Laudetur Iesus Christus!  As we have previously announced, the Diocese of Charlotte is offering a full Traditional Latin Triduum this year for the first time in the history of the Diocese.  While officially this is being offered by St. Ann’s Catholic Church, the liturgies will be held in the Chapel of Charlotte Catholic High School (CCHS) located at: 7702 Pineville-Matthews Road.

We know there are other Mass options to choose from, but please do all that you can (within prudence) to attend these liturgies.  Attendance really does matter at the Latin Mass.  Unlike the Novus Ordo, the growth of the Latin Mass will continue only with strong attendance.  The chapel will hold about 330 people and those who come will be able the see an newly transformed sanctuary which includes a new communion rail.

Attached here is an updated list of times for both the Triduum at CCHS and Easter Sunday Mass at St. Ann:

HOLY THURSDAY, APRIL 13TH: (@ CCHS)

7:00 P.M.: MASS OF THE LAST SUPPER.

ADORATION TO FOLLOW UNTIL 12 MIDNIGHT.

GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 14TH: (@ CCHS)

12 NOON: STATIONS OF THE CROSS.

12:45 P.M. – 2 P.M.: CONFESSIONS.

3:00 P.M.: PASSION OF THE LORD.

HOLY SATURDAY, APRIL 15TH: (@ CCHS) 

8:00 P.M.: EASTER VIGIL.

N.B.: Upon arrival gather outside of the chapel for the Rite of Blessing of the New Fire and Pascal Candle.  

EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 16TH: (@ ST. ANN’S)

12:30 P.M.:  EASTER SUNDAY MASS.

We have received some great questions for which I will try my best at answering:

Q1. What is a Triduum?  A:  The word Triduum is Latin for, “the three” in reference to the three liturgical celebrations of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.  These three days are the final three days of Holy Week and Passiontide.  Liturgically these are the days of deepest morning of the year, when the Church follows our Lord from the Upper Room of His Last Supper; to His Crucifixion on Calvary; to His Holy Sepulcher, meditating on His sacred passion and death.  The Triduum is really one continuous liturgy that culminates with the Solemn Mass of the Vigil of Easter on Saturday night.  As you may have noticed, throughout Passiontide, the Gloria has been omitted, the bells have been silenced, and the statues and crosses have been veiled as a symbol of our morning.  All of this sorrow comes to an end when on the Easter Vigil, the priest intones the Gloria followed by a flurry of bells and polyphony symbolizing the rolling back of the stone to reveal the empty tomb of the risen Christ. 

Q2. Should we bring our children?  A: Parents are free to use their judgement based on age and development level of each child.  That said, these liturgies are so rich in terms of catechism and theology.  If you think your children are up for a challenge, I encourage you to bring them.  For parents of smaller babies, there will be a side narthex area with access to bathrooms that will be available as a “cry room”.  History has proven that there is no better way to catechize children in the Catholic Faith that to expose them to Traditional Latin Mass.

Q3. What will the weather be for the liturgical events held outdoors?  A: On Holy Saturday, the liturgy begins outside, and continues for about 30 minutes until we process in.  The current weather forecast is about 70 degrees with clear skies.  It looks like it will be great weather.

Q4. Will there be collections?  A: Yes.  On Good Friday, as usual in every parish around the world, there will be the annual collection for the Holy Land.  There will also be collections at the Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday) and again on Easter Sunday.  For those registered at St. Ann’s, in addition to the Holy Land envelope, you should also have envelopes for: 

1. Easter Offering, 
2. Seminary Offering, 
3. Easter Flowers, 
4. The standard weekly Sunday offering.  

N.B. Make all checks out as normal to St. Ann Catholic Church.

Q5. Where can we park?  A: There are a few parking spots near the chapel in the back.  Once those fill up, there is a large parking garage next to the football field.  See the below map.

Q7.  Does attending the Easter Vigil satisfy ones’ obligation to attend Mass on Sunday?  Yes… technically either the Easter Vigil Mass or the Easter Sunday Mass satisfy our obligation to attend Mass… however, the traditional custom was to attend both.  The two Masses are distinct liturgies that  build upon one another.  If you only go to one … you will be missing out.

We hope to see you all there.  Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Laudetur Iesus Christus! As we process through Passiontide, we again remind everyone of our first Traditional Latin Easter Triduum (Holy Week), hosted by St. Ann’s at Charlotte Catholic High School. These liturgies are being generously offered by St. Ann’s for the Latin Mass faithful – please try to attend some or all of them (we’d like this to be annual!).

