757 Oakridge Farm Highway, Mooresville, NC 28115
Sunday Latin Masses
10:00 a.m. (Low)
12:00 p.m.(Sung)
**Traffic note for Sunday November 30: As a precaution attendees may wish to allow extra time in driving to the Chapel this Sunday in case of additional traffic on I-77 for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.**
Friends in Christ,
Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, the day on which we celebrate the beginning of a new liturgical year. On this first day of the Advent season of anticipation, the focus of the liturgy is not on the coming of God’s only-begotten Son into the world per se but on his Second Coming and the Last Judgment at the end of the world.
Later this week, on Saturday, the Church will celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. In Paolo Veronese’s painting of St. Nicholas’ consecration, with its humbly acquiescent subject almost lost in the dark at the bottom of the picture, the painting recalls the description by Jacobus de Voragine in The Golden Legend: “Some time later the bishop of Myra died, and all the bishops of the region gathered to choose a successor. Among them was one bishop of great authority. . . . This prelate exhorted the others to fast and pray; and that very night he heard a voice telling him to post himself at the doors of the church in the morning, and to consecrate as bishop the first man he saw coming in, whose name would be Nicholas. In the morning, he made this known to his colleagues to wait. Meanwhile Nicholas, miraculously guided by God, went early to the church and was the first to enter. The bishop, coming up to him asked his name; and he, filled with the simplicity of a dove, bowed his head and answered, ‘Nicholas, the servant of your holiness.’”
St. Nicholas, pray for us!
Calendar of Special Observances
Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962.
DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)
Sunday, November 30 – First Sunday of Advent (I)
Monday, December 1 – Feria of Advent (III)
Tuesday, December 2 – St. Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr (III)
Wednesday, December 3 – St. Francis Xavier, Confessor (III)
Thursday, December 4 – St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor (III) – Commemoration of St. Barbara, Virgin and Martyr
Friday, December 5 – Sacred Heart of Jesus (III) – Commemoration of St. Sabbas, Abbot
Saturday, December 6 – St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor (III) – Immaculate Heart of Mary
First Sunday of Advent
This First Sunday of Advent, or the Fourth before Christmas, is the first day of the Liturgical Year. The Mass prepares us this day for the double coming (advéntus) of mercy and justice. That is why St. Paul tells us, in the Epistle, to cast off sin in order that, being ready for the coming of Christ as our Saviour, we may also be ready for His coming as our Judge, of which we learn in the Gospel (Roman Missal).
The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for Mass in the Extraordinary Form for the First Sunday of Advent with either English or Spanish translation. Also offered below are links to a commentary by Dr. Michael P. Foley on Sunday’s Collect, and Gregory DiPippo’s recent essay for New Liturgical Movement on the evolution of Advent, “The Five-Week Advent.”
Traditional Latin Mass Schedule
Diocese of Charlotte Sunday Masses
Chapel of the Little Flower (757 Oakridge Farm Road, Mooresville, NC)
Note: Only Sunday Latin Masses and Holy Days will be offered at the Chapel. All other Sunday and daily Traditional Latin Masses at the other diocese of Charlotte parishes have been discontinued. These changes only affect Latin Masses in the diocese of Charlotte.
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, the Little Flower, pray for us!
Diocese of Raleigh Sunday Masses
Diocese of Charleston Sunday Masses
Diocese of Charleston Daily Traditional Latin Masses
Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Monday December 8)
The following are announced Traditional Latin Masses for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation and the patronal feast day of the United States. If additional Masses are announced we will share them in our email updates and post them on our website.
Diocese of Charlotte
Diocese of Charleston
Diocese of Raleigh
Travelers are encouraged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in the schedule of Mass times.
Christmastide Traditional Latin Masses
The following are announced Traditional Latin Masses for Christmastide. If additional Masses are announced we will share them in our email updates and post them on our website.
Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord (Thursday December 25)
Diocese of Charlotte
Diocese of Charleston
Feast of the Circumcision (Thursday January 1, 2026)
Diocese of Charlotte
Diocese of Charleston
As a reminder, travelers are urged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in the schedule of Mass times.
