This is from our Christmas Eve 2011 mass in Patton PA (my two sons are serving on the right, my oldest was MC)
Posted on 01/09/2012 7:48:58 AM PST by paterfamilias
My wife and I went to the Tridentine Mass at Immaculate Conception Church(Sleepy Hollow, NY).
It has been a very long time since a Mass brought us to tears.
The prayers are beautiful, the reverence is palpable. The women had their heads covered, 90% of the men (and boys) wore jacket and tie, the priest's vestments were very traditional (when was the last time you saw a priest wearing a maniple and his biretta), a lot of young families, an altar boy (about 10 years old) and a fairly young priest, both of whom said the Latin prayers as if it were their native language.
We have lost a great deal in the Novus Ordo.
We will go back the week after next (busy all day next Sunday taking our NRA pistol course!), and the Schola Cantorum will be singing ancient music.
If I like what I hear, I will audition for the Schola. (I have been a chorister since the age of 8)
I have pretty much decided to make this my new parish.
Ping
I love the Tridentine Masses. I used to attend them at St. Agnes Church in NYC. What always amazed me were the spirituality of some of the men and women attending those services. I envied their gift of faith!
By the way, there is nothing more beautiful than a Mass served in Paris. Since so few people attend Mass in France, the people who do attend are SO reverent. And they often have nuns playing classical religious music on violin. Sigh.
When done properly, it is the most beautiful religion in the world.
This is from our Christmas Eve 2011 mass in Patton PA (my two sons are serving on the right, my oldest was MC)
Ah yes, I remember those solemn Masses when the Catholic Church did not play the politically correct game.
The Church decided to fling open the windows to the world at Vatican II, and look what flew in since 1964.
Two of our local churches have the Latin Mass, but on weekday evenings, so it wouldn’t meet the Sunday obligation. I attended one of the church’s Latin Mass several times, and the experience was similar, with women generally wearing mantillas and men/boys dressed as if they were actually going to church instead of some athletic event. It was a very uplifting experience, and seems to be spreading.
Ad orientem orientation is so beautiful even if not really to the east!
“Ah yes, I remember those solemn Masses when the Catholic Church did not play the politically correct game.
The Church decided to fling open the windows to the world at Vatican II, and look what flew in since 1964.”
I should add, that the Extraordinary Rite uses the old cycle of Proper readings and Feasts - so, yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Family in the old rite.
So, in keeping with this feast day, the Sermon (not homily) was verrrrrry traditional in its defense of the family and the priest emphatically explained unrelenting pressure of the popular culture to undermine the family as the basic unit of allegience, preferring allegience to the State.
It was a family values tour de force. I didn’t know whether to applaud or cry. (Since one is not supposed to applaud at Mass, I chose the latter.)
May God bless Pope Benedict for allowing the traditional rite to be said without any need for permission or special dispensation!
Beautiful! Beautiful, Brian. Thank your boys for me.
I feel no obligation to attend the Sunday NO. To do so would weaken my faith. Been there, done that, and had it restored via the Tridentine Mass.
I agree with you that attending the Latin Mass on a Wednesday or Thursday is spiritually fulfilling in a way the latter day English/folk Mass could never be.
I’ve never heard the Latin Rite Liturgy. I am, however, Orthodox, and it warms my heart to hear your words about pre-Vatican II traditions in the Church of Rome.
I love the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which is the primary Liturgy of the Eastern Church.
If you love the Holy Traditions of the Church, you should avail yourself the opportunity to hear it celebrated.
Yes I had a very similar experience last summer at the CMAA Colloquium, at which I heard my first EF mass.
When I came home, I began attending the EF when possible (it is far away and I have other obligations etc.)
I find myself attending the EF more and more however. There is no comparison. I can FEEL the difference at mass. There is an ineffable difference (hee hee - hi Bp. Trautmann!). It is like getting dunked with grace vs. a few sprinkles.
“It is like getting dunked with grace vs. a few sprinkles.”
That is a great description of the experience.
Beautiful picture!
This maybe too far upstate for you - but I have discovered a beautiful Tridentine Mass at St. Stylvia’s (12:00) in Tivoli, New York - northern Duchess County.
Once a serious catholic goes to a Tridentine mass they quickly realize what the true faith was/is all about and there is no going back.
The novus ordo experiment is a fail - just the majority haven’t realized it yet.
“Once a serious catholic goes to a Tridentine mass they quickly realize what the true faith was/is all about and there is no going back.
The novus ordo experiment is a fail - just the majority haven’t realized it yet.”
I agree with you. However, I will say that the Novus Ordo, done reverently, can be acceptable.
We had the opportunity to attend Midnight Mass this Christmas at St. Veronica’s Church (Chantilly, VA) - this was a Novus Ordo Mass, but done almost entirely in Latin - the priest was facing East, the congregation extremely reverent, the hymns traditional.
And....
we said the Prayer to St. Michael after the Mass (and the whole congregation knew it by heart.)
All in all, a great experience.
Since you mentioned the schola, I will relate my own experience in this area.
Whenever I had ever asked about hearing Gregorian chant at any NO parish, the excuse was always “no one knows how to do that here.”
So, taking the attitude of “if it is to be, it is up to me”, I undertook an (ongoing) five-year effort of studying and practicing Gregorian chant, despite having very minimal experience singing and only formal training in playing an instrument in high school band.
By sheer brute force, I now consider myself a worthy schola singer (I give myself an A+ in chant theory & interpretation, C in practical implementation :-))
Ever since then, we have struggled to get our NO pastor, who is otherwise a holy, orthodox priest who presides over a reverent mass, to allow our small schola to chant (in English) the Introit, sing the creed, maybe mix in a different ordinary from time to time, sing the original sequences, etc.
We’ve never made much progress here, other than singing a choral offertory and a simple english communion antiphon based on the actual given texts for the day.
Instead the pastor believes that the people have to sing hymns for “active participation”. In fairness, this may very well be coming from the bishop himself for all I know.
I have closely observed the parish members during hymns and a very small minority weakly sings. So we sacrificed chanting the real texts of the mass for the benefit of handful of people who are browbeaten into unwillingly singing some well-worn hymns.
Ultimately I became weary of being made to feel bothersome for simply wishing to elevate the solemness of the mass, as per the “first choice” given in the GIRM. Again, I know not what constraints under which the pastor must labor. Nevertheless, this is the state of things in the NO church.
It is a tremendous blessing to be able to go to the EF at which Gregorian chant and sung propers are not only allowed but encouraged/required.
Beautiful!
Even the mass cards are lovely.
You are truly blessed to be able to attend mass here, and to have committed and reverent sons.
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