Low Sunday

April 26, 2025

Friends in Christ,

Welcome to our weekly Sunday update. This Sunday is known as Low Sunday, but it is also listed in the Roman Calendar of 1962 as The Octave Day of Easter and Dominica in Albis. It was known as Quasimodo Sunday in the past, and in recent decades it has come to be called Divine Mercy Sunday.

The origin of Low Sunday is somewhat obscure, but the name apparently was meant to distinguish the Sunday after Easter from the preceding High Sunday celebration of Easter.

The designation of the Sunday after Easter as The Octave Day of Easter is self-evident if we begin counting at Easter Sunday, disregarding the Vigil of Easter, although that Saturday night marks the official beginning of Eastertide.

The Gospel reading for this Sunday tells us that late on the day of His Resurrection, Jesus appeared in the midst of His disciples in the closed room where they were gathered together, for fear of the Jews (John 20:19).

Thomas was not present and refused to believe, when he returned, what he was told about the appearance of the Risen Christ. He asserted that he would not believe Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side (John 20:25).

Appearing again among His disciples on the eighth day after His Resurrection –– the Sunday we celebrate as the Octave of Easter – Jesus told Thomas, Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands, and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing (John 20:27).

We too are summoned by Jesus, in this season of joy, to be faithful and believe, giving thanks and saying with Saint Thomas the Apostle, “My Lord and My God” (John 20:28).


Calendar of Special Observances

Celebrations are those listed in the Roman Missal of 1962.

DAY, DATE – FEAST (CLASS)

Sunday, April 27 – Low Sunday (I)

Monday, April 28 – St. Paul of the Cross, Confessor (III)

Tuesday, April 29 – St. Peter, Martyr (III)

Wednesday, April 30 – St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin

Thursday, May 1 – St. Joseph the Workman (I)

Friday, May 2 – St. Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor, & Doctor of the Church (III)

Saturday, May 3 – Immaculate Heart of Mary (III) – Feria of Paschaltide (IV) – Ss. Alexander and Companions, Martyrs (IV) – Our Lady on Saturday (IV)


Low Sunday

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



Latin Mass Schedule: Sundays

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 (April 28 - May 3)

Charlotte Area Latin Masses

  • Saint Ann – Wednesday: No Latin Mass scheduled April 30

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas – Thursday, 7:00 p.m. (Feast of St. Joseph the Workman)

  • Saint Ann – Friday: No Latin Mass scheduled May 2

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas - First Saturday, 10:00 a.m. (followed by blessing of religious objects in the narthex)

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.

  • Saint John the Baptist (Tryon) – First Saturday, 8:30 a.m.
  • Church of the Epiphany (Blowing Rock) – First Saturday, 10:00 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.

  • Our Lady of the Lake - Thursday May 1, 6:30 p.m. (Special Mass for Feast of St. Joseph the Workman)

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.

**Daily Latin Mass Cancellations This Week**: For this coming week, the Wednesday April 30 6:00 p.m. and Friday May 2 7:00 a.m. Masses at Saint Ann will not be a Latin Mass. This is due to lack of Latin Mass priest availability while Father Reid is away.



Announcements

Doughnuts This Sunday – Due to Easter, the normal Third Sunday doughnuts after Mass at Saint Ann parish has been transferred to this Sunday, April 27.

Cardinal Raymond Burke’s Exhortation to Prayer for the Eternal Rest of Pope Francis and for the Sacred College of Cardinals (April 21, 2025) – Let us join the universal Church in prayer for the eternal rest of Pope Francis who died this morning in his residence in Vatican City State. Let us pray to God the Father that Pope Francis who served as the Vicar of His Incarnate Son on earth may, through Divine Mercy, rest in peace. May Our Lady of Guadalupe, Virgin Mother of God and "our compassionate Mother” (Nican Mopohua, 26 & 30), and Saint Joseph, Patron of the Dying, assist Pope Francis as he passes from this life to the life which is to come.

Please pray also for the Sacred College of Cardinals whose principal responsibility is to elect the Roman Pontiff, the Successor of Saint Peter, and, both individually and as the Sacred College, to assist him “in the daily care of the universal Church” (can. 349). May the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, in obedience to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, be one in heart with the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Head and Shepherd of the flock of God the Father in choosing His Vicar on earth.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, make safe our way!

Purest Heart of Saint Joseph, keep safe our way!

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke


Cardinal Burke's Novena Prayer for the Sacred College of Cardinals gathered for the Conclave to elect the Roman Pontiff

April 26-May 5, 2025

I kneel before you, O Virgin Mother of God, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the compassionate mother of all who love you, cry to you, seek you, and trust in you. I plead for the Church at a time of great trial and danger for her. As you came to the rescue of the Church at Tepeyac in 1531, please intercede for the Sacred College of Cardinals gathered in Rome to elect the Successor of Saint Peter, Vicar of Christ, Shepherd of the Universal Church.

At this tumultuous time for the Church and for the world, plead with your Divine Son that the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, His Mystical Body, will humbly obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Through your intercession, may they choose the most worthy man to be Christ’s Vicar on earth. With you, I place all my trust in Him Who alone is our help and salvation. Amen.

Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee, have mercy upon us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, Virgin Mother of God and Mother of Divine Grace, pray for us!

Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE

April 24, 2025

Conclave Novena Prayer (PDF English | Español | Latin)


Fr. Ripperger's Prayer for the Election of the Supreme Pontiff

Lord Jesus Christ, by entrusting to St. Peter and his successors the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, Thou didst establish the office of the papacy. Grant to Thy Church, we beseech Thee, a pope who, in his dedication to the Sacred Tradition of the Church, will seek to govern the Church according to the Deposit of Faith and for the salvation of souls.

Immaculate Mary, Mother of the Church and Queen of Confessors, we consecrate to thee the conclave and the election of the Holy Father. Blessed Mother, look not upon our sinfulness or upon the infidelity of many Catholics who do not accept the teaching of thy Son, but upon the Church which is the spotless Bride of thy Son, so that we do not get the leader we deserve, but a Holy Father who will guide the Church for the glory and honor of thy Son. Amen.


-Composed by Fr. Chad Ripperger, April 21, 2025 (PDF link)


Feast of Saint Peter of Verona, April 29 – This Tuesday, April 29th, is the Feast of Saint Peter of Verona (also known as Saint Peter Martyr), a 13th century Dominican inquisitor who was martyred while combating the heresies of his time. His spilled blood helped to convert his assassin who was later beatified. St. Peter’s feast day is only celebrated universally according to the 1962 liturgical calendar. An ancient custom calls for the blessing of palms on his feast day. The traditional belief is that the palms, when buried on one’s property, can help protect against natural disasters.

The Carolina Traditional Liturgy Society has St. Peter palms available (blessed by Father Reid last year) and will distribute them at our Latin Mass table at Saint Ann this weekend, or next, for those who do not already have them. To learn more about the great Dominican saint celebrated in this custom please consult the following articles:

Plenary Indulgence on Monday April 28 – Consecration to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom through the Blessed Virgin Mary is the prayer of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort to be recited and executed by those who have completed preparation for the act of consecration. Per the Raccolta (manual of indulgences), there is a plenary indulgence on Monday April 28 (his feast day), under the usual conditions for those who recite this prayer. [Prayer of Consecration to Jesus through Mary]

Consecration of those Governing to the Blessed Virgin Mary – Fr. Chad Ripperger has composed a 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)

  • Saint Elizabeth of the Hill Country (Boone) – Third Tuesday May 20, at 6:45 p.m. after Mass in the Youth Room **Special Time for May**

  • 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 Catherine of Siena was one of 13 children born into the family of Jacopo Benincasa and his wife, Lapa di Puccio di Piagente, who are known to have survived to adulthood. Twelve did not. When Catherine and her twin sister, Giovanna, were born on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1347, their 40-year-old mother had already given birth to twenty-two children. The fact that Lapa had been almost continuously pregnant for more than two decades meant that she had never been able to nurse her own offspring. Catherine was the first. As Giovanna died in infancy and a second Giovanna, born a few years later, did not survive for long, Catherine remained the youngest member of the Benincasa family.

When she was about six years old Catherine had an experience that was to determine the course of her life. She had been to visit her married sister, Bonaventura, and was walking home with her brother, Stefano, and another boy in the twilight at the end of the day. Ahead of them, on the other side of a valley, stood the great stone abbey church of San Domenico. Looking up, Catherine saw Jesus, the Savior of the world, seated on a throne just above the church, dressed like a bishop and wearing the triple crown of the pope. Saints Peter, Paul and John stood beside him. Catherine stopped and stood, enraptured by the vision, as the Lord Jesus smiled lovingly at her and lifted his hand to bless her with the sign of the cross. She might never have moved; but the boys, who had walked on, looked back and saw her rooted to the spot at the top of the street where she had stopped. Stefano called to her but got no response, so he trudged back up the street and took her by the arm to move her along. At his touch, Catherine emerged from her trance and, bursting into tears, wept for the loss of her beatific vision.

This was the first of her many mystical experiences and the beginning of an intimate relationship with Jesus that would continue throughout Catherine’s relatively brief life. As she was growing to womanhood, she came under increasing pressure to find her vocation in marriage; but, having made a secret vow to Christ that she would give herself entirely to Him, she met the efforts of her parents to steer her toward married life with unrelenting resistance. She had been remarkably devout since her mystical vision at the age of six, but now she increased the time she spent in prayer as well as the frequency of her days of fasting. When Bonaventura died, leaving her husband, Niccolo, with the prospect of having to raise numerous children alone, Jacopo and Lapa thought it might only be right for their daughter to take her sister’s place; but she refused. The crisis came when she resisted their campaign on behalf of another highly suitable suitor they wished to bring into the family. A Dominican monk, Fra Tommaso della Fonte, a friend of the family, was called upon to counsel Catherine regarding her Christian duty to respect the wishes of her parents. Instead, when Catherine revealed to him the secret vow she had made to Christ, he suggested she divest herself of her beautiful hair in order to make herself less attractive to suitors. She did so immediately.

When her mother saw what Catherine had done, she was horrified; her father and brothers were enraged and promised to make her life miserable unless she changed her mind about marriage. Indeed, her family treated her very severely while waiting for the regrowth of her hair to make her marriageable again. They even did all they could to curtail her prayer and other devotional activities in an attempt to reorient her thinking about married life. But the One who had lovingly gazed down on her from above the church of San Domenico had other plans for Catherine.

One night Catherine had a dream in which a throng of saints and martyrs appeared to her, among them St. Dominic with a white lily in his hand, bearing a habit which she recognized as that of the Dominican third-order Sisters of Penitence. “Beloved daughter, take courage,” he told her. “Be afraid of nothing, for you shall surely be clothed in this robe which you desire.” She wept for joy and awakening, her cheeks bathed by tears, resolved to reveal at last the secret of the vow she had made that she would belong to Christ and to Him alone. The whole Benincasa household was grief-stricken at the realization that all hope was lost of seeing her settled in marriage with a good man who would be a valuable addition to their family. But Jacopo, the paterfamilias, knew there was nothing to be gained from opposing the will of God and promised his daughter that never again would the family interfere with her spiritual pursuits.

Three days after her sixteenth birthday Catherine was accepted into the Sisters of Penitence. As a tertiary she was able to continue living at home rather than having to enter a convent. This suited a young woman who had always looked upon her parents as representing Jesus and Mary in her life. She spent the next five years ministering to the poor and the sick in Siena. The lengths to which she went in her ministrations on behalf of those stricken with cancer and other dreaded diseases, in order to relieve their suffering, were especially remarkable. Her humility, cheerfulness and self-denial endeared her to all she met during this period of quiet work in service to the Lord.

After her 21st birthday, Catherine began to expand the ambit of her beneficent influence in the world, putting her mind as well as her hands to work for the Lord. The other tertiary sisters may have taught her to read and write; but the evidence indicates that, of the hundreds of letters she addressed to recipients in the 12 years that remained to her, most were dictated to amanuenses. In these letters she counseled princes and popes, making the case for peace between warring city-states and advancing the cause of reform in the Church. She also traveled widely in order to make personal appeals to those whom she hoped to enlist in her causes. She was instrumental in convincing Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon and return to Rome, the rightful home of that city’s bishop, the head of the worldwide Church.

Her voluminous correspondence included 382 letters that survived to be considered collectively a monumental work in the literature of Tuscany. The collection of treatises entitled Libro della Divina Dottrina (which bears the English title, Dialogue of Divine Providence) is her spiritual masterpiece. She also composed some 26 prayers in the last year-and-a-half of her life. Exhausted by her labors and weakened by frequent fasting, St. Catherine of Siena died in Rome on April 29th in the year 1380. She was 33 years old. Pope Urban VI celebrated her requiem Mass in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome where her remains were afterward interred.

Catherine was beatified on December 29th in the year 1460 and canonized six months later, on June 29, 1461, by Pope Pius II. In 1970 Pope Paul VI declared her to be a Doctor of the Church. Her feast day, celebrated in accordance with the traditional Roman Calendar, is April 30th.


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Low Sunday – Below are brief descriptions of the various names of Low Sunday over the years.