Rorate Traditional Latin Masses
Rorate Mass, a beautiful Traditional Latin Mass offered by candlelight on a Saturday during Advent to honor Our Lady and the coming of the Light of the World at Christmas, will be offered at Prince of Peace Church (Taylors SC) on the following Saturdays.
Chapel of the Little Flower Announcements
Organ for the Chapel
Father Jones announced that an organ has been given to the chapel and he hopes it will be in place for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Monday December 8.
Upcoming Holy Day Masses
Father Jones has announced Traditional Masses for the Holy Days of Immaculate Conception (Monday December 8), Christmas (December 25), and the Feast of the Circumcision (January 1). Mass times are listed above.
Update: Mass intentions for the Chapel of the Little Flower
Mass intentions have now been filled through February and new Masses are currently unavailable. The Mass intentions book will be opened sometime in February for the Spring Masses.
Visiting the Chapel of the Little Flower
If you haven’t attended Mass at the Chapel of the Little Flower yet, you are welcome to join us these last Sundays in November or in Advent. Seating is adequate at both Masses, and there is plenty of parking; a cry room; open space outside for the kids after Mass.
Next Phase of the Chapel Construction: Sacred Art
As the initial phase of construction comes to a close Father Jones announced recently that he will begin focusing on sacred art for the chapel. Quoting the catechism, he noted “Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation.” Father asked for patience as this new project gets underway. In the interim, Father reminds us to “beautify the Church with our lives.”
General Announcements
In Pursuit of the Great Requiem (at Prince of Peace Church in Taylors) – In case you aren’t a subscriber to Holy Hidden Highways, the Substack published by St. Ann parishioner, Rachel Shrader, we direct your attention to her latest (and free) article on her visit to Prince of Peace Church in Taylors for a High Requiem TLM on All Souls Day. [In Pursuit of the Great Requiem]
Novena to the Immaculate Conception (November 30 - December 8) – Fr. Reid is inviting St. Ann parishioners to pray this novena to the Immaculate Conception, and to fast from something one enjoys, from Sunday November 30 - December 8. (Note: One suggested intention for this novena can be the preservation of the Traditional Latin Mass.)
O Most Blessed Mother, heart of love, heart of mercy, ever listening, caring, consoling, hear our prayer. As your children, we implore your intercession with Jesus your Son. Receive with understanding and compassion the petitions we place before you today, especially that our parish may be consecrated to your Immaculate Heart and each member may grow in true holiness. We are comforted in knowing your heart is ever open to those who ask for your prayer. We trust to your gentle care and intercession those whom we love and who are sick or lonely or hurting. Help all of us, Holy Mother, to bear our burdens in this life until we may share eternal life and peace with God forever, and keep and guard St. Ann’s Parish as your own property and possession. Amen.
New Traditional App, Sanctifica – With the Latin Mass offerings limited these days, some are looking for alternate ways to stay connected to this ancient liturgy. One excellent way worth knowing is a new traditional Catholic app, Sanctifica. It’s filled with treasures of tradition including: daily Latin Mass readings, daily Divine Office, an audio guided Rosary in Latin or English, Dom Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year, novenas, saints' lives, Latin Mass locations, and more—all in one place. Available in the iPhone app or Google Play stores: http://download.sanctifica.com
P.S. – Sanctifica goes well with the local Sensus Fidelium app, which has a rich repository of traditional sermons, catechetical and scripture classes, and audio books. To try Sensus Fidelium click here
Giving Tuesday – This Tuesday December 2 is Giving Tuesday, a day to give to charities amidst the material excesses of the season. If one is looking to contribute to worthy charities, there are many commendable ones that promote sacred liturgy including a few noted below.
Rosary for the Traditional Latin Mass – A Rosary will be offered for the restoration of the Traditional Latin Mass in the church on Sundays after the 11:30 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass at Saint Thomas Aquinas Church.
Daily Holy Face Chaplet for Sacred Liturgy (perpetual novena) – For the preservation of the Traditional Latin Mass, it has been recommended to all friends of the sacred liturgy in the diocese to consider continually praying the powerful Holy Face chaplet, under the banner of Our Lady of the Holy Name. To pray the chaplet, please see this link.
