On Thursday, December 5, at 6:00 PM, the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny will be sponsoring a Solemn High Mass – with orchestral music – at the magnificent church of the Most Holy Redeemer at 173 E 3rd St, New York. The Mass will be on the eve of the Feast of St Nicholas, and also will be an occasion to reflect on the German community that once flourished in this neighborhood. For, in the past. Most Holy Redeemer and the nearby, regrettably destroyed archdiocesan parish of St Nicholas served primarily German congregations.

The celebrant will be the pastor of Most Holy Redeemer, Fr. William Elder. Mr. James Wetzel will direct the music, which will include Joseph Haydn’s Nikolaimesse (“Nicholas Mass” – likely first performed on St Nicholas’ day, December 6, 1772). It will be a festive occasion!

The mass will be followed by a reception with seasonal refreshments. I hear that we should expect two special guests. One we know well:

And his sidekick too:

A Solemn High Mass will be offered at St. Mary Church, Greenwich, CT, on Friday, November 22 at 7:30 to celebrate the Feast of St Cecilia.
Looking ahead, St. Mary’s will offer a Rorate Mass in honor of Our Lady during Advent on Saturday, December 14th at 6:30 in the morning.

Father Paul Check is the celebrant; David Hughes is the choir director; Bill Riccio is the Master of Ceremonies.

This Thursday at Notre Dame Church in New Hyde Park, NY:

For the first time in nine years, there will again be a Latin Mass at Midnight for Christmas in Jersey City. It will be said at Assumption Church adjacent to downtown Jersey City with parking and adjacent to the park and ride in Liberty State Park.   This is the best opportunity during the entire year to bring the unchurched back and to bring others to experience the fullness of tradition in all its beauty. 

On Sunday, October 27, a Solemn Mass for the Feast of Christ the King inaugurated the new apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest in Waterbury, CT. St. Patrick’s is an old parish church in the post-industrial city of Waterbury, an old mill town that is blessed with a disproportionate number of magnificent churches. Completed in 1903, St Patrick’s is noteworthy for its interior decoration, which features windows made in 1906 by a New York studio. Uniquely in the United States, as far as I am aware, the inscriptions of the windows are in the Irish language.

The music for this Mass was partially funded by the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny—your generous donations have helped make this possible.

(Above) David Hughes directed the ensemble “Tolle Lege” in music including the Missa Aeterna Christi Munera by Palestrina.

(Above) The church had a full congregation for this occasion. It seemed to me that some were veteran Traditionalists who had come from elsewhere in the area, some had been part of the long-standing Latin Mass community of Waterbury and others had already been members of the community of St Patrick’s. And maybe a fourth group had attended out of curiosity.

(Above) Canon Matthew Talarico introduced the community to the Institute. (Below) Msgr. R Michael Schmitz gave the sermon. Msgr Schmitz was the celebrant of the liturgy; Canon Talarico was deacon and Canon Joel Estrada ( the new pastor of St. Patrick’s) was subdeacon.

It’s off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush… our coverage of the visit of Bishop Athanasius Schneider to Providence, Rhode Island to ordain a priest for the Fraternity of St Peter today.