Dear Friends in Christ,
This Sunday is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also the 40th and last day of the Christmas season.
To celebrate, there will be a special potluck in the plaza after the 12:30 p.m. Latin Mass (by candlelight) at Saint Ann parish. Please consider bringing a dish or dessert to share (no signup required).
There is also the regular 1st Sunday potluck after the 11:30 a.m. Latin Mass at Saint Thomas Aquinas parish.
FSSP Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes Begins Sunday (February 2 - 10)
This Sunday February 2, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) invites all its supporters to join them in praying their annual Novena and Consecration to Our Lady of Lourdes, in preparation for the feast day on Tuesday February 11. The novena consists in praying a decade of the Rosary and a Memorare each day.
The novena is organized in thanksgiving for the Holy Father’s support for the FSSP’s “practice and charism” in offering the Mass (and liturgical books) of 1962.
Novena and Consecration to Our Lady of Lourdes [Download the Novena]
First Saturday
This Saturday is also 1st Saturday and Saint Thomas Aquinas will offer a blessing of religious objects after the 10:00 a.m. Latin Mass.
Blessing of Candles this Sunday
The following parishes have announced a blessing of candles during the Latin Mass on Sunday February 2. Please arrive a few minutes early to have your candles in place before the blessing begins.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, 11:30 a.m. (blessing and procession)
Saint Ann, 12:30 p.m. (Mass will be by candlelight)
Saint John the Baptist, *8:30 a.m. (*blessing of candles at 8:00 a.m. followed by a procession. Candles should be placed along the wall near the Saint Joseph statue prior to 8:00 a.m.)
Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock), 1:00 p.m.
Our Lady of Grace (Greensboro), 1:30 p.m. (blessing of candles followed by a small procession before Mass)
Prince of Peace (Taylors SC), 12:00 p.m. (place candles in basket by altar rails before Mass begins)
Our Lady of the Lake (Chapin SC), 1:00 p.m.
Note: Candles are typically blessed in a ritual before Mass begins.
All are welcome to bring their beeswax candles to be blessed.
150th Anniversary of the Death of Dom Prosper Guéranger
Today January 30 is the 150th anniversary of the death of the great liturgist and Servant of God, Dom Prosper Guéranger who, as our readers know, is a regular staple of our weekend updates and has written extensively about how the Mass, its readings, and liturgical calendar can be lived out in daily life and draw one closer to God.
Guéranger
reestablished the French Benedictine Abbey in Solesmes and served as
its Abbot. After reintroducing Gregorian Chant to the Church and
writing many books on the liturgy, he died on this day in 1875. In 2023,
the French Bishops voted to open the cause for his canonization.
Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma (a daughter house of Solesmes) has a brief write up commemorating the anniversary. [Death of a Spiritual Liturgist]
Prayer for the Beatification of Dom Prosper Guéranger
God our Father, your servant Dom Prosper Guéranger, Abbot of Solesmes, guided by the Holy Spirit, helped a multitude of your faithful people rediscover the meaning of the liturgy as the source of true Christian life. May his devotion to your Holy Church and his filial love for the Immaculate Virgin, inspired by the mystery of the Incarnate Word, be a light for Christians of our own day. Deign, O Lord, to grant the favour we ask you by his intercession, so that his sanctity may be recognized by all and that the Church may soon allow us to invoke him as the one of your blessed and one of your saints. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
(Source: Solesmes Abbey)
~ Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society
www.carolinaliturgy.org