Michel Ozorak to Receive Golden Rose Award on April 3

Tridentine Community News (March 27, 2011):

In recognition of his contribution to the musical patrimony of the Church, the Society of St. John Cantius will bestow the Golden Rose Award upon Windsor’s own Michel Ozorak next Sunday, April 3, at the 12:30 PM Extraordinary Form High Mass at Chicago’s St. John Cantius Church, one of North America’s leading sites for traditional liturgical music.


Since 2007, without fanfare and without compensation, Michel has been spending several hours per week creating sheet music to help celebrants chant the Collect (Opening Prayer), Epistle, Gospel, and Postcommunion Prayer. Almost every Sunday and major Feast Day of the year has been completed; lesser Feasts are being worked on now. To fit most any circumstance, or parish or celebrant preference, Michel has created Chant Sheets in the Festívus and Solémnis Tones (melodies) for the Collect and Postcommunion. The Gospel is available in the Antíquior, Evangélii, and Ad Líbitum Tones. His work is available on the Chant Sheets page at www.windsorlatinmass.org


Priests from around the world, the Fraternity of St. Peter Seminary, and EWTN have contacted Michel and have used his Chant Sheets, because there is no other set of sheet music like this. Altar Missals and Lectionaries only contain the text of these Propers, and not sheet music, because in previous eras it was assumed that priests had been trained in the various Tones and could adapt the text to their preferred Tone on the fly. Since that is no longer the case (and arguably may never have been for many priests), a tutorial work was in order. What started as a manually scribbled set of sheets to assist Fr. Hrytsyk with learning Gregorian Chant took on a life of its own once Fr. Josef Bisig, co-founder of the FSSP, discovered Michel’s work and promoted it within the Fraternity.

The Golden Rose is an award traditionally awarded by Popes to accomplished Catholics. The Society of St. John Cantius is following in this custom and has certainly identified someone who has made a significant contribution to the Church. We congratulate Michel – and his family, who have undoubtedly given up time with him so he could work on this project – and wish them God’s blessings for persisting in creating such an important body of sheet music. The restoration of Gregorian Chant to everyday parish life depends on such efforts.

The Mass and award presentation are open to the public, so readers who may be in Chicago next Sunday might find it interesting to attend.

Propers for the Ferias of Lent

You may have noticed that there are more Ferias than usual on the Church Calendar during Lent. Outside of Lent and Advent, Ferias are usually Fourth Class Feasts on which the Mass of the previous Sunday is repeated. A Votive Mass may be substituted on a Fourth Class Feria, including the Daily Mass for the Dead (Requiem Mass). In Lent, however, Ferias are Third Class Feasts and may not be overridden so easily. They have their own Propers and are not repeats of the Sunday Mass. In the event that a special Feast Day overrides a Feria, such as the First Class Feast of St. Joseph on March 19, the Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion of the Feria are prayed as Commemorations after the primary Orations of the Feast. The generally lengthier Scripture readings during Lent are meant to convey progressing themes during the liturgical season.

Ferias of Lent can have unique structure. For example, there is usually a Prayer Over the People following the Postcommunion Prayer at the end of Mass. There may or may not be a Tract specified. There may be more than two readings: On Ember Wednesday in the First Week of Lent, for instance, there are two readings before the Gospel instead of the usual one, each of which is preceded by a Collect prayer.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

Mon. 03/28 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Feria of Monday in the Third Week of Lent)

Tue. 03/29 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Assumption-Windsor (Feria of Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent)

Sun. 04/03 12:30 PM: Pontifical Low Mass celebrated by Bishop Earl Boyea at Old St. Patrick, Ann Arbor (Lætáre Sunday)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for March 27, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]