Solemn Mass for the Feast of Christ the King at St. Patrick Church, Waterbury

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.