We like to share the occasional testimonial, and this came to us during calendar season, when someone was purchasing a calendar for his home use.
Check out this letter:
Please take a moment to pray an Ave (Hail Mary) for this revert, but then also a second Ave for all those who attended Christmas last week that they may return to the Church and weekly Mass attendance.
A Catholic may ask any priest to offer Mass for a certain intention, whether or not the priest is personally known to him, whether or not the person is able to attend that specific Mass. When requesting this, money plays no inherent role. No one can ever “buy a Mass.” But it is customary to offer what’s called a “stipend,” a small amount recommended by a priest’s Bishop. A Catholic can offer as much as he likes, however, but no money is required to ask that a Mass be said for a specific intention.
Because the merits of the Mass are infinite, any number of intentions may be made in a given Mass, but a priest can only receive one stipend per day, no matter how many Masses he offers that day (though note that priests usually offer a single Mass a day, with some exceptions, such as on Christmas, on All Souls Day, where there is a shortage of priests, etc.). This is to remove even any appearance of simony.
If you would like to request a Mass intention, please contact Cindy at St. Augustin. You can call her (515-255-1175), stop by the office, or email her (cindy@staugustin.org) with your requested dates.
Thanks to TAN Press, the graphic design of Sam Fernholz, and the artistic eye of Kara Knupp, we have a 2025 Liturgical Calendar just in time for Advent/Christmas shopping!
This personalized 10.5″ x 10.5″ calendar, containing special feasts and fascinating Catholic traditions, is marked with days of Fasting, special Saints Days, and the Sundays of the Liturgical Year for both the New and Traditional calendars.
Moreover, the theme of this year’s calendar is Sacramentals, with excerpts taken from the Rituale Romanum.
Each day has indications for the liturgical calendar in both Usus Antiquior (old calendar feast days) and the Usus Recentior (new calendar feast days), as well as abstinence or fast symbols. N.B. Under each day of the week, there is a theme which is traditionally observed.
At the beginning of the calendar, there’s an entire page on spiritual fasting and the symbols that each day indicate.
Like year’s past, we even added when local TLMs were going to be on special occasions:
Be sure to share with your friends and family, but order quickly as Christmas is in a few weeks and we have a limited supply!
Also, a special thanks to four sponsors this year for helping underwrite the cost of the calendar, which means more of the proceeds can support the mission of Una Voce DSM to educate central Iowa on the beauty of Traditional Catholicism.
For more information, email Bryan @ info@unavocedsm.org or call/text 812.686.6102.
The Nativity by Fra Filippo Lippi (painter) Florentine, c. 1406 – 1469
A simple way one can live liturgically is to learn chants for the season. Below are five beautiful chants, along with printable PDFs, to learn this Advent!
The devotional chant of this title most commonly encountered today is a Renaissance-era weaving of an ancient antiphon with scriptural verses. Often sung at the start of a “Rorate Mass,” as a communion hymn, or for other para-liturgical purposes, the chant is a poignant reflection on man’s need for salvation. It should be noted that the music for a sung Rorate Mass is different.
The ancient antiphon appears in various parts of the Divine Office and is taken from Isaiah 45:8: “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.” All throughout Advent, this verse is used as a Messianic plea: only One is righteous, and he is the dew that drops from heaven upon the fleece of Gideon — always seen as a symbol of the virgin birth.
W. Rooke-Ley translates the antiphon thus, in a 1910 Book of Hymns, textually connecting it to the O Antiphons (which we’ll look at in a minute):
Mystic dew from heaven Unto earth is given: Break, O earth, a Saviour yield — Fairest flower of the field.
Here’s a clear recording of it, providing music you can follow along with. A translation of the verses may be found here or here; an alternative recording may be found here.
As a bonus, I’ll also share Wiliam Byrd’s polyphonic setting of the text.
2. Conditor alme siderum (Hymn)
This is the hymn appointed for Vespers during Advent, and has been popularized in a translation of the Anglican J.M. Neale as “Creator of the stars of night.” Neal was a contemporary of St. John Henry Newman’s. The level of versifying in English was then at an all-time high, as the first two verses attest:
Creator of the stars of night, thy people’s everlasting light, Jesu, Redeemer, save us all, and hear Thy servants when they call.
Thou, grieving that the ancient curse should doom to death a universe, hast found the medicine, full of grace, to save and heal a ruined race.
