Latin Mass Society AGM 2024 in Birmingham

 The Latin Mass Society AGM comes to Birmingham on Saturday and I hope you can join us. The schedule for the day is below. It is too late to book lunch now but there are a few pubs, a Subway and a chip shop nearby. Directions to the Oratory are available in the sidebar - there have been some roadworks on Monument Lane from the Hagley Road direction so it may be best to approach via Ladywood Middleway if you are coming by car. For those coming by public transport, the Tram which can be caught outside Birmingham New Street Station is probably the simplest way to get to the Birmingham Oratory which is close to the Terminus at Edgbaston Village.

Quarant'ore Devotion 2024

The Quarant'ore devotion starts tonight at the Birmingham Oratory with High Mass of Exposition at 7.30pm. There will be a Missa Cantata on Thursday at the same time, and the Forty Hours' Devotion will end with High Mass for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at 7.30pm on Friday. All these Masses will replace the usual 5.45pm Mass. Directions to the Oratory are available in the sidebar.

Corpus Christ 2024

There will be High Mass tonight on the traditional date of Corpus Christi at 7.30pm at the Birmingham Oratory, replacing the usual 5.45pm Low Mas, followed by an indoor Eucharistic procession. Corpus Christi will be celebrated as an External Solemnity on Sunday at 10.30am, with the outdoor procession taking place after the English Mass at 12.15pm. 

The Transferred Feast of St Philip Neri

As the 26th May fell on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity this year, the Birmingham Oratory will celebrate the founder of the Oratorian movement on Monday 27th May with High Mass at 11am. The music is detailed in the poster below.

Ascension 2024

Thursday is the Solemnity of the Ascension, a Holy Day of Obligation. High Mass will be celebrated at the Birmingham Oratory at 7.30pm, replacing the usual weekday 5.45pm Low Mass.

The Feast of St Joseph and Holy Week

The Birmingham Oratory will celebrate High Mass tonight for the Feast of St Joseph at 7.30pm, replacing the usual 5.45pm Low Mass.

On Palm Sunday, the High Mass usually at 10.30am will start earlier at 10.00am to accommodate all of the additional ceremonies. The Holy Week schedule is available in the poster below.

Ash Wednesday High Mass 2024

Lent starts tomorrow and there will High Mass at the Birmingham Oratory at 7.30pm, replacing the usual 5.45pm Low Mass.

Two High Masses for the Candlemas

Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton and the Birmingham Oratory will celebrate High Mass at 7.30pm for Candlemas tomorrow, the latter replacing the usual 5.45pm Low Mass.

Two High Masses for the Epiphany on 6th January

There will be two High Masses in the region for the Feast of the Epiphany celebrated on Saturday 6th January, both at 11am at the Birmingham Oratory and Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton. The Mass in Wolverhampton will be for the repose of the soul of Pope Benedict, who passed away just over a year ago.

This differs slightly from the Mass Listings disseminated with the most recent Mass of Ages which said the Epiphany would be celebrated as Low Mass at the usual time of 9am on Saturday and as an External Solemnity at 10.30am on Sunday - in fact, the 9am Mass will be in English and the Masses on Sunday will be the Masses of the second Sunday following Christmas, which in the 1962 Missal is of the Holy Family.

Masses During the Christmas Octave 2023/4

Monday 25th December 2023

The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Oratory 12 midnight High Mass (n.b. no 7.30 a.m. Mass)

Oratory 7.30am Low Mass of Dawn 

Wolverhampton (OLPS*) 8 a.m. Low Mass of Dawn
Oratory 10.30 a.m. High Mass of the Day

Tuesday 26th December 2023 to Saturday 30th December 2023

Oratory 9.00 a.m. Low Mass (no Mass at 5.45pm)

Friday 30th December 2023

Wolverhampton (OLPS*) 6.30 p.m. Low Mass

Sunday 31st December 2024
Octave Day of Christmas

Oratory 7.30 a.m. Low Mass
Oratory 10.30 a.m. High Mass

Monday 1st January 2024
Oratory 12.00 midday High Mass (no Mass at 5.45pm)

Normal service resumes from Tuesday 2nd January 2024

*OLPS - Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Cannock Road, Wolverhampton, WV10 8PG

Directions to the Oratory and Our Lady of Perpetual Succour are available in the sidebar

I wish all readers of this blog a happy and holy Christmas and New Year!

The Immaculate Conception and Advent Rorate Masses

High Mass will be celebrated on Friday 8th December at 7.30pm for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception at the Oratory dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, a patronal Feast they share with the Archdiocese of Birmingham. This replaces the usual 5.45pm Low Mass. The music for this Mass, as well as the Masses on the Sundays of Advent and Christmas, is included in the December Music List below.

As usual on the Saturdays in Advent (this year falling on the 9th, 16 and 23rd), Rorate Masses will be offered at 7.30am at the Birmingham Oratory. Our Lady of Perpetual Succour will also be celebrating these Masses at 7am on Saturdays, and I strongly encourage you to get up early and attend these Masses which are spiritually uplifting in the dark winter months.

