St Peters Leicester Latin Mass Introductory Day

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE E.F. LITURGY AT 
ST. PETERS CHURCH, LEICESTER: 
A GREAT SUCCESS.

Five members of the Lincolnshire Latin Mass community travelled down to Leicester for the recent E.F. Introductory Day. The day was organised by Fr. Cahill and the Latin Mass Society representative for the East Midlands, Paul Beardsmore.

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Photography of the Leicester day by John Aron 

Although having attended other Latin Mass Society events, I had never attended what could be described as an 'informal' training day. It was not known how many would attend, but on the day I can report that for High Solemn Mass there were many that had standing room only. What struck me throughout the day was the friendliness and relaxed nature of the meeting. Of course when like-minded people come together this is often the case, and having attended other LMS events it is always good to bump into familiar faces who you soon become well acquainted with.

Click on images for viewer.

One aspect I particularly liked was the use of the Missa de Angelis during the liturgy. Although other Mass settings are normally used in the High Solemn Mass this was the perfect choice for an introductory day and certainly gave newcomers a solid introduction to 'call and response' which is often missing in the modern liturgy. It is worthy of note that the Missa de Angelis is often quoted as a pre-Vatican II favourite and it was excellent to hear it in its entirety in this particular setting; it was the most apt of choices. There were a number of sessions during the day including altar Server training for Low Mass, server responses for Low Mass, chants for Mass responses and ordinary, chant responses for Benediction, and the history of the Traditional Latin Mass.

It was good to see that the altar server training was attended by about twenty people who were mostly around the 16-22 age range. The St. Peter's MC led the session and it was also good to see an investment in the future with all present receiving the classic How to Serve Low Mass by Rev. William O'Brien.


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During the day there was the sound of plainchant resonating through the building . I am always surprised when untrained voices come together to make such a wonderful noise. The highly proficient Jeremy Boot ran the Chant Responses for Mass and the Ordinary and the group practiced the wonderful Orbis Factor Mass setting, a particular favourite. Fr Cahill ran the History of the Roman Rite Sessions. Having spoken to Fr. Cahill at the York pilgrimage he hopes that a similar event may happen again.