The “O Antiphons” are a unique phenomenon in the musical calendar of the Church. A matching set of Vespers antiphons from December 17th to 23rd, they share the same melody, and each opens with a messianic title of Christ prefaced by “O” — “O Wisdom,” “O key of David,” etc. Here they are, in order of appearance.
17 December: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
18 December: O Adonai (O Savior)
19 December: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
20 December: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
21 December: O Oriens (O Dawn of the East)
22 December: O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)
23 December: O Emmanuel (O Emmanuel)
You will note that the first letter of the various titles is placed in bold. This is to draw attention to the reverse acrostic the letters form in Latin: ERO CRAS. This means “I will be [there] tomorrow.” Evidently the words of the Incarnate, the sentence is not complete until the 23rd, when they come true: Christmas is considered to have arrived at First Vespers on the 24th.
Many medieval authors delighted in acrostics such as this one, and ancient authors did as well. There is some speculation as to how old this series of antiphons is. Some claim they were already extant in such a form that Boethius’s phrase in the Consolation of Philosophy — “He is the highest good,” she [Lady Philosophy] said, “that rules all things mightily and delightfully arranges them” — is a citation of the antiphons rather than the passage from scripture (Wis. 8:1) on which they are based!
Each of the antiphons follows the same structure:
O [Primary Title], [elaboration of the title], Come, and [elaboration of the verb].
For example:
OEmmanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour: Come and save us, O Lord our God.
Or:
OWisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.
The antiphons also share the same melody, a distinctive mode 2 tune with a disputed note — should the highest note be a ti or a te (that is, a natural or a flattened note)?
Here it is with the sharp, from the director of the Floriani ensemble:
Personally, I think that the above recording takes it way too slow. Here it is with the more common flat — and at a much better tempo:
As far as noteworthy multi-voice settings of the O Antiphons, I have to highlight Arvo Pärt’s beautiful setting of the set. Some are murky, some militant, but always his word painting is brilliant. You can find all of them here. Pärt sets them in a German translation. My favorite is the sixth, with marching vocals that give “O King of the nations” a resounding power. The plea is beautiful, harkening back to Genesis: “Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.”
This is certainly the best-known chant on this list: still widely sung in Latin, there are few church-goers indeed who would not have heard it at least in English, in the form of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (another translation of J.M. Neale, which can be found complete here). A recording of the chant can be found here.
The melody, so full of longing and pleading, has given rise to dozens of polyphonic settings. One of them, with some very neat harmonies, is performed by the Gesualdo Six:
Something of a paraphrase of the ancient O Antiphons, the text of this hymn as it exists today surfaced in the 17th century. Strangely enough, the tune we all associate with this hymn was first paired to it only in 1851, when it was published in the Hymnal Noted by another Englishman,Thomas Helmore. He only vaguely referenced the tune’s source, and it would be over a hundred years — not until 1966 — that a 15th century manuscript containing the tune was discovered. Who neum?
Instances of “Aspiciens a longe” (L to R): neums, the precursors of modern chant notation, in the St Gall MS, c. 1000; English illumination with an initial showing the Annunciation to Mary holding a unicorn (symbol of Christ) and various prophets, c. 1460; German illumination showing the Last Judgement, c. 1525.
5. Aspiciens a longe (Responsory)
For the final piece today, I’d like to up the musical game of our readers a bit. If you’ve been acing the previous chants, you might want to challenge yourself with this one. Definitely in the category of “very difficult,” this lengthy and beautiful responsory is a gem of allegorical text combined with haunting chant.
A responsory such as this belongs to the night office of Mattins (also spelled Matins). In the Roman Rite, Aspiciens a longe is sung as the first responsory on the first Sunday of Advent. Consider the cosmic introduction this provides:
Aspiciens a longe
I look from afar:
and lo, I see the pow’r of God coming,
and a cloud cov’ring the whole earth.
Go ye out to meet him and say:
Tell us, art thou he that should come
to rule over thy people Israel?
High and low, rich and poor, one with another.
Go ye out to meet him and say:
Tell us, art thou he that should come
to rule o’er thy people Israel?
O come.
Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel,
thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.
Tell us, art thou he that should come?
Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come.
Come to reign o’er thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and lo, I see the pow’r of God coming,
and to the Holy Ghost.
and a cloud covering the whole earth.
Go ye out to meet him and say:
Tell us, art thou he that should come
to reign o’er they people Israel?
Several variants of the music exist. Here’s one, sung by some French Benedictine nuns.
I find the incipit so haunting. Here’s a version that matches the notation in the PDF — I also like how this schola really keeps the chant moving, as well as pitching it pretty high.
