Low Mass at West Heath

On Wednesday Fr George offered a Low Mass for the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. It was a special occasion being the first Low Mass Fr George has offered for his parish of St John Fisher in West Heath. Twenty-three people were present before the side altar of the Sacred Heart.

Fr George preached on the historical significance of this feast, connected with Pope St Pius V (who also codified the Tridentine Missal which made the Roman Rite available for all churches throughout Western Christendom). Wikipedia says:

In 1571 Pope Pius V instituted "Our Lady of Victory" as an annual feast to commemorate the victory of Lepanto. The victory was attributed to Our Lady, as a rosary procession was offered on that day in St. Peter's Square in Rome for the success of the mission of the Holy League to hold back Muslim forces from overrunning Western Europe. In 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feast-day to "Feast of the Holy Rosary". This feast was extended by Pope Clement XII to the whole of the Latin Rite, inserting it into the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1716, and assigning it to the first Sunday in October. Pope Pius X changed the date to 7 October in 1913. In 1969, Pope Paul VI changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of the Rosary",[1] and it is celebrated as a memorial in the ordinary form.

Fr George spoke of the significance of praying the rosary in Pope St Pius' time, in winning this victory, but also related it to the other title given to Our Lady at this time: Help of Christians. This is all ever relevant to our day, in all our needs, with Our Lady offering our fervent prayers to her Divine Son.

Fr George is one of two Birmingham parish priests to attend the recent priest's training conference organised by the Latin Mass Society in conjunction with the Archdiocese of Westminster. This is a very practical way that the LMS are trying to help implement the Holy Father's wishes in Summorum Pontificum of making this form of Mass available to subsequent generations. We look forward to seeing the fruit of this form of worship amongst the Catholic laity in Birmingham.

Fr George will offer further Low Masses every first Friday of each month at 7pm, beginning with a Requiem for November 6th 2009.

Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.