Vestments: A new series

Everything about the Mass has a purpose. Everything. A hat tip to Cleansing Fire.

Chant! Chant! Chant!

 “To recover the great treasure which the Tradition of the Church gave to us, it is necessary to begin with Gregorian chant, which is capable of communicating to the people of God the sense of Catholicity and to guide it towards a correct inculturation."

So saith Benedictine Abbot Michael Zielinski, the new appointee to the new office on liturgical arts at the Vatican.

Read about it here.

Laudamus Te -- Rejoice!

Look what Fr. Z has found:

Laudamus Te: The Magazine of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Liturgy of the Roman Rite.

Here you can find a nice review of it with pictures.

The workers in this vineyard are few, as of yet. Please support them.

"We don't care..."

It's quite alright to be disliked. Really, it is. ;-)

From the article:

"The Extraordinary Form will help renew our focus on God also in the Ordinary Form.  I think also that the Extraordinary Form draws men more powerfully than Ordinary Form." -- Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

All Are Welcome

A Day With Mary

A day of instruction, devotion, and intercession based on the message given at Fatima in 1917

Our Lady to Lucia, June 13, 1917: 

“Jesus wishes to establish in the world devotion 
to my Immaculate Heart.”

 

Saturday, November 17, 2012
Saint Mary’s Church
All Saints Parish
155 State St, Corning, NY
(607) 936-4689

9 a.m.          Fatima Video Presentation (All Saints Academy Gym)

10:10 a.m.   Procession of Our Lady into St. Mary’s Church accompanied by a Devotional Crowning, Angelus, sung Litany and the Five Joyful Mysteries

10:40 a.m.   Missa Cantata (Latin Mass) in Honor of Our Lady

12:25 a.m.   Lunch Break in All Saints Academy Gym (please bring your own bag lunch)

1:25 a.m.     Procession of the Blessed Sacrament, Conferences on Our Lady and the Blessed Sacrament, Act of Consecration, Benediction, Enrollment in the Brown Scapular and Conferment of the Miraculous Medal

3 p.m.          Day ends

 Priests available all day for confessions

 For more information about A Day with Mary, contact Brother Michael at (607) 797-8057

On Sacred Music

Here is an excellent article on the purpose of sacred music, what constitutes it, and what quality means when we speak of sacred music. (H/t Fr. Z, of course.)

Here's a snippet from the article:
In many parishes, the modern piano has supplanted the pipe organ. As a secular keyboard instrument, the piano delivers such an idiosyncratic tone that it is excluded from the symphony orchestra because it overpowers the sounds of other instruments. The modern piano succeeded the harpsichord and clavichord to support the heavy touch created by nineteenth-century compositions. With its percussive and sensual tone, sustained by the pedal, the piano functions best in a secular ambiance and has no place in the liturgy. Is all this sung prayer?

Avant et Après

Here is a before-and-after video of what an altar looks like for an EF Mass. Unfortunately, the advertisement before the video is for a contraceptive product, but such are the times we are living in. Enjoy! (H/t to Fr. Z's loyal posters).
La métamorphose d'un autel by CHRIST-REDEMPTEUR

Cardinal Burke on Summorum Pontificum

Listen to this succinct interview with Cardinal Burke on why the liturgy's 'Reform of the reform' makes so much sense.

Thanks once more, Fr. Z!

If wishes were horses beggars would ride

There is an upcoming pilgrimage of the Tridentine Latin Rite in Rome.

The Saving Power of Gregorian Chant

Wherein Father Z 'rants': Restoring spiritual sense

More Excellent Instruction!

These videos are highly instructive to anyone who wishes to better understand the rubrics of the EF Mass. (H/t Barnhardt.biz).

FSSP Instructional Videos

Hey, we can watch, too! (H/t Fr. Z)

Extraordinary Form Workshops

Out of the mouths of babes

The Extraordinary Form of the Mass...a perspective from a younger person (H/t Fr. Z):

Praise and Worship Music

From Fr. Christopher Smith's mouth to our parish music director's ears:

Why Praise and Worship Music is Praise, But Not Worship

Five years on

The release of the text

(H/t Fr. Z)

Mass in the Extraordinary Form in Corning

There will be a Traditional Latin Mass:

Where: St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church in Corning
When:  Sunday, June 3 at 1:30 p.m.
Address:  222 Dodge Ave., Corning, NY 14830

The need for today is....yesterday

Pontifical Mass for Life

There is an upcoming pontifical mass to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation on March 26. Here's a couple details:

Bishop Timlin will celebrate the Pontifical Mass at the faldstool according to the Roman Missal of 1962, the form of the Catholic Church’s Mass in Latin before the Second Vatican Council. Organist and choirmaster, Pedro d’Aquino, will lead the schola and choir singing Missa O soberana luz by Portugese composer Filipe de Magalhães (c1571-1652).

For more details, read about it here. H/t to Fr. Z, who blogs about it here. Sponsored by the New York Knights of Columbus. Thank you, good sir knights.

Truer words were never spoken

“The day the Church abandons her universal tongue [Latin] is the day before she returns to the catacombs.” — Pope Pius XII

Truer words...

From the Catholic convert Ann Barnhardt: On Jesus, Religion, Ted Kennedy & D1 Cats. She talks a little bit about her conversion, then segues into the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, and then, well you can read the whole thing if you don't mind someone who forcefully speaks her mind. I will quote just a snippet here:
For you Catholics who aren’t attending a pre-Vatican II Tridentine Latin Mass, think about it. Who is the physical focus of the Mass? It is probably the priest, interspersed with lectors, a cantor, the choir and musicians (up front so everyone can SEE THEM!) and Eucharistic ministers. Where does the priest sit? Probably with his back to the Tabernacle, if the Tabernacle hasn’t been moved off to the side or into a sacristy completely. Which direction is the priest facing? WHO is the priest addressing? Towards the PEOPLE. Everything is physically oriented not towards Christ, but towards the people. By setting up a second altar (in the case of an old church that has a high altar, sitting unused) or by having a table-style altar in a new-construction church, with the priest on one side and the people on the other, what has happened is that the people have literally turned their back to God and have instead formed a circle of self-absorbed, self-regarding self-worship.