Second Sunday after Epiphany, "Tu Es Petrus"
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    This year, the second Sunday after Epiphany (using the '62 Calendar) is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter and that of St. Priscae, virgin martyr. Our schola has been invited to sing this Mass in the EF.

    I have a question about required chants. As I understand it from the 62 Graduale, it falls out like this:

    IN. Statuit
    GR. Exaltent eum
    AL. Tu es Petrus
    OF. Tu es Petrus
    CO. Tu es Petrus

    I note that the '62 Graduale specifies another chant, described thus:
    Eadem die.
    S. Priscae Virginis et Martyris.
    Missa. Me exspectavérunt. [55].
    This chant is an Introit in mode II.

    Three questions:

    1. How do we interpret this latter specification? Should it replace "Statuit"?
    2. I'd like some polyphony for the Offertory. Recommendations? The request for us to sing this Mass came just last week. We are all male voices with no countertenors. Are there any do-able motets out there? I will adapt or write something as a last resort.
    3. I want to give St. Prisca her due. What's the best way of doing that?
  • Jeffrey MorseJeffrey Morse
    Posts: 202
    The Feast of the Chair of St Peter (february 22) falls on Quinquagesima Sunday this year (not Epiphany II), and the Feast of the Chair of St Peter is merely commemorated after the collect of the day. The commemoration does not effect the choir at all, the propers being those of Quinquagesima Sunday. The second Sunday after Epiphany is on January 18th this year. I hope this clarifies things a bit.
  • Jeffrey MorseJeffrey Morse
    Posts: 202
    Follow up....

    I just realised the reason for the mix-up. The Chair of St Peter used to be celebrated on January 18, but is no longer, according to the calendar of the 1962 Missal. The above information I took from the 2009 Ordo of the Fraternity of St Peter. On January 18th the Mass is just the one for Epiphany II. I have run across errors like the one you encountered in the '62 Graduale as well as the post-1955 editions of the Liber Usualis with the sanctoral in particular. I suppose it wasn't worth type setting the whole book again for a few changes, so don't be fooled by the 1962 date, check an Ordo or a good liturgical calendar. My guess is that the feast was changed either in 1955 or perhaps shortly before the '62 Missal was published, I have a vague memory of reading that it was merged with another Feast of the Chair of St Peter (at Antioch?), though I'm sure one of our liturgical experts on here can elucidate the reason for the change and when it actually happened. As for St Prisca, she would not even be commemorated.
  • TBL
    Posts: 13
    Pes -- Jeffrey is correct; the propers of Jan 18 will be of the Second Sunday after Epiphany only, and there's no commemorations at that Mass.

    Formerly, there were two feasts for the Chair of St Peter in the universal calendar: Jan 18 (traditionally assoc. with St Peter's Chair at Rome) and Feb 22 (St Peter's Chair at Antioch). They were merged into one feast in the calendar reforms introduced by Pope John XXIII in 1960. And as Jeffrey Morse has pointed out, it was the Feb. date that was retained. IIRC, saints (...or chairs and other holy things) with multiple 2nd class feasts had the "duplications" removed. The Invention of the Holy Cross and the Apparition of St Michael are other examples of feasts taken off the general calendar in those reforms, for that same reason.
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    Man, am I ever glad I asked. Thank you! I'll be checking the FSSP Ordo from now on.
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