I am presently in St. Paul, Minnesota. I grew up in the Twin Cities.
Christmas Eve has been busy. I didn’t have a morning Mass, so I went over to the chapel as the 8 am was ending. Someone was interested in serving a "Tridentine" Mass, and so with a few people in the chapel, the Sacrifice was renewed.
There were confessions for a couple hours today. Many penitents kept the three of us busy even after the scheduled time, as is usual around here.
At St. Agnes 1st Vespers are sung in the afternoon in Gregorian chant followed by a Latin High Mass (Novus Ordo). At 9:30 pm Matins will be sung in Gregorian chant. The Office of Readings is used from the Liturgia horarum and all of it is sung, including the stupendous reading from the Christmas sermon of St. Pope Leo the Great.
Midnight Mass is preceded by about 45 minutes or so of Christmas carols by the orchestra and chorale. There will be a procession to the crib with il Bambino and one of the altar boys, the 1st Master will vest in a Franciscan habit as he gives the Infant Jesus to the priest to be lain in the manger. After the procession I will probably go down to the chapel and celebrate the first Mass of Christmas with the 1962 Missale.
On Christmas priests can say three Masses.
I will have the noon Mass on Christmas.
I will keep you readers and participants of WDTPRS in my prayers at my Christmas Masses. I am especially grateful for the way you have made this blog so well known and interesting. My special thank go out to those who have recently sent me items from my wish list and who have made donations. Each time something comes along it is a great boost to morale.
To everyone I wish a holy and happy Christmastide.
Loading ...
Father: Blessed Christmas to you and to all the participants of this fine blog!
Peace Father;
I have learned much about self and others on this blog, a great gift indeed.
Thank you
Brian
And a merry CHRISTMAS to you, father. Your blog is an inspiration, the best in the blogosphere, because it combines orthodoxy and charity.
Dear Fr. Z,
May the Divine Infant bless + you and all the readers of this blog with his love, light, and peace this most Holy Night and always.
Fr. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.
Quidquid fecisti pro Traditione, Pater “Z,” gratias agimus tibi, et cum votis nostris pro felice festo Nativitatis DNIC, preces offerimus pro toto clero et pro instauratione plena Romanae Liturgiae.
Dear Fr. Z,
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Thank you for your prayers and for your support of the people who have wondered 40 years in the desert of liturgical abuse and sorrow. Reading you describe your shcedule at St. Agnes takes me back a few years. In the late 90’s I used to attend the Midnight Mass of Christmas. How we miss dear Msgr. Schuler, RIP. Often I was accompanied by a reader from the Russian Orthodox Church, who had been educated in a mission school in pre Communist China. He so loved the beauty of the Liturgy, be it the Russian or the noble Roman form. thank you for reminding me of some very precious moments. Merry Christmas dear Brother in Christ.
Father Z,
Was that you narrating the EWTN coverage of the Midnight Mass from Rome?
Stu,
I also noticed that the voice of the commentator on the Solemn Mass of the Holy Father sounded very much like Fr.Z. However, since the Mass is live, and Fr Z is in the Twin Cities, it seems unlikely that it was actually him, unless it was over the phone or…. hmmmm… possibly bilocation??
He could have been narrating a feed. However, I see it was Cardinal Foley. Uncanny resemblance.
Merry Christmas Father!
Fr. Z, Merry Christmas to you and yours, and to all of your blog readers.
The peace of man, the peace of God, the peace of love for all.
Feliz Navidad to all.
Today all of our Christmas decorations are going up! A blessed Christmastide to all.
Happy, Holy Christmas, Fr Z, and may you have yet another year again of slavishly accurate translations! Your special Christmas present to us is the love you have for liturgical Latin, which is then shared by the rest of us. That’s no mean feat. Truly a gift that’s becoming a cultural phenomenon reaching into the soul. May the Infant Jesus bless you! And may Saint Joseph guide and protect all the readers/participators of this blog, and their families and loved ones.
I have said my first Mass for Christmas and did not fail to remember WDTPRSers.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Father! I remembered all the priests I know ‘in real life’ AND through the blogosphere at Mass this evening!
Merry Christmas! Thanks for all.
Wishing you a very blessed Christmass Fr Z and to all WDTPRS readers!
Thank you all for your Christmas greetings and prayers.
This is a rather amazing phenomenon, is it not? We have the opportunity to create something together here, though we are scattered across the globe.
Fr Z wrote:
========
Not sure if that’s rhetorical in regard to the present effort, for you are already doing a world of good, as in, “save the liturgy, save the world”.
However, if you mean other possible tactics of collaboration, well, do you care to be more specific at this time?
I have one, small idea, for one, small addition to your site (regarding content) that could, small as it is, draw even more people to your site, if you can afford that! It would be a gift back to you.