The video below is our Extraordinary Form Low Mass for the First Saturday of September using the votive Mass of The Immaculate Heart of Mary. At our Tuesday low Mass we do not sing hymns nor do I give a homily, which was customary prior to Vatican II, no homily/sermon for daily Mass, that is.
However, as I was experiencing this Mass while celebrating it with the "four hymn" sandwich, if you will, hymns sung but not the Mass, it brought be back to my childhood both in Atlanta and Augusta. My father always took us to the early Sunday morning Mass which was like today's First Saturday Mass, although usually the four hymns were all vernacular Marian hymns.
I can see why so many Catholics prior to Vatican II preferred the Low Mass as celebrated below. It truly is noble simplicity as Vatican II "mandated." Liturgists are the ones who demanded that there be no more distinctions between low, Sung and Solemn Sung Mass, that all Masses no matter when have at least some of its parts sung and hymns to replace propers at all Masses.
Of course, I was exposed as a child to High Masses too, but less frequently than the low Mass.
By the way, the framed print you see was down loaded from a computer website, sent to a local drugstore, Walgreens, where they "blew it up" then our CRE brought it to a craft store and had it framed (all this on Friday) and the total cost was less than $50! Who would have thought????
However, as I was experiencing this Mass while celebrating it with the "four hymn" sandwich, if you will, hymns sung but not the Mass, it brought be back to my childhood both in Atlanta and Augusta. My father always took us to the early Sunday morning Mass which was like today's First Saturday Mass, although usually the four hymns were all vernacular Marian hymns.
I can see why so many Catholics prior to Vatican II preferred the Low Mass as celebrated below. It truly is noble simplicity as Vatican II "mandated." Liturgists are the ones who demanded that there be no more distinctions between low, Sung and Solemn Sung Mass, that all Masses no matter when have at least some of its parts sung and hymns to replace propers at all Masses.
Of course, I was exposed as a child to High Masses too, but less frequently than the low Mass.
By the way, the framed print you see was down loaded from a computer website, sent to a local drugstore, Walgreens, where they "blew it up" then our CRE brought it to a craft store and had it framed (all this on Friday) and the total cost was less than $50! Who would have thought????
2 comments:
Bee here:
Thank you for your observation about how Low Mass was celebrated in the 1960's, Fr. McD. I was a kid in grade school during those years, and I do remember singing quite a bit in church for Mass. This is where I learned so many Catholic hymns: Holy God We Praise Thy Name, O Sacrament Most Holy, Faith of Our Fathers, For All The Saints, Hail Holy Queen, and one of my favorites, Sing of Mary. We had an excellent choir director and choir at our parish, and the music part of any of various Masses and devotions was always top notch. But knowing how Low Masses are today, I could not figure out how we sang so much. But your memories clarified my fragmented ones. Thanks.
God bless.
Bee
Bee,
My school Mass was always a Missa Cantata. That’s why I could chant 5 Latin ordinaries by the time I was 10. We sometimes substituted the Ambrosian gloria. That’s probably why I felt the “reforms” were unnecessary. I guess people were smarter then (just kidding)
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