They took up stones therefore to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.

John 8:59, the last words of the Gospel of Passion Sunday

Today is the commencement of Passiontide, the final two weeks of Lent, when Our Lord in a very literal sense hides Himself from our view. From now until the Easter Vigil, all the statues and images in our churches will be covered, with the crucifixes being revealed during the liturgy of Good Friday. The veiled statues are a somber reminder that Our Lord is withdrawing from us, and will soon be totally removed from our sight. The medieval French bishop Durandus connects the veiling of the statues with the way that Christ veiled His divinity during His Passion. As the prophet Isaiah says, “as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (53:3).

It seems that Passiontide began early for most of us this year. We are already suffering separation from Christ as we bear with the suspension of public Masses due to the coronavirus, and perhaps the coming of Passiontide will bring home to us the potential fruits of this separation. Through her yearly removal of Christ from us, the Church desires not only to call the historical events of Christ’s Passion to our minds, but also, perhaps, to reinvigorate that love for Him that often goes lukewarm in us throughout the year. The longer, deeper, more trying separation brought by the coronavirus further allows us time to reflect on the ways in which we have taken His Presence among us for granted, and how we have failed to love the Blessed Sacrament as we ought. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and perhaps when this is all over, when we are reunited to our absent Lord at last, a renewal of love and faith will occur in our own hearts, in those who have fallen away from Him, and maybe even in those who have never known Him. So stay strong, faithful friends. Our Easter will come. +

Livestreamed Masses available today and every day at LiveMass.

Cover photo of FSSP Warrington and inline photo of Warrington’s Eleventh Station by John Aron.

Holy Family Parish, our apostolate in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, recently published a fantastic new video introducing their beautiful and busy parish. Check it out! You might even be inspired to pay a visit…when, of course, the coronavirus allows it. In the meantime, we hope this video will bring some joy, beauty and uplifting music into your various quarantines. Hang in there!

Come to think of it, if your parish has something uplifting that they would like to share with the world, confined as we all are and perhaps battling a bit of sadness and discouragement as we wait out this unexpected winter, please send it to us at missive@fssp.com! +

A happy and most joyful feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary! On this day, a first-class feast for the Church, we commemorate the divine message which the angel Gabriel brought to Our Lady in Nazareth and the wondrous moment of the Incarnation, when the Son of God became the Son of Mary. Our Lady’s response is one which we should carry in our hearts every day: Ecce ancílla Dómini, fiat mihi secúndum verbum tuum. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.” Her words are included in the great Angelus prayer, which the Church recites daily morning, noon and night (6am, 12pm, 6pm) to recall constantly to our hearts and minds the glorious events of this day. You can find the text of the Angelus at the bottom of this post.

An interesting aspect of Our Lady’s response and her actions directly following the Annunciation is the immediacy with which she responded. The conversation between her and St. Gabriel was remarkably short, and however overwhelming the task of being the Mother of God might have appeared, she needed no time to think it over. She saw God’s will and she did it without hesitancy. And, moreover, learning from the angel that her cousin Elizabeth was with child, she went “with haste” into the hill country to visit and assist her. May Our Lady grant us her alacrity in doing God’s will and drive far from us the sin of sloth that can creep up on us so subtly at times. May we draw strength from her example and energy for the accomplishment of our duties and resolutions. Let us never tire of doing good, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians (6:9).

Here at the Missive we pray today especially for our own work. The word “missive” comes from the Latin word “to send,” as we see in the first words of today’s Gospel: Missus est ángelus Gábriel a Deo in civitátem Galilaéae… We celebrated the feast of St. Gabriel yesterday, as is most fitting. In his particular role as God’s messenger he brought many dispatches to humankind throughout salvation history, such as when he visited the prophet Daniel to tell him when the Savior would come, or when he brought Zechariah the news that his wife Elizabeth would bear St. John the Baptist. But the most glorious message of them all was the one he brought Our Lady on this day. It was the greatest and most blessed missive ever sent, and we pray that, through the intercession of the Mother of God and of His messenger St. Gabriel, our own humble “missives” will always bring you joy, strength and hope.

