Chicago Church Tour to Break New Ground: First Public Tridentine Mass at St. Mary of the Angels

Tridentine Community News (December 25, 2011):

King of the bus tours Michael Semaan has outdone himself this time. Not only has he put together a riveting two-day tour of ten of Chicago’s most famous historic churches on Thursday and Friday, December 29-30, he has also secured permission for Extraordinary Form Masses to be celebrated in two of them.

One of North America’s best-renowned churches for reverent celebrations of Holy Mass in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms, St. John Cantius Church is known as a source of Latin Mass tutorial materials. The ubiquitous Red Missals were originally designed for this parish. More recently, they published Michel Ozorak’s book of Chant Sheets. Mass [was] celebrated there on Thursday, December 29 at 1:15 PM.

On Friday, December 30 at 10:00 AM, the first public Tridentine Mass in over 40 years [was] celebrated at the stunning St. Mary of the Angels Church, currently administered by priests of Opus Dei [below photo © 2009, Jeremy Atherton]. Originally threatened with demolition, St. Mary enjoyed a renaissance in the 1990s and has been restored to its original opulent appearance.


Both Masses [were] celebrated by Detroit’s own Fr. Titus Kieninger, ORC. Music [was] provided by Detroit’s St. Joseph Cappella. St. Josaphat and Windsor’s Assumption Churches [provided] the altar servers. It [was] a great privilege for our Detroit Latin Mass team to be a part of this memorable event.

[Two tour buses were taken from Metro Detroit. Both Masses were open to the public.]

A Hidden Gem: The Rosary Chapel at Windsor’s Assumption Church

It’s not all that unusual for a parish to have a secondary chapel for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Few parishes, however, have a chapel as distinctive as the historic Rosary Chapel at Assumption Church.


Seating approximately 70 people, the Rosary Chapel is used for Morning Prayer, weekday Mass in the Ordinary Form, and Eucharistic Adoration. Built in 1907 and restored a decade ago, it sports a High Altar, a Communion Rail, magnificent stained glass, and that rarest of features in an historic church, air conditioning. Despite its small size, it contains three confessionals. Though it lacks an organ, its live and reverberant acoustics make an excellent setting for a cappella music. Because of two recent events in the main church, the Tridentine Mass has been held in the Rosary Chapel twice over the past month, a different but inspiring experience. Visitors to Assumption should make a point to stop in to the chapel to see another one of our region’s architectural marvels.

Tridentine Masses This Week

Mon. 12/26 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (St. Stephen, Deacon & Protomartyr)

Tue. 12/27 7:00 PM: High Mass at both Assumption-Windsor and St. Josaphat (St. John, Apostle & Evangelist)

Wed. 12/28 7:00 PM: High Mass at St. Josaphat (Holy Innocents)

[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 December 25, 2011. Hat tip to A.B.]