing a Hymn to Mary, in honor of her holy name. This is particularly fitting because it twice makes a reference to loving and blessing the name of Mary.

We again invoked Our Lady at the Offertory with Stella Coeli Extirpavit, imploring her intercession to end the current pestilence.

At the Communion, the mixed choir sang Tomas Luis Victoria’s setting of O Vos Omnes. This hymn is taken from a responsory from Tenebrae of Holy Saturday. It is utterly pathetic, perfect for the occasion:

O all you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.

Pay attention, all people, and look at my sorrow, if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.

With a bit of time remaining, we sang the Gregorian Ave Maria twice through.

Also earlier in the week, we had the feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis is also unique in that he is among the very few who have more than one feast during the year. Others include: Our Lord, Our Lady, John the Baptist, and Saint Joseph. As a Recessional Hymn, we sang Blessed Francis, Holy Father in his honor.

After Mass, as the Faithful made their thanksgiving, we sang the Vexilla Regis, vespers hymn from Passiontide and from the Feast of the Holy Cross.

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.