Announcements

--The Unfailing Christmas Novena begins on the Feast of St. Andrew, Tuesday Nov. 30th.  To be prayed 15 times every day until Christmas for a special intention: “Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.”


-- If you would like the opportunity to attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation, on Wednesday Dec. 8, there will be a 7PM Mass at St. Ann’s Chapel: 254 Still River Road, Still River

--On Sunday, Dec. 12, our Mass will be held in the Lower Chapel downstairs due to an afternoon concert of Christmas music being held in the Church at 2PM. The front row will be reserved for receiving Holy Communion.

--Latin Mass Dinner on Sunday, Dec. 19: If you haven’t done so already, please let us know if you are coming to the Latin Mass dinner on Sunday, Dec. 19th, at 4PM (after Vespers) at Il Forno Restaurant (27 Airport Road, Fitchburg). RSVP to Todd and Diana Tabbaa: sedessapientia@verizon.net so that we can give the restaurant a general count. (You may still attend even if you don’t RSVP).

Children are welcome; cake and wine will be served. There will only be one bill, so every family will keep track of their own tab (cash only). We will hold a Yankee Gift Swap: Anyone who would like to participate should bring a wrapped gift with no name tag (a Catholic theme gift (funny or nice) or home-made goodies- under $20). As many family members who would like to participate may each bring a gift. Each person who brings a gift will draw a number to determine the order. The first person opens a gift. The next person may choose from any opened gifts or open a new gift, and so on until the last person may choose from all of the opened gifts. The best gift will be sharing the time together!

Save some dates....

Beginning next week for Advent, the psalms for Vespers will be chanted (instead of recto tono).   Anyone who would like extra help in learning the chant modes is welcome to join the choir for practice at 6:30PM on Wednesday Nov. 24 at St. Joseph's Church.    All are encouraged to take this wonderful opportunity to learn chant from our very knowledgeable and experienced choir director, and offer praise to God in this most beautiful  tradition of our Faith.

Save the date for a Latin Mass dinner on Sunday, Dec. 19th, at 4PM (after Vespers) at Il Forno Restaurant (27 Airport Road, Fitchburg).    Children are welcome; cake and wine will be served.   There will only be one bill, so every family will keep track of their own tab (cash only).     We will hold a Yankee Gift Swap:   Anyone who would like to participate should bring a wrapped gift with no name tag (a Catholic theme gift or home-made goodies-  under $20).    As many family members who would like to participate may each bring a gift.   Each person who brings a gift will draw a number to determine the order.  The first person opens a gift.  The next person may choose from any opened gifts or open a new gift, and so on until the last person may choose from all of the opened gifts.  The best gift will be sharing the time together!

Feel free to post or email our new video to promote our Latin Mass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L5ChvEYLQQ&feature=player_embedded


(The video is currently at the top of our blog.)

Feast of Christ the King

Viva Cristo Rey!

Feast of Christ the King

For the Feast of Christ the King on Sunday, October 31, we will recite the Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ King.  Along with the usual conditions, this allows for one to to gain a plenary indulgence. Copies of the prayer will be placed at the entrance and front tables.    Benediction and Vespers will take place in the church, beginning at 2:40pm.   

All are  invited to refreshments downstairs in the Parish hall at 2PM, and to participate in a discussion as to the  preferred Mass time for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Wednesday Dec. 8.

Remember that on Tuesday, November 2, All Souls Day, a plenary indulgence can be gained for the souls in Purgatory by visiting a Church and reciting one Our Father and the Creed.   On all the days from November I though November 8 inclusive, a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Poor Souls, is granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray for the departed.

To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill the following three conditions: sacramental confession (up to a week before or after, one confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences), eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff.  It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent.   If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only,

Community Events

The Latin Mass Community will make a prayerful visit to the chapel of the Little Audrey Santos foundation at 64 S. Flagg Street in Worcester on Monday October 18 at 6PM. Father Phillipson will offer Mass there at 6:30PM. You may read more about Audrey Santos at http://www.littleaudreysanto.org/Test.html

There will be a birthday dinner for Fr. Phillipson: at Il Forno restaurant (27 Airport Road, Fitchburg) on Friday, Oct. 22 at 6:30PM. Children are welcome. Please RSVP the number attending to the Tabbaas sedessapientia@verizon.net as soon as possible so we can estimate the size function room to reserve. As only one check is allowed for the group, payment will be cash only (each family may tally their own tab). Wine and cake will be served.

Ember Days: Sept. 22, 24 and 25

In the liturgical calendar of the Western Christian churches, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week—specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday—roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer. These days were considered especially suitable for the ordination of clergy. The Ember Days are known in Latin as the quattuor anni tempora (the "four seasons of the year"), or formerly as the jejunia quattuor temporum ("fasts of the four seasons").  These times are spent fasting and partially abstaining (voluntary since the new Code of Canon Law) in penance and with the intentions of thanking God for the gifts He gives us in nature and beseeching Him for the discipline to use them in moderation. The fasts are rooted in Old Testament practices of fasting four times a year.

These quarterly periods take place around the beginnings of the four natural seasons. The first of these four times comes in Winter, after the the Feast of St. Lucy; the second comes in Spring, the week after Ash Wednesday; the third comes in Summer, after Pentecost Sunday; and the last comes in Autumn, after Holy Cross Day. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:

Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.

Which means:
Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,
are when the quarter holidays follow.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

A most blessed feast day to all, on this the three year anniversary of the implementation of Summorum Pontificum.    With gratitude, we keep our Holy Father in our prayers.

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary

On Sunday, September 12, in honor of the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, there will be Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Vespers and Benediction in the church.
Exposition will begin immediately after Mass. There will be refreshments downstairs in the parish hall, and at least one person should be present in the church until Vespers begin at about 2:40. Vespers will be prayed in Latin, and booklets will be provided. When prayed before Our Lord in Exposition, all stand throughout.