Midnight Mass (in Latin)

Cover of program

This Christmas I wanted to do something different. Something got me thinking "Midnight Mass." I mean, really midnight not 5 p.m. or 10 or 11 p.m. Then to make it more novel, how about a Latin Mass at Midnight. Since finding an actual midnight mass at midnight is now quite a trick, my choices for a Latin Mass at Midnight were essentially whittled to one unless I wanted to travel out of state.

It was a 70-mile drive to get to St. Mary Church. I made excellent time and arrived early for the rosary (see schedule below). This was my first visit to this church and I was knocked out by its beauty. The mass was in Latin but it was not that difficult to follow along because there was a well designed program to use.

Altar at St. Mary RC Church (photo by Jill Chessman)

Christmas Eve:

11 pm Rosary by the creche

11:20 pm Orchestral Prelude: Christmas Concerto (Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8) (Arcangelo Corelli, 1683-1713)

11:30 pm Christmas Carols

Carol: What Child Is This (Greensleves)

Carol: O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël)

Carol: O Little Town of Bethlehem (St. Louis)

Carol: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Carol: Tu scendi dalle stelle (St. Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori, 1696-1787)

Carol: Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (Es is ein’ Ros’ entsprungen)

Carol: De Virgine Maria (Carl Rütti, b.1949)

Carol: Silent Night (Stille Nacht)

Prelude: Desseins éternels (from La Nativité du Seigneur) (Olivier Messiaen, 1908-1992)

The Solemn Proclamation of Christmas

Hymn at the Procession: Adeste Fideles (John Francis Wade, arr. David Willcocks, 1919-2015)

Hymn at the Procession: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn, arr. Willcocks)

Sample page of program; Latin is on left; English is on right.

12:00 Solemn Midnight Mass

Mass in C Major (K. 258, “Piccolomini”) (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791)

Gregorian Mass of Christmas Midnight: Dominus dixit

Motet at the Offertory: Laudate Dominum (from Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339) (Mozart)

Motet at the Communion: Verbum caro factum est (John Sheppard, c.1515-1558)

Postlude: In dulci jubilo (BWV 729) (Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750)

Postlude: Fugue in A Major (BWV 536/2) (Bach)

More pictures can be seen here. They are worth checking out.

My cell phone camera shot of the altar at the end of Mass.

The painting behind the altar is of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary. The artist, Leonard Porter, has a detailed article and several pictures at his website.

Mass ended a little after 2 a.m. By the time I returned home, it was nearly 4 a.m. Although this evening was cloudy, the clouds had broken during the ride home; so I could see the Full Moon.

Couple of interesting/ironic items:

• On the drive to church, I was listening to Christmas music on the radio. For some reason, they played Sunny Afternoon by the Kinks. It has nothing to do with Christmas (nor Winter). Perhaps it was the DJ's poke at the record setting warm temperature today. Nonetheless, it was a delightful surprise for me since I love the Kinks and this is one of their best.
• The husband & wife who do the Latin Mass blog where I found the info about the mass, sat in the pew in front of me.
• I later found out that the priest who said mass, is one of the rare married RC priests. He was originally an Episcopal priest (married) who converted to Catholicism and was accepted in the RC Church as a married priest. So a married priest saying a traditional Latin mass. Definitely a full moon tonight.

(Photo by Chessman)

All-in-all it worth the drive. It was an interesting mass and everything was good. I had to work hard to keep from crying because this mass was so much better than what is presented as RCism today. I wrote to one of my friends afterwards, that if the mass  were still like this, I'd probably still be RC.

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Links:

http://www.stmarynorwalk.net
http://sthughofcluny.org/2015/12/midnight-mass-at-st-marys-norwalk-3.html
http://www.leonardporter.com/bvm.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIKsHh3BFPI
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Written Sunday 27 December 2015.