Don’t forget that if you cannot attend Mass today, there are live and recorded Masses available in abundance at LiveMass! May God bless you on this great feast day! +

O God, Who didst will that Thy Word should take flesh, at the message of an Angel, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant to Thy suppliant people, that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God, may be helped by her intercession with Thee.

– the Collect for the Feast of the Annunciation

The Angelus

℣. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
℟. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary…

℣. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
℟. Be it done unto me according to thy word.

Hail Mary…

℣. And the Word was made flesh.
℟. And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary…

℣. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may, by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord.
℟. Amen.

As you may have heard by now, the coronavirus struck our seminary in Wigratzbad, Germany a little over two weeks ago. The whole community faced a strict quarantine, and some were forced to spend time in the hospital. In the end, the majority of residents contracted the virus, with one priest and one seminarian still hospitalized.

However, we can share some positive developments. The seminary’s collective efforts at recovery have gone well, and, Deo gratias, they are on the upswing and the number of seriously ill patients has gone down significantly. We thank you for your prayers and beg you to continue to pray for those still in the throes of the virus.

Throughout this trial the residents have been in good spirits as they have worked continually to care for one another and assist one another with the duties of the seminary. The smiles and laughter we are used to seeing from them remain undiminished, those who are in recovery taking over from those who are more seriously sick, the residents bearing one another’s burdens in a very real sense.

And maybe they’ve been smiling even more than usual. After all, we hear that the seminarians have been caring for one another with exemplary dedication and charity, turning an unfortunate turn of events into an opportunity for grace.

“With the mighty help of faith, hope and charity, we are not discouraged,” reads a recent communiqué on the subject.

Certainly they are not wasting such an opportunity to put into practice the virtues in which they have trained themselves. We too have great opportunities to care for one another during these trying times. Prayer is the first support we can give to one another, and even if we cannot see or visit each other with the restrictions in place, we can still call, message and ensure that our friends and neighbors are not in any want. Though weakness and sickness afflict us in body, may our hearts grow stronger in selflessness and charity.

“The invisible threat of illness motivates us to have more confidence in God, and to further increase our prayers and penances,” wrote the seminary. “In union with all the sick throughout the world, and in solidarity with the general concern, we confide very calmly in divine Providence and in the maternal protection of Our Lady, help of sinners and comforter of the afflicted.”

You can follow the seminary’s blog for the latest updates. We again invite you to pray with us for an end to the coronavirus – below you will find the Prayer in Times of Epidemics, which all our priests worldwide are reciting after all Masses. +

The Apostolic Penitentiary just released new directives for a plenary indulgence that you can gain during this time of the coronavirus pandemic (N.B. this is a translation from the original Italian):

A Plenary Indulgence is granted to the faithful affected by coronavirus, or subjected to quarantine by order of the health authority in hospitals or in their own homes if, with a soul detached from any sin, they spiritually unite through the media to the celebration of the Holy Mass, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, the pious practice of the Via Crucis or other forms of devotion, or if at least they will recite the Creed, the Our Father, and a pious invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, offering this proof in a spirit of faith in God and charity towards our brothers and sisters, with the will to fulfill the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the intentions of the Holy Father), as soon as it is possible for them.

Furthermore, the Apostolic Penitentiary willingly grants a Plenary Indulgence under the same conditions on the occasion of the current world epidemic, even to those faithful who offer a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or Eucharistic adoration, or the reading of the Holy Scriptures for at least half an hour, or the recitation of the Holy Rosary, or the pious exercise of the Via Crucis, or the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, to implore from Almighty God the cessation of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted, and the eternal salvation of the many whom the Lord has called to himself.

One way you can unite yourself spiritually to the Holy Mass is through our online apostolate, LiveMass, which livestreams the Holy Mass daily from several of our locations. +

A happy and most glorious feast of St. Joseph, spouse of Our Lady and foster-father of Our Lord! Today is a first-class feast of the Church, though we understand that many of you are not able to attend Mass due to the coronavirus. Remember, you can always tune in to LiveMass to pray with a livestreamed Mass from one of our locations and make a spiritual Communion in your heart. And do not be afraid or anxious. At this time of Lent, while we prepare for the Sacred Triduum in which Our Lord departs from our tabernacles and we must endure separation from Him, let us bear this little separation with peace and patience. As Our Lord said to His Apostles before His separation from them in His Passion: “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

St. Joseph is the patron of the universal Church, of fathers, families, workers and a happy death. Devotion to this great saint should be an aspect of the spiritual life of every Catholic, for in so doing we are following the example of Christ Himself, Who was devoted to him on earth and placed Himself with filial love under his care. St. Teresa of Ávila tells us of his great intercessory power:

To other Saints Our Lord seems to have given power to succor us in some special necessity – but to this glorious Saint, I know by experience, He has given the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth – for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could command Him – so now in Heaven Our Lord grants all his petitions.

