Sancta Missa

Are you a priest interested in saying the Mass according to the missal promulgated by Blessed Pope John XXIII? Are you a server interested in assisting in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite? Are you a lay-person just curious about what the fuss is all about regarding the Pope's recent motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum Cura (the Care of the Supreme Pontiffs)?

The the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius in Chicago, who's motto happens to be 'Instaurare Sacra', restoring the sacred, have got just the thing for you.

Behold, errr...ecce!

Dedicated to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

In thanksgiving for the Apostolic Letter “SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM”

the new site is a one-stop resource prepared by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius for all those interested in the Mass according to the Missal of 1962. Although currently a work in progress, if you're in the above mentioned categories of people, then this site is a great resource for you to put the wide and generous permission and provisions of Summorum Pontificum into practice.

For priests interested in saying the usus antiquior, there's the:

Sample Liturgies

WITH VIDEOS AND PHOTOS

Low Mass of Trinity Sunday

This is a step by step introduction and guide on how the Low Mass is celebrated, starting from the vesting prayers and ending with the Leonine prayers after Mass. The text is presented in Latin. There's a photo gallery and video as well, presented section by section which walks the priest through the whole liturgy. This is great. I remember seeing something like this long ago, but with the video and the texts and rubrics, this is by far the most complete resource around, and something you can come back to again and again.

Ordo Missæ
OF THE MISSALE ROMANUM

Ordo Missæ

This is the order of the Mass with the rubrics, in Latin and English, given section by section. A great resource which should provide every priest and servers with the necessary grasp of ecclesiastical Latin to pray the Mass according to the Missal of Blessed John XXIII.

Download the
Missale Romanum
in PDF Format

Are you a priest who's too poor to get the Missale Romanum? Do not fret! Download the entire Roman Missal, 1228 pages of it and print it and bind it yourself! Illustrated with beautiful line art and decorative capitals, this is truly a fine work whose typesetters stand in a long line of medieval scribes who had laboured diligently to transmit the pages of the Sacred Scriptures and the liturgical books to us today.

Rubrics of the Missale Romanum 1962
Translated into English by Rev. Dennis R. Duvelius

Everything a priest needs to know about celebrating the old liturgy correctly is presented, down to its most minute detail, here. Another great resource and a great gift and treasure to the Church.

This is a work in progress and I see that there are plans to include Fortesque and O'Connell's Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, the how-to book of the classic liturgy, LEarning to Serve at the Altar, which I presume is a guide to servers, the Sacred Music of the Liturgy and much more, so it is definitely a site to keep bookmarked.

The Canons Regular of St. Jon Cantius is religious new community of men, established in 1998 and dedicated to a restoration of the sacred in the context of parish ministry. Its mission is to help Catholics rediscover a profound sense of the sacred through solemn liturgies, devotions, sacred art, sacred music, as well as instruction in Church heritage, catechetics, and Catholic culture. This mission is reflected in the community's motto: Instaurare Sacra (Restoration of the Sacred).


Their parish Church, the Church of St. John Cantius in Chicago, is the model for the peaceful and fruitful co-existence of both the classical and modern Roman liturgies. Take a tour and admire the beauty of this edifice, dedicated to the glory of God and the honour of St. John of Canty and see, as in my previous post on architecture and form posits, how your gaze and thoughts are lifted upwards toward God by the other worldliness of this temple.

Their parish has a very interesting history and the story of it's revival, from an inner city Church about to shut it's doors to the base of a new religious order and thriving parish is a story in itself. From 40 Sunday Mass attendees the parish now boast hundreds of families, 4 Sunday Masses which include a Tridentine Low Mass, a Novus Ordo in English, a Novus Ordo in Latin and a Tridentine High Mass! Talk about a pro-choice Church =) The hours are also celebrated there including matins and the office of readings, lauds, midday prayer, vespers and compline prayed in Latin and English daily with a daily Tridentine Low Mass and an Englsih Novus Ordo. You can find the story of this amazing transformation here, in the online issue of Crisis magazine.

Musica Sacra also has a piece on the bi-ritualism of the parish, where the Tridentine (I know, I know...) and Novus Ordo co-exists peacefully and each and every liturgy is celebrated with the reverence and solemnity that all prayer to God deserves.

The Mass, the sacrifice of Christ, completed once for all on Calvary and made present and re-presented to God the Father, is the most sacred and precious possession of Holy Mother Church. As celebrated according to the ancient Roman Rite which traces it's history back almost to the 3rd of 4th century before being codified by the Council of Trent and promulgated by Pope St. Pius V, it's described as the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven.

Thanks so much to the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius for making this resource available so that more people will be able to experience this beautiful liturgy, celebrated with reverence and decorum.

Triregno tip to the Hymn Selector for alerting me to this resource.