Chairman's Blog

Buy it from the LMS online shop here, 
or from Lulu, the printer, here.

We created this booklet for pilgrims on the Walsingham Pilgrimage, but it was always intended to be of wider application, containing information, Mass propers, and special hymns and prayers for Latin Mass Society Pilgrimages to York, Oxford, and Holywell, as well as notes about many others.

After much expansion, revision, and correction, we can now offer this to the general public. If you get a copy and subsequently decide to come on the Walsingham Pilgrimage, you can bring it with you and save a few pounds on your fee.

It contains the Ordinary of the Mass, the same version as the LMS Ordinary Prayers booklet, a number of Mass Propers (prayers and readings) used in pilgrimages, and a great many prayers and devotions useful on pilgrimage and elsewhere: for Communion, for Confession, the Stations of the Cross, the Rosary (with traditional meditations on each Mystery), the Seven Penitential Psalms, and lots more.

In addition is has a huge amount of music in it. Not re-set Chant settings for Mass, but chants, hymns, and songs 'for the road': including the best of traditional Catholic, the most familiar non-Catholic hymns which have become part of our country's common musical and spiritual heritage, and great hymns from Ireland, the USA, Australia, and the Chartres Pilgrimage.

It is 270 pages, in a narrow 'pocketbook' format that - as its name suggests - fits into a pocket.

Where else will you find settings of the Hail Mary suitable for singing the Rosary, in English, Latin, and French?

The Litany of the Saints, of Loreto, of the Sacred Heart, and St Joseph, in Latin, with the music?

The Song of the English Zouaves, sung by the British defenders of the Pope in 1860, with a musical setting by our Patron, Colin Mawby?

Rousing songs to overcome the miles at the end of a long day's walking, such as Men of Harlech, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Rule Britania?

All with an Imprimatur from the Archdiocese of Westminster!

We've found it convenient to upload it to the print-on-demand service Lulu, which has printing facilities all over the world. If you are overseas, buy it from Lulu and it will print it locally to you, ovoiding overseas postage.

£9.99 + p&p:
from the LMS online shop here, 
or direct from Lulu, the printer, here.

Support the work of the LMS by becoming an 'Anniversary Supporter'.

Cross posted from Rorate Caeli.

The Holy Fire is lit outside the church's back door, from which it is a short procession through the streets of the City of London to the church's front door.

This Holy Week in London, a rare opportunity to experience one of the oldest services in the Catholic Church along with a feast of sacred music rarely sung in its proper context.

Beginning on ‘Spy Wednesday’ with the ancient office of Tenebrae, The Latin Mass Society will be celebrating Holy Week with a wealth of traditional Latin liturgy at St. Mary Moorfields in the heart of the City of London.This year’s Triduum celebration will be directed by professional musician and classical pianist, Matthew Schellhorn with his group ‘Cantus Magnus.’

Matthew Schellhorn, the LMS Director of Music for London, said:

“It is once again a great pleasure to be making the musical preparations for the Latin Mass Society’s flagship celebration of the Sacred Triduum in the Archdiocese of Westminster.

“Music by Franco-Flemish renaissance Orlande de Lassus (1532–94) will enhance the Office of Tenebrae, which will be particularly special with not only the haunting four-part Responseries but also the great five-part Lamentations of Jeremiah. These glorious masterpieces, date from the 1580s.

“As in past years, I have included well known repertoire in order to draw upon the rich treasury of Sacred Music in the Church’s possession. Along with further works by Lassus, repertoire will come from the English Renaissance  – William Byrd (c.1539/40 or 1543 – 1623) – and the Italian Renaissance and Baroque – Felice Anerio (ca.1560–1614) and Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni (1657–1743).

“I also like to introduce less familiar masterpieces, with a view to enriching the experience of those who attend year on year. In this way, the English Emancipation-period composer John Richardson (1816–79) will provide our Reproaches on Good Friday, and the French Romantic and Twentieth-Century organist-composers Jacques-Louis Battmann (1818–1886) and Théodore Dubois (1837–1924) will provide uplifting fare for the Easter Vigil. These works are rarely heard, and it has been rewarding to prepare special editions from the sources – a musical resurrection, if you will!”

Joseph Shaw, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society says “ 'I am delighted that the Latin Mass Society continues to make a unique contribution to the liturgical life of the capital in putting on these services, with the solemnity and the excellent musical accompaniment which they deserve.'

The Holy Week services commence with Tenebrae at 21.00 on Wednesday 28th March and continue until the great celebration of the Easter Vigil at 18:00 on Saturday 31st March.

As well as the services at St Mary Moorfields, Traditional Triduum liturgies will be celebrated at churches throughout the country. Details of Holy Week Mass listings are:

www.lms.org.uk/sacredtriduum

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The Latin Mass Society will be holding a residential training conference for priests, deacons, seminarians and laymen wishing to learn to celebrate or serve Mass in the Extraordinary Form. It will be held at Prior Park College near Bath from Monday 9th April to Thursday 12th April 2018.

There will be daily Mass intended to be an example of best practice.

The conference will start after lunch on the Monday and conclude before lunch on the Thursday.

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Last Saturday a Traditional Sung Mass was celebrated in the Relic Chapel of Tyburn Convent in London, by Fr Serafino Lanzetta. It was celebrated with Low Mass ceremonies, and just one server, accompanied by two singers. This Mass was sponsored by the Latin Mass Society.

The occasion was a youth conference organised by the Catholic Medical Association (and on Facebook), on the subject of conscience. I gave a talk, as did John Smeaton of SPUC and s sister of the convent. Fr Lanzetta gave a sermon on the same subject.

It was a great privilege to hear Mass in this place, where so many relics of the martyrs can be seen. There are also some lovely stained glass windows showing episodes from their lives, illustrating for example the Corporal Works of Mercy. I love the rain in the above panel, showing St Oliver Plunket giving the sacrament of Confirmation on a hillside.

Above the Carthusians celebrate Mass before finally defying Henry VIII by refusing the swear the Oath of Supremacy, which denied the authority of the Pope.

The chap above, Bl. Nicholas Horner, was a tailor. The crime for which he died was making a doublet for a priest, contravening the law against giving comfort and assistance to priests. He had already lost a leg because of the chains he endured during a previous period of imprisonment.

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