Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the fourth Sunday after Epiphany and as custom we provide Dr. Mike Foley’s commentary on the prayers for Mass today: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/01/the-stormy-orations-of-fourth-sunday.html

Candlemas – Feast of the Purification Wednesday February 2^nd

The 40 day Christmas season is winding to a close, but not before the brilliant feast of Candles is celebrated on Wednesday, the 40^th day of Christmas. Candlemas is also known as the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Leviticus 12:2-8), and candles were blessed on this day as a symbol of the Blessed Mother presenting the Light of the World (the Infant Jesus) to God in the Temple – hence it’s also called the feast of the Presentation.  Thus candles – representing the Light of Christ – are blessed on February 2^nd. The next day, February 3^rd is the feast of St. Blaise, and the blessing of throats occurs with the candles blessed the day prior. Here are the Masses for this day.

St. Ann parish, 6pm Candlelight Latin Mass (candle blessing before Mass): St. Ann will be offering a Candlelight Latin Mass on Wednesday February 2nd at 6pm. Immediately prior to Mass, Father will bless the candles in the traditional Latin blessing.  Please place your candles on the table in the narthex no later than 5:45pm. Candles should be 51% beeswax or greater (no scented candles, etc.); packages should be opened and any plastic wrap should be removed to allow the candles to be blessed with Holy Water. Father will bless them and then immediately process into the Church. We believe it to be a Low Mass.

Holy Cross parish, Kernersville, 6:15pm Latin Mass (with candle blessing at Mass): Fr. Noah Carter, pastor of Holy Cross parish in Kernersville, just west of Greensboro (616 S. Cherry Street, Kernersville) will offer a special Traditional Latin Mass with candle blessing. The parish will distribute 300 blessed candles to attendees.  Anyone who wishes to provide their own candles can bring them and place them on a table prepared on the epistle side of the sanctuary near the altar rails.

Prince of Peace parish, Taylors, SC, 7pm Solemn High Mass (100 miles southwest of Charlotte): Prince of Peace parish will offer a Solemn High Mass along with a blessing of candles. To have candles blessed, please place them inside the Communion rail before Mass. It is suggested to arrive 10-15 minutes early accomplish this. Parish is located at 1209 Brushy Creek Road, Taylors, SC.

Our Lady of the Lake parish, Chapin, SC, 6:30pm Latin Mass (100 miles south of Charlotte): Our sister group, the Columbia SC Traditional Latin Mass Supporters, has announced a Latin Mass at 6:30pm February 2^nd. Blessing of candles will take place at the beginning of Mass, followed by a procession. It will be offered at Our Lady of the Lake parish in Chapin, SC (195 Amicks Ferry Road, Chapin, SC)

Customs of Candlemas

• To learn more about the traditions customs, and recipes for this feast day (including its influence on Groundhog Day), visit: https://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterepiphany3.html
• We also wanted to share a special article that Chris wrote a few years ago about the link between candles & sacrifice: https://liturgyguy.com/2017/01/31/on-candles-and-sacrifice/

SAVE THE DATE: End of Epiphany Celebration – Sunday February 6, 12:30pm

The CLMC will be hosting its annual close of Epiphanytide celebration after the 12:30pm Latin Mass on the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, February 6 at St. Ann parish. Please bring a dish or a treat to share. The Cantate Domino Latin Choir will also sing the traditional wassailing song as well.

Septuagesima season begins Sunday February 13: As a reminder, with Christmas/Epiphany season closing, the pre-lent season of Septuagesima will begin Sunday February 13. This marks the 70 period before Easter, and the 3 week reminder that Lent is soon coming and to begin preparing. To learn more visit:https://www.fisheaters.com/customsseptuagesima1.html

Holy Face Apostolate Begins at St. Mark – Mondays 2-3pm

St. Mark parish in Huntersville is beginning a new apostolate that will meet once a week to offer prayers in reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus. The group meets each Monday from 2-3pm in the church.  As background, in 1843, Sr. Mary of St. Peter, a Carmelite nun in the monastery in Tours, France, received a series of revelations from Jesus telling her that reparation for certain sins were an imperative, and that it was to be done through devotion to the Holy Face.  The primary purpose of this apostolate is to, by praying certain prayers, make reparation for the sins committed against the first three Commandments of the Lord: The denial of God by atheism (communism), blasphemy, and the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days. Devotion to the Holy Face has been referred to as the devotion for Jesus Crucified.  This is a traditional devotion and the CLMC is pleased to see this take hold.  Attend as your schedule permits. 

FYI: For a good sermon on the link between Holy Face and Holy Name of Jesus devotions visit Sensus Fidelium’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyldX7QqGks

Latin Mass & Traditional News

• Churches in Jerusalem Under Snow: As some parts of our area still have snow on the ground for 16 consecutive days, we thought it might be appropriate to share photos of Jerusalem and the ancient churches which enjoyed a rare snowfall this past week: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/01/churches-in-jerusalem-under-snow.html

• The Second Feast of St Agnes: A Liturgical Oddity: 8 days after the feast of St. Agnes on January 28, the Traditional Rite commemorates the 2^nd feast of St. Agnes.  NLM’s Greg DiPippo offers a helpful article in understanding why this great martyr receives two feasts in just a week’s time: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2021/01/the-second-feast-of-st-agnes-liturgical.html#.YfYtI_hOmHu

• The Old Mass, and Being Stricter Than the Law: Dr. Joseph Shaw of the Latin Mass Society of the UK examines why some bishops are canceling certain practices related to the Traditional Latin Mass even though Church law does not require it. https://voiceofthefamily.com/the-old-mass-and-being-stricter-than-the-law/