Cardinal Burke’s Prayer for Pope Leo XIV – His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Burke has released a prayer for Pope Leo XIV. Please see the prayer at the links below and consider praying this daily for the Holy Father as he leads the Church. PDF copies can be accessed at these links: [English] [Español] [Latin]
Holy Face Devotions
Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus are offered each week at the following churches on the indicated days:
Note: Days and times may be subject to change due to holidays.
“Jesus, Your ineffable image is the star which guides my steps. Ah, You know, Your sweet Face is for me Heaven on earth” (from Canticle to the Holy Face by Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, the 19th century Discalced Carmelite nun who took the name in religion, Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face).
Traditional Latin Mass and Liturgical News
Saints and Special Observances
St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor, was born on March 15th in the year 270, according to tradition, and died on December 6th (the date of his feast on the traditional liturgical calendar) in 343. The manner of his selection as Bishop of Myra was described at the beginning of this newsletter in a passage quoted from The Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine. The following excerpt occurs near the beginning of the author’s chapter on “The Life of St. Nicholas” just before the passage describing his episcopal consecration. The episode it recounts has been suggested as one reason the beloved St. Nicholas the Wonderworker became the model for the St. Nicholas of popular culture also known as Santa Claus.
Nicholas, citizen of the city of Patras, was born of rich and holy kin, and his father was Epiphanes and his mother Johane. He was begotten in the first flower of their age, and from that time forth on they lived in continence and led an heavenly life. Then the first day that he was washed and bathed, he addressed him right up in the basin, and he would not take the breast nor the pap but once on the Wednesday and once on the Friday, and in his young age he eschewed the plays and japes of other young children. He used and haunted gladly holy church; and all that he might understand of holy scripture he executed it in deed and work after his power. And when his father and mother were departed out of this life, he began to think how he might distribute his riches, and not to the praising of the world but to the honour and glory of God. And it was so that one, his neighbour, had then three daughters, virgins, and he was a nobleman: but for the poverty of them together, they were constrained, and in very purpose to abandon them to the sin of lechery, so that by the gain and winning of their infamy they might be sustained. And when the holy man Nicholas knew thereof he had great horror of this villainy, and threw by night secretly into the house of the man a mass of gold wrapped in a cloth. And when the man arose in the morning, he found this mass of gold, and rendered to God therefor great thankings, and therewith he married his oldest daughter. And a little while after this holy servant of God threw in another mass of gold, which the man found, and thanked God, and purposed to wake, for to know him that so had aided him in his poverty. And after a few days Nicholas doubled the mass of gold, and cast it into the house of this man. He awoke by the sound of the gold, and followed Nicholas, which fled from him, and he said to him: Sir, flee not away so but that I may see and know thee. Then he ran after him more hastily, and knew that it was Nicholas; and anon he kneeled down, and would have kissed his feet, but the holy man would not, but required him not to tell nor discover this thing as long as he lived.
Source: Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints, compiled circa 1260-1275, translation by William Caxton first published 1470 (London: Temple Classics, 1900), Chapter 2
Closing Commentary
As Advent begins, we share a closing commentary extracted from The Liturgical Year by the great 19th century Benedictine liturgist, Dom Prosper Guéranger. Taken from his entries for the first week in Advent, these passages can draw us closer to the true meaning of this important penitential season of preparation. Each is preceded by a question we pose and followed by a link to the full commentary from which the passage is extracted.
First Sunday of Advent
Is Advent penitential?
We must look upon Advent in two different lights: first, as a time of preparation, properly so called, for the birth of our Saviour, by works of penance: and secondly, as a series of ecclesiastical Offices drawn up for the same purpose. We find, as far back as the fifth century, the custom of giving exhortations to the people in order to prepare them for the feast of Christmas. We have two sermons of Saint Maximus of Turin on this subject, not to speak of several others which were formerly attributed to St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, but which were probably written by St. Cesarius of Aries. If these documents do not tell us what was the duration and what the exercises of this holy season, they at least show us how ancient was the practice of distinguishing the time of Advent by special sermons . . . .
The oldest document in which we find the length and exercises of Advent mentioned with anything like clearness, is a passage in the second book of the History of the Franks by St. Gregory of Tours, where he says that St. Perpetuus, one of his predecessors, who held that see about the year 480, had decreed a fast three times a week, from the feast of St. Martin until Christmas. It would be impossible to decide whether St. Perpetuus, by his regulations, established a new custom, or merely enforced an already existing law. Let us, however, note this interval of forty, or rather of forty-three days, so expressly mentioned, and consecrated to penance, as though it were a second Lent, though less strict and severe than that which precedes Easter. [History of Advent]
What do the four weeks of Advent symbolize?