• Holy Thursday April 13, Mass (High) 7pm
• Good Friday April 14, Mass of the Presanctified, 3pm
• Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil (High), 8pm  (Light reception to follow)

All liturgies will offered by Father Barone at Charlotte Catholic High School Chapel, 7702 Pinesville-Matthews Road, Charlotte NC. 

FYI: St. Ann’s will celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation with Traditional Latin Mass (Low) tomorrow Saturday March 25^th at 9am.

Laudetur Iesus Christus! We are nearly halfway through Lent, and it serves as a good reminder to promote our first diocesan Traditional Latin Easter Triduum (Holy Week), hosted by St. Ann’s at Charlotte Catholic High School. These liturgies are being generously offered by St. Ann’s for the Latin Mass faithful – please try to attend some or all of them (we’d like this to be annual!).

• Holy Thursday April 13, Mass (High) 7pm
• Good Friday April 14, Mass of the Presanctified, 3pm
• Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil (High), 8pm (Light reception to follow)

All liturgies will offered by Father Barone at Charlotte Catholic High School Chapel, 7702 Pinesville-Matthews Road, Charlotte NC.

Lastly, in preparation for the Triduum, we share with you a picture of the “tradification” of the Charlotte Catholic High School chapel – altar rails were just installed last week. The free-standing altar will be relocated for the Triduum and a temporary traditional altar will be established — a modest “brick-by-brick approach” toward restoring tradition in this corner of the world.

Laudetur Iesus Christus! We thank everyone who attended Fr. Joseph’s mission this week and found his talks spiritually efficacious. If you missed any of his talks, they should be posted on St. Ann’s website soon – we’ll let you know when that occurs.

St. Gregory the Great’s Feast Celebration – this Sunday 12:30pm. St. Ann’s and the CLMC will celebrate our patronal feast day with a musical themed celebration. During Mass, the Cantate Domino Latin Choir will offer beautiful Gregorian chants to honor St. Gregory and the music he codified.  After High Mass we will venerate his relics and have a modest celebration with musical themed treats.  Please invite a friend – it will be a beautiful celebration. Also – thank you for everyone who continues to pray our novena to St. Gregory!

Daylight Savings Time reminder – this Sunday: Don’t forget this Sunday is daylight savings time and to spring forward your clocks.

Easter Triduum times: We are pleased to announce the times of the diocese’s first ever Traditional Easter Triduum, sponsored by St. Ann’s.  The times will be:

• Holy Thursday, April 13, 7pm
• Good Friday, April 14, 3pm
• Easter Vigil, April 15, 8pm

 All liturgies will be held at the Charlotte Catholic High School chapel (7702 Pineville-Matthews Road, Charlotte, NC). Music/chant will be provided by St. Ann’s. The Easter Vigil will be followed by a light reception and celebration (weather permitting) organized by the CLMC.

(N.B. – there will be the regular Easter Sunday 12:30pm High Mass back at St. Ann’s)

Laudetur Iesus Christus! Happy Shrovetide, or Fat Tuesday, the day traditionally where Catholics would use up their fatty foods (meats, eggs, butter) in preparation for the Lenten fasts and as this article notes, pancakes were an easy way to do it.

Being Fat Tuesday, we provide a “fattened” update with much to announce – so please read carefully:

Ash Wednesday March 1: 7am  Low Mass, St. Ann’s  (this is the only diocesan Ash Wednesday Latin Mass we’re aware of in Charlotte metro).

Friday March 3 Mass & Anniversary:  7am Low Mass, St. Ann’s – March 3^rd marks the 4^th anniversary of the Sunday Latin Mass at St. Ann’s.  Please consider attending as an act of thanksgiving or offer some prayers as Fr. Reid has always provided us faithful with a Latin Mass each Sunday (even when away).

Friday Latin Masses at St. Mark parish:  Each Friday during Lent, St. Mark parish in Huntersville will offer 12:30pm Low Masses. The first Mass begins this Friday March 3^rd. Stations of the Cross are at 12:10pm (note: the Stations might run a few minutes before or later than 12:30pm – please plan accordingly). St. Mark is the newest addition to our Latin Mass parish community—if only for Lent.

