The Mass itself

All Souls Day is Nov 2nd and every year Holy Comforter Catholic Church celebrates a Traditional Latin Requiem Mass. A catafalque is placed in the front covered by a black cloth to represent all those who have died. A catafalque is a structure that represents a coffin although there is no body in it. Our Catafalque is made out of pipes and cardboard but covered in the black cloth it is easy to believe it is a real coffin. Near the end of Mass, the men’s schola began chanting the “Libera me” which pleads the Lord to deliver us from Hell. The choir then continued with the Kyrie and a Pater Noster. Father then sprinkled the catafalque with holy water to absolve all the souls who have died and then he incensed it. He then went on to pray a special prayer ending with “Requiescant in pace.” “Amen” the congregation chanted. Mass was followed by sung compline.

Music

One of the things that makes this Mass unique is the music we sang. This year we sang Palestrina’s Missa De Profundis (Requiem) Mass setting. And as always we sang the sequence for the Mass of the dead: the Dies Irae. It predicts the last day and calls out for mercy. “That day of wrath, that dreadful day, shall heaven and earth in ashes lay, as David and the Sybil say.” “How worthless are my prayers I know, yet, Lord forbid that I should go into the fires of endless woe.”(Dies Irae) After all 19 verses, it is very clear to us how much we need God’s mercy on the final day. Instead of chanting the last two verses, we sang Mozart’s Lacrimosa which is by far my favorite piece we sang. We also sang Byrd’s Ave Verum and Tallis’s “Verily Verily I say to you.” You can find recordings of these songs sung by other choirs on this Spotify playlist.

What makes it unique

This is the only day of the year, besides a funeral or Mass of the dead, that Father wears the black chasable and the black chalice veil is used. The linens are also changed to purple for All Souls Day. Another unique thing about the requiem mass is that the Agnus Die is changed a bit on this day. We sang it as follows:
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them rest eternal.

This is how we begin November, the month in which we pray for the souls in purgatory. It is a good practice, throughout this month, to visit a cemetery in order to pray for the souls of all who have died.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.

Mozart’s Lacrimosa
In the above recording our choir is singing an excerpt from Mozart’s Requiem, Lacrimosa. This Requiem was written at the request of a mysterious man who would not share his identity. He asked Mozart to compose it and gave him half of the money and promised the other half when he was finished. Unfortunately, though, Mozart died before he had completed it. His wife, wanting to receive the rest of the money for the music, secretly found someone to complete it. A former pupil of Mozart’s Franz Xaver Süssmayr ended up completing Mozart’s work. After writing the high part at the beginning of the Lacrimosa, Mozart died and Franz took over. Mozart’s wife was able to convince the mysterious man that this piece was all Mozart’s work. She even forged his signature. This is how the famous Requiem came about.