Dominica in Albis (“White Sunday”) is a name for the Sunday after Easter that originated in a custom observed among early Christians, requiring those who had been newly baptized at Easter to continue wearing their white baptismal garments for one week. Then, on the Sunday following Easter, the neophytes would be allowed to shed the white robes that set them apart in order to be recognized as full-fledged members of the body of Christ.

Quasimodo Sunday, a name which has been applied to the Sunday after Easter for centuries, is based on the opening words of the Introit for this Sunday: Quasi modo géniti infántes, which is translated, “As newborn babes. . . .” In Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, Notre-Dame de Paris (set in 1482 and published in English under the title, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), the severely malformed protagonist had been abandoned at the cathedral as a newborn babe on Quasimodo Sunday. Raised by the archdeacon of the cathedral to serve as the bell-ringer of Notre Dame, he had been given the rather ungainly name of Quasimodo to commemorate the day of his arrival.

Divine Mercy Sunday does not appear on the traditional calendar as it was not proclaimed for celebration throughout the Church until the Great Jubilee Year of 2000. On the 30th of April in that year, in his homily during the canonization of the Polish nun born Faustina Kowalska, the future Saint John Paul II announced, “The Second Sunday of Easter from now on throughout the Church will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’” Five days later, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a decree officially establishing the Sunday following Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” While the day had been observed in Poland and a number of other countries for some years, the path to official acceptance by the universal Church was not an easy one, as evidenced by the treatment of Saint Faustina during her life and of her writings after her death.

On a local note, Saint Ann parish has a statue of Divine Mercy in front of the church in honor of the late seminarian Michael Kitson who passed away on Divine Mercy Sunday several years ago.


Closing Commentary

In closing, we offer a brief excerpt from Dom Prosper Guéranger’s commentary on “Quasimodo, or Low Sunday: The Octave of the Pasch” followed by a link to the complete entry in The Liturgical Year:


The Octave of the Pasch

Our neophytes closed the Octave of the Resurrection yesterday. They were before us in receiving the admirable mystery; their solemnity would finish earlier than ours. This, then, is the eighth clay for us who kept the Pasch on the Sunday, and did not anticipate it on the vigil. It reminds us of all the glory and joy of that Feast of Feasts, which united the whole of Christendom in one common feeling of triumph. It is the day of light, which takes the place of the Jewish Sabbath. Henceforth, the first day of the week is to be kept holy. Twice has the Son of God honoured it with the manifestation of His almighty power. The Pasch, therefore, is always to be celebrated on the Sunday; and thus, every Sunday becomes a sort of Paschal Feast, as we have already explained in the Mystery of Easter.

Our Risen Jesus gave an additional proof of His wishing the Sunday to be, henceforth, the privileged day. He reserved the second visit He intended to pay to all His disciples for this the eighth day since His Resurrection. During the previous days, He has left Thomas a prey to doubt; but, to-day He shows Himself to this Apostle, as well as to the others, and obliges Him, by irresistible evidence, to lay aside His incredulity. Thus does our Saviour again honour the Sunday. The Holy Ghost will come down from heaven upon this same day of the week, making it the commencement of the Christian Church: Pentecost will complete the glory of this favoured day.

Jesus’ apparition to the Eleven, and the victory He gains over the incredulous Thomas, — these are the special subjects the Church brings before us today. By this apparition, which is the seventh since His Resurrection, our Saviour wins the perfect faith of His disciples. It was impossible not to recognise God, in the patience, the majesty, and the charity of Him who showed Himself to them. Here again, our human thoughts are disconcerted; we should have thought this delay excessive; it would have seemed to us, that our Lord ought to have, at once, either removed the sinful doubt from Thomas’ mind, or punished him for his disbelief. But no: Jesus is infinite wisdom, and infinite goodness. In His wisdom, He makes this tardy acknowledgment of Thomas become a new argument of the truth of the Resurrection; in His goodness, He brings the heart of the incredulous disciple to repentance, humility, and love, yea, to a fervent and solemn retractation of all his disbelief. We will not here attempt to describe this admirable scene, which holy Church is about to bring before us. We will select, for our today’s instruction, the important lesson given by Jesus to His disciple, and, through him, to us all. It is the leading instruction of the Sunday, the Octave of the Pasch, and it behooves us not to pass it by, for, more than any other, it tells us the leading characteristic of a Christian, shows us the cause of our being so listless in God’s service, and points out to us the remedy for our spiritual ailments.[Quasimodo or Low Sunday]


We wish our readers a blessed Eastertide. Christus Resurréxit! Resurréxit Vere!