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Third Sunday After Epiphany

Laudetur Iesus Christus! Sunday is the third Sunday after Epiphany, and as custom we share a reflection on the prayers for Sunday’s Latin Mass: https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2021/01/the-secret-for-third-sunday-after.html#.YezdS_hOmHs

SAVE THE DATE: Next Sunday January 29 – Annual End of Christmas Potluck Celebration, 12:30pm St. Ann parish: Please save the date for next Sunday January 29, the fourth Sunday of Epiphany and the final Sunday of the Christmas season. As we do each year the CLMC will be organizing a potluck after the 12:30pm St. Ann Latin Mass in the plaza with festive food, and a Christmas carol.  Please consider bringing a dish or dessert to share.

Latin Masses This Week

  • Wednesday January 25, 6pm – St. Ann, feast of St. Paul’s Conversion (Octave Day of Christian Unity)
  • Thursday January 26, 7pm – St. Thomas Aquinas, feast of St. Polycarp
  • Friday January 27, 7am (St. Ann) & 12:30pm (St. Mark), St. John Chrysostom
  • Saturday January 28, 8am – St. Ann, Respect Life Latin Mass, St. Peter Nolasco (2nd Commemoration of St. Agnes) (Followed by prayers at the abortion facility afterwards)

Candlemas – Feast of the Purification, Thursday February 2nd (40th day of Christmas)

Candlemas, the 40th and last day of Christmas, is also known as the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and candles were blessed on this day as a symbol of the Blessed Mother presenting the Light of the World to God in the Temple.  The next day, the feast of St. Blaise (February 3), the candles blessed the day prior are used for the blessing of throats. Here are the announced events for February 2nd:

  • St. Ann: Blessing of candles before the 7am Novus Ordo Mass (no Latin Mass that day)
  • St. Thomas Aquinas: 7pm Latin Mass including a blessing of candles and a candlelight procession. If you haven’t attended a traditional Candlemas before, the Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas will be well worth it. If you have candles to be blessed, please arrive early, and one can place their candles on a table in the church.
  • Our Lady of the Lake, Chapin, SC, 6:30pm Latin Mass and procession (2 hours south of Charlotte)
  • Purchasing candles for February 2nd: With Candlemas coming, if one wants to order 100% pure beeswax candles, Lux Candles operated by a Catholic family in South Dakota is a good choice. One has to place orders the old fashioned way – via telephone. http://www.luxcandlecompany.com/

IMPORTANT – First Saturday Latin Schedule Change – Saturday February 4

The first Saturday Latin Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas parish will be at 8:30am on Saturday February 4 (not 10am). The blessing of religious objects is canceled for this Saturday. This change is due to a speaker the parish is hosting later in the morning.

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

As we celebrate Epiphanytide, the Christmas season continues until February 2nd – and we encourage our readers to learn how to keep the embers of the Christmas season burning for the next few weeks by reading this excellent 2019 article by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/dont-stop-celebrating-after-christmas-day-christmas-continues-2

Monday January 23 – Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

The U.S. Bishops have declared tomorrow Monday January 23 a day of prayer and penance for the end abortion (transferred to Monday since January 22 falls on a Sunday this year): https://www.respectlife.org/january-22

Community News

Holy Face Devotions

  • St Mark – Mondays 5-5:45pm (NEW TIME for JANUARY)
  • St. Thomas Aquinas – Tuesdays 6am in the main church
  • St. Ann – Tuesdays 7:30am in the chapel after the Novus Ordo Mass (uses the booklet/chaplet which takes 15-20 minutes)
  • St Michael the Archangel, Gastonia – Tuesdays, 9am, Main Church
  • Holy Spirit, Denver – Tuesdays 10-11am after the Novus Ordo Mass
  • Don’t see your parish? Why not organize one?

Latin Mass & Traditional News

  • Forgotten Customs of the Octave of Christian Unity: As noted at the conclusion of this update below, January 18 was the ancient feast of St. Peter’s Chair in Rome and the beginning of the Church Unity Octave, a time where the Church prayers that all separate sects will unite with Rome and become Catholic. The octave concludes on January 25, the feast of the conversion of St. Paul the Apostle. OnePeterFive has an helpful article on the lost customs of this 8-day period of prayer: https://onepeterfive.com/forgotten-customs-octave-christian-unity
  • “Ad Orientem”: Why is the Mass Celebrated Facing East?: For Latin Mass newcomers, one of the most stark differences observed at the Latin Mass (besides Latin) is that the priest faces God when offering Mass, which is also known as facing liturgical east (ad orientem). Why does the priest face east or the tabernacle instead of the people? A Fraternity of St. Peter priest has a helpful article explaining this important liturgical orientation: https://fssp.com/ad-orientem-why-is-the-mass-celebrated-facing-east/
  • R.I.P. Howard Walsh: The name Howard Walsh may not sound familiar to many Latin Mass attendees today, but the work he did helped restore the Traditional Latin Mass and the traditional faith that accompanies the liturgy. Specifically he founded Keep the Faith, an organization which publishes Latin Mass Magazine, which the CLMC has passed out at our tables over the years at St. Ann, St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as at many prior Eucharistic Congresses. During the more restrictive eras such as the 1980s, Keep the Faith was known for organizing Latin Mass conferences across the U.S. which helped introduce and catechize the next generation of faithful in the Traditional Rite. One can still find some of those talks at their website: https://keepthefaith.org/ Please consider praying for the repose of the soul of Mr. Walsh in one’s Latin Mass intentions this week. We share Michael Matt’s (The Remnant) eulogy and obituary of Mr. Walsh: https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/headline-news-around-the-world/item/6347-pioneer-of-the-latin-mass-movement-howard-walsh-rip
  • 230 Years – Louis XVI, Saintly King, true Martyr: a Catholic going to death and His Last Will and Testament: Also noteworthy of mention is that Saturday was the 230th anniversary of the death of King Louis XVI of France, who died at the hands of the French revolutionaries in 1793. Rorate Caeli blog has shared his last will and testament which demonstrates his pious faith: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2023/01/230-years-louis-xvi-saintly-king-true.html

