Tridentine High Mass on January 24th at 1:30 p.m.

The next Tridentine High Mass (Extraordinary Form) will be offered on January 24th at 1:30 p.m. This "Mass of the Ages" is celebrated in church Latin (not classical Latin). The priest and the congregation all face East (ad orientem). There are Latin-English missals available for your use. We have security guards, a handicapped elevator (accessible in the rear of the Church) and plenty of parking. We have restrooms available too.

Holy Communion is received kneeling at the Communion rail and can only be received on the tongue. Confessions will be heard after the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The celebrant will be the Reverend Dennis Bonsignore.

Our local schola - "Schola Roffensis" (Roffensis is Latin for Rochester) is under the direction of Joel Morehouse and they will sing the Latin Gregorian chant propers for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany. The choir will sing parts of both William Byrd's Mass in 3 Voices and Tomas Luis deVictoria's "O Magnum Mysterium" Mass. The Offertory motet will be Giovanni Palestrina's "Dextera Domini" and for Communion "Cantate Domino" by Giovanni Croce. Palestrina is noted as the Father of Catholic Church music. The choir director and organist is Eastman School of Music student, John Morabito.

All are most welcomed to come and attend the "Mass of the Ages". Worship the way our ancestors did amid the beauty of Saint Stanislaus Church.

I would suggest that if this is your first Traditional Latin Mass to sit up front and just take it all in. You can, if you wish, try to follow along in the red missal, but that might be distracting to try and find your place in the missal. Sit quietly and listen, see and smell the incense. Close your eyes occasionally when the choir is singing. Meditate. Contemplate. Or, as many do, when the organist plays the postlude, just sit and prayerfully listen. Let the music touch your soul.

Both before and after Mass we try and keep an atmosphere of devotion; not commotion. If you have to talk, do it in a low voice, as people are praying.

So, this is an open invitation to all to come. Only Catholics who are sacramentally prepared may receive Holy Communion.

We love children. If you bring your family, sit way down front so the kids can see what's going on in the sanctuary. Nothing worse than being a short kid around a bunch of tall adults and you can't see what's going on. If the kids get twitchy and squirmy you can always take them to the back of the Church into the narthex. Crying babies is the music of a God-given life.

I hope to see many new faces, as well as the regular faces.

Click for the Gloria from the O Magnum Mysterium Mass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qYEYsvcScc&feature=related

Oremus pro invicem!