And if we desire to increase our devotion to Our Lord and Our Lady, we have no better recourse than to St. Joseph.

We wish a happy patronal feast to all our apostolates dedicated to St. Joseph: Rockdale, IL, Richmond, VA and Tacoma, WA (and Tyler, TX, though their parish is more specifically dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker, feast day May 1st)!

Many of you undoubtedly have been praying a novena to St. Joseph in the days leading up to this great feast day. Another way you can honor him on this day is by praying the Litany of St. Joseph below. +

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Illustrious son of David, etc.
Light of Patriarchs,
Spouse of the Mother of God,
Chaste guardian of the Virgin,
Foster-father of the Son of God,
Watchful defender of Christ,
Head of the Holy Family,
Joseph most just,
Joseph most chaste,
Joseph most prudent,
Joseph most strong,
Joseph most obedient,
Joseph most faithful,
Mirror of patience,
Lover of poverty,
Model of workers,
Glory of family life,
Guardian of virgins,
Pillar of families,
Solace of the afflicted,
Hope of the sick,
Patron of the dying,
Terror of demons,
Protector of Holy Church,

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V. He appointed him lord of his house.

R. And prince of all his possessions.

Let us pray.
O God, Who in Thine unfathomable providence wast pleased to choose Blessed Joseph for the spouse of Thy most holy Mother, grant, we beg Thee, that we may deserve to have as our advocate in Heaven him whom we revere as our protector on earth. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

A happy feast day of one of the world’s most beloved saints, St. Patrick of Ireland! Today is a third-class feast in the U.S. (and since we’re in Lent, normally marked as a commemoration within the Mass of the Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent), but did you know that it’s a Holy Day of Obligation in Ireland*? We know that many of you are unable to attend Mass at the moment, and our prayers are with you and all who are affected by the coronavirus. LiveMass continues to provide daily livestreamed and recorded Masses from several of our apostolates, with newly added live and recorded Masses from FSSP Los Angeles and FSSP Guadalajara (previously only recorded Masses from Guadalajara were available). We invite you to join us for Mass online if you can’t do so in person, and to pray with us for the health of the sick and suffering and for an end to this pandemic.

St. Patrick was, of course, not a native Irishman; he was born in Roman Britain round about the fifth century and first encountered Ireland in the rather unpleasant context of being captured and enslaved by Irish pirates during this youth. After several years there he escaped and returned home, but had a vision that prompted him to return to his former land of captivity:

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: “The Voice of the Irish.” As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.”

So that’s just what Patrick did. Today is a good day to pray for Ireland, that, in the midst of the errors of the modern world towards which she seems to be trending at a rapid rate, her holy patron may intercede for her and bring her back to the Faith that he labored so long ago to bring her, and to which she was faithful for so many centuries. +

O God, Who didst vouchsafe to send blessed Patrick, Thy Confessor and Bishop, to preach Thy glory to the nations: grant, by his merits and intercession, that whatever Thou commandest us to do, we may by Thy mercy be able to fulfill.

– Collect for the feast of St. Patrick

*Normally. The coronavirus has affected Sunday/holyday obligations at many dioceses around the world, so if you live in Ireland, check with your diocese.

If you are unable to attend Mass due to the measures in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, we encourage you to tune in to our online apostolate LiveMass, where Holy Mass is streamed live daily from three of our locations. A schedule is available on the site by clicking the “Live Broadcast Schedule” link at the bottom right of the homescreen, and recorded Masses are available if you cannot watch live. You can also watch on your smartphone via the iMass app (click here for the iPhone version and here for Android). Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, our apostolate in Rome, also provides live and recorded Masses on its Youtube channel.

