Monday, August 17, 2009

The Place for Mass in Venice



Friends who live, in Venice, together with friends who visit tell me about St Simeon Piccolo, on the Grand Canal, opposite the railway station, but my friends talk about the number of young people who attend Mass there, the beauty of the music, mainly 16th/17th Venetian.
Over the last few years, under the direction of Fr Lowenstein, this church has increasingly become the place to worship, not just for the old Venetian families and Venices artistic community but for students too. The interesting thing is that this Church, in Venetian terms, is not that significant. It is from the outside an ugly church, the dome is much too large for the facade. What is significant is that it is a Church run by the Fraternity of St Peter, so it only offers the Traditional Rite.

Last Sunday the Ordinary was: Missa "Vidi Speciosam" by T. Luis da Victoria (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei) - Credo III - Communion Motet: "Ave verum Corpus" by William Byrd - Preludio, Offertorio, Communio and Postludio: with organ music Gabrieli, J. Pachelbel ed improvvisazioni liturgiche.
The choir was "Sonore Vocal Ensemble" from Oxford directed by Thomas Primrose, Organ Scholar of Norwich Cathedral.


I was reminded about this Church by a post on NLM.


There is something quite Venetian about the website, which is well worth exploring

1 comment:

Adulio said...

I've been to mass here before. A charming church with the side altars intact. I believe this church has always had the traditional mass celebrated even past the changes. Archbishop Lefebrve once pontificated there in the early 80s with the grand-nieces of St. Pius X in the congregation.

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