• Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

  • Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

  • Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

  • Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

  • Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

  • Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

  • Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

  • Saint Mary of Victories

    Catholic Church

    Reverent  Faithful  Welcoming 

    Since 1843

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About St. Mary of Victories

Historic Saint Mary of Victories Catholic Church, just south of the Gateway Arch, is a splendid and unique part of the heritage of old Saint Louis.

Founded in 1843 for German immigrants, it became the city's Hungarian Catholic Church and cultural center in 1956. Its acclaimed architecture, beautiful old paintings, ornate statuary and noted historical personalities have earned it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the few consecrated churches in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and has a magnificent high altar with hundreds of sacred relics.

Saint Mary’s accordingly offers a classically reverent style of worship in proclaiming the joy of Christ's Gospel to locals and tourists alike. The 11 a.m. Sunday Mass is mainly in English, with a touch of Hungarian in Scripture and song.

Read the Whole Story...  

Reflections From Our Saints...

  • SMOV - Infant of Prague
  • St. Therese of Liseaux
  • St. Elizabeth of Hungary
  • SMOV - Cabrini
  • SMOV - Anthony (1)
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History

St. Mary of Victories has played an important role in the development of St. Louis... Read More
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Architecture

St. Mary of Victories is an excellent example of pre-Civil War architecture in St. Louis... Read More
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Hungarian Parish

St. Mary of Victories has been the official home of the Hungarian Catholics in St. Louis since 1957... Read More
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Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos once preached at St. Mary of Victories... Read More
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Latin Novus Ordo Mass

St. Mary of Victories is the only place in St. Louis that celebrates the Modern Rite, ad orientem, with Gregorian Chant... Read More
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Liturgy Schedule

Mass Times

11:00 AM Sunday - Third Sunday ONLY

Ordinary Form Mass, Traditional Music, Some Latin
Hungarian Lunch After Mass - Usually $10

Confessions:  Sundays at 10:30 am
Tours Conducted Sundays after Mass

The Facilties are Not Open Other Sundays Of the Month (No Lunch)

 THERE IS NO DAILY MASS AT SMV CHAPEL

Latin Ordinary Form Mass with Gregorian Chant - One Saturday Per Month

See Web Page or Facebook Group (or Call) for Details

                                                                                                           

Note:  the 7 pm Saturday and 9 am Sunday Masses have been discontinued.  

Monday, 4 April 2016, In Annuntiatione Domini - EF Missa Cantata 7pm

Introit: Vultum tuum,

Alleluia: Ave Maria

Alleluia: Virga Jesse

Offertory: Ave Maria, with verses from Offertoriale Triplex.

Communion: Ecce Virgo

Recessional: Regina Caeli, PBC, p. 121

Ordinary from Mass I. Credo I.

This is one of the Church's oldest feasts and can be traced back to (at least) the 5th century. Its chants are contained in the oldest manuscripts, although the Mass as such is post-Gregorian. In the manuscripts this Introit is assigned to the 1st of January, with the superscription Statio ad Sanctam Mariam, as well as to today's feast, to the feast of the Assumption, and also to the feasts of St. Agnes (21 January) and St. Euphemia (16 September), perhaps as a reflection of the second and third phrases. It is also one of the Introits of the Common of one Virgin. It has three (or two*) phrases:

  1. Vultum tuum deprecabuntur omnes divites plebis:
  2. adducentur regi virgines post eam;
  3. proximae ejus adducentur tibi in laetitia et exsultatione.

*Some manuscripts connect the 2nd and 3rd phrases into one.

            The melody moves up and down gracefully but in a very tight way, sensing the presence of the majesty of Him whom Mary carries in her womb: super quem Reges continebunt os suum. The second phrase presents Mary as an ideal of perfect virginity. Following in her footsteps (post eam), countless virgins (virgines) have found their perfect joy in the King of Kings. The accented syllable here, as is often the case, has only one note while the syllable following has several. The same holds good with regard to the secondary accent on deprecabuntur and adducentur. The melody moves in simple fashion within the tetrachord d-g. The first half of the third phrase likewise confines itself to a tetrachord (c-f). The interval of a fourth over adducentur looks back to (di)-vites of the first phrase.

