Thursday, August 16, 2012

Solemn Mass for the Assumption

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When I first got into the Traditional Mass, only about ten years ago, I used to drive for an hour and a half to see a Solemn Mass, in Portsmouth Cathedral. That was my annual Solemn Mass. They also had them at the LMS AGM and Annual Requiem in London. But they were extremely rare. IMG_0593
Now I am getting used to them. And it becomes clearer to me the sense in which this is the normative form of Mass, particularly in relation to Missa Cantata. In a Sung Mass the MC and servers have to do a number of things which should be done by the deacon and subdeacon, and the celebrant has to sing both Epistle and Gospel from the Altar, as at Low Mass. This now seems a little odd to me, a bit unsatisfactory.
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We had a very lovely Solemn Mass for the Assumption, a homely affair really with singers scratched together from the few who haven't gone on holiday, and a team of Sacred Ministers who we may start to regard as the home team at SS Gregory and Augustine's. But we're all learning on the job and it was a great occasion, and well attended. In liturgical terms, we had on our Sunday best for Our Lady.

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