On Saturday, October 6, there will be a Traditional Missa Cantata at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 448 East 116th Street, Manhattan at 9 am before the crowned statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.
Prayers for the canonization of Pierre Toussaint and devotions to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel will be included.

On Saturday, September 22 at 10 AM our Society will sponsor a Solemn Mass at the Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini,  701 Fort Washington Avenue, New York. David Hughes will lead the schola. There is a room in which lunch may be taken after mass. For those who have the time, the nearby Cloisters Museum can be visited.  It is a unique treasure house of Christian and Catholic art. To get to the Cabrini shrine by subway take the “A” train to 190th street and the shrine is one or two minutes walk away.

In the Cloisters.

The shrine is the last resting place of the earthly remains of Mother Cabrini, once so renowned as the first American saint (canonized in 1946). Between 1889 and 1917, the year of her death, she and her sisters carried out an apostolate almost unimaginable in scale among the Italian immigrant population. Starting with six sisters and no resources at all, Mother Cabrini soon founded schools, hospitals and orphanages all over the United States and beyond. We would hope that this mass – in the form Mother Cabrini knew – will help in a small way to rekindle devotion to this saint in the city where she first lived and worked in the Americas. And naturally we hope for the greatest possible participation from the Italian American community! But we as Traditionalists should especially invoke her intercession. Where would the cause of Catholic Tradition stand if we had but a fraction of her boundless trust in God and indomitable perseverance in the face of odds, that, humanly speaking, seemed impossible!

See HERE for a brief biography of Mother Cabrini from the Shrine website.

The Cabrini shrine.

There will be a sung mass on  Wednesday,  October 3  at 7:30 PM for the feast of St Theresa of Lisieux at St. Gabriel’s parish, 914 Newfield Avenue, Stamford,  Connecticut. Refreshments will follow.

The New Cathedral of Our Lady of Fatima, Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Photo: Catholic Church in Kazakhstan

We have the honor to announce that the noted author Bishop Athanasius Schneider will be visiting the New York area at Epiphany ,  2013.   A lecture and mass in Brooklyn on January 5 are currently scheduled; we will issue details of Bishop Schneider’s itinerary  as they become available. Bishop Schneider is auxiliary bishop of Astana in Kazakhstan.

For the first time since the Heresy of Formlessness, Martin Mosebach has returned to the explicit  defense of Catholic Tradition in a work of nonfiction dedicated to the subject. Das Subversive am Christentum has appeared this month. We will have a review soon.

Early this morning turning on the television one saw a very disturbing report about the murder of an ambassador of the United States at the hands of Muslim Libyans outraged at some stiffly acted, low budget blasphemy. Quite quickly upon opening my Breviary the Liturgy divinely dispelled dastardly doubt regarding not only this sickening situation but also the agonizing anniversary of the devilish destruction of the Twin Towers. Today is the fabulous feast of the Holy Name of Mary which religiously recalls the virtuous victory over advancing adversaries by a pious potentate.

From one’s reliable research: “King Jan III Sobieski (1629 – 1696) is still regarded as the last great King of Poland. Revered today in part because his fearless and indomitable spirit represents what has always been such an inseparable part of the Polish national character. A man of intellect, he had an uncommon knowledge of foreign culture. And a true Renaissance man, Sobieski’s passion and warmth were revealed in the hundreds of letters exchanged with his wife, Marysienka.

His lack of royal blood didn’t prevent him from earning the admiration and respect of both his countrymen and enemies – his people elected him King, and his opponents referred to him as “The Lion of Poland.” And at a time when it seemed certain that the invading Ottoman Empire would conquer all of Europe, he led an army to defeat a force nearly double in size at the Battle of Vienna (12 September 1683). This earned him the moniker, “The Savior of Western Civilization.” 1

Therefore after demurely and devoutly dispatching a “De Profundis” (psalm 129), a holy and hearty “Ave” should be proudly proclaimed with a sainted shot of Sobieksi “wodka”!

1. http://www.vodkasobieski.com/about_king.php

Mr. Screwtape

This Sunday, September 16 at 5 pm, Solemn Three Cope Vespers in the Extraordinary Fomr will be held at St. Mary Church, Norwalk, CT.  The St. Mary Schola Cantorum will sing the complete office of vespers along with motets by Victoria, Crecquillon and Lassus. 

At 6:oo pm in the church hall there will be a presentation by Leonard Porter, the artist commissioned to paint an oil painting of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the central reredos for the high altar of the church.  The artist’s rough model of the finished painting is pictured above. 

 St. Mary began a multiphase renovation in 2009.  The fund-raising is beginning  for the final phase, which includes completing the painting of the interior, a rood beam, and Mr. Porter’s painting, which  will be mounted in a frame designed by architect Duncan Stroik.  Come and hear the artist speak about his project.

The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate offer a ‘day of recollection’ called “A Day With Mary”.  This “A Day with Mary” will be offered in the Diocese of Bridgeport on Saturday, September 22 at St. Mary Parish in Norwalk, CT.  The whole family is invited but really the day is directed toward adults.                                           

 Day begins at 9 am and ends at about 3:45 pm (unless running overtime), includes Holy Mass ( sung Traditional Latin Mass ), adoration, Benediction, rosary, confession, excellent talks, and a movie about Our Lady of Fatima.  The celebrant of the Mass will be Fr. Ignatius Mary, Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate.  The schola is the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate.

The day will also include the enrollment in the Brown Scapular and conferment of the Miraculous Medal (for those who have not been enrolled or conferred).  Don’t be late because it begins with the movie about Our Lady of Fatima which sets the framework for the day.

 BYOL (bring your own lunch).

The Catholic Artists Society will host its annual Mass for Artists at Manhattan’s Church of Our Saviour on Sunday, September 30th at 2pm. Artists, their families, patrons of the arts and friends are invited to attend.

Solemn Mass in the Ordinary Form will be celebrated by Father Joseph Koterski, SJ, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, and the editor of the International Philosophical Quarterly. Father Koterski is also one of the CAS’s priestly advisors. He will be assisted by Father Christopher Pollard (Diocese of Arlington, VA), and Father Justin Wylie (Archdiocese of Johannesburg, South Africa). Both Father Pollard and Father Wylie are attachés to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.

Sacred music will be provided by a professional choir under the direction of James Wetzel, organist and music director at the Church of St. Agnes in Manhattan. The setting of the Mass will be Herbert Howells’ Mass in the Dorian mode, a work of singular beauty, rarely heard in New York City. It was composed for London’s Westminster Cathedral in in 1912.

Following the mass, all are invited to a reception with refreshments.

Last year’s inaugural Mass and lecture attracted a large number of artists from all over the USA, and several from abroad. It is a opportunity for artists to meet one another, build friendships, and meet with patrons and friends of the arts from New York and beyond.

Please RSVP for the reception, to catholicartistssociety@gmail.com.