[S]hould this first day of December be a simple Feria of Advent, we will do well to begin at once our considerations upon the preparations which were made for the merciful Coming of the Saviour of the world. Four thousand years of expectation preceded that Coming, and they are expressed by the four weeks of Advent, which we must spend before we come to the glorious festivity of our Lord’s Nativity. Let us reflect upon the holy impatience of the Saints of the Old Testament, and how they handed down, from age to age, the grand hope which was to be but hope to them since they were not to see it realized. [First Day of December]
What does the state of nature in December tell us about Advent?
We will today consider the state of nature at this season of the year. The earth is stripped of her wonted verdure, the flowers are gone, the fruits are fallen, the leaves are torn from the trees and scattered by the wind, and every living thing stiffens with the cold. It seems as though the hand of death had touched creation. We see the sun rise after the long night of his absence; and scarce have we felt his warmth at noon, than he sets again, and leaves us in the chilly darkness. Each day he shortens his visit. Is the world to become sunless, and men to live out the rest of life in gloom? The old pagans, who witnessed this struggle between light and darkness, and feared the sun was going to leave them, dedicated the twenty-fifth day of December, which was the winter solstice, to the worship of the sun. After this day, their hopes revived, in seeing the glorious luminary again mounting up in the sky, and gradually regaining his triumphant position.
We Christians can have no such feelings as these; our light is the true faith, which tells us that there is a Sun to be sought for which never sets, and is never eclipsed. Having Him, we care little for the absence of any other brightness; nay, all other light, without Him, can only lead us astray. O Jesus! thou true light, that enlightenest every man coming into this world! thou didst choose, for thy birth among us, a time of the year which forces us to reflect upon the miserable state of the world when thou didst come to save it. “The evening was coming on, and the day was far spent,” says St. Bernard: “the Sun of Justice had all but set, so that exceeding scanty was his light or warmth on earth: for the light of divine knowledge was very faint, and, sin abounding, the heat of charity had grown cold. [Feast of Bibiana (December 2nd)]
What was the condition of the human race in 1 B.C.?
Let us consider the wretched condition of the human race, at the time of Christ’s coming into the world. The diminution of truth (Psalms 11:2) is emphatically expressed by the little light, which the earth enjoys at this season of the year. The ancient traditions are gradually becoming extinct; the Creator is not acknowledged, even in the very work of his hands; everything has been made God, except the God who made all things. This frightful Pantheism produces the vilest immorality, both in society at large, and in individuals. There are no rights acknowledged, save that of might. Lust, avarice, and theft, are honored by men in the gods of their altars. There is no such thing as Family, for divorce and infanticide are legalized; mankind is degraded by a general system of slavery; nations are being exterminated by endless wars. The human race is in the last extreme of misery; and unless the hand that created it reform it, it must needs sink a prey to crime and bloodshed.
There are indeed some few just men still left upon the earth, and they struggle against the torrent of universal degradation; but they cannot save the world; the world despises them, and God will not accept their merits as a palliation of the hideous leprosy which covers the earth. All flesh has corrupted its way, and is more guilty than even in the days of the deluge: and yet, a second destruction of the universe would be manifest anew the justice of God; it is time that a deluge of his divine mercy should flood the universe, and that He who made man should come down and heal him. [Feast of Saint Francis Xavier (December 3)]
What is that soft light on the horizon?
At length, on the distant horizon, rises, with a soft and radiant light, the aurora of the Sun which has been so long desired. The happy Mother of the Messias was to be born before the Messias himself; and this is the day of the Conception of Mary. The earth already possesses a first pledge of the divine mercy; the Son of Man is near at hand. Two true Israelites, Joachim and Anne, noble branches of the family of David, find their union, after a long barrenness, made fruitful by the divine omnipotence. Glory be to God, who has been mindful of his promises, and who deigns to announce, from the high heavens, the end of the deluge of iniquity, by sending upon the earth the sweet white Dove that bears the tidings of peace! [Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8)]
