Bordering
Toronto’s western boundary is the City of Mississauga which means in
Anishinaabe – the language of the aboriginal people of this area, “those at the
great river mouth.” It reminds one of Canada’s motto on its Coat of Arms from
the 72nd Psalm, "Et dominabitur ‘a mari usque ad mare,’ et a flumine usque
ad terminos terrae" At the most
westerly church in the Archdiocese of Toronto and one dedicated to St. Joseph,
Canada’s Patron Saint, over 450 people gathered on the feast of the Immaculate
Conception to give glory to God and to
honour the great Patron’s Immaculate Spouse with the celebration of a Solemn
Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
This was
the first Solemn Mass in the "Old Rite" in this City of over 700,000
in almost half a century. The pastor of St. Joseph’s Church is a very dedicated
and welcoming priest and in September 2011 a Missa Cantata was held there on
the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the parish was used for the
first Anglican-Use Mass celebrated in Canada the previous March during a
diocesan conference on the Anglican Ordinariate. Built in the early 1990’s the
church is typical of its time but it has undergone a beautification using high
quality altar-ware, frontals and tabernacle veils, vestments, beautiful
statues, colour and stenciling and of course, adherence to the rubrics of the
GIRM in the Ordinary Form - there is here, truly a love of the holy liturgy.
The choir is, without a doubt, the most skilled and most liturgically correct
of any Catholic parish in Mississauga; they utilise the Propers in English and
Latin for the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Parish Book of Chant and
polyphony. Last year, the parish and its pastor hosted a Chant Workshop with
Father Samuel Weber, O.S.B.
After
Mass, a woman remarked to the Pastor, that “it was as if we were transported to
heaven.” A young Altar Server told of dozens of people coming to receive Holy
Communion with tears in their eyes, some were quivering. When these kinds of
comments are heard, it is a joyful but incredibly humbling experience for all involved
with this work at the Toronto Traditional Mass Society—Una Voce Toronto and it
reaffirms to us all, why it is that we do this work.
A great
blessing to Toronto was the erection, almost 35 years ago, of the Toronto
Oratory of St. Philip Neri who began celebrating the Usus Antiquior under the
former indult, only the second in the entire Archdiocese of Toronto the first
being said by a kind and humble priest that was once alone in this work. He is
still going strong with two Masses on Sunday at nearly 80 and the Oratorians
celebrate daily in their primary parish, on Sundays in their second and within
their various chapels at the Oratory and St. Philip’s Seminary.
The former
Cardinal Ambrozic, rejected our repeated request to invite the Priestly
Fraternity of St. Peter to Toronto. The
Society was joyous when Archbishop, now Cardinal Collins acceded to our request
and invited the FSSP to Toronto. The Fraternity, shabbily treated whist here,
left Toronto after a short 19-month Apostolate and it was up to the laity to
pick up the pieces to ensure that the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite was
brought far and wide. In the months since then, the Society has organised Sung
or Solemn Masses on Corpus Christi, Assumption, Holy Cross, Christ the King,
Immaculate Conception, Epiphany, Candlemas, Ascension, All Saints and All Souls
and we are now in our second year of doing this. These Masses have been
celebrated in parish churches and even the beautiful chapel at Loretto Abbey
where we will return next year for the Ascension of the Lord. We are deeply
grateful for the five Priests and even the Permanent Deacon who have helped us
to fill the vital need of the faithful. The Cardinal Archbishop has also
ensured that the former indult/FSSP apostolate was moved to a beautiful church
with a Chaplain appointed and now the Mass is there daily as well in the
eastern part of Toronto, known as Scarborough.
The
Toronto Traditional Mass Society-Una Voce Toronto was established in 2004 and
is a Chapter of Canada’s original Member of FIUV, the International Una Voce
Federation. We have a strong, united and elected Board of Directors and we
continue to grow our membership and acquire liturgical items including custom
made catafalque candles, vestments and Missals and altar-ware. As a registered
charity we have raised funds and provide financial support and stipends to
seminarians at home and those from the Archdiocese studying abroad having a
devotion and commitment to the full expression of the Roman Rite. Given our own
statutes to aid the suffragan dioceses of the Toronto Metropolitan See where no
organised laity is formed, we are working in the Diocese of London and this
coming Saturday at St. Patrick’s in Kinkora we are assisting with the
organisation of a “Rorate” Mass at 5:30 A.M.
For more
information or to support our work we invite you to visit www.unavocetoronto.com
(which you will shortly find, re-constructed) or write us at
unavocetoronto@gmail.com.
Extraordinary
Form of the Roman Rite
Regularly
Scheduled Masses in the Archdiocese of Toronto
St.
Patrick’s Church
91 Church
Street,
Schomberg
905-939-2256
Sunday at
9:00 A.M.
Read Mass
with Music
Toronto
Oratory Church of St. Vincent de Paul
63
Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
416-535-7646
Sunday at
9:30 A.M.
Read Mass
Toronto
Oratory Church of the Holy Family
1372 King
Street West, Toronto
416-532-2879
Sunday at
11:00 A.M
Solemn
Mass (Sept-May)
Sung Mass (June-July)
Read Mass
(August)
Monday to
Friday 11:30 A.M.
Saturday
8:30 A.M.
Carmel of
the Infant Jesus
12519 2nd
Concession Road, Zephyr
905-473-9801
Sundays at
11:30 A.M.
Read Mass
St.
Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Church
2210
Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto (Scarborough)
416-759-9359
Sunday at
1:00 P.M.
Read Mass
with Music
Monday to
Wednesday at 11:00 A.M.
Thursday
at 7:00 A.M.
Friday at
7:00 P.M.
Saturday
at 10:00 A.M.
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