Dear Friends in Christ,
Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (May 26, 2024) is Holy Trinity Sunday. One week after celebrating the descent of the Third Person of the Trinity at Pentecost, we celebrate our triune God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The Gospel reading for this Sunday, taking brevity to the extreme, presents in just three verses three foundational truths of the Church conveyed by Christ in the Great Commission: (1) Christ the King is the ruler of the universe: Coming to His apostles in Galilee, the resurrected Jesus tells them, “All power is given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). (2) The unity of the triune God is made manifest in the Trinity of three Persons: Jesus commissions His disciples to go forth and teach all nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). (3) Jesus is the Word of God, Truth itself, the ultimate and enduring source of authority: Our Lord instructs His followers to go forth, “Teaching them to observe whatsoever things I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew 28:20).
Calendar of Saints and Special Observances
Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962 or on the liturgical calendar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.
DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)
Sunday, May 26 – Holy Trinity (I)
Monday, May 27 – St. Bede the Venerable, OSB, Confessor & Doctor of the Church (III); Commemoration of St. John I, Pope & Martyr
Tuesday, May 28 – St. Augustine, Bishop of Canterbury, Confessor, Apostle of England (III)
Wednesday, May 29 – St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, Virgin (III)
Thursday, May 30 – Feast of Corpus Christi (I)
Friday, May 31 – Our Lady, Virgin & Queen [Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary] (II); Commemoration of St. Petronilla, Virgin
Saturday, June 1 – St. Angela of Merici, Virgin, Founder of the Ursulines (III)
Note: The following are displaced by the liturgical celebrations of Holy Trinity Sunday and the Feast of Corpus Christi: May 26th – St. Philip Neri, Confessor, Founder of the Oratorians (III); and Commemoration of St. Eleutherius, Pope and Martyr. May 30th – Commemoration of St. Felix I, Pope & Martyr (I).
Holy Trinity Sunday
The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for Mass in the Extraordinary Form for Holy Trinity Sunday with either English or Spanish translation. The English version includes a brief commentary on “The Revelation of the Most Holy Trinity” excerpted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB (1805-1875). (A longer excerpt may be found under Closing Commentary below.) In addition, we offer a link to an essay by Dr. Michael P. Foley on “The Confessional Collect of Trinity Sunday” from New Liturgical Movement.
Latin Mass Schedule: Holy Trinity Sunday (May 26th)
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays
Note: Weekday Masses this week include a number of special Masses on Thursday, May 30th, the Feast of Corpus Christi, not listed in the usual weekday schedule. Due to diaconate ordinations, there will not be first Saturday Mass
Charlotte Area Latin Masses
Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses
Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses
Note: Travelers are advised to contact parish offices to confirm weekday and Saturday Mass times, since local schedules are sometimes subject to change without notice, especially on or around holidays and holy days of obligation.
*See note below about the daily Mass summer schedule at Prince of Peace (Taylors SC).
Spiritual Bouquet for Bishop Emeritus Jugis Update
We thank everyone who generously contributed to our spiritual bouquet for Bishop Emeritus Jugis which was sent to him this past week.
We are also organizing a spiritual bouquet for Bishop-elect Martin; details will be announced shortly. Please pray for Father Martin as he is consecrated bishop this Wednesday, May 29th.
Announcements
40 Hours of Adoration at St. Ann (May 30 - June 1): After 7:00 p.m. Corpus Christi Latin Mass on Thursday May 30, Saint Ann Parish will begin its annual 40 Hours of Adoration devotion, which will conclude at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. The parish needs adorers during several of the hours and one can sign up at this link.
Father Reid's 20th Anniversary of His Ordination to the Priesthood: Saint Ann Parish will host a celebration after the 6:00 p.m Latin Mass on Wednesday, June 5th, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Fr. Reid’s ordination to the priesthood. There will be a reception in the Allen Center, featuring heavy hor d'oeuvres, from 7:15 until 9:00 p.m. All parishioners are invited. If you will be able to attend, please use the sign-up sheet available here to indicate the size of your party and what you would like to contribute to make this very special event a success.