FINAL STEP: Download the PDF
All of these chants can be found in the free download below — crisp and easy to read, with the notation sourced from GregoBase. Happy chanting!
I was raised Catholic by very faithful parents and was born very near the time that the Novus Ordo was instituted by Pope Paul. I attended Mass in that form until I was 51 years old, but have always been drawn to a more traditional form of worship. For example, I was always drawn to singing Venite Adoremus at Christmas Mass. Traditional hymns, incense, and bells all made me ponder God more deeply and in some way I could have a connection to the way my ancestors worshipped. As I grew older and found myself more interested in the Church and its history, I found articles online discussing the TLM. Since I had only known the Novus Ordo my entire life, I wondered what worship was like for my ancestors (my mother’s family immigrated from Luxembourg in the 1800s).
In 2018, I decided to try and see if there was a TLM in Des Moines. Much to my surprise, I found out that TLM was offered at St. Anthony’s by Msgr. Chiodo. I decided to attend once “just to see what it was like”.
Perhaps it was not instantaneous, but very soon after, I started making connections to everything that I had read. I was struck by the beauty of the Mass including the music, incense, and silence.
The TLM made me understand why Catholic churches were built the way they were. It made me want to know more about the Faith. The reverence displayed toward the Most Blessed Sacrament deepens my understanding and humbles me.
Through Una Voce Des Moines, I was able to attend sessions on traditional church architecture, as well as hear Fr. Ripperger discuss his work as an exorcist. And very importantly, I sensed an immediate connection to the way my mom’s family had worshipped in Luxembourg, and that connects me to regularly worshipping among faith-filled people who take the Catholic Church seriously.
In this sense, the TLM is like an oasis of sanity in this world. There is a sense of peace and calmness that is found nowhere else. An additional effect is that I’ve deepened my knowledge of Latin, and now I’m able to respond at Mass and even sing some of the hymns.
While I am only one individual, I can certainly imagine that if the TLM has had this impact on me, there are certainly many others who have been blessed in a similar fashion.
Why the 2ndConfiteor anyway? After all, haven’t we already said a Double Confiteor at the beginning of Mass during the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar (one for the priest and one for the servers/people in attendance at Mass)?
Picture Moses removing his sandals when he comes before the Lord who speaks to him from the burning bush because he is on holy ground! We are removing the ‘sandals’ of earthly attachment so that we can enter into the Holy of Holies.’ Having prepared ourselves by this initial Confiteor, is the 2ndConfiteor before the communion of the faithful just more useless repetition that adds to the overall length of the Mass? Or is there a theological significance to its placement later in the liturgy as well?
Some history:
In former times (pre- Pope St. Pius X), the normative method for the distribution of Holy Communion to the faithful was for reception to occur outside of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass itself. Therefore, prior to the time of St. Pius X, the distribution of communion to the faithful outside of the Mass (usually immediately following it), began with the Confiteor, as directed by the rubrics. This was normal for all the days of the year except two, namely Maundy Thursday and Corpus Christi. On those two feasts, communion of the faithful would take place just as we see it today, within the Mass itself. Pope St. Pius X directed that the distribution of communion to the faithful should become the norm duringthe Mass throughout the year. Thus was ‘born’ the practice of the 2ndConfiteor within the Mass since the communion rite of the faithful was inserted into the Mass after the priest’s communion.
The 2ndConfiteor was ‘revised away’ (in other words, removed) within the Mass in what we have come to know as the ‘1962 Missal,’ but kept in the communion rite of the faithful outside of Mass. Much can be said in regard to this revision, but that is another discussion. Suffice it say that there is an allowance for the 2ndConfiteor to continue to be used. Instead of getting side-tracked, let us keep our focus on the Mass itself. The Holy Mass is complete as the unbloody re-presentation of Our Lord’s Sacrifice on Calvary with the communion of the offering priest who stands in for Christ the High Priest (in persona Christi). The once-for-all Sacrifice of Calvary is re-presented to the Father with the completion of the priest’s communion (think of a priest’s private low Mass to better grasp this concept—he alone is present at this private Mass).
The Sacrifice of the Lamb Once Slain is ‘made present’ via the double consecration (the bread into Christ’s Body, the wine into His Blood) to all those in attendance at the Mass. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Blood of Christ poured forth from His Sacred Wounds to make possible the Redemption of all of humanity.
