Category Archives: Sacred Liturgy

News, Sacred Liturgy

Habemus Papam

Now just several months after the election of Pope Leo XIV, those of us who are devoted to the traditional Latin liturgy are looking for any indication of what his thoughts regarding the sacred liturgy might be.

In an address to the participants in the jubilee of the Eastern Catholic churches on 14 May 2025, the Holy Father emphasized the necessity of the preservation of tradition in the liturgy of the Western Church. His recognition of the richness of tradition preserved in the Eastern liturgies offers a gentle but implicit criticism of contemporary Western liturgy, emphasizing the urgent need for a recovery of the sacred:

“The Church needs you. The contribution that the Christian East can offer us today is immense! We have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your liturgies, liturgies that engage the human person in his or her entirety, that sing of the beauty of salvation, and evoke a sense of wonder at how God’s majesty embraces our human frailty.”

In his address to the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation conference in Rome on 18 June 2025 marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the Pope paid tribute to the Italian Renaissance composer and praised sacred polyphony:

“Palestrina’s compositions, solemn and austere, inspired by Gregorian chant, closely unite music and liturgy, enriching the sacred rites with greater solemnity. Polyphony itself is a musical form full of meaning, for prayer and the Christian life.”

These remarks give a clear indication of the Holy Father’s respect for the value of sacred tradition and its clear and indispensable value for the sacred liturgy. His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, a foremost advocate for the classical Latin liturgy, reminds us of the efficacy of prayer:

“May we pray fervently for Pope Leo XIV that our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Peter the Apostle, and Pope Saint Leo the Great will grant him abundant wisdom, strength and courage to do all that Our Lord is asking of him in these tumultuous times.”

 

High Mass, Sacred Liturgy

High Mass for Gaudete Sunday (Advent III) at St. Stanislaus Church

The Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday will be observed in a celebration of Solemn Mass at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street, New Haven, this Sunday, December 17, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Richard Cipolla, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, will be the celebrant and homilist, and The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport,  will serve as Deacon. The Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will sing the Gregorian chant for the service.

Gaudete Sunday marks the midpoint of Advent. As on Laetare Sunday, the midpoint of Lent, the penitential character of the liturgy is relaxed; the organ is played, flowers are permitted on the altar, and violet vestments are replaced with rose.  The Introit at Mass exhorts Christians to rejoice at the coming of Christ at Christmas in anticipation of His Second Coming at the end of time.

Saint John the Baptist preaches in the Gospel at today’s Mass, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord … the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.” Following John’s exhortation to prepare for the coming of the Lord, the Church urges her faithful in the Communion Antiphon to “take courage and fear not: behold our God will come, and will save us.”

Music for the liturgy to be sung by the Schola Cantorum of the Saint Gregory Society.  will include the Missa Cum jubilo (Vatican edition IX) chant ordinary, the Gregorian proper for Advent Sunday: “Gaudete in Domino semper,” motets by Nicholas Renouf (“Ne timeas Maria”) and Palestrina (“Alma Redemptoris Mater”),  the Advent Hymn, “Veni Emmanuel,” and organ music by Jean Titelouze and Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers.

News, Sacred Liturgy

Annual St. Gregory Purgatorial Society High Mass of Requiem

The annual St. Gregory Purgatorial Society High Mass of Requiem will be offered Thursday evening, November 16, at 5:30 p.m. at St. Stanislaus Church for those enrolled in the Saint Gregory Purgatorial Society as well as for members and friends of the Society.  The Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport, will be the celebrant.
This beautiful Mass of the Dead offered in the traditional rite is one of the most edifying experiences to be had by a faithful Christian. We urge our members and friends to attend and to enroll departed family members and friends in the Purgatorial Society for 2023-24. Please click the ”Purgatorial Society” button to the left for further information and access to the enrollment form.

News, Sacred Liturgy

Nota Bene: Cancellation of All Saints’ Day Service and Postponement of All Souls Day Requiem Mass.

Most regrettably, the services in the Traditional Latin Rite scheduled at St. Stanislaus Church, New Haven for All Saints Day (Wednesday, November 1 at 5:30 pm) and All Souls Day (Thursday, November 2 at 5:30 pm) will NOT take place.

The All Saints Day service has been CANCELED owing to the unavailability of a priest to celebrate the Mass.

Owing to illness of the scheduled priest caused by covid, the High Requiem Mass to have been offered on All Souls Day for the enrolled members of the Saint Gregory Purgatorial Society has been POSTPONED to a later date in November to be announced.

Catechesis, Sacred Liturgy

Solemn Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament for the Feast of Christ the King

The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King will be observed in a celebration of Solemn High Mass and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Stanislaus Church, State Street at Eld Street in New Haven, on Sunday, 29 October, at 2:00 pm. The Reverend Peter Lenox, Episcopal Vicar for Liturgy and Worship, Diocese of Bridgeport, will be the celebrant, and The Reverend Robert L. Turner, Pastor of St. Ambrose Parish, North Branford, will be the deacon.

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in his Encyclical Letter Quas primas of 1925. This letter explained how laïcism and secularism by organizing society without any reference to God, lead to the apostasy of the masses and the ruin of society because of their complete denial of Christ’s Kingship, which is one of the greatest heresies of our time. The Pope proposed this feast as an annual liturgical assertion of Christ’s divine right of Kingship as an effective means of combating this pernicious heresy.

By its position on the last Sunday in October, towards the end of the Liturgical Year and just before the All Saints’ Day, the feast of Christ the King comes at the climax of the celebration of all Christ’s mysteries and a kind of earthly anticipation of his everlasting reign over the elect in the glory of heaven.

Music for the liturgy sung by the Schola Cantorum of the St. Gregory Society will include the Gregorian Mass Ordinary IV, the motets “Gloria tibi” by Wm. Byrd,  and “O Sacrum Convivium” by Ludovico Viadana, the Gregorian chant proper of the feast (“Dignus est agnus”), and organ music by William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons.