Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Candlemas)

Dear Friends in Christ,

Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday (February 2, 2025) is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Candlemas, which also commemorates the Presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, Holy Simeon, waiting for the consolation of Israel, welcomes the Holy Family, and the Light of the World to the Temple in Jerusalem and proclaims: “Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace; because mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32). Then, turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who enters the Temple after the 40-day purification period required by Mosaic law, Simeon prophesizes to her: “Behold, this child is set for the ruin, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34-35). Thus predicting the sorrows Our Lady will endure during her Son’s Passion, thirty-three years later.


Calendar of Special Observances

Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962.

DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)

Sunday, February 2 – The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (II)

Monday, February 3 – Feria (IV) – St. Blaise Bishop and Martyr (IV)

Tuesday, February 4 – St. Andrew Corsini, Bishop and Confessor (III)

Wednesday, February 5 – St. Agatha, Virgin & Martyr (III)

Thursday, February 6 – St. Titus, Bishop and Confessor (III)

Friday, February,7 – St. Romuald, Abbot (III) – Sacred Heart of Jesus (III)

Saturday, February 8 – St. John of Matha, Confessor (III)


Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The links provided below can be used to download printable copies of the Proper Prayers for the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary with English or Spanish translation, followed by commentary by Dr. Michael P. Foley.


Latin Mass Schedule: Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (February 2, 2025)

Charlotte Area Latin Masses

  • 11:30 a.m., Saint Thomas Aquinas

  • 12:30 p.m., Saint Ann

Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses

  • 8:30 a.m., Saint John the Baptist (Tryon)

  • 9:00 a.m., Our Lady of the Angels (Marion)

  • 1:00 p.m., Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock)

  • 1:30 p.m., Our Lady of Grace (Greensboro)

Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses

  • 12:00 p.m., Prince of Peace (Taylors SC)

  • 1:00 p.m., Our Lady of the Lake (Chapin SC)

Note: Travelers are urged to consult parish websites or offices for up-to-date information regarding possible changes in the regular schedule of Sunday Mass times.


Latin Mass Schedule: Weekdays (February 3-February 8)

Charlotte Area Latin Masses

  • Saint Ann – Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. (blessing of bread after Mass - see Announcements below )

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas – Thursday, 7:00 p.m.

  • Saint Ann – Friday, 7:00 a.m.

Other Diocese of Charlotte Latin Masses

  • Our Lady of the Mountains (Highlands) – Tuesday, 9:30 a.m.

  • Saint John the Baptist (Tryon) – Friday, 8:30 a.m.

  • Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock) – Friday, 9:30 a.m.

Diocese of Charleston Latin Masses

  • Prince of Peace (Taylors SC) – Monday-Friday, 12:00 p.m.

  • Prince of Peace (Taylors SC) – Saturday 8:00 a.m.

Note: Travelers are advised to contact parish offices to confirm weekday and Saturday Mass times, since local schedules are sometimes subject to change without notice, especially on or around holidays, holy days of obligation and other special feast days.


Announcements

Sunday February 2 (Candlemas): Candle Blessing & Potluck Announcement – Sunday February 2nd, the Feast of Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the 40th day of Christmas and marks the conclusion of the Christmas season. It is also known as the Feast of the Presentation, commemorating the first presentation of the Light of Christ in the Temple at Jerusalem. As such, there is traditionally a blessing of candles before Mass.


Blessing of Candles

The following parishes have announced a blessing of candles during the Latin Mass on Sunday February 2. Please arrive a few minutes early to have your candles in place before the blessing begins.

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas, 11:30 a.m. (blessing and procession)

  • Saint Ann, 12:30 p.m. (Mass will be by candlelight)

  • Saint John the Baptist, *8:30 a.m. (*blessing of candles at 8:00 a.m. followed by a procession. Candles should be placed along the wall near the Saint Joseph statue prior to 8:00 a.m. )

  • Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock), 1:00 p.m.

  • Our Lady of Grace (Greensboro), 1:30 p.m. (blessing of candles followed by a small procession before Mass)

  • Prince of Peace (Taylors SC), 12:00 p.m. (place candles in basket by altar rails before Mass begins)

  • Our Lady of the Lake (Chapin SC), 1:00 p.m.

Note: Candles are typically blessed in a ritual before Mass begins.

All are welcome to bring their beeswax candles to be blessed.


Sunday February 2: Close-of-Christmas Potluck at Saint Ann

To celebrate the final day of the Christmas season, the Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society will host a potluck in the plaza after the 12:30 p.m. Saint Ann Latin Mass on Sunday February 2. All are welcome to bring a dish or desert to share.

Saint Thomas Aquinas will also host its monthly 1st Sunday Food and Fellowship potluck after the 11:30 a.m. Latin Mass on Sunday February 2.

Blessing of Agatha Bread Wednesday February 5, 6:00 p.m – February 5 is the Feast of Saint Agatha and there is a tradition to bless bread on her feast day. Immediately after the 6:00 p.m. Saint Ann Latin Mass, Father will bless bread on the table in the narthex. Please bring your bread and place it on the table before Mass begins.


FSSP’s Annual Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes (February 2-10) – The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), has announced their annual novena and consecration to Our Lady of Lourdes from this Sunday February 2 to Monday February 10. All friends of the FSSP and Latin Mass are invited to participate and pray the consecration prayer on February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The novena is organized in thanksgiving for the Holy Father’s support for the FSSP’s “practice and charism” in offering the Mass (and liturgical books) of 1962. Novena and Consecration to Our Lady of Lourdes [Download the Novena]

Epiphany kits, chalk, and salt available at Saint Ann after 12:30 p.m. Latin Mass – If you missed the recent Epiphany blessings, the Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society has limited supplies of blessed chalk and salt, as well as individual Epiphany water bottles, available for pickup. Please stop by our information table at Saint Ann after the 12:30 p.m. Sunday Latin Mass while supplies last. Additionally, as a reminder, Saint Ann and Saint Thomas Aquinas (and a few other parishes) also have Epiphany water available at their Holy Water fonts in the narthex while quantities last.

Fr. Ripperger to Offer Lenten Mission at Saint Thomas Aquinas (March 7-8) – Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish is blessed to welcome back Fr. Chad Ripperger, SMD, to conduct its Lenten Parish Mission on Friday, March 7th, and Saturday, March 8th, at 7:00 p.m. each night. Fr. Ripperger is a former member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter who became an exorcist and founded the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother (the Doloran Fathers). Please note: The mission will be oriented to adults, and will not be appropriate for young children. Registration is required. The registration form is available at the following location: Lenten Mission Registration.

150th Anniversary of the Death of Dom Prosper Guéranger – This past Thursday January 30 was the 150th anniversary of the death of the great liturgist Servant of God Dom Prosper Guéranger who, as our readers know, is a regular staple of our weekend updates and has written extensively about how the Mass, its readings, and liturgical calendar can be lived out in daily life and draw one closer to God.

Guéranger reestablished the French Benedictine Abbey in Solesmes and served as its Abbot. After reintroducing Gregorian Chant to the Church and writing many books on the liturgy, he died on this day in 1875. In 2023, the French Bishops voted to open the cause for his canonization.

Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma (a daughter house of Solesmes) has a brief write up commemorating the anniversary. [Death of a Spiritual Liturgist]

[Prayer for the Canonization of Dom Prosper Guéranger]

*NEW* Consecration of those Governing to the Blessed Virgin Mary – Fr. Chad Ripperger has composed an updated prayer for our nation and government, Consecration of those Governing to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which may be found at the end of this update or downloaded here.


Holy Face Devotions

Prayers of Reparation to the Holy Face of Jesus are offered each week at the following churches on the indicated days:

  • St. James (Concord) – Monday, 10-10:30 a.m. (in the cry room)

  • St. Mark – Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.

  • St. Thomas Aquinas – Tuesday, 6:00 a.m.

  • St. Ann – Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. (following 7:00 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)

  • St. Michael the Archangel (Gastonia) – Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. (following 8:00 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)

  • St. Vincent de Paul – Tuesday, 8:40 a.m.

  • Holy Spirit (Denver) – Tuesday, 10-11:00 a.m. (following the 9:15 a.m. Novus Ordo Mass)

  • St. John the Baptist (Tryon) - First Saturday, 9:30 a.m. (after 8:30 a.m Latin Mass)

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).


Latin Mass and Liturgical News


Saints and Special Observances

Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr, was one of the three first-century bishops who are together called the Apostolic Fathers of the Church because they actually knew the Apostles and passed on what they had been taught by the first followers of Our Lord. The others were Saint Clement of Rome and Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. Saint Clement, a follower of Saint Peter who became the fourth Bishop of Rome, suffered martyrdom in 99 A.D. Saint Polycarp, who was Bishop of Smyrna, ended his life as a martyr at the age of 86. Saint Ignatius was the third Bishop of Antioch, occupying a see that had first been held, like that of Rome, by Saint Peter. He and Polycarp were close friends and associates, and both were followers of Saint John the Evangelist.

Ignatius was born around the year 50 A.D. and was Bishop of Antioch during the persecution of Christians under the Emperor Domitian. Having successfully guided his flock through that storm, he faced another when Trajan came to power in Rome. The Martyrdom of Ignatius, composed by two associates of the bishop who accompanied him on his final journey to Rome, begins by praising his performance in the face of this renewed threat to the Christian community: When Trajan, not long since, succeeded to the empire of the Romans, Ignatius, the disciple of John the apostle, a man in all respects of an apostolic character, governed the Church of the Antiochians with great care, having with difficulty escaped the former storms of the many persecutions under Domitian, inasmuch as, like a good pilot, by the helm of prayer and fasting, by the earnestness of his teaching, and by his spiritual labour, he resisted the flood that rolled against him, fearing lest he should lose any of those who were deficient in courage, or apt to suffer from their simplicity.

A temporary relaxation of the persecution brought peace to the community for a time but left Ignatius longing for that consummation of his own life that would be the ultimate realization of his love for Christ. “For he inwardly reflected, that the confession which is made by martyrdom, would bring him into a yet more intimate relation to the Lord.”

In the ninth year of his reign, Trajan demanded that all of his subjects worship the pagan gods of Rome. Ignatius imparted to the Christians of Antioch the courage to remain true to their faith. Called before the emperor, when that ruler was at Antioch, Ignatius spoke eloquently in defense of his flock and his faith. Trajan responded by ordering that the bishop be sent to Rome in chains to be fed to wild beasts for the entertainment of the people.

Ignatius was accompanied on his journey to Rome by Philo, a deacon from Tarsus, and a Syrian named Rheus Agathopus. In The Martyrdom of Ignatius, they wrote of the great hardships endured by the bishop as he traveled to his place of execution. Writing himself to the Christians at Rome, while enroute to that city, Ignatius said, "From Syria even to Rome I fight with wild beasts, by land and sea, by night and by day, being bound amidst ten leopards, even a company of soldiers, who only grow worse when they are kindly treated."

Ignatius and his captors traveled overland from Antioch to Seleucia before setting sail from that city for Rome. “And after a great deal of suffering he came to Smyrna, where he disembarked with great joy, and hastened to see the holy Polycarp, his fellow disciple and bishop of Smyrna. For they had both, in old times, been disciples of St. John the Apostle.” Throughout the journey he was greeted with effusive expressions of love and concern by the members of local churches. Along the way he composed six letters addressed to the Christians of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia and Smyrna, and a seventh sent to Polycarp. Saint John Henry Newman summed up the importance of these letters when he said that "the whole system of Catholic doctrine may be discovered, at least in outline, not to say in parts filled up, in the course of his seven epistles."

Upon his arrival in Rome, Ignatius knelt with his fellow Christians there and “entreated the Son of God on behalf of the Churches, that a stop might be put to the persecution, and that mutual love might continue among the brethren” before being “led with all haste into the amphitheatre” to be cast to the wild beasts ready to consume him.

The Church dates his martyrdom in the year 110 A.D. and celebrates his feast on the 1st of February each year. [Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent.org]


Closing Commentary

In closing, we share a commentary extracted from The Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Guéranger on “Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” A link to the full text of the great liturgist’s commentary follows the extract.


Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Forty Days of Mary’s Purification are now completed, and she must go up to the Temple, there to offer to God her Child Jesus. Before following the Son and his Mother in this their mysterious journey, let us spend our last few moments at Bethlehem, in lovingly pondering over the mysteries at which we are going to assist.

The Law commanded, that a woman, who had given birth to a son, should not approach the Tabernacle for the term of forty days; after which time, she was to offer a sacrifice for her Purification. She was to offer up a lamb as a holocaust, and a turtle or dove as a sin-offering. But if she were poor, and could not provide a lamb, she was to offer, in its stead, a second turtle or dove.

By another ordinance of the Law, every first-born son was to be considered as belonging to God, and was to be to redeemed by six sides, each side weighing, according to the standard of the Temple, twenty *obols. (*Leviticus 12; Exodus 30:13. The Obol was about three half-pence of English money)

Mary was a Daughter of Israel — she had given Birth to Jesus — he was her First-born Son. Could such a Mother, and such a Son, be included in the Laws we have just quoted? Was it becoming that Mary should observe them? [Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary]


~

To Our Readers and All Friends of the Latin Mass: May you be abundantly blessed by God on this final weekend of Christmas.

CONSECRATION OF THOSE GOVERNING TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY


Immaculate Mary, patroness of the United States of America. Queen of Heaven and earth, beneath whose sway are subject all things that are lower than God, sorrowful and mindful of our own sinfulness and the sins of our nation, we come to thee our refuge and hope.

Knowing that our country cannot be saved by our own works, and mindful of how much our nation has departed from the ways of thy Son, we humbly ask that thou wouldst turn thine eyes upon our country to bring about its conversion.

We consecrate to thee all of those governing our Republic, so that what is spiritually and morally best for the citizens of our nation may be accomplished, and that they would govern according to the spiritual and moral principles which will bring our nation into conformity with the teachings of thy Son. Bind any forces, spiritual or human, that would seek to inflict harm or evil on our country, or against those who do good for our nation by their governance.

Give grace to the citizens of this land, so that they may merit leaders who will govern according to the Sacred Heart of thy Son, that His glory may be made manifest, lest we be given the leaders we deserve. Trusting in the providential care of God the Father and thy maternal care, we have perfect confidence that thou wilt take care of us and will not leave us forsaken.

O Mary Immaculate, pray for us. Amen.

Composed by Fr. Chad Ripperger

To download a PDF copy of this prayer please visit this link