And, at each Mass, we mystically stand at the foot of the Cross to be washed in the Blood of the Lamb. What is the disposition of heart that is necessary for a person to be redeemed by this Blood, if not that of contrition? We must be sorry for our sins to obtain mercy and forgiveness. God does not force us to love Him, nor does He force us to be redeemed.
With this brief exposition of the consecration at Mass, let us return to the communion of the faithful, who are now spiritually present at the foot of Calvary. Does the 2ndConfiteor not now make perfect sense? The Deacon and Subdeacon (if in a Solemn Mass) or the servers in a Sung or Low Mass, now, prostrate in spirit beneath Our Lord’s Cross, recite the Confiteor. The faithful present join with them in the prayer of the heart and bend all their attention to these words of contrition.
The priest then says the Indulgentiam prayer and gives the minor absolution to all present as he says the Misereatur. This minor absolution absolves venial sins in those receiving it and prepares the souls of those individuals in the state of grace who plan to approach the Most Holy Sacrament for the opportunity of an even greater increase in sanctifying grace. The faithful approach the banquet table of the Lord. Truly, at this moment, we have a foretaste of Heaven as we approach the communion rail, with souls washed with absolution after their declaration of contrition. And now, as we look up at the Host held before us, we can contemplate the beatitude: “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see the Face of God” (Mt 5:8).
Thanks to TAN Press and the graphic design of Sam Fernholtz, we have a 2024 Liturgical Calendar just in time for Advent/Christmas shopping!
The new-and-improved, unique 10.5″ x 10.5″, spiral-bound calendar contains some of the greatest and most recognizable images from Western culture. Just as each day of the week has a Votive Mass (Monday: the Holy Angels; Tuesday: the Apostles, etc.), each month has a dedication:
January: the Holy Name
February: the Passion of Our Lord
March: St. Joseph
Here are some images:
N.B. Last year’s calendar had weak page strength, so we’ve increased the paper weight, so the corners won’t curl.
Each day has indications for the liturgical calendar in both Usus Antiquior (old calendar feast days) and the Usus Recentior (new calendar feast days), as well as abstinence or fast symbols. Note that under each day of the week there is a theme which is traditionally observed.
There’s an entire page on spiritual fasting and the symbols that each day indicate.
Like last year, we even added when local TLMs were going to be on special occasions:
Proceeds benefit Una Voce Des Moines and the continued promotion of the usus antiquior.
Be sure to share with your friends and family, but order quickly as Christmas is in a few weeks and we have a limited supply!
Taken from: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14506a.htm
Tenebræ is the name given to the service of Matins and Lauds belonging to the last three days of Holy Week. This service, as the “Cæremoniale episcoporum” expressly directs, is to be anticipated and it should be sung shortly after Compline “about the twenty-first hour”, i.e. about three p.m. on the eve of the day to which it belongs. “On the three days before Easter“, says Benedict XIV (Institut., 24), “Lauds follow immediately on Matins, which in this occasion terminate with the close of day, in order to signify the setting of the Sun of Justice and the darkness of the Jewish people who knew not our Lord and condemned Him to the gibbet of the cross.” Originally Matins on these days, like Matins at all other seasons of the year, were sung shortly after midnight, and consequently if the lights were extinguished the darkness was complete. That this putting out of lights dates from the fifth century, so far at least as regards the night Office, is highly probable. Both in the first Ordo Romanus and in the Ordo of St. Amand published by Duchesne a great point is made of the gradual extinction of the lights during the Friday Matins; though it would seem that in this earliest period the Matins and Lauds of the Thursday were sung throughout with the church brightly illuminated (ecclesia omni lumine decoretur). On Friday the candles and lamps were gradually extinguished during the three Nocturns, while on Saturday the church was in darkness from beginning to end, save that a single candle was kept near the lectern to read by.
