September Vespers with Ron, Fr. Harry, and Fr. Federico

Last Sunday, 20 September, the Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego sang Vespers at St. Augustine's Monastery Chapel. Fr. Harry Neely, O.S.A., whom we thank for his hospitality and willingness to lead us in prayer, served as Hebdomadary. Thanks also to Fr. Federico Masutti, F.S.S.P., who after Vespers celebrated Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. These were the first Vespers sung in the company of our brother Ronald Clemente after many months of separation. Ron has recently returned to San Diego after a tour of duty in Afghanistan with the Army Reserve. We are grateful to God and St. Philip for protecting Ron and returning him safely to us. Laus Deo!

September and October Events

The Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego are pleased to present to our friends and benefactors the following schedule of events for the months of September and October:

Sunday, September 20, 3 P.M.
Vespers of the 16th Sunday after Pentecost
St. Augustine's Monastery Chapel
3266 Nutmeg St.,
South Park, San Diego CA, 92104

Monday, September 28, 7 P.M.
Missa Cantata on the Feast of St. Wenceslaus I, Duke,
Martyr and Patron of Bohemia
St. Augustine's Monastery Chapel
3266 Nutmeg St.,
South Park, San Diego CA, 92104

Tuesday, October 13, 7 P.M.
Missa Cantata on the feast of St. Edward the Confessor,
King of England
St. Augustine's Monastery Chapel
3266 Nutmeg St.,
South Park, San Diego CA, 92104

Saturday, October 24, 8 A.M.
Seven Churches Pilgrimage
Departing from St. Anne's Catholic Church
(following 7:15am mass)
621 Sicard St
San Diego, CA 92113-2396
We will walk while singing hymn and praying the Rosary to Immaculate Conception Church in Old Town, stopping to visit the churches along the way.

Saturday, October 31,
Vespers for the Vigil of All Saints
Location and time to be announced

Brothers' Sung Mass for August

Brother's Monthly Sung Mass will be celebrated this

Friday, 21 August 2009 at 7:00pm, in
St. Augustine's Monastery Chapel,
3266 Nutmeg St.,
San Diego CA 92104.

This Friday's mass falls on the Feast of St. Jane Fremiot de Chantal, and will be the Missa "Cognovi" from the Commons of a Holy Woman. The mass will feature a sung Gregorian ordinary, Mass IV, and full Gregorian propers. The public is invited to attend. Donations received will benefit St. Augustine's Monastery.

Brothers sing Assumption Vespers at St. Augustine's Monastery

First Vespers of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary were sung at St. Augustine's Friday evening, 14 August, 2009. Although the Vespers were hardly announced except through Facebook, and were in fact semi-private, a number of public congregants attended, including two of the Augustinian Fathers in residence at St. Augustine's.


Fr. Federico Masutti, F.S.S.P. served as Hebdomadary, making his first association with the Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego and Chorus Breviarii. It is hoped that this will be the first of many.



Six Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego were present in choir, including George Pecoraro, Richard Dawes, Roberto Lionello, David Latorre, Thomas Gray, and John Polhamus, who provided organ accompaniment for the service. Along with these were three Chorus Breviarii members, Jon T. Velasco, Andrew Morales, and James Covalt, who served as MC for the first time.

The Brothers and members of Chorus Breviarii wish all a Happy Feast of Our Lady's Assumption. Ora pro nobis, Sancta Dei Genetrix, ut digni efficiamur promisionibus Christi.

1st Vespers of the Assumption this Friday Evening

The Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego will sing 1st Vespers of the Feast of the Assumption of the B.V.M. this Friday evening, 14 August, 2009 at 7:00pm in St. Augustine's Monastery Chapel, 3266 Nutmeg St., San DIego, CA 92104

Fr. Federico Masutti, F.S.S.P. will be the Hebdomadary of the Vespers. Fr. Masutti is the newly arrived Associate Pastor of St. Anne's Catholic Church on Sicard Street in Logan Heights. This will be Fr. Masutti's first service with the Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego. Please join us to greet him on this great feast of Our Lady.

The public are invited to attend.

Friday Evening Sung Mass

The monthly Mass for the intentions of the Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego will be sung on:

Friday evening, 10 July 2009, 7:00pm.
St. Augustine's Monastery Chapel
3266 Nutmeg St.,
South Park, San Diego CA, 92104

Fr. Harry Neely OSA, celebrant.

The propers and ordinary will be sung in Gregorian chant by a schola of the Brothers, and will include Mass VI (Rex Genitor), the motet "O quam suavis", and the solemn tone Salve Regina.

Appropriately, Friday's mass in the Extraordinary Form is for the Feast of Ss. Rufina and Secunda, and the Seven Holy Brothers, the dominant theme of the mass being brotherhood or fraternity.

The public are welcome to attend.

A New Oratorian Beato!

It's been a busy year for John Henry Cardinal Newman! It is no accident that a society bearing his name led the opposition to the giving of an honorary Doctorate of Law to Barack Obama a little over a month ago, in strong defense of the integrity of Catholic doctrine and its social application. Had he been alive in the flesh he could not have been more present. Then three days ago, on 3 July 2009, his first miracle approved by a board of cardinal theological consultors, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree which cleared the way for the beatification of perhaps the most famous, and most Catholic convert to our faith in modern times.

Birmingham, England (city of the cardinal's own Oratorian congregation) has been mentioned as a possible site for the beatification, although Westminster Cathedral might be the most desirable option, as this is a beato for all England, for all the English speaking world, and for all the world in general. The great London Byzantine cathedral has a new Cardinal, H.E. Vincent Nichols, and a new, more orthodox direction: a new English beato would be the crowning glory, and the liturgy would afford a platform for projecting all three.

Is it likewise any accident that this particular saint, one of the most intellectually incisive of this or any other age, probably more prolific and philosophically influential than any recent prelate outside the late pontiff John Paul II, has had his beatification delayed for so long, until just now? Looking at the contemporary assault on the church being waged by the forces of relativism and secularism, and the burgeoning trend not of resistance, but of re-conversion within the church itself by a younger generation of hierarchs seeking the implementation of the hermeneutic of continuity, can there be any doubt as to why the Almighty has waited until now to prove his saint's intercessory efficaciousness?

Cardinal Newman is so much more than the benign "advocate for the cause of students" that the frequently banal "Newman Centers" of American secular universities make him out to be. In fact, Cardinal Newman was an advocate of specifically Catholic education and therefore Catholic students, and held forthright and unwavering convictions regarding the integrity and undeniability of Roman Catholic doctrine, and of the inevitability of conversion as a result of their rational logic. To paint him as oecumenical in the modern sense is no longer an option. This is a Roman Catholic beato to the core.

Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman's voice is poised to echo ever louder in the face of this contemporary assault. And even though Our Lord and His vicar may save canonization for another crisis and another needful generation, the Cardinal's Oratorian sons and brothers rejoice at his renewed presence among their congregations, and in the church at large.

Soon to be Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, intercede for us, for Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, and for the Congregations of the Oratory.