Enroll in Mother’s Day Mass

Join your intentions to the Mass offered at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary on Mother’s Day, May 13th, 2018. Those whom you enroll will be remembered in this Mass and in the daily prayer of the priests and seminarians of the Fraternity, and you will receive a beautiful card to give to those you enroll.

Enroll for Mother’s Day 2018

Reflections on the Triduum: Good Friday

The sacred ceremonies of Good Friday, as they were celebrated at FSSP apostolates in the North American District and around the world.

FSSP Denver

Colorado

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish

 

FSSP Baltimore

Maryland

National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori
Photos by Amy Proctor

 

FSSP South Bend

Indiana

St. Stanislaus Parish

 

FSSP Fresno

California

Holy Cross Chaplaincy
Photos by Paul Flores

 

FSSP Seattle

Washington

North American Martyrs Parish
Photos by Michael Curtis

 

FSSP Chesapeake

Virginia

St. Benedict Parish

 

FSSP Minneapolis

Minnesota

All Saints Church
Photos by Tracy Dunne

 

FSSP Calgary

Alberta, Canada

Latin Mass Community at St. Anthony Parish

 

FSSP Dallas

Texas

Mater Dei Parish

 

FSSP Scranton

Pennsylvania

St. Michael Parish

 

FSSP Mexico

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Nuestra Señora del Pilar

 

FSSP Warrington

England

St. Mary’s Shrine
Photos by John Aron

 

Priesterseminar Sankt Petrus

Wigratzbad, Germany

 

FSSP Lyon

France

Collégiale Saint-Just

New FSSP Apostolate Announced in Philadelphia

A new Fraternity apostolate has been announced by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Conshohocken, PA, will begin as an apostolate on August 1, 2018.

We are most grateful to His Excellency, the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, and look forward to this opportunity to serve the faithful of Philadelphia.

Read the full announcement here!

You can see more photos of the beautiful church of St. Mary below. Photos courtesy of the Philadelphia Church Project.

Reflections on the Triduum: Holy Thursday

Throughout the FSSP community in this country and around the world, it was a Holy Week of celestial beauty. During these blessed days of Easter, we invite you to revisit all three days of the Triduum through the posts we will be publishing on each one, and to experience the splendor of these sacred ceremonies as they were celebrated at our apostolates in North America and overseas.

FSSP Scranton

Pennsylvania

St. Michael Parish

 

FSSP Fresno

California

Holy Cross Chaplaincy at St. Anthony Church

 

FSSP Dallas

Texas

Mater Dei Parish

 

FSSP Minneapolis

Minnesota

All Saints Church
Photos by Tracy Dunne

 

FSSP South Bend

Indiana

St. Stanislaus Parish

 

FSSP Chesapeake

Virginia

St. Benedict Parish

 

FSSP Seattle

Washington

North American Martyrs Parish
Photos by Michael Curtis

 

FSSP Mexico

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Nuestra Señora del Pilar

 

FSSP Warrington

England

St. Mary’s Shrine
Photos by John Aron

 

Priesterseminar Sankt Petrus

Wigratzbad, Germany

Our European seminary traveled to Vaduz, Lichtenstein, to participate in the Chrism Mass celebrated by Archbishop Wolfgang Haas at the cathedral of Vaduz. Later, an evening Mass was celebrated back at the seminary, with the procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose.

Christus Resurrexit, Alleluia!

Christ is risen, alleluia! Today is the glorious crown of the liturgical year, the triumphant day on which Christ arose from the tomb, victorious over sin, having achieved our redemption through His own life-giving Death. Today’s Gospel reading, taken from the Gospel of St. Mark, tells of the devout women who came to the tomb to anoint the Body of Jesus early on the first day of the week, only to be met by the angel in white who proclaims to them the Resurrection of the Lord.

The Mass for today and every day of the Octave includes the beautiful Paschal Sequence, which recounts the story of Christ’s Resurrection and proclaims his everlasting victory.

Mors et vita duéllo conflixére mirándo: dux vitæ mórtuus, regnat vivus.

Death and life have contended in that conflict stupendous: the Prince of Life, Who died, deathless reigneth.

Below are pictures from Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Masses at our apostolates from past years. We wish you and your families a most joyful and blessed Easter season!

Holy Saturday

Today is a day of silent mourning, on which we watch sorrowfully with Our Lady at the sepulcher of Our Lord, awaiting faithfully as she did the fulfillment of the promise of the Resurrection.