Novena to St. Gregory begins this Friday: Friday March 3^rd also begins our 9 Day Rosary Novena to our patron, St. Gregory the Great. Would you join us in praying for the growth of Latin Mass, and for Our Lord to send more Latin Mass priests to our diocese? Novena attached or you can read more here: https://charlottelatinmass.org/2017/02/24/novena-to-st-gregory-the-great/

St. Ann Parish Mission begins this Sunday: “Why be Catholic? – The Wounds of Christ”, Sunday March 5  – Wednesday March 8; 7pm talk each night followed by confession. As Fr. Barone noted Sunday, our mission priest, Fr. Joseph Tuscan is a traditional Franciscan priest who offers the Latin Mass. Also there will be Latin Mass Wednesday night, and a reception after the talk.

1^st Sunday Latin Masses at Sacred Heart in Salisbury: Deo Gratias! We are pleased to share that beginning this Sunday March 5, Sacred Heart parish in Salisbury will now offer a monthly 1^st Sunday Latin Mass at 4pm. This is a significant achievement in helping to maintain the Latin Mass at that parish (and providing us a back-up Sunday afternoon Latin Mass). Thank you to all the faithful who joined in praying the novenas to help keep the Latin Mass being offered up there and please continue to do so as much work remains.

St. Thomas Aquinas Feast Day Latin Mass: 7pm, Tuesday March 7^th, St. Thomas Aquinas parish will celebrate its patronal feast day with a Solemn High Mass and veneration of his relic.

St. Gregory the Great Feast Day celebration: 12:30pm High Mass Sunday March 12^th, at St. Ann’s. Gregorian chant music provided by the Cantate Domino Latin Choir and veneration of St. Gregory’s relic after Mass along with a musical themed social afterwards.

Traditional Easter Triduum offered by St. Ann’s: Stay tuned as the details are being worked out and we’ll update once we have concrete times and plans. The location will be at Charlotte Catholic High School chapel.

Correction from last week:  Last week we passed along a note from St. Ann’s Music Director about the chant settings for Lent and need to correct it. For Sundays during Lent, the Chant settings will be Mass XVII (Advent & Lent), with Credo IV. The Easter Vigil and Paschaltide settings will be Mass I (Lux et origo). To learn the differences, you can actually listen to these settings at Corpus Christi Watershed Publishing House’s Kyriale resource website: http://www.ccwatershed.org/kyriale/

Laudetur Iesus Christus!  In preparation for our celebration of our patronal feast on Sunday March 12, you are invited to join us in a special Rosary novena to St. Gregory the Great.  He is a wonderful patron to our apostolate as he was a 6th century Benedictine abbot who is most noted for his reform of the Roman Liturgy (i.e. the Latin Mass and the chant, which bears his name).

Providentially, the novena begins on Friday March 3^rd (the 4^th anniversary of the institution of the St. Ann’s Sunday Latin Mass) and concludes Saturday March 11 – the Vigil of St. Gregory. This Sunday we’ll be passing out St. Gregory holy cards with the novena on the back.

The novena consists of praying 1 Rosary daily for 9 days (March 3 – March 11), and at the end of each daily Rosary, offering this attached prayer to St. Gregory.   As we prayed last year, we again ask you to also consider including the following intentions:

• Full sacramental/parish life in the Extraordinary Form for Charlotte (includes daily Masses & confessions, Confirmation, Triduum, Divine office, traditional catechesis, devotions, etc.)
• Our Latin Mass Priests and Bishop Jugis.
• That Our Lord may send more Latin Mass priests and traditional vocations to Charlotte.

Might you consider joining us to pray for our spiritual needs? Children are especially encouraged to join as the prayers of children are most efficacious to God (Matthew 18:3-4).

St. Gregory the Great, pray for us!

Rosary Novena Prayer to St. Gregory the Great

1. Pray a Rosary each day beginning March 3 and ending
   March 11 (Feast is March 12).
2. At the end of each Rosary, add this prayer:

St. Gregory, you are known for your zeal for the Catholic
faith, love of liturgy, and compassion and mercy toward
those in need. Please help and guide us so that we may share
in these virtues and thereby bring Jesus into the hearts of
our families and all we encounter. We especially ask for
blessings on our parish family, our priests and our deacons.

I also ask that you graciously intercede for me before God so
that I might be granted the special assistance and graces that
I seek (full sacramental and parochial life in the
Extraordinary Form for the Charlotte faithful and that Our
Lord will send more Latin Mass priests to our diocese).

Help me to live as a faithful child of God and to attain the
eternal happiness of heaven.

