Thursday Evening Masses in Hull

This is a a reminder that there is an Extraordinary Form Mass at 7.30pm on Thursday evenings at the Catholic Chaplaincy of Hull University.  It is celebrated by Fr William Massie and currently attracts a congregation of a dozen or more.

I am pleased to report that the proportion of students at this Mass, although a minority, is increasing.  This is further evidence of the popularity of the Traditional Mass among young people.

Ash Wednesday

Wednesday 26th February will be Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.  As usual there will be a Solemn Mass with the blessing of Ashes at 6pm at St Wilfrid's Church in York.

The York Oratory

There will be a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving for the establishment of the York Oratory on Saturday, 22 February at 12 noon, celebrated by Bishop Terence Patrick. Bishop Robert Byrne of Hexham and Newcastle will be the preacher. Our Fr Procurator, Fr Michele Nicolis of the Verona Oratory, will read the Papal Brief and will be accompanied by the Oratorian Fr Visitor, Fr Marco Guillén of the Toronto Oratory.

This Mass will be in the Novus Ordo, but nevertheless it is to celebrate a great achievement, and will be well worth attending.

Priestly Ordinations in Poland

According to a Polish website, more than one in four of the ordinations of diocesan priests occurring in Europe take place in Poland.  The following is an extract from the website.


One in four ordainments of Catholic diocesan priests in Europe takes place in Poland, according to data from the Polish Institute for Catholic Church Statistics.

Around 350 new Catholic priests have been ordained annually in Poland in the last few years, representing 26% of the total number in Europe, which was 1,272 in 2017, the last year for which data are available. The total number of ordainments worldwide in 2017 was 5,800.


These figures relate only to diocesan ordinations.  It may be that the figures for the total number of ordinations would produce a different result.  Nevertheless, these are surprising figures.

Church Bells

St Wilfrid's Church in York, the York Oratory, has a peal of 10 bells that are expertly rung by St Wilfrid's Bellringers before Masses on Sundays, Feast Days and on special occasions.  Although the Church of St Wilfrid was opened in 1864, the bells were not installed in the tower until 1995. 

Recently, an additional bell has been installed in the tower and it was blessed by Bishop Byrne.  The new bell has been given the name "John Henry", but it formerly belonged to Trinity House, and was used to warn shipping of dangerous rocks in the English Channel. 

John Henry will sound the Angelus daily at noon and 6pm.  Unlike the main peal, it will be operated remotely by the press of a button.

John Henry being blessed by Bishop Byrne

Meanwhile, the bell at Shrewsbury Cathedral, originally cast in 1856, but silent for the past 50 years,  is being brought back into use.  It too, will be operated remotely at the press of a button.

Bell being installed at Shrewsbury Cathedral

The Institute of the Good Shepherd

I was interested to read in the latest edition of Mass of Ages that the Institute of the Good Shepherd now have a priest stationed in England.  He is a Frenchman, Fr Xavier Champagne, and is based at Lanherne in Cornwall where he is chaplain to a community of Carmalite nuns.

 Fr Champagne also says a Sunday Mass at the Church of St Edward the Confessor in Plymouth.

The Institute of the Good Shepherd is a Society of Apostolic Life that only celebrates Mass in the Usus Antiquior, and is much like the FSSP and the ICKSP.  They were founded in 2006, much later than the other two, but have grown at an impressive rate.  They now have nearly 40 priests and 30 seminarians, including one Englishman

Feast of the Chair of St Peter Saturday 22nd February

In addition to the regular Masses already publicised here, there is to be a Missa Cantata for the Feast of the Chair of St Peter in the church of St Mary, Bishophill Junior, York (YO1 6EN) at 5pm. This Mass replaces the Divine Worship Missal (Ordinariate Use) Mass that would normally be said at that time. 

Music to be sung by the Rudgate Singers includes Domenico Scarlatti's Missa quatuor vocum and the motets 'Tu es Petrus' (Frédéric Debons), 'Anima mea (Martin de Rivafrecha) and 'Ave Regina Caelorum (Francesco Soriano)

The Proper of the Mass will be sung from the 1908 Vatican edition of the Graduale Romanum.

All welcome!

Cistircians Flourishing in Vietnam

The Abbey of Our Lady of Phước Sơn is home to 220 monks, including 80 novices and postulants. In Vietnam, there are about 1,002 Cistercian monks and 244 Cistercian nuns.

From the United States of America

A young man who lives in the USA, and who does a lot to promote the Latin Mass over there, has released the following statement:

This is big news.  There is a diocese in the USA that has come to the realisation that adherence to the practice of attending Mass in its traditional Latin form is likely to grow, whilst attendance at Novus Ordo Masses is expected to continue to decline.  It seems that in this diocese at least, interest in the Latin Mass is expected to grow at such a rate that it will be necessary to devote additional resources to "educating, supporting and promoting traditional liturgy".

Presumably, this diocese is thinking of training at least some of its clergy to celebrate the Latin Mass, and of designating some churches as Latin Mass centres.  I wonder whether this will include some undoing of earlier reordering of sanctuaries.

It sounds like very good news to me.

New Apostolate for ICKSP in Rome

The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest has a new home in the Eternal City.  It is the Minor Basilica of Saints Celso and Guiliano which is not far from the Ponte Sant'Angelo.  It is a fine and large Baroque church, typical of many Roman Churches.  Here is a view of the outside.

And in a little more detail.

The basilica is oval shaped and has an impressive dome:

The High Altar.

The Institute will offer Mass on Sundays and Feast days at 10am, and will be present during the week for confessions and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.