President Trump has declared tomorrow, March 15th, a National Day of Prayer, and we encourage you to join your prayers to those of your fellow Americans as we pray for an end to this pestilence. All FSSP priests worldwide are praying the Prayer in Time of Epidemic after all public and private Masses, and we’ve posted it below so you can pray it with your families.

May the God of all mercy, Who, when He was on earth, brought health to the sick with His own sacred Hands, grant an abatement of this disease and a swift recovery to all the suffering. Our Lady, Health of the Sick and Comforter of the Afflicted, pray for us! St. Raphael, whose name means, “God heals,” pray for us! +

This June, the FSSP will celebrate its first ordination in Mexico when His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke comes to Guadalajara to ordain Deacon Javier Ruiz Velasco Aguilar in Zapopan, Jalisco. This joyous event will be held in conjunction with the 3rd annual Summorum Pontificum Congress taking place this year in Guadalajara, as well as the 2nd National Convention of Una Voce Mexico and FSSP Guadalajara’s 3rd annual Pillars of Education National Homeschool Convention. Several other exciting events are also planned.

The Congress will begin on Thursday, June 11th and conclude on Sunday, June 14th. For non-Spanish speakers, simultaneous translation of the Congress talks on Thursday and Friday will be available.

The ordination will take place on Friday, June 12th at 4pm at the Church of San Juan Macias in Zapopan, the hometown of the future priest. Fr. Aguilar, who will be the first priest ordained from FSSP Guadalajara, will celebrate his first Mass the next day, Saturday, June 13th at 9:30am at the Basilica of Zapopan.

Other itinerary highlights include a Pontifical Mass and procession on Thursday evening at 6pm for the feast of Corpus Christi, and a Pontifical Mass with Confirmations on Sunday evening at 6pm.

All are welcome to attend these events. Tickets for the Congress (no tickets necessary for the ordination or the Masses) have just gone on sale, and you can purchase them and find more information about the event at www.summorumpontificum.mx. +

If you don’t know what the Sarum Use is, you can be forgiven. After all, it’s been nearly extinct for the past half a millennium.

The Sarum Use is a form of the Roman Rite that hasn’t been a common thing since before the English Reformation, which happened before the Tridentine Mass was codified with the papal bull of Pius V, Quo Primum, in 1570. Sarum was, however, the predominant use throughout England and other places in the British Isles between the time of William the Conqueror (11th C.) and the innovations of the Reformation (16th C.). Needless to say the Sarum Use is rarely celebrated these days, inside or outside England, but on Saturday, February 1st, 2020, at St. Patrick’s Church in Philadelphia, 700 people gathered to pray First Vespers of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the nearly 1,000-year-old Sarum Use.

The Dominican church of St. Patrick, at a mere 110 years old, is young compared to the liturgy it housed that night, but the beautiful edifice nonetheless provided the perfect setting. The pews were full for the unique event, which was the fruit of the combined efforts of many different clerics, sacred musicians and liturgists that came from as near as Philly itself and as far away as Nebraska to lend their expertise. Leading the charge was project director James Griffin of St. John the Baptist, an Ordinariate parish in Bridgeport, PA, who described just how unusual of an occurrence this was.

“This is extremely rare,” he said, speaking to the Missive directly after the event. “As far as I know, this was the first public celebration of the Sarum Use in an American Roman Catholic Church.”

The officiating priest was Fr. Jason Catania, pastor of St. Barnabas Ordinariate Church in Omaha, NE, with Fr. Robert Pasley, rector of Mater Ecclesiae Chapel in Berlin, NJ, assisting. Fr. Carl Gismondi, FSSP, pastor of St. Mary’s Church, our apostolate in nearby Conshohocken, and Fr. Scott Allen, FSSP, chaplain of the Carmelite convent of St. Joseph and St. Anne, attended in choir, and parishioners from St. Mary’s participated in the ceremonies.