• Immortal Latin by Marie-Madeleine Martin, translated by Brian Welter: As a follow up to last Sunday’s update (see Chair of St. Peter in Rome) on the importance of the Roman Empire to the Catholic Church’s mission to save souls, a reader has suggested a book on this very subject: https://aroucapress.com/immortal-latin

• Unwanted Priest: The Autobiography of a Latin Mass Exile: Do you love the Latin Mass, but now feel exiled to the margins of Church society due to the Latin Mass’ limited offering and hostility towards it? Well then, the autobiography of Fr. Bryan Houghton may be for you. He was a British priest who seeing the liturgical dangers ahead, retired early to France in the 1960s to continue offering the Traditional Latin Mass privately. His autobiography has now been translated from French into English: https://www.angelicopress.org/unwanted-priest-bryan-houghton

• Croatian Rugby Coach Returns to New Zealand to Become a Catholic Priest: Great write up about Fr. Anthony Sumich of the Fraternity of St. Peter, who used to coach rugby, and now is a Latin Mass priest back home in New Zealand: https://www.ncregister.com/interview/croatian-rugby-coach-returns-to-new-zealand-to-become-catholic-priest

Don’t Stop Celebrating: After Christmas Day, Christmas Continues

Although the Christmas season ends in just a few days, the Church through her ancient liturgical calendar continues to celebrate the Christmas season by commemorating saints and blessed who have or reflected devotion to the Infant King. Dom Prosper Gueranger, the great Benedictine liturgist and author of the magnificent, The Liturgical Year, notes two of them over the past few days:

January 28 – Blessed Charlemagne: Gueranger lays out quite convincingly, that contrary to his detractors, Charlemagne, the great eighth century Frankish King and Holy Roman Emperor was indeed a man of virtue after his conversion, and was one of the greatest Kings of Christendom. Although his feast is only kept locally, Gueranger explains why Charles I is connected to Christmas: Charlemagne, then, has been selected by our Emmanuel himself to be the perfect type of a Christian Prince; and we Catholics should love to celebrate his glory during this Christmas season, during which is born among us the Divine Child, who is come to reign over all nations, and guide them in the path of holiness and justice. Jesus has come from heaven to be the model of Kings, as of the rest of men; and so far, no man has so closely imitated this divine model as “Charles the Victorious, the ever August, the Monarch crowned by God.” https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/january/january-28-bl-charlemagne/

January 29 – St. Francis de Sales:  Of the many things St. Francis de Sales, the great bishop of Geneva (who converted 72,000 protestants back to the faith), was known for, was his devotion to Incarnation, the Infant Jesus. Gueranger shares a reflection St. Francis wrote a reflection about the Bethlehem shepherds to his friend St. Jane Frances de Chantel: “Returning home from celebrating these sacred mysteries, I rest awhile in thus sending you my Happy Christmas! for I dare say that the poor Shepherds took some little rest, after they had adored the Babe announced to them by the Angels. And as I thought of their sleep on that night, I said to myself: How sweetly must they not have slept, dreaming of the sacred melody wherewith the Angels told them the glad tidings, and of the dear Child and the Mother they had been to see!”  https://sensusfidelium.com/the-liturgical-year-dom-prosper-gueranger/january/january-29-st-francis-de-sales-bishop/

If one hasn’t read Dr. Peter Kwasniewski’s uplifting essay on keeping the 40 Days of Christmas, we highly recommend it and re-share it: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/dont-stop-celebrating-after-christmas-day-christmas-continues-2/

Fr. Chad Ripperger: Unicity and Catholicity Among Different Rites

Traditional exorcist and theologian, Fr. Chad Ripperger (who heads a congregation of exorcists and offers the Latin Mass exclusively) has assembled a great and helpful video to clear up some of a myth that the Traditional Latin Mass, because it differs from the Novus Ordo Mass, is somehow causing harm to Church unity. This fable is what is driving some Church leaders in Rome to think it’s necessary to restrict the Traditional Latin Mass when in reality this position is at odds over what the Church has taught over the centuries (CLMC hopes that Catholic “fact-checkers” will examine this important piece of misinformation as much as they investigate other matters). We provide a few examples mentioned in Fr. Ripperger’s video:

Pope Bl. Pius IX: April 7, 1862: Amantissimus (On the Care of the Churches): #4. Now, truly, a multiplicity of holy things, a variety of legitimate rites, obviously in no way oppose the unity of the Catholic Church; rather, indeed, such diversity greatly enhances the dignity of the Church itself. Source: https://wwwpapalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9amant2.htm

Pope Leo XIII: November 30, 1894: Orientalium Dignitas – On the Churches of the East: [E]ven as her Apostolic origin is all the more proven especially by these Churches of the East, at the selfsame moment there shines out and is made manifest these Churches’ original, complete unity with the Roman Church. Nothing else, perhaps, is so breathtakingly effective for illustrating the mark of Catholicity in God’s Church than that striking sight of differing forms of ceremonies and noble examples of the tongues of the ancient past – made all the more noble by their use by the Apostles and Fathers – rendering their submission to the Church. This is almost an image of that most excellent submission that was rendered to the newly-born Christ, the divine Founder of the Church, when the Magi were drawn from the different regions of the East and came to adore Him. Source: https://wwwpapalencyclicals.net/leo13/l13orient.htm

Fr. Ripperger’s video can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J8FB-gdq1c

The Traditional Latin Mass unifies Catholics across all ethnic, racial, and national boundaries. What Mass are you attending Sunday?