The first part of the great Alleluia has two phrases:

  1. Ave Maria gratia plena: Dominus tecum
  2. Benedicta tu in mulieribus:

This Alleluia, in the form a b b, is based on a very early melody (Einsedeln 121). It appears in the Alleluia verse Eripe me from the 9th Sunday after Pentecost (perhaps the original?), in the Offertory of Wednesday in Passion Week, and was adapted to this Alleluia for the BVM as early as the 11c. The first two members are almost identical. The coda-like close with its seconds in both parts lends a sense of stillness and calm. Some unrest is again felt in the third member with its fourth and the descent to low a. In the annotated manuscripts the neumes over Ave and Dominus in the first phrase are given the broad form. The rhythmic marks indicate a solemn and heavy moment, as befits the great responsibility that Mary accepts. But as one commentator remarks: ‘At the thought of God’s presence, the soul forgets its incipient fear. It is so conscious of the divine presence that it lets itself be rapt into pure contemplation.’ In all this praying and beseeching it must not be forgotten that the petition is framed by Alleluia. In the melodic turn over plena and tecum we are reminded of the effective passage de ore leonis in the Offertory of the Mass for the Dead—effective because it enhances the earnestness of the phrase. Until the repetition of the jubilus is reached at mulieribus, all pauses close on the tonic. Though this is somewhat inartistic, it fits quite well into the reflective mood of the entire piece.

The second part has three phrases:

  1. Virga Jesse floruit:
  2. Virgo Deum et hominem genuit:
  3. pacem Deus reddidit
  4. in se reconcilians ima summis.

The text as such forms a beautiful panegyric, and, coupled with its sweet melody, is like a bouquet of fragrant blossoms which becomes a genuine delight to the singer. Alleluia with its jubilus forms the theme, and is repeated with variations in the verse. The introductory resembles the Alleluia Dulce lignum on May 3. The first half of the melody over –lu- is repeated over virga, is developed over se reconcili-(ans), and simplified over (reddi)-dit. The second half of the same melody terminates phrases and half-phrases no less than five times, and yet this repetition is ever delightful; in most cases these phrases have a varied introduction.

The first part of the jubilus has an interval of a fifth; the concluding part has the same range. This interval reappears over Jesse and over pacem. All combine and effectively depict for us how God alone can grant the inestimable treasure of peace. The second part of the jubilus produces an after-effect at (Vir)-go.

The Offertory and Communion antiphons are also sung on the 4th Sunday of Advent, whose Mass formulary also celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation in the womb of the Virgin. This Offertory is always at or at least near the top of the list of 'most beautiful' or 'most beloved' pieces in the Gregorian Mass repertory. It has four phrases:

  1. Ave Maria,
  2. gratia plena,
  3. Dominus tecum:
  4. benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui.

The melody tries valiantly to capture the awe-some nature of the most momentous event in human history, one completely beyond human undertanding or appreciation. So it sinks into the deep with gratia, tecum, fructus; rises slowly with Ave, gratia, ventris; and again soars over Maria. Over Ave the passage f a f g f e is soon followed by the similar f a f g a g. After the upbeat over the first note of Maria, the grouping of the neums here given suggests a division into two-note groups: a cc cc | cagf | gaca | fgg. The two bistrophas, naturally, are to be sung with a very light swing. Plena is made prominent by its pressus, the first in this piece. We do not find the passage Dominus tecum in the early manuscripts; its melody is found in the Offertory-verses Posuisti and Angelus over the words gloria and stetit respectively. With some variations, this tyle of singing the verses was adapted to the text of the Offertory Beata es, which is sung on September 8 and on some other feasts. Here the melody occurs over the word virgo.

            The second member is a repetition of the first. The brilliant phrase benedicta is characterized by its high pitch and by repeated and impressive accents: c d e e-c d d c-c d a a g-g c c b; then by the fourths d-a, g-c, a-d. These accents are still active in the last phrase: f g a a g, g a f f e , and g a a gg.

The Communion antiphon has two phrases.

  1. Ecce virgo concipiet, et pariet filium
  2. et vocabitur nomen ejus Emmanuel

This Communion has many echos of that of the first Sunday of Advent: the same mode, the same range, the same divisions, an arsis-movement in the first phrase resting on the dominant, then a thesis-movement in the second phrase. Both over benignitatem and pariet we find the use of a five-step scale with no semitones (pentatony). But with this Communion Ecce virgo, we have a descending fourth over virgo, sol-re, and a fourth higher over pa-(riet), re-la; then an ascending fourth over et vo-(cabitur), sol-do-do. In pariet filium, the melody echoes the high pitched cry of a woman in the pangs of childbirth, then goes on to settle quietly as we contemplate the awe-some & wonderful reality of who this child is: emmanu-El. God with us.

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Address and Phone

744 South 3rd Street (at Gratiot)
Saint Louis, MO 63102-1645
(314) 231-8101

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Our Lady of Victories, Pray for Us!  St. Stephen of Hungary, Pray for Us!
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos and Venerable Cardinal Mindszenty, Pray for Us!