No First Saturday Latin Mass on June 1: There will not be a First Saturday Latin Mass at Saint Thomas Aquinas or Saint John the Baptist on June 1st due to diaconate ordinations that day.
Father Matthew Kane, FSSP to offer Masses in Charlotte on June 3rd and June 6th following ordination: Deacon Matthew Kane, FSSP, a North Carolina native, will be ordained to the priesthood for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) on May 29th in Nebraska. The newly ordained Father Kane will visit North Carolina to celebrate Latin Masses in Charlotte on Monday, June 3rd, at 6:00 p.m. in Saint Ann Church; and on Thursday, June 6th, at 7:00 p.m. in Saint Thomas Aquinas Church. The FSSP is a congregation of priests, canonically erected by Pope St. John Paul II in 1988, whose members celebrate the Latin Mass and other traditional sacraments according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. FSSP seminarians will serve the newly ordained Father Kane in the Masses he is to offer here. Please pray for Deacon Kane as the date of his ordination to the priesthood approaches. The ordination Mass can be viewed online Wednesday May 29 at this link.
Note: The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter has posted a video of the deacons at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, who will be ordained to the sacred priesthood on May 29th, singing the Litany of Loreto (available here: OLGS deacons singing the Litany of Loreto).
Prayers for Diocese of Charlotte Candidates for Ordination: There are several seminarians in the Diocese of Charlotte who are to be ordained to the transitional diaconate or priesthood next month. Please keep these men in your prayers.
Delayed Latin Mass at Prince of Peace on Sunday, June 2: Due to a Eucharistic procession scheduled to follow the 10:00 a.m. Mass at Prince of Peace (Taylors SC), the 12:00 p.m. Latin Mass will not begin until the procession has ended.
*Summer Mass schedule at Prince of Peace begins June 3: During the summer, weekday Latin Mass will only be celebrated Tuesday through Thursday at 12:00 p.m. at Prince of Peace (Taylors SC). Latin Masses will not be celebrated on Monday, Friday or Saturday from June 3 through August 17.
Prayers for Sister Maria Theresa of Merciful Love and an invitation to her Profession of First Vows on Saturday June 8th: The Carter family, past Saint Thomas Aquinas parishioners now living out west, have extended an invitation to members of our community to attend the profession of first vows by their daughter, Sister Maria Theresa of Merciful Love, OCD (Jyllian Carter), a novice with the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Traverse City, Michigan. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 8th, during a Solemn High Mass of Thanksgiving scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. Sister Maria Theresa will receive visitors on that day, between 2:40 and 4:40 p.m., and on the following two days, June 9th and 10th, during the same hours. The Carmelite Monastery of the Infant of Prague is located at 3501 Silver Lake Road, Traverse City, MI 49684. The prayers of those unable to attend, offered for Sister Maria Theresa on this important day, would be greatly appreciated by the family.
Traditional Sung Vespers, Friday, May 31st:
Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro will again offer Traditional Vespers
according to the 1934 “Antiphonale Monasticum” of the Benedictine Abbey
at Solesmes in France on the last day of this month at 7:00 p.m. The
Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Solesmes was founded by Dom Prosper Guéranger
who, in addition to the composition of his monumental opus, The Liturgical Year, was responsible for revitalizing the use of Gregorian Chant in the liturgy.
Latin Masses to be celebrated on the Feast of the Sacred Heart: Special Latin Masses to be celebrated on the Feast of the Sacred Heart are listed below. Information about others will be shared when available.
Feast of the Sacred Heart – Friday, June 7th
Holy Face Devotions
Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus are offered each week at the following churches on the indicated days:
Latin Mass and Liturgical News
Other Suggested Reading
Seven men to be ordained priests for the Diocese of Charlotte
Six men to be ordained transitional deacons on June 1
Catholic Pilgrimages in the United States: a New Renaissance?
