Ten years ago on this date, Summorum Pontificum - Pope Benedict XVI's historic decree liberating the traditional Roman Rite for celebration by all Latin Rite priests - came into force. Over those ten years, the number of regular Traditional Masses in the United States has grown from less than 200 to well over 500, increasingly celebrated by hundreds of young priests born well after its de facto disappearance in the 1960's. Join us in the Lourdes Chapel at the National Shrine (crypt level) for a reflection by one of these priests on what the Traditional Mass is, and what it means, ten years on.

The recollection will be preceded by a Sung Mass in the Extraordinary Form, with chant by the schola of St. Francis de Sales, celebrating the ancient Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. "But it behooves us to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: in Whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection: by Whom we are saved, and delivered." (Introit)

4:00 pm
Thursday, Sept 14, 2017
Lourdes Chapel (just to the left of the crypt church), Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC