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| An Angel Frees the Souls of Purgatory | Lodovico Carracci | c. 1610 |
Re-posting from the other day.
This Tuesday is All Saints, and it is a holy day of obligation. Mass times at Assumption Grotto will be as on Sundays (6:30 am, 9:30 am, Noon), and there will be a 7:00 pm, as well.
Also, Wednesday is All Souls. It is not a holy day of obligation, but in your charity for the suffering souls in purgatory, it is merciful to assist at holy Mass if you can. Fr. Perrone speaks about all of this in the bulletin for October 30, which is now online (and copied below).
Another point of interest for All Souls at Assumption Grotto is that the Assumption Grotto choir and small orchestra will sing the Faure Requiem. Fr. Perrone explains more below. From his column:
I made reference a couple weeks back to a book of Catholic piety from the nineteenth century, THE GOLDEN MANUAL, commending it and using it as a yardstick to indicate how limp we moderns have become in spiritual zeal.
As the month of November is now about to open with its theme of praying for the faithful departed (that is, not just all the dead, but for the Christian dead), I thought it opportune to quote from the brief entry it owns for All Souls Day, November 2.
“To pray for the dead is a pious duty which the Church authorizes and which she has always religiously practiced. Her intention on this day is that the faithful should offer up their prayers to God for the repose and happiness of all their departed brethren; that their supplications should be accompanied with alms-deeds, mortification, and other works of satisfaction which will make them more efficacious; and lastly, that they will reflect upon their own exit from the world, which will induce them to be more careful in avoiding sin and performing the duties of a Christian life.” (emphasis added).
In another place of this fine book there are found litanies pertaining to the dead: two litanies for the faithful departed and a Litany for the Souls in Purgatory. Too bad space does not permit me to reprint them for you. I will try to have some copies of at least one of them in the church for you on All Souls Day (about which more’s to follow).
First there is Tuesday, All Saints Day. You must hear Mass that day. Our parish Mass schedule will be as on a Sunday(6:30, 9:30; noon) with an evening Mass at 7:00 p.m.
Then there is All Souls Day, November 2, Wednesday. Masses will be at 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Other Masses will be said as priests are available for the morning. There will be a solemn high Mass at 7:00 p.m. which I encourage you to attend. There will be held, after the Mass, the ‘absolution’ prayers for the dead at the catafalque. The orchestral Mass music will be Fauré’s Requiem, the very work performed for the funeral Mass of Monsignor Sawher some years ago (recording available on Grotto Productions CD).
Conquering the fear of redundancy, I specify for you once again this year some particulars on prayers for the faithful departed All Souls Day and on the first eight days of November. Here we go, beginning with the latter.
You may gain a plenary indulgence for the dead once a day on each of the days from November 1st through the 8th by visiting a Catholic cemetery. On such visits one needs only pray there for the faithful departed, if only mentally. (It would be well, of course, to pray some memorized prayers or special prayers for the dead found in a prayer book). Then the other conditions must also be met (see below). On any other days, such visits to a cemetery with prayers for the dead gain a partial indulgence for the dead.
On All Souls Day, November 2, a plenary indulgence may be gained for the faithful departed if one would visit the church on that day (Mass attendance would be ideal). The specified prayers in the church are an Our Father and a Creed (presumably either the Apostles Creed or the Sunday Nicene Creed are permitted).
For an indulgence to be Plenary (that is, complete), as opposed to Partial, these things must apply: the person performing the plenary indulgence must be in a state of grace and have no attachment even to a venial sin (for which an Act of Contrition would be the remedy); one must go to sacramental confession (within a span, before or after, of a few days); the reception of Holy Communion (preferably on the day the indulgence is gained); and some prayer(s) for the intentions of the Pope (also best done on the very day; for this an Our Father and Hail Mary suffices.
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| A catafalque at Ss. Trinita in Rome (Ss. Trinita in Rome - Image by John Sonnen) |
You might wonder: What is a catafalque? How do you even pronounce it? Go to the New Liturgical Movement for a blogpost made not long ago concerning construction of the catafalque for All Souls (scroll down past the headlines here)
If you would like to see what a Requiem Mass looks like using the 1962 Missal, Sancta Missa has a link to an EWTN vide from All Souls Day 2008 here: http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/tutorial/missa-solemnis/missa-solemnis-requiem-all-souls-ewtn-2008.html. If you want to follow along, here is what you will need, and note that a link to a video from St. John Cantius is also at the top.
If you are interestested in the CD of the Faure Requiem previously recorded and cannot make it to the Grotto gift shop after the 9:30 or Noon Mass, or during the week after most morning Masses, call the gift shop between 8:30 - 9:00 am. (313) 332-4432
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