TLM attendees: How did you discover Latin Mass? Tell us your story

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LisaB

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I’d love to hear your story - how did you discover the TLM? What made you seek it out initially? Did someone invite you? You went out of curiosity? You were unhappy with your parish? Some other reason?

Did you love it from day 1 or did it take time to warm up to it?

Anything else you want to share.
 
I’ll share my story. I converted to the faith in college, and for the next 7-8 years attended mostly traditionally minded churches - not Latin but I always chose a cathedral or a basilica as “my” parish.

Then I moved to California and had a hard time finding a traditionally minded church. I visited so many parishes, but none felt like home. When looking around online one day I stumbled across a Latin Mass community that was held in the chapel of a local cemetery. I had no idea what Latin Mass even was but went out of curiosity. It was a High Mass, and though I couldn’t follow along very well, I remember that when I walked out of church that day, I felt like I was floating on air. I immediately decided I needed to buy more skirts and a mantilla!

Yet, it took years before I switched to the TLM exclusively, mainly because my son couldn’t focus or sit still in a Latin Mass (it was slightly better at NO because vocal participation helped), and then when he got older I still liked to attend with him at least part of the time.

And it took a while to warm up to the Low Mass but now that’s what I attend most of the time.
 
Hard to believe, but I first heard of Latin Mass about twenty years ago when I was at a public swimming pool, and kids were talking about what SSPX meant. I wasn’t Catholic then myself, but it made me very curious, and when I looked into it I found out that there was a SSPX chapel in my city.
Although I wasn’t Catholic then, I had a Catholic fascination, and I became Catholic twelve years ago. I always had this Latin Mass in the back of my mind, and when I discovered that there was this FSSP option, I tried it out. I go there occasionally still, but our pastor likes us to go to our parish where the children attend. Now our youngest is out of our parish elementary school, but I don’t really feel like we should desert our local parish.
 
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When I was a kid, my father once told me Mass used to be in Latin and the priest faced the other way, but that’s all I knew of the old Mass (as a kid, it made sense to me that the Latin was dropped, but the priest facing the same way as us made a lot more sense to me).

In any event, later in life someone I knew in another state mentioned they were going to check out the “Tridentine Mass”–which they said was the way Mass used to be–at a local church with some friends–this was the first I heard of it still being done that way. Out of curiosity, I checked if there was one near me, and sure enough there was. Again, out of curiosity I went.

After this first time, I could not stay away. I was really surprised at the beautiful prayers which were now omitted. In all honesty, I was dumbfounded as to why we would have exchanged that for what we have.
 
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Growing up my family was catholic in the sense that we went to mass every Sunday and on HDO. My mother was a convert, and my father grew up In a catholic home that practiced like we now did. My mother began to become more and more annoyed With how the mass was celebrated at the parish we attended with family. The rock band at every mass, the priests homilies that consisted of speaking about Native American spirituality, and not as like A comparison to our faith, but about it and it’s good. She began doing her research, and discovered TLM about 1.5 hours away. We did not yet have TLM in our diocese. So we went there one Sunday with some friends, and we were hooked. The prayers, the reverence, The chant, the practices no longer done at the N.O. That we just couldn’t imagine why you would ever get rid of them?
Shortly after that we got our current bishop who is very traditional, and TLM began spreading across the diocese; starting first in his cathedral. We served at TLM, and have been going every since. That was 15 years ago.
 
I discovered the TLM by accident really. My regular parish at the time only had confession on Saturday, so I always went to the National Shrine of Saint Alphonsus Liguori in Baltimore for confession on my day off, which is usually Thursday. Confession was at 11:30 A.M followed by Mass at 12:10 P.M. I always left right after confession. One time I decided to stay for Mass. I remember when Mass started I was like, what in the world is this??? And I thought to myself, so this is the Mass my mom and dad were always talking about!