New Liturgical Movement: The Name Game of the Orations
Saints and Special Observances
St. Augustine, Bishop of Canterbury and Apostle of England, occupies a position of supreme importance in the history of the Catholic Church in England. The date and location of his birth are unknown, and nothing is known of his life before Pope Gregory I chose him to lead a contingent of 40 monks on a mission to England. We only know that Augustine was a Benedictine monk, serving as prior of St. Andrew’s monastery in Rome, when the man who would come to be known as Gregory the Great called on him to head the English mission. His mandate was to succeed where earlier missionary efforts had failed by establishing a permanent Christian presence in pagan England.
Setting out from Rome in 596, Augustine and his Benedictine brothers headed north, bearing papal letters of commendation addressed to Gallic bishops the party was to encounter in the course of its journey. They got only as far as Provence before the monks, frightened by stories of pagan atrocities and the prospect of a Channel crossing fraught with danger, prevailed on their leader to turn back and ask the Pope to abandon the proposed mission. Convinced that the people of England were ready to be received into the Church, Gregory denied the request and sent Augustine back to instill in his monks the courage necessary to carry out the mission.
Arriving in England in 597, the monks landed in the domain of King Ethelbert of Kent whose Frankish wife, Bertha, had already converted to Christianity. The daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks, Bertha convinced Ethelbert to hear what Augustine had to say. Impressed by the Benedictine monk’s message, the king granted him permission to preach to his subjects. He also gave him a house in Canterbury and allowed him to make use of an abandoned stone church still standing there almost two centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain.
Ethelbert presented himself for baptism at Pentecost; and Augustine, having succeeded thus far in his mission, returned to Provence to be consecrated bishop by Vergilius, the metropolitan of Arles and papal legate for Gaul. When he returned to England, as many as 10,000 of Ethelbert’s subjects gathered at the Swale River to be baptized. The Pope authorized Augustine to consecrate twelve suffragan bishops to assist him in the performance of his administrative duties and sent everything needed to prepare the purified pagan temples of England for Christian worship.
Augustine established Christ Church in Canterbury as the primary cathedral in the English realm, and in 603 he rebuilt both the church and the house Ethelbert had given him for occupation by the Benedictine monks upon their arrival. Creating sees in London and Rochester, he appointed Mellitus bishop in the former and Justus bishop in the latter.
On two separate occasions Augustine attempted to bring about the unification of the Celtic churches in Cornwall and Wales with those in Anglo-Saxon England, but both initiatives fell short of success. The leaders of those churches that had survived the Roman withdrawal from Britain were not ready to overlook the Anglo-Saxon invasion that had driven them into the border country in the south and west of the island. It was not until 60 years after his death in 604 that the Church in Britain was unified under a single primate.
Closing Commentary
We close with a two-part commentary on “The History of the Time After Pentecost” and “The Mystery of the Time After Pentecost” excerpted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB. The link following each part provides access to an audio recording of the commentary.
The History of the Time After Pentecost
The Solemnity of Pentecost and its Octave are over, and the progress of the Liturgical Year introduces us into a new period, which is altogether different from those we have hitherto spent. From the very beginning of Advent, which is the prelude to the Christmas festival, right up to the anniversary of the descent of the Holy Ghost, we have witnessed the entire series of the Mysteries of our Redemption; all have been unfolded to us. The sequel of Seasons and Feasts made up a sublime drama, which absorbed our very existence; we have but just come from the final celebration, which was the consummation of the whole. And yet, we have got through but one half of the year. This does not imply that the period we have still to live is devoid of its own special mysteries; but, instead of keeping up our attention by the ceaseless interest of one plan hurrying on its completion, the sacred Liturgy is about to put before us an almost unbroken succession of varied episodes, of which some are brilliant with glory, and others exquisite in loveliness, but each one of them bringing its special tribute towards either the development of the dogmas of faith, or the furtherance of the Christian life. That year’s Cycle will thus be filled up; it will disappear; a new one will take its place, bringing before us the same divine facts, and pouring forth the same graces on Christ’s mystical body.