The word Sarum comes from the Latin rendering of “Salisbury,” a reference to Salisbury Cathedral, whence the use developed. It was first established by St. Osmund, 2nd bishop of Salisbury, and it became the model for liturgical worship throughout the country, eventually taking its place as the predominant form in England, Wales and some places in Scotland and Ireland. It is a use of the Roman Rite as opposed to a separate rite: though the two terms are often used interchangeably, a use refers to a mode of celebration particular to a place or group, whereas a rite denotes a far bigger cultural and liturgical divide. There are only seven rites listed by the Catechism: Roman, Byzantine, Armenian, Alexandrian, Chaldean, Maronite and Syriac, whereas many uses exist within these rites, examples of Roman Rite uses including the Ambrosian, Mozarabic, Dominican and of course, Sarum(1). While we may have heard of and had the privilege of attending such uses as the Dominican, Sarum fell into disuse as a result of the spiritual and political upheavals of the English Reformation and the outlawing of Catholic worship that it brought. But Sarum was, essentially, the way of worship of English Catholics for centuries.

You may be wondering at this point what the Candlemas Vespers looked and sounded like, and how it differed from a normal Roman celebration of the same Hour. Observing the order of ceremonies, several elements were immediately striking. The participants were led down the aisle by a verger, a sacristan holding a rod that clears the way (in this case, symbolically) for the singers and clergy. Also notable were the rulers of the choir, singers who, holding staffs (or “staves”) throughout the ceremony, perform leading roles in the chanting. The number of rulers depends on the feast day, four being designated for the feast of the Purification. The rite of incensation, which occurs after the Magnificat, was also unique, involving two priests incensing the high altar simultaneously and the use of not one but two thurifers.

Musically speaking, an element that particularly stood out in the Sarum version was the inclusion of the Responsory, a piece found in both Sarum and other medieval liturgies.

“Unique to Sarum and the other medieval usages but is not present in the Roman Rite are many of the responsories, like the responsory that we sang tonight by Thomas Tallis, Videte Miraculum,” said Mr. Griffin.

As explained in the evening’s program:

The Sarum Use and other medieval liturgies often answered the Scripture lessons of the Divine Office with a “responsory,” similar to the Gradual or Psalm that follows the first lesson of the Mass.

Thomas Tallis, a English Catholic composer who served under four monarchs during the time of the Reformation, is a familiar name to most sacred musicians, but it is a real rarity, as Mr. Griffin explained, to hear this piece sung in its original liturgical context rather than in a concert setting or during a Mass.

Leading the musical side of things was Peter Carter, music director at St. John the Baptist Church in Allentown, NJ, which celebrates the Latin Mass every Sunday at 12:30. During Vespers, he was liturgically one of the rulers of the choir and functionally the choir director. He finds in the Sarum Use a unique connection with our own heritage here in America.

“We’re speaking English now in America and we’ve benefited from English heritage, we’re part of that by extension,” he said, echoing a sentiment also expressed by Mr. Griffin. “And so in that sense the Sarum Rite, being the Catholic rite celebrated across most of England, is part of our heritage in that way as well.”

For Mr. Carter, the Sarum Use is an opportunity to see the liturgy as the English martyrs experienced it during the time of the Protestant Reformation, and is a natural fit for Latin Mass attendees.

“It goes hand-in-hand I think with an appreciation for the traditional Latin Mass, because this is what the Church looked like at the time of 1500,” he said. “We had different rites that were expressing diversity in the Church in a way that still had intense unity in belief, but the expression had slight variations according to local custom.”

Such an extraordinary event as Candlemas Vespers in the Sarum Use begs the question as to whether we will see anything like it again. When asked, Mr. Griffin responded in the affirmative.

“I’m creating a new liturgical institute with a specialty in medieval usages which we are calling the Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy and Music,” he said. “I hope with the support of all those who came, and supported financially or materially, that we will be able to do more great liturgical events like this in the future.”

We’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for such events. In the meantime, you can enjoy the official video below and the photos by Allison Girone. But don’t expect to see a historical re-enactment of niche scholarly interest, or a rusty artifact loaned from a museum. The Sarum Use is a real liturgy, and at 500 years young, it showed a vibrancy that can only be attributed to something truly alive. +

1. See Sarum Use and Disuse: A Study in Social and Liturgical History by James Joseph, a scholarly work available online that provides a plethora of information on the history of Sarum. Mr. Joseph, a seminarian at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, served as one of the altar servers at Candlemas Vespers.