Solemn Nuptial Mass - St. Patrick's Kinkora

The glorious weather of Saturday, June 15, 2013 marked a rare liturgical event in the last half century in Canada; the Solemn Nuptial -  Missa pro sponso et sponsa. The Bride and Groom were respectively, Francoise deVries, Director and David Anthony Domet, President of the Toronto Traditional Mass Society-UNA VOCE TORONTO!

The magificent liturgy was held at the beautiful St. Patrick's Kinkora in the Diocese of London in Ontario where the Mass in the EF will be moving from to the City of London in July 2013. The Mass was celebrated by Father Paul Nicholson, Pastor and Priest for the Solemn Liturgy. Father Kim D'Souza, Associate Pastor at St. Joseph's Mississauga (Streetsville) was Deacon and Mr. Stephen Bruzzese, Seminarian from the Diocese of St. Catharine's Ontario was Subdeacon. Mr. Joseph DeCaria was Master of Ceremonies, Mr. Steven Eckert, MCII aided by five Clerks. The music was provided by Ensemble Sine Nomine of Kitchener under the direction of Mr. Stephen Strauss with Angela Straus, Organist

The music included St. Anthony's Chorale based on a Theme of Haydn's by Brahms during the liturgical procession. The congregation and choir then sang the Veni Creator Spiritus prior to the Nuptial Rite. Mass began with the Gregorian Introit and all the Gregorian Propers from the Liber Usualis. The Ordinary of the Mass -- Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei was the Mass for Five Voices by William Byrd. After the Offertory Antiphon was sung the sublime Ave Maria by Robert Parsons followed and Byrd's Ave Verum Corpus was sung after the Communion Antiphon and Psalm at Holy Communion. All sang the Salve Regina which was followed by the presentation of the Bride's bouquet at the Altar of Our Lady whilst the Ave Maria by the Rt. Rev. John Edward Ronan, founder of St. Michael's Choir School, Toronto was sung with choir and organ. The recessional was La Rejouissance from the Royal Fireworks by Handel.

A luncheon reception followed at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Mitchell, Ontario.

+ Deo gratias +

Photographic talent courtesy of Mr. George Opreff

We Report: Rorate Mass at St. Patrick's Kinkora

The word "Rorate" has its place in the Advent liturgy of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in both Forms of the Roman Rite. It is the Advent Prose - as highlighted in this video; it is also the first word of the Introit or Entrance Antiphon for the Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Advent (in the Ordinary Form - Novus Ordo as well) and it is the first word from the same Introit used in the Votive Mass for Our Lady in Advent and it appears frequently in the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.

When there is no feast on the day, the Votive Mass can be celebrated. In the new rite, the Ordinary Form, the lectionary specifies the Readings consistent with the Temporal Cycle, but in the old rite or Extraordinary Form, the Sanctoral Cycle specifies the readings for that feast or Votive Mass. As the Mass can reasonably take its name from the first word or words of the Introit -- Missa Quasimodo, Missa Suscepimus, Missa Puer Natus Est -- this Mass is known as the "Rorate Mass."

While it is not a rubrical requirement, there is a tradition from Bohemia, Poland and Bavaria that the Mass be celebrated in the pre-dawn hours by candlelight ending just as the light from the East shines softy from below the horizon and the windows are softly revealed. From darkness into light - the darkness without Christ to being in His light.

The Blessed Mother is the bearer of that light. It grew in her womb for nine months. It was God, the very God come to earth as a baby, taking the flesh and blood of this pure and immaculate young girl of probably 15 in the little town of Nazareth. This woman was the one who would crush the serpent. She is the new "ark of the covenant" that carries within it the law of God as in the Ten Commandments, the power of God as in the Rod of Aaron and the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven, just as the manna in the desert. When this baby was  born he was laid in a manger. Why a manger? Aside from the obvious it is because from that manger the creatures were fed. We are fed the Bread of Life and that He was laid by this new mother in a manger is of no coincidence. This mother is Our Mother, this woman is the Woman. She is the truly the Mother of God, the God who came to earth as a baby to save us.

As Father Paul Nicholson of St. Patrick's Kinkora said in his homily, "the virginal work of the bee, manufacturing wax and producing honey is a prophet of nature, pointing to the Work of the Immaculata. She gave us more than honey, She gave us the BREAD of Life and "it is sweet to taste". She gave us more then wax, she gave us LIGHT"

This is the truth of the faith and this is why we offer Sacrifice to God in the Holy Mass and why we honour His most perfect creature, the one who bore Himself.

In the little hamlet of Kinkora in the Diocese of London in Ontario and 160 kilometres from Toronto, a Rorate Mass was celebrated. In the cold and dark of a December morning they came. From Toronto, Kitchener, Cambridge, London, Walkerton, Waterloo and from places in between. At 5:30 A.M, they gathered to pray and to honour the truth of God and His Mother. Some rose three hours earlier, children in tow to a drive to a beautiful church in the middle of farming country including half of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Traditional Mass Society-UNA VOCE TORONTO who are honoured to have assisted the priest of this parish with the organisation and promotion of this Mass. Three years ago, seven people attended and we gathered for breakfast around the generous table of the Kinkorites Sharon and Patrick. This year there were more than ten times that number and all gathered in the local school gymnasium for a community breakfast. The TTMS-UNA VOCE TORONTO has in its mandate, the assistance to the suffragan dioceses of the Toronto Metropolitan See with the development and support of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Let us pray that the words of that prose; "Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One."

Rorate Mass in Kinkora!

In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, December 17, 2011, a Rorate Mass will be held at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Kinkora, Ontario. Kinkora is about 20km northwest of Stratford in the Diocese of London. The Mass will beging at 5:30AM and end just before dawn. Following this holy liturgy a "pot-luck" breakfast will be held.

The "Rorate Mass," so called because it begins with the words "Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum..." (Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One...), is a votive Mass offered within the season of Advent in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Celebrated by candlelight, and traditionally held before dawn, this beautiful liturgy is esteemed particularly as part of the patrimony of the German and Polish-speaking peoples. Diane M. Korzeniewski, OCDS, publisher of the blog Te Deum Laudamus, has an informative article on her blog about the Rorate Mass celebrated at Assumption Grotto in Detroit.