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.

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of this week bring us the Lenten Ember Days, which always fall on the week after Ash Wednesday. Ember Days are traditional days of fasting, abstinence and prayer, their purpose being to give thanks to God for the gifts of Creation and to ask His grace in using them well. They happen four times a year (the weeks after Ash Wednesday and Pentecost, and the third weeks in September and Advent) in conjunction with the four seasons, as they were traditionally tied to the seasonal cycles of farming and harvesting. The penitential observance of these days is voluntary (except of course for the required abstinence on the Friday of the Lenten Ember Days), but we encourage you to participate as you are able.

Fr. Arnaud Devillers, pastor of Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish, our apostolate in Vienna, Ohio, wrote an informative piece this time last year for our Meménto newsletter regarding the history and liturgical purpose of the Ember Days. One of the interesting items he mentions is the connection between the Ember Days and priestly ordinations, and the possibility of employing the Ember Days as a particular time to pray for priests and vocations. You can read the full article here! +

Mentes nostras, quaésumus, Dómine, lúmine tuæ claritátis illústra: ut vidére possímus, quæ agénda sunt; et, quæ recta sunt ágere valeámus.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, illumine our minds with the light of Thy brightness: that we may see what has to be done and have the strength to do it. 

– Prayer Over the People for Ember Wednesday in Lent

Applications are now being accepted for FSSP Los Angeles’ 5th annual Sacred Music Symposium! Hosted by St. Vitus Parish, our apostolate in the City of Angels, and taking place from June 15th – 19th at a nearby parish, the Symposium is a week of concentrated training for choir singers and directors featuring classes, workshops and rehearsals with world-class instructors. It is an extraordinary opportunity for ordinary singers and directors (not professionals or the specially-talented) to gain skills and experience that they can then take back to their own choirs and parishes. This year’s theme is, “Rehearsal Techniques for Volunteer Choirs: How to stand in front of a choir and live to tell about it!”

Cost of the Symposium is just $275, which includes the deposit, conference fee and meal plan. Deadline for applications is April 5th, 2020. To learn more, watch videos from past Symposia and sign up, click here. You can also download and share the Symposium flyer by clicking the image below. +

A most blessed Ash Wednesday to all! Today is a day of obligatory fasting and abstinence and marks the beginning of our 40-day trek through the season of Lent. The ashes we receive today and the words of the priest as he crosses our foreheads with them are a reminder of our mortality and the brevity of our earthly life, the relatively small amount of time we have to prepare ourselves for the life to come. The Church gives us the Lenten season each year to bring us back to this reality and to refocus our lives on what is spiritual.

Christ, of course, never asks us to do anything He did not do before us; the 40 days of Lent recall His own 40-day preparation for His public ministry, when “the Spirit led Him into the desert.” Being God, He had no need of such things, but He desired to illustrate for us the value of fasting, penance and prayer in drawing closer to God, freeing ourselves from earthly attachments, and defeating the devil when he arrives with his temptations. And Christ moreover always desired to identify Himself with us, to live our life, to suffer with us, to be one with us, even to die a mortal death for us, and it is the anniversary of His death on the Cross on Good Friday that is the summit of our Lenten journey.

Let us prepare then well for it, walking willingly with Christ in the desert and upon His Via Dolorosa, and ask Him to help us make the most of this time of Lent. +

Thus saith the Lord: Be converted to Me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning. And rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil.

– Joel 2:12-13, from the Epistle for Ash Wednesday

Happy Shrove Tuesday, the final day before the commencement of Lent tomorrow! Today we encourage you to enjoy a few traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes or whatever the spiritual equivalent is for you. Pancakes became a traditional meal on this day in Britain and other countries because families would make pancakes as a way to use up their stores of butter, milk and eggs, which, back in the good old days, were forbidden along with flesh meat (be sure to check with your parish priest or spiritual director before taking on any severe penances). The word “shrove” comes from the word “shriven,” meaning “absolved,” referring to the once-common practice of confessing one’s sins in preparation for Lent.

Today we have extra cause for celebration because it also happens to be a second-class feast – that of the Apostle St. Matthias, whom we meet in the Acts of the Apostles as the replacement chosen for the traitorous Judas. St. Matthias’ usual February 24th feast day is celebrated today, the 25th, because 2020 is a leap year, an occurrence which transfers both his feast and that of St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother (usual feast day February 27th) one day forward.

If you haven’t yet selected what you will “do” for Lent, there’s still time to contemplate it as you enjoy the last of the pancakes and sausages. Of course, giving up things we enjoy such as sweets or television is a good place to start, but we also encourage you to select something to add in to your spiritual regimen, such as 15 minutes of daily spiritual reading, the frequent practice of the Way of the Cross, or an extra weekday Mass. Happy Shrove Tuesday and feast of St. Matthias, and may your Lent be happy and holy! +

A happy and most blessed feast of the Chair of St. Peter! Today is a patronal feast of the FSSP and a first-class feast for us, so we invite you to join us in celebrating this joyful day. Today was once divided into two feasts – the feast of St. Peter’s chair at Antioch, formerly kept on January 18th, and that of his chair at Rome, kept on this day – but the two were eventually combined and we celebrate the combined feast today. January 18th still marks, however, the opening of the Church Unity Octave, a week of prayer dedicated to the unity of all people under the authority of Rome. Both the January Octave and today’s feast offer us particular opportunities to pray that all may come into the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church, founded on the rock of Peter, an intention that Christ Himself desired so greatly: “And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).

Today, members of the FSSP and the Confraternity of St. Peter can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions. If you would like to learn more about how you can spiritually support the Fraternity through membership in the Confraternity, click here. +

Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

– Matthew 16:18