Christmas does not begin the day after All Hallows Eve, nor does it begin on Black Friday, the day after the Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day. How much has been lost in our liturgical revolution never called for by the Second Vatican Council; how much has been lost in our rush to worship the god of consumerism and secularism.

The Toronto Traditional Mass Society – UNA VOCE TORONTO invites you to lay it all aside and celebrate the penitential season of Advent as it was meant to be and as our ancestors did for centuries.

For three years, may of us gathered in the darkness of a December morning in the bucolic countryside of Perth County, in the hamlet of Kinkora to celebrate the Votive Mass of Our Lady in Advent, the “Rorate Mass.” Last year, nearly 100 people journeyed to that place northwest of Stratford; many leaving Toronto at 3:00AM to be there for 5:30. This year, we’ll let you sleep in. Mass begins at 6:30 and is a little closer, the beautiful St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Mississauga. Now, what is the Rorate Mass and why is it so early?

As with many elements of our faith, there is a spiritual and a practical. For example, some have wondered why the chasuble in the Extraordinary Form is the lifted at the elevation, the first is the practical, to hold the vestment away so the Host or Chalice could be raised; but on the spiritual side, it comes from scripture wherein the woman with the hemorrhage touched the hem of His garment to be healed. It is a sign of our faith. So too with the Rorate. Simply speaking, it is the Votive Mass of Our Lady in Advent and it also exists now in the Third Edition of the Roman Missal in the Ordinary Form. While it can be celebrated any time on a Saturday in Advent other than December 8 or the Ember Saturday in the Usus Antiquior, it came to be celebrated in Germany and Poland in the pre-morning darkness. Before 1955, Mass had to be celebrated before noon day; as well, Saturday was a work day until the unions and guilds of the last century or so. Peasant and worker would journey to this Mass in darkness with the churches lit of course, by candlelight only. When they came out, they went to work and as they did, the sun was coming up. The spiritual symbolism then was clear, out of darkness comes the light of Christ as we are “sent” into the world, having worshipped God and having been fed the Finest Wheat. We too will celebrate in the darkness with only candlelight in the church and we will follow, as in the past, with a pot-luck community breakfast, first the Altar and then the Table.

Immaculate Conception on December 8 falls this year on Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent. The Society will not be organising Mass on this day as while it is tranferred to December 9 in the Ordinary Form, in the traditional calendar, it is celebrated on the Sunday with the Advent II Commemorations of Collect, Secret and Postcommunion with of course, the Gloria and white vestments. For Mass in the on Immaculate Conception according to the Usus Antiquior, you can attend St. Patrick’s Schomberg at 9:00, St. Vincent de Paul Church at 9:30 for a Read Mass, Solemn Mass at Holy Family at 11:00 or St. Lawrence the Martyr at 1:00PM.

The Ember Days, are four seasons in the Church calendar roughly coinciding with the changes of the season and the liturgical cycles. They are celebrated on the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after St. Lucy, the First Sunday of Lent, Pentecost and Holy Cross. An old English rhyme for common-folk to remember them was “Fasting Days and Emberings be, Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood and Lucie.” They were days of penitence and thankfulness for the blessings of the year. After the Council, the Holy See left it up to bishops’ conferences how or whether to celebrate them and that’s enough about that. Regardless, they are still on the calendar in the traditional liturgy and what finer way to prepare for Christmas than to recall this ancient rite of penitence and self-sacrifice as the Season of Advent is meant to be. This is a most beautiful liturgy. On all Ember Days there are additional readings or Lessons from the Old Testament, with the Advent Saturday being particularly profound with the recollection of ancient prophesies, each followed by a Gradual with the Canticle of the Three Children immediately preceding the Epistle. Yes, it is the last Saturday before Christmas, but we know that all of your shopping will be done. Regardless, take the time and besides, we will gather at a Church which has not seen the usus antiquior in a nearly a half century, St. Pius X Catholic Church on Bloor Street between Runnymede Road and Jane Street. It is all retail around so you can pick up those last minute needs afterwards and as parking will be a challenge, it is between two subway stops.