    Catholics often remember King Louis XVI as a poor victim of the heinous and evil French Revolution (one of the most diabolical events/periods in history). However, as this Dominican priest notes below, we Americans should think of him in a deeper light. It was with the King’s aid and financing, that the French army and navy, assisted America in defeating the British at Yorktown in 1781 and helped win the country’s independence. That act of generosity essentially bankrupted France, and led to the chain of events that began the French Revolution and ultimately cost King Louis, and his devout Catholic wife, Marie Antoinette, their heads. As an act of gratitude one perhaps may wish to keep him and his wife in our Latin Mass intentions this weekend: See the Dominican article here: https://www.dominicanajournal.org/wp-content/files/old-journal-archive/vol15/no2/dominicanav15n2kinglouisxvibenefactoramericam.pdf
  • Update on the Grand Altarpiece of the Church of the Fraternity of St Vincent Ferrer: Rorate Caeli blog also shares the beautiful progress of the commissioning of a new altarpiece for the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer’s church. For those unfamiliar with this fraternity (not to be confused with the Fraternity of St. Peter/FSSP), they are a traditional French Dominican monastery which offers the traditional Dominican Rite Mass exclusively. This Mass is very similar to the Traditional Latin Mass but is for the exclusive use of Dominican priests. Sadly after Vatican II, the Dominicans discontinued this rite for the Novus Ordo. However, Dominican priests can still offer the traditional Dominican Rite, and in fact, St. Ann hosted a Dominican Rite Mass several years ago. With the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer (FSVF), we share photos of their new altar piece which gives us great hope about the future of the Latin Mass despite the current era of restrictions: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2023/01/update-on-grand-altarpiece-of-church-of.html
  • Pontifical Mass in Sulphur, Louisiana: We are pleased to share that a bishop in Louisiana recently visited a Latin Mass parish in his diocese and offered a Pontifical Mass for the feast of St. Thomas Beckett. The parish is staffed by priests of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest which offer the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively and operate parishes in the U.S. and across the world: https://www.institute-christ-king.org/1388-pontifical-mass-in-sulphur

January 18 – the Ancient feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome

This past Wednesday January 18 was listed as a feria day (no feast day), but in earlier eras, it was actually the feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome. This may cause a little confusion to some as February 22 is currently listed as the Chair of St. Peter, but in prior years, the latter February feast was to celebrate St. Peter’s first bishopric in Antioch (modern day Turkey). On January 18 however was celebrated the feast of St. Peter’s Chair in Rome – his Pontifical See.

With so much turmoil and problems in Rome today, it may be helpful (and edifying) to learn about Rome’s vocation as envisioned by God, for the Catholic Church, and how God used the infrastructure of Roman Empire to help establish his Church and evangelize the faith – once the mighty pagan empire was conquered (Apocalypse 18 & 19). Here is Dom Prosper Gueranger’s OSB reflection (in The Liturgical Year) which includes a wonderful sermon on Rome from St. Leo the Great:

“When Peter enters Rome, therefore, he comes to realize and explain the destinies of this Queen of Cities; he comes to promise her an Empire even greater than the one she possesses This new Empire is not to be founded by the sword, as was the first. Rome has been hitherto the proud mistress of nations; henceforth she is to be the Mother of the world by Charity; and though all peaceful, yet her Empire shall last to the end of time. Let us listen to St Leo the Great, describing to us in one of the finest of his Sermons, and in his own magnificent style, the humble yet all-eventful entrance of the Fisherman of Genesareth into the Capital of the Pagan world.

‘The good and just and omnipotent God, who never refused his mercy to the human race, and instructed all men in general in the knowledge of himself by his superabundant benefits, took pity, by a more hidden counsel and a deeper love, on the voluntary blindness of them that had gone astray, and on the wickedness which was growing in its proneness to evil; and sent therefore into the world his co-equal and co-eternal Word. The which Word being made Flesh did so unite the divine to the human nature, as that the deep debasement of the one was the highest uplifting of the other.

But that the effect of this unspeakable gift might be diffused throughout the entire world, the providence of God had been preparing the Roman Empire, which had so far extended its limits as to embrace in itself all the nations of the earth. For nothing could be better suited to the divine plan than the confederation of various kingdoms under one and the same Empire; and the preaching of the Gospel to the whole world would the more rapidly be effected by having the several nations united under the government of one common City.

But this City, ignoring the author of this her promotion, whilst mistress of almost every nation under the sun, was the slave of every nation’s errors; and prided herself on having a grand religion, because she had admitted every false doctrine. So that the faster the devil’s hold of her, the more admirable her deliverance by Christ.

For when the twelve Apostles, after receiving by the Holy Ghost the gift of tongues, divided among themselves the world they had to evangelize, the most blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostolic order, was sent to the Capital of the Roman Empire, in order that the light of truth, which had been revealed for the salvation of all nations, might the more effectively flow from the head itself into the whole body of the world.

The fact was that there were in this City people belonging to every nation, and the rest of the world soon learnt whatever was taught at Rome. Here, therefore, were to be refuted the opinions of philosophy; here the follies of human wisdom to be exploded; here the worship of devils to be convicted of blasphemy; here the impiety of all the sacrifices to be first abolished; for it was here that an official superstition had systematized into one great whole the fragmentary errors of every other portion of the earth.’”

What Mass are you attending Sunday?