St. Gregory the Great pray for us. Amen

Laudetur Iesus Christus! We just wanted to send out updates on two exciting events for Lent.  Please mark your calendars:

St. Ann Lenten Parish Mission: March 5-7, 7pm talk, Confession afterwards (except Wednesday). Flyer attached – please join us!

• Topic: “Why be Catholic – 5 Wounds of Christ”,
• Presented by Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM.
• Father offers the Mass both rites
• Wednesday Mass at 6pm (Presumably Latin)

Feast of St. Gregory the Great: Sunday March 12 after 12:30pm Mass at St. Ann’s. This is the patronal feast day for the Charlotte Latin Mass Community, and for the schola/Cantate Domino Latin Choir. Please join us for a modest musical themed celebration:

• Veneration of the Relics of St. Gregory the Great after Mass
• Musical themed treats including 65 musical cookies featuring Gregorian chant designs
• Cantate Domino Latin Choir will sing beautiful chants in honor of St. Gregory

We will also begin a novena to St. Gregory next week. Details to follow.

Dear friends of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community (CLMC),

Laudetur Iesus Christus! We are now pleased to provide video and audio versions of the “Why Latin?” talk from Fr. Jason Barone.

Please note: The video of the talk is provided in its entirety; however due to technical error the video feed was lost for part of the talk. During this time audio and images were inserted to fill the gap. No content was lost, but the sound quality may be different during this time.

https://charlottelatinmass.org/resources/latin-mass-classes/why-latin/

Lastly, we also provide the book resources mentioned in the talk.  We especially recommend Fr. Knox’s book “the Mass in Slow Motion”

Dear friends of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community (CLMC),

Laudetur Iesus Christus! We Latin Mass devotees have now begun the long journey up to Calvary in Jerusalem as we enter the pre-Lent season of Septuagesima — the 3 week period preparing us for Lent. To learn more about this season please visit this site: https://www.fisheaters.com/customsseptuagesima1.html. As we head into Lent, many of our announcements are Lenten/Easter related:

Traditional Easter Triduum! As you may know, Fr. Reid announced Sunday that St. Ann’s will offer both a Novus Ordo and Traditional Latin Easter Triduum simultaneously this year. This is a historic announcement and quite possibly the first time in the diocese’s young history that the Traditional Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil) will be offered in a diocesan setting. This was done in part due to the growing needs of the Latin Mass faithful (i.e. your faithful attendance!) but more especially due to the generosity of Frs. Reid and Barone. Please offer some prayers of thanksgiving for them.

The Traditional Triduum will be offered at Charlotte Catholic High School chapel while the Novus Ordo will be offered at St. Ann’s. Stay tuned for times & more details.

Here’s the rough schedule:

Thursday April 13^th: Holy Thursday, Charlotte Catholic Chapel

Friday April 14^th: Good Friday, Charlotte Catholic Chapel

Saturday April 15^th: Easter Vigil (evening), Charlotte Catholic Chapel

Sunday April 16^th:  Easter Sunday, 12:30pm regular High Mass at St. Ann’s

Parish Mission Sunday March 5th – March 8^th: There’s no better way to prepare for Lent then by attending the St. Ann’s parish mission which will be given by Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM Cap., a Capuchin Friar originally from Ohio who now serves as a parochial vicar for a parish in Puerto Rico. Father offers both the Traditional Latin and Novus Ordo Masses and will speak on the topic of “Why Be Catholic – The Wounds of Christ”.   (Flyer attached here)

The mission begins Sunday evening March 5 and ends Wednesday March 8. The talks begin each night at 7pm with confessions afterwards. Wednesday 6pm Mass, with reception after talk Wednesday Night.

Saturday morning Latin Masses: Fr. Reid also announced that Fr. Kauth may begin to offer early morning Latin Masses on certain Saturdays. Once we receive notification we will pass that along to you. Please offer a few prayers of thanksgiving for Fr. Kauth (and his seminarians) for this offer.

Feast of St. Gregory, Sunday March 12^th: Please keep open Sunday March 12^th, the Feast of St. Gregory the Great. He’s the patron of the Charlotte Latin Mass Community, and of course of Gregorian Chant. To honor this important saint we will have a small celebration along with the veneration of his relics immediately after the 12:30pm Latin Mass at St. Ann’s. If you’ve been thinking about inviting newcomers to Sunday Latin Mass, this might be a good opportunity.  We will also be beginning a novena to him in early March. Stay tuned.