All Hallowtide 2023

Masses for All Saints and All Souls:

All Saints 1/11/23

High Mass 7.30pm, Birmingham Oratory (n.b. this replaces the usual 5.45pm Low Mass)

All Souls 2/11/23

Low Mass 12 noon Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Wolverhampton

Low Mass 5.45pm Birmingham Oratory

High Mass 7.30pm Birmingham Oratory

There may also be private Masses celebrated at the side altars at the Birmingham Oratory in the morning after the 7.30am English Mass.

The Final Blessing

Some photos from Fr Paul Lester's final Sunday Mass at St Mary on the Hill yesterday. The phtotos are courtesy of Edmund Waddelove.

More photos are available here.

The Masses at St Mary on the Hill in Wednesbury, St Dunstan's in Kings Heath and Sacred Heart and All Souls in Acock's Green have all ended, leaving the Oratory and the Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the future of South Birmingham Masses

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross is celebrated on the 14th September and there will be High Mass at the Birmingham Oratory tomorrow at 7.30pm, replacing the usual 5.45pm Low Mass.

Now that both priests from St Dunstan's have departed, it is likely that the third Friday Mass at St Dunstan's and first Friday Mass at Sacred Heart and All Souls will no longer be in the 1962 Missal. With Fr Paul Lester leaving St Mary on the Hill in Wednesbury at the end of September, with the last Mass in the 1962 Missal likely to be on 1st October, this means that only the Oratory and Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton will continue to celebrate Masses in the 1962 Missal in the region for the foreseeable future. Please do your best to support these Masses, and the clergy who celebrate them for your benefit.

Three Masses for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

There will be three 1962 Missal Masses in the region for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Holyday of Obligation as follows:

10.30am Low Mass Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Cannock Road, Wolverhampton

6.30pm Low Mass St Mary on the Hill, St Mary's Road, Wednesbury

7.30pm High Mass the Birmingham Oratory, Hagley Road, Edgbaston

Directions to these churches are available in the sidebar

The Nativity of John the Baptist at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour

Due to the Annual Novena of Novus Ordo Masses leading up to the patronal Feastday of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton that has taken place every year since 2011 and is detailed in the graphic below, and livestreamed on the parish YouTube channel, the normal Friday 1962 Missal Mass will be moved to Saturday morning at 8am, the Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Directions to this church are available in the sidebar.

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 2023

Over on our Facebook Page, we have been praying a novena for the preservation of the TLM in the Archdiocese of Birmingham following confirmed rumours that the Archbishop is collating information about the Masses with a view to obtaining permission for them to continue from Rome, in line with the Rescript published earlier this year. It seems fitting to end this novena by hearing Mass on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, for which there will be four such opportunities in the region. 

High Mass, 7pm, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton (see poster below)

Missa Cantata, 5.45pm, Birmingham Oratory 

Missa Cantata, 7pm St Dunstan, Kings Heath 

Low Mass, 6.30pm, St Mary on the Hill, Wednesbury 

Directions to all of these churches are available in the sidebar

  

Corpus Christi and SS Peter and Paul

The usual schedule of Masses at the Birmingham Oratory will be interrupted on two Thursdays in June, firstly on the traditional date of Corpus Christi, this year falling on the 8th June 2023, and then on the Solemnity of SS Peter and Paul on 29th June; on both of these dates, High Mass will be celebrated at 7.30pm instead of the usual 5.45pm Low Mass. Details of the music for these Masses and the other Sunday High Masses in June are available in the graphic below:

The Ascension and the Feast of St Dunstan and St Philip Neri

Thursday 18th May is the Feast of the Ascension, a Holy Day of Obligation. High Mass will be celebrated at the Birmingham Oratory at 7.30pm, replacing the usual 5.45pm Low Mass, and at St Mary on the Hill in Wednesbury at 5.30pm - please note this is an hour earlier than the time published in the Spring edition of Mass of Ages. The music for the High Mass at Birmingham Oratory is detailed in the poster below.

Two patronal feasts will also be celebrated in the 1962 Missal locally. Firstly, the Feast of St Dunstan coincides with the third Friday Mass at St Dunstan's church in Kings Heath on the 19th May: a Missa Cantata will be celebrated on this occasion. A week later, on the 26th May, is the Feast of St Philip Neri, founder of the Oratories. High Mass will be celebrated at the Birmingham Oratory at 7.30pm, replacing the usual 5.45pm Low Mass. Again, the music is detailed in the poster below.

Directions to all of these churches are available in the sidebar.

Holy Week and Easter Monday

The Birmingham Oratory will celebrate a full schedule of liturgies for Holy Week and Easter from the 1962 Missal as detailed in the graphic below (please click on it to enlarge). Please note that High Mass on Palm Sunday will start at the earlier time of 10am, and on Bank Holiday Easter Monday Mass will be celebrated at 9am instead of 5.45pm. There will be Masses on Easter day at St Mary on the Hill in Wednesbury at 11.30am as usual for a Sunday, and a special Easter day Mass at 8am at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Wolverhampton. Directions to all of these churches are available in the sidebar.