This section of the Liturgical Year, which comprises a little more or a little less than six months, according as Easter is early or late, has always had the character it holds at present. But, although it only admits detached solemnities and Feasts, the influence of the moveable portion of the Cycle is still observable. It may have as many as twenty-eight, or as few as twenty-three weeks. This variation depends not only upon the Easter Feast, which may occur on any of the days between the 22nd of March and 25th of April, inclusively; but, also, on the date of the first Sunday of Advent, the opening of a new Ecclesiastical Year, and which is always the Sunday nearest the Kalends of December.
In the Roman Liturgy, the Sundays of this series go under the name of Sundays after Pentecost. As we shall show in the next Chapter, that title is the most suitable that could have been given, and is found in the oldest Sacramentaries and Antiphonaries; but it was not universally adopted by even all those Churches which followed the Roman Rite; in progress of time, however, that title was the general one. To mention some of the previous early names:—in the Comes of Alcuin, which takes us back to the 8th Century, we find the first section of these Sundays called Sundays after Pentecost; the second is named Weeks after the Feast of the Apostles (post Natale Apostolorum); the third goes under the title of Weeks after Saint Laurence (post Sancti Laurentii); the fourth has the appellation of Weeks of the Seventh Month (September); and, lastly, the fifth is termed Weeks after Saint Michael (post Sancti Angeli), and lasts till Advent. As late as the 16th Century, many Missals of the Western Churches gave us these several sections of the Time after Pentecost, but some of the titles varied according to the special Saints honored in the respective dioceses, and which were taken as the date-marks of this period of the Year. The Roman Missal, published by order of Saint Pius the Fifth, has gradually been adopted in all our Latin Churches, and has restored the ancient denomination to the Ecclesiastical Season we have just entered upon; so that the only name under which it is now known amongst us is, The Time after Pentecost (post Pentecosten).
[History of the Time-After Pentecost]
The Mystery of the Time After Pentecost
That we may thoroughly understand the meaning and influence of the Season of the Liturgical Year upon which we have now entered, it is requisite for us to grasp the entire sequel of mysteries, which holy Church has celebrated in our presence and company; we have witnessed her Services, and we have shared in them. The celebration of those mysteries was not an empty pageant, acted for the sake of being looked at. Each one of them brought with it a special grace, which produced in our souls the reality signified by the Rites of the Liturgy. At Christmas, Christ was born within us; at Passiontide, He passed on and into us his sufferings and atonements; at Easter, he communicated to us his glorious, his untrammelled life; in his Ascension, he drew us after him, and this even to heaven’s summit; in a word, as the Apostle expresses all this working, Christ was formed in us.
But, in order to give solidity and permanence to the image of Christ formed within us, it was necessary that the Holy Ghost should come, that so he might increase our light, and enkindle a fire within us that should never be quenched. This divine Paraclete came down from heaven; he gave himself to us; he wishes to take up his abode within us, and take our life of regeneration entirely into his own hands. Now, it is during the period called, by the Liturgy, The Time after Pentecost, that there is signified and expressed this regenerated life, which is to be spent on the model of Christ’s, and under the direction of his Spirit.
Two objects here offer themselves to our consideration: the Church and the Christian soul. As to holy Church, the Bride of Christ, filled as she is with the Paraclete Spirit, who has poured himself forth upon her, and, from that time forward, is her animating principle,—she is advancing onwards in her militant career, and will do so till the second Coming of her heavenly Spouse. She has within her the gifts of Truth and Holiness. Endowed with Infallibility of Faith, and Authority to govern, she feeds Christ’s flock, sometimes enjoying liberty and peace, sometimes going through persecutions and trials. Her divine Spouse abides with her, by his grace and the efficacy of his promises, even to the end of time; she is in possession of all the favors he has bestowed upon her; and the Holy Ghost dwells with her, and in her, forever. All this is expressed by this present portion of the Liturgical Year. It is one wherein we shall not meet with any of those great events which prepared and consummated the divine work; but, on the other hand, it is a season when holy Church reaps the fruits of that holiness and doctrine, which those ineffable mysteries have already produced, and will continue to produce, during the course of ages. It is during this same season, that we shall meet with the preparation for, and, in due time, the fulfillment of, those final events which will transform our Mother’s militant life on earth into the triumphant one in heaven. As far, then, as regards holy Church, this is the meaning of the portion of the Cycle we are commencing.