I was completely blindsided by the reverence and beauty that I was experiencing. The whole way home I couldn’t get it out of my mind. There’s no words to describe what I was feeling. I thought to myself, I can’t wait for the chance to experience this again. My next chance was on a Saturday. Afterwards they did the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary sung in Latin. Needless to say, I was hooked for life and I’ve never looked back!
 
I used to subscribe to a traditional Catholic paper (can’t mention it b/c my post might get flagged). There was a Catholic conference in DE which wasn’t too far from where I live. So my friend & I went down and the TLM was being offered throughout the conference.

The first day there the lady immediately in front of me turned to me and exclaimed: “Oh sweetheart, you must have your head covered!” and promptly pinned a Kleenex on my head before I could say anything.

The TLM was very quiet (later I found out it was a Low Mass) and everyone was dressed up and well-behaved even though it was in a conference hall. The priest (now deceased - he would have been 44 years a priest today 8/22) offered the TLM as solemnly and reverently as if he were in front of God Himself (which he was).

Later during the conference, my friend & I met a man from St. Jude’s outside of Philadelphia (SSPX chapel) and invited us to come to St. Jude’s. We accepted and attended Mass there on All Saints Day 1997 (Nov. 1 on the Latin calendar).

That was also a Low Mass. My friend & I sat in the first pew on the Epistle side (what we call Our Lord’s aide in a Byzantine church). I must have looked like an idiot because I was leaning forward like this to hear what the priest was saying. The only times he spoke aloud were when he faced the people and said: “Dominus vobiscum.” So I’m flipping the pages of the little red TLM booklet thinking: “OK, now where are we? Oh, we’re here.”

Somehow after acting like a total idiot the Mass ended. My friend later told me: “This is 4 times better than at my parish.” (and his OF parish is pretty conservative).

There was a social hour after Mass. I talked with the priest and told him I’m Ukrainian Catholic. He was very curious and asked me about the UGCC. So I told him the basics about the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: that we’re the largest Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See, we’re Catholic just like you etc. He was very open to learning about the Eastern Catholic Churches. (Soon after he was transferred to WA but I heard he promotes devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help [that’s my avatar]).

Eventually I learned more about the TLM and grew to love it almost as much as the Divine Liturgy. As I’ve posted before, if I couldn’t attend Divine Liturgy I’d definitely go to the TLM.

That’s my story.
 
Mark121359 said:
I discovered the TLM by accident really. My regular parish at the time only had confession on Saturday, so I always went to the National Shrine of Saint Alphonsus Liguori in Baltimore for confession on my day off, which is usually Thursday.
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This is a Fraternity (FSSP) parish, right? I see many pictures from Masses there on Facebook. Beautiful church! We are a bit less spoiled over here when it comes to church architecture.
 
LisaB said:
This is a Fraternity (FSSP) parish, right? I see many pictures from Masses there on Facebook. Beautiful church! We are a bit less spoiled over here when it comes to church architecture.
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Yes. The Shrine is entrusted to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. And yes admittedly, I’m completely spoiled by the beauty of this historic Church. I posted the following pictures of it recently on another thread about the TLM.

P.S. Excellent thread @LisaB!
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TLM - What do you love about it? Liturgy and Sacraments
I absolutely love the TLM. It is, as Fr. Frederick Faber says, “the most beautiful thing this side of heaven.” I’m also blessed to be able to attend Mass at one of, if not the most beautiful churches I’ve ever been in. The National Shrine of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Baltimore , Maryland. [1280px-Baltimore_basilica_nave2] [15 (7)] [4997366670_da23746fe7_b] [110340454_2555144041464644_1668648261373912838_o] [maycrowning2018-1]
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I’m a first generation American. My family came here in the late 80s while my mother was a child still being formed in the faith back home with the intentions of being a nun. Her abrupt move to America, whose culture was diametrically opposed to her home, did not give her an opportunity to continue in the faith. Most members of my family are Catholic. Growing up I was taught the rudimentary elements of the faith, temporal ethics and prayer, and never attended mass or received confirmation. I was baptized in an Anglican church before 3 months old and at 24 I am now a confirmed soul of the Holy Roman Apostolic Catholic Church.

