Tomorrow is a great day in the Calendar for those of us who remember a stanza in The Ultra-Catholic:
We've started a 'Sodality of John of San Fagondez,'
Consisting of the five young men who serve High Mass on Sundays;
And though they simply will not come to weekday Mass at seven,
They turn out looking wonderful on Sundays at eleven.
Ah, the days when clergy and laity might turn up on weekdays at seven. The rejuvenation of the Church after Vatican II put a stop to all that.
Absolutely. These days, most parishes seem to wait until everyone is at work before offering Mass. Do you think a return to the ancient Communion fast would solve this?
ReplyDeleteAh, indeed. When you and I were already born much of France and Germany would have a sung Mass at six-thirty or seven every weekday. In busy town parishes a High Mass, every day. And the faithful were there in numbers.
ReplyDeleteActually, the thing that really killed it was evening Mass. By that time people were tired and wanting to get home, so a said Mass was thought more pastoral.
You see the card-trick? By now it was all about us, and no longer a matter of giving glory to God.
O Anthropos!
Fr Mascall maintained that when my friend Donald was 'reading himself in' at St Mary's, Bourne Street, he 'uncovered' at the phrase 'the Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction'. Donald always denied it...
ReplyDeleteMy local parish church is exclusively Novus Ordo, and run by Jesuits to boot. Pre-Covid, weekday Mass was at 5:30 am and well-attended. One would gather in the Church before dawn and exit shortly after sunrise. Of course, in the Jakarta climate, rising at circa 5 am is not the shock to the system that it can be in the depths of a temperate-zone winter. Also the fact that the pre-dawn Azan sounds about 4:30 pm makes we Catholics- just kidding- makes US Catholics feel positively pampered.
ReplyDeleteTimely post for John of San Fagondez (St John of Sahagún)
ReplyDelete“ In 1729 Pope Benedict XIII inscribed his liturgical feast day in the Roman Calendar for 12 June, since 11 June, the anniversary of his death was occupied by the feast of Saint Barnabas. In the 1969 revision of the Roman liturgical celebration was left to local calendars because of the limited importance attributed to him on a universal level. In the Roman Martyrology, the official list of saints of the Catholic Church, his feast day is 11 June”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Sahagún
ReplyDeleteCardinal Heenan opined that the NO would mainly be attended by women ( and children ). And in most parishes morning weekday Mass is timed to coincide with the exit from home for shopping
I remember my schoolboy days of serving weekday Mass at six in the morning. The Mass moved along quickly (probably so that people could get to work on time) and was reasonably well attended in a fairly large church.
ReplyDeleteIn these softer times, weekday Mass in that same church is at 6:45 in the morning Monday through Friday and 7:00 on Saturday
In my previous comment, for 4 pm read 4 am.
ReplyDeleteWere there many Anglo-Catholic churches with High or Sung Mass at 6 a.m./6.30/7 a.m. on Holy Days ? I have heard of some but wonder if it was a mark of the Really High.
ReplyDeleteThe Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament prayed AGAINST evening Communion and then did a somersault when Rome changed and called in,I believe, Dr Trevor Jalland [what did he say ?] to prove that evening Masses were fine and had always been traditional and catholic - because Rome now allowed it.
Some of my happiest memories are of serving the vicar's Mass in the village church before school. Most of the time it was just the two of us (as well as the court of heaven, and all time and space...), but on Red Letter days a retired Church of Ireland clergyman would attend. On those days he would begin, "I will go onto the altar of God" rather than the more usual "Introibo ad altare Dei".
ReplyDeleteHe was very patient, especially when I read in 'Merrily of High' I think, of AHP prostrating himself in the sanctuary before holy communion, which I had to try, of course. With my other attempts to push him further up the candlestick, he would smile and say, "Hmmm, let's have a think about that."