As to the faithful soul, whose life is but a compendium of that of the Church, her progress, during the period which is opened to her after the Pentecostal Feasts, should be in keeping with that of our common Mother. The soul should live and act according to that Jesus, who has united himself with her by the mysteries she has gone through; she should be governed by the Holy Spirit, whom she has received. The sublime episodes, peculiar to this second portion of the year, will give her an increase of light and life. She will put unity into these rays, which, though scattered in various directions, emanate from one common center: and, advancing from brightness to brightness, she will aspire to being consummated in him whom she now knows so well, and whom death will enable her to possess as her own. Should it not be the will of God, however, to take her as yet to himself, she will begin a fresh year, and live, over again, those mysteries which she has already enjoyed in the foregoing first half of the Liturgical Cycle, after which, she will find herself, once more, in the season that is under the direction of the Holy Ghost; till at last, her God will summon her from this world, on the day and at the hour which he has appointed from all eternity.
Between the Church, then, and the Soul, during the time intervening from the descent of the divine Paraclete to the consummation, there is this difference,—that the Church goes through it but once, whereas the Christian soul repeats it each year. With this exception, the analogy is perfect. It is our duty, therefore, to thank God for his providing thus for our weakness, by means of the sacred Liturgy, whereby he successively renews within us those helps, which enable us to attain the glorious end of our creation.
Holy Church has so arranged the order for reading the Books of Scripture during the present period, as to express the work then accomplished, both in the Church herself, and in the Christian soul. For the interval between Pentecost and the commencement of August, she gives us the Four Books of Kings. They are a prophetic epitome of the Church’s history. They describe how the kingdom of Israel was founded by David, who is the type of Christ victorious over his enemies, and by Solomon, the king of peace, who builds a temple in honor of Jehovah. During the centuries comprised in the history given in those Books, there is a perpetual struggle between good and evil. There are great and saintly kings, such as Asa, Ezechias, and Josias; there are wicked ones, like Manasses. A schism breaks out in Samaria; infidel nations league together against the City of God. The holy people, continually turning a deaf ear to the Prophets, give themselves up to the worship of false gods, and to the vices of the heathen; till, at length, the justice of God destroys both Temple and City of the faithless Jerusalem: it is an image of the destruction of this world, when Faith shall be so rare, as that the Son of Man, at his second Coming, shall scarce find a vestige of it remaining.
During the month of August, we read the Sapiential Books,—so called, because they contain the teachings of Divine Wisdom. This Wisdom is the Word of God, who is manifested unto men through the teachings of the Church, which, because of the assistance of the Holy Ghost permanently abiding within her, is infallible in the truth.
Supernatural truth produces holiness, which cannot exist, nor produce fruit, where truth is not. In order to express the union there is between these two, the Church reads to us, during the month of September, the Books called Hagiographic; these are, Tobias, Judith, Esther, and Job, and they show Wisdom in action.
At the end of the world, the Church will have to go through combats of unusual fierceness. To keep us on the watch, she reads to us, during the month of October, the Book of Machabees; for there we have described to us the noble-heartedness of those defenders of the Law of God, and for which they gloriously die; it will be the same at the last days, when power will be given to the Beast, to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them.
The month of November gives us the reading of the Prophets: the judgments of God impending upon a world which he is compelled to punish by destruction, are there announced to us. First of all, we have the terrible Ezechiel; then Daniel, who sees empire succeeding empire, till the end of all time; and, finally, the Minor Prophets, who, for the most part, foretell the divine chastisements, though the latest among them proclaim, at the same time, the near approach of the Son of God.
Such is the Mystery of this portion of the Liturgical Cycle, which is called The Time after Pentecost. It includes also the use of green Vestments; for that color expresses the hope of the Bride, who knows that she has been intrusted, by her Spouse, to the Holy Ghost, and that he will lead her safe to the end of her pilgrimage. St. John says all this in those few words of his Apocalypse: The Spirit and the Bride say: Come!