Now, having Catholic family I was always aware that mass was celebrated in latin. Growing up I read my mother’s latin books from catholic school and she explained that mass was celebrated in latin and it is the language of the church. Most catholic prayer books around the home or those I knew in the family were latin. It was not until my interest in RCIA did I discover that mass had changed. I felt very uncomfortable but figured there was an explanation. My RCIA class started months after I began attending mass so I arrived knowing on a different level that there were essentially two different ways to be instructed in the faith. I battled the entire time between leaving the class, which was full of heresy and blasphemy, and going to an Extraordinary parish and receiving instruction there. In the end, after consulting those that knew more than I, I stayed to witness and proclaim the truth.

Because I live in NYC I’m blessed to have a parish within travel distance that celebrates the Tridentine mass and it has truly been a blessing in my life and others. The sacraments are upheld reverently, women show themselves, God, and the faithful respect with their veils, and the priest upholds the truth of the gospel in his homilies. The rectory has books, prayer cards and other devotionals that are relevant to truly living a catholic life. . . . I never felt the peace I do now. Receiving communion kneeling and on the tongue has strengthened my faith and truly heals the wounds of my past sins.

The church I attend has been in my vicinity for years and one day I stopped in and I discovered that they celebrate the Tridentine mass. I had already invested in latin prayer books and other forms of instruction so that I can follow along. A latin Sunday missal is a must.
 
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When I was 17 I was watching BBC news with my Anglican parents. There was an item about the excommunication of Archbishop Lefebvre for his insistence on consecrating Bishops in order to continue the Tridentine Mass; the BBC said it had been decreed unalterable by PiusV. My parents were moved by the cruelty of this act, even though they were Protestants. My father exclaimed “How can this be catholic!”

I remembered this and when, more than30years later, I was received into the church it was natural to seek out the old Mass.
 
My father always wanted to attend Latin Mass each Father’s Day.
 
There was one once a month on Sunday at 3pm, at my childhood parish.

I always saw it in the bulletin but didn’t think much about it.

Years later, there was one walking distance to my office on a holy day, so I went. Loved it

I always loved ritual and great liturgy, so I was wowed.

But it wasn’t convenient for me to go often.

Finally, when the FSSP opened a parish close to my home (inside the local school district I live it) I started to attend once or twice a month.

But Father’s homilies were great and I started to get frustrated with “lay politics” at the local parish. Too many lay people controlling what the local pastor does.

So I started finding myself attending more and more at Latin mass.

The Latin mass also had brunch (till covid) after every Sunday mass. The sense of community was amazing and it was great to be surrounded by a ton of people more devout than me.

But the icing on the cake was when the mass attendance at the local parish decreased to the level where the Archbishop removed the vicar while the Latin Mass parish gained a priest. And in the post COVID-19 world, the local parish has lost a Sunday mass while the Latin Mass parish is now adding a mass because more people are attending the FSSP Latin Mass parish In Aug 2020 than before covid-19

Being part of a devout parish that reinforces my faith is amazing. It really is more than the clergy, it’s the people too.
 
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I started going over four years ago. For about a year, I’d only get to a weekday Low Mass about once per month, but I took to it very quickly, and preferred it immediately over the Ordinary Form. It does take a little bit of time to get used to the pace of a Low Mass, but getting a handle on the basics of the Latin use in the Mass and finding the way around a missal is not very difficult. I can’t remember when I went to my first sung High Mass, but that was a truly beautiful experience.

Personally, I could not help but feel robbed that the faithful have been deprived of such a beautiful liturgy for so long. Even now, while more widely available, the Tridentine Mass is sadly out of reach for many Catholics.

As far as “discovering” the Latin Mass, I purposely set out to find one. In short, after 40+ years of attending only the Ordinary Form Mass (in multiple states, cities, and parishes) I could no longer honestly say that it gives proper reverence to God and the Eucharist.
 
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