St. Martin de Porres Parish hosts Latin Mass

Intermountain Catholic

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Father Jan Bednarz, pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, Taylorsville, elevates the host at the consecration of a Latin Mass celebrated Saturday morning, Dec. 1. IC photos by Barbara S. Lee

TAYLORSVILLE — Several inches of fresh snow on the valley floor didn’t stop 17 people from traveling miles to attend the Mass of the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary Saturday, Dec. 1 at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, Taylorsville. Some carried old Roman missals with Latin on the left-hand pages of the Ordinary of the Mass, and English on the right. Others picked up paperback copies of the "Latin-English Sunday Missal: The Ordinary of the 1962 Typical Edition" from the back of the church.

Although the day was a Marian feast, Father Jan Bednarz, pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, said it was a typical 9 a.m. Saturday Latin Mass, "except when it isn’t snowing like this we usually have 35 or 38 people."

Fr. Bednarz said he is celebrating the Mass in strict accordance with norms released by Pope Benedict XVI Sept. 14, 2007, permitting wider celebration of the Tridentine Mass.

Pope Benedict’s apostolic letter (the "motu proprio," published in early July, eased restrictions on the use of the 1962 Roman Missal, which governed the liturgy before the new Order of the Mass was introduced in 1970, Catholic News Service reported Nov. 7.

Fr. Bednarz said celebrating the Latin Mass reminded him of when he was an altar boy in his native Poland, "it makes me feel I am truly leading the people of God to Christ crucified."