All this suggests, as Kutschker has remarked, that the Office of these three days was treated as a sort of funeral service, or dirge, commemorating the death of Jesus Christ. It is natural also that, since Christ by convention was regarded as having lain three days and three nights in the tomb, these obsequies should have come in the end to be celebrated on each of the three separate occasions with the same demonstrations of mourning. There can be no reasonable doubt that it was from the extinguishing of lights that the service came to be known as Tenebræ, though the name itself seems to have arisen somewhat later. The liturgist de Vert has suggested an utilitarian explanation of the putting out of the candles one by one, contending that the gradual approach of the dawn rendered the same number of lights unnecessary, and that the number was consequently diminished as the service drew to a close. This view seems sufficiently refuted by the fact that this method of gradual extinction is mentioned by the first Ordo Romanus on the Friday only. On the Saturday we are explicitly told that the lights were not lit. Moreover, as pointed out under HOLY WEEK, the tone of the whole Office, which seems hardly to have varied in any respect from that now heard in our churches, is most noticeably mournful–the lessons taken from the Lamentations of Jeremias, the omission of the Gloria Patri, of the Te Deum, and of blessings etc., all suggest a service cognate to the Vigiliæ Mortuorum, just as the brilliant illumination of the Easter eve spoke of triumph and of joy, so the darkness of the preceding night’s services seems to have been designedly chosen to mark the Church’s desolation. In any case it is to be noticed that the Office of these three days has been treated by liturgical reformers throughout the ages with scrupulous respect. The lessons from Jeremias in the first Nocturn, from the Commentaries of St. Augustine upon the Psalms in the second, and from the Epistles of St. Paul in the third remain now as when we first hear of them in the eighth century.
The Benedictine Order, who normally have their own arrangement of psalms and nocturns, differing from the Roman, on these three days conform to the ordinary Roman practice. Even the shifting of the hour from midnight to the previous afternoon, when no real darkness can be secured, seems to have been prompted by the desire to render these sublime Offices more accessible to clergy and laity. Already in the thirteenth century it seems probable that at Rome Tenebræ began at four or five o’clock on the Wednesday (see Ord. Rom., xiv, 82, and Ord. Rom., xv, 62). Despite the general uniformity of this service throughout the Western Church, there was also a certain diversity of usage in some details, more particularly, in the number of candles which stood in the Tenebræ hearse, and in some accretions which, especially in the Sarum Use, marked the termination of the service. With regard to the candles Durandus speaks of as many as seventy-two being used in some churches and as few as nine or seven in others. In England the Sarum Ordinal prescribed twenty-four, and this was the general number in this country, variously explained as symbolizing the twenty-four hours of the day, or the twelve Apostles with the twelve Prophets. A twenty-fifth candle was allowed to remain lighted and hidden, as is done at the present day, behind the altar, when all the others had been gradually extinguished. At present, the rubrics of the “Ceremoniale,” etc., prescribe the use of fifteen candles. The noise made at the end of Tenebræ undoubtedly had its origin in the signal given by the master of ceremonies for the return of the ministers to the sacristy. A number of the earlier Ceremoniales and Ordines are explicit on this point. But at a later date others lent their aid in making this knocking. For example Patricius Piccolomini says: “The prayer being ended the master of ceremonies begins to beat with his hand upon the altar step or upon some bench, and all to some extent make a noise and clatter.” This was afterwards symbolically interpreted to represent the convulsion of nature which followed the death of Jesus Christ.
From Una Voce International and others Una Voce International and other organizations, groups and individuals concerned with the Traditional Latin Mass would like to appeal to all Catholics of good will to offer prayers and penances during the season of Lent, particularly for the intention: the liberty of the Traditional Mass.
We do not know how credible rumors of further documents from the Holy See on this subject may be, but the rumor themselves point to a situation of doubt, conflict, and apprehension, which is severely harmful to the mission of the Church. We appeal to our Lord, through His Blessed Mother, to restore to all Catholics the right and opportunity to worship according to the Church’s own venerable liturgical traditions, in perfect unity with the Holy Father and the bishops of the whole Church.
Taken from: http://www.fiuv.org/2023/02/pray-for-tlm-this-lent.html
Throughout the year, the Church prays different Marian Antiphons based on the proper liturgical season. We’ll post the current Antiphon throughout the year:
Here’s a great article about the different seasons, highlighting the Ave Regina Caelorum, which is sung from February 2nd (Purification/Candlemas) until the Easter Vigil.
The four Marian Antiphons have traditionally been sung at the end of Compline – each one during a particular season of the Church Year. Ave, Regina Caelorum is the antiphon sung from Purification/Candlemas (February 2) until the Easter Vigil.
Here’s a video of the antiphon sung to the Simple Tone by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey at Ganagobie. Chant score from the Liber Usualis (1961), p. 278. (English translation below.)
Here’s the chant score of the Simple Tone version, from the Liber Usualis:
This translation was done for our monastery by Dr. Rudolph Masciantonio, president of the Philadelphia Latin Liturgy Association:
Hail, queen of heaven, hail lady of the angels. Hail, root, hail the door through which the Light of the world is risen. Rejoice, glorious Virgin, beautiful above all. Hail, O very fair one, and plead for us to Christ.