But when night comes, the Easter Vigil approaches, and the first Mass of the Resurrection. The liturgy of this day is one of the most beautiful events of the year, and includes the blessing of the New Fire and of the Paschal Candle, ceremonies which take place outside the church. The candlelit procession into the church is followed by the Exsultet, that is, the joyful proclamation of the Resurrection sung by the deacon at the altar, and a series of Lessons from the Old Testament recounting God’s magnificent plan of salvation.

The blessing of baptismal water and the renewal of baptismal promises follow after, and at last, during the Gloria, the bells, silent since Holy Thursday, are rung again, and the church is filled with the joy of the risen Christ.
 
Exsúltet jam angélica turba cœlorum: exsúltent divína mystéria; et pro tanti Regis victória, tuba ínsonet salutáris.

Let the angelic choirs of heaven now rejoice; let the divine mysteries rejoice; and let the trumpet of salvation sound forth the victory of so great a King.

– First words of the Exsultet

Our thanks to Mr. Michael Curtis for the photos, including the featured cover photo, from FSSP Seattle.

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, that most sacred day on which Our Lord offered Himself as a sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. There is no Mass today. The somber liturgy comprises lessons from the Old Testament and the reading of the Passion account from the Gospel of St. John, followed by the Great Intercessions and the Adoration of the Cross, the latter including the beautiful and soul-rending Improperia, that is, the Reproaches. The liturgy concludes with the Communion of the priest and the people.

Afterwards all is silent. The Savior has given His life for us and is laid in the tomb, and as a people we wait solemnly for the Easter Vigil, the first celebration of His glorious Resurrection.

Quid ultra débui fácere tibi, et non feci? Ego quidem plantávi te víneam meam speciosíssimam: et tu facta es mihi nimis amára: acéto namque sitim meam potásti: et láncea perforásti latus Salvatóri tuo.

What more ought I to have done for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, My most beautiful vineyard: and thou hast become exceeding bitter to Me: for in My thirst thou gavest Me vinegar to drink: and with a lance thou hast pierced the side of thy Savior.

– the third Reproach, taken from the 5th chapter of Isaiah

Holy Thursday

Today the Sacred Triduum commences. On this day we commemorate the institution of the Blessed Eucharist and the priestly ordination of the Apostles, and because of the joy of these events, the liturgy of the day has the aspect of celebration. White vestments are worn and the Gloria is said, and during it the bells are rung for the last time until the Easter Vigil. At the conclusion of Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the tabernacle and taken to an altar of repose to be adored by the faithful, and the altars are stripped.

Today’s Gospel recalls the washing of the Apostles’ feet by Our Lord, and His command to them to do likewise. The ceremonies of the day include the traditional washing of feet, during which the celebrant, in imitation of Our Lord, washes the feet of twelve clerics, altar servers or men of the congregation.

Ante diem festum Paschæ, sciens Jesus, quia venit hora ejus, ut tránseat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem; cum dilexísset suos, qui erant in mundo, in finem diléxit eos.

Before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end.

– John 13:1

Spy Wednesday

We are just one day away from the commencement of the Sacred Triduum, which comprises the most
sacred days in the liturgical calendar. This day is called “Spy” Wednesday because it was at this time that Judas made his evil bargain with the high priests and began to seek out an opportunity to betray Our Lord. In essence, a “spy” was in the midst of the apostles.

The Epistle for this day is one of the most well-known Old Testament prophecies concerning Our Lord’s Passion: the beautiful passage from Isaiah describing the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, Who bore our infirmities and carried our sins.

Despised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity; and His look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed.

– Isaiah 53:3-5

Our thanks to Mr. Michael Curtis for the photos above of Spy Wednesday Mass at FSSP Seattle.

We discovered even more photos from the beautiful ceremonies that took place across the District this past Palm Sunday. Click on each photo below to find out where it is from.

Tuesday in Holy Week

In the Mass of this Tuesday in Holy Week, the Passion accounts which we began on Palm Sunday continue with the reading of the account from St. Mark. Alongside the reading of the Passion, the Church also presents for our consideration the Epistle taken from the prophet Jeremiah, who describes the meekness of the Lamb of God Who will be offered in sacrifice.

O Lord, Thou hast shown me, and I have known: then Thou shewedst me their doings. And I was as a meek lamb that is carried to be a victim: and I knew that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put wood in his bread and cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more.

Jeremiah 11:18-19

Below are Palm Sunday ceremonies that took place this year at some of our apostolates. Our thanks to Mr. Michael Curtis for the photos from FSSP Seattle.