• 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.  

19 August 2018, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) 

IntroitProtector noster, begin on F (as fa)

(Year B) AlleluiaCaro mea, begin on D (as fa)

OffertoryLead kindly Light, p. 298. 

Communion (Year B)Qui manducat, begin on D (as do)

RecessionalLove divine all loves excelling, p. 276.

Mass XI, PBC p. 58. Credo III, PBC p. 77

The phrasing in the Introit antiphon is clear; but the two phrases are long. So despite the ideal phrasing, we'll grab a quick breath after Deus and tuis.

  1. (a) Protector noster aspice Deus (b) et respice in faciem Christi tui
  2. (a) quia melior est dies una in atriis tuis (b) super milia.

The first phrase has a middle cadence on the finale and a final cadence on the dominant after an emphatic b. It is dominated by the petitions aspice and respice. Aspice is not an outcry, as it is in the Introit for Palm Sunday; nevertheless the fourth and the accented make it quite insistent. Without God the weakness of man is indeed wont to fall. Assistance from above is absolutely necessary if we would folllow the dictates of the spirit always and in all things. Hence this aspice and respice. But Christi tui receives still greater stress. When we have congregated in the house of God (atriis tuis), we may pray to Him: We are Your anointed, Your Christ; we belong to the mystic body of Christ, having become conformable to the image of Christ through sanctifying grace. Hence we may expect Your special protection. The love which You bear to Your Son Christ overflows upon Your children, the Christ-ians, Your anointed ones.

            In singing this piece be careful not to slight the low over (Pro)-te-(ctor). It is the beginning of a crescendo that must increase till it reaches c. Perhaps this d e f g a served as a model for the f g a c d c over (faci)-em Christi; it is heard again over super mil-(lia). The beginning of the second phrase on b♭ tends to make the closing melisma of the preceding tui mellow and tender. For here we are speaking of the consolation that our soul so eagerly receives in church, in the house of God. Here we ever become more conformable to the image of Christ; here our soul finds its true home in the heart of God. Were it to taste all the joy of the world for a thousand days or a thousand years, it would still be homesick and would long for its true happiness—union with God. The b over quia and over the similar melior is influenced by the following f, just as later over una calls for b. Una is emphasized, but millia has the richest melisma of the entire composition. But the treasures of grace which are available in God's holy place deepen our yearning for that great day which shall know no evening, for the contemplation of Christ (in faciem Christi).

The Alleluia verse is that of Corpus Christi, placed here because the Gospel pericope today is from the 6th chapter of St John’s Gospel, the great ‘Eucharistic discourse.’ 

The Alleluia verse has two long phrases that we will subdivide: 

  1. (a) Caro mea vere est cibus, 

(b) et sanguis meus vere est potus

  1. (a) qui manducat meam carnem, 

(b) et bibit meum sanguinem, 

(c) in me manet et ego in eo 

The disciples on the way to Emmaus earnestly begged the Lord to remain with them, for the night was approaching. Here our Saviour not only gives us the assurance that He will remain with us, but that He will remain in us when we are united with Him in Holy Communion. Thus the indefectible Light itself, the Light which can never be dimmed, is within us. We will be filled with the life and strength from which all the saints have drawn. He truly is what our hungering and thirsting soul needs in life and still more in death. This chant expresses thanks for these graces. 

Alleluia with its jubilus has the form abc; no inner relationship exists between it and the melody of the verse. Several times during the year we meet this verse melody: on Corpus Christi, on the feast of the Transfiguration, on the feast of St. Lawrence, on the feast of St. Michael (second Alleluia), and on the feast of the Holy Rosary. In the most ancient manuscripts it is found with the text Laetabitur justus: ‘The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in Him: and all the upright in heart shall be praised.’ The melody is truly born of the text, an energetic song of exultation, which leaves this earth far below it and soars upward—describing the joy and the delight of the singer. The original, sadly, is no longer sung. In it, the beauty and clarity of the structure, which is psalmodic in character, is better revealed. Two phrases begin with an intonation and then have a florid middle cadence. In the first phrase there follows not a mere recitation on the tenor, but a very ornate melisma with a repetition; finally comes the closing cadence. The melody of alleluia with its jubilus is joined to the last words of the verse to form the third phrase. The first part of the original expresses an independent thought, ‘The just shall rejoice in the Lord,’ whence the pause on the dominant after the middle cadence. But towers above the two parts. A brief survey will show the relation between the original composition and the adaptations mentioned above.

FIRST PART 

Intonation                                                                                          Middle Cadence

    Laetabitur                          justus                                                 in Domino

  1. Cam mea                          vereest cibus                                               et sanguis meus
  2. Candor est                        lucis                                                    aeternae
  3. Levita                                 Laurentius                                         bonum opus
  4. Concussum                                   est mare                                            et contremuit
  5. Solemnitas                                    gloriosae                                           Virginis

 

Florid Melisma                                                                                              Closing Cadence

Et spera-                                                        -bit in eo

  1. vere est potus, qui manducat                                                    meam carnem
  2. et speculum sine ma-                                                                              -cu-la
  3. opera-                                                                                            -tus est
  4. terra                                                                                                [without closing cadence]
  5. Mariaeex semine                                                                        Abrahae

SECOND PART       

Intonation                                          Middle Cadence                  Closing Cadence

    et lauda-                                        buntur                                    omnes

  1. et bibit                                            meum                                                 sanguinem
  2. et                                                     imago                                                 bonitatis
  3. qui per signum                             crucis                                     caecos
  4. [irregular]                                       ubi Archangelus                   Michael descende-
  5. ortae                                               de tribu                                              Juda

Juda

THIRD PART            

    recti corde

  1. in me manet et ego in eo
  2. illius.
  3. illuminavit.
  4. -bat de caelo.
  5. clara ex stirpe David.

The structure is clearest in the verse Laetabitur. Of the others, verse 2, that is, that of the feast of the Transfiguration, bears the closest resemblance. The third also is good. In 1, a new thought begins with the melisma that is repeated, thus handicapping the effectiveness of the melody; for its upward surge, about which there can be no doubt in this type of Alleluia, is thereby weakened. The third part, whose melody is formed somewhat differently, does not give the feeling of a finished organic whole in which all parts are attuned to one another.

(Year B) The Communion antiphon is sung also on the Saturday of the third week of Easter and on Corpus Christi (OF), and on Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent (EF). It has two phrases:

  1. Qui manducat carnem meam et bibit sanguinem meum in me manet
  2. et ego in eo, dicit Dominus.

The melody begins with a sublime simplicity. In the second half-phrase the first half-phrase is given a more elaborate form. The endings of the parts of the phrase (meam and meum) are characterized by corresponding formulas. No doubt this is the technical reason why the more important words carnem and sanguinem do not stand out so prominently. Now follows the expressive in me manet with a descending fourth, which must be given special warmth. It is answered by a rising fourth in ego in eo. Thus both thoughts are placed in strong relief: You in me and I in You. The prolonged b at the beginning of dicit, which has been avoided so far, is to impress upon us that the word of God is of unfailing efficacy and harbors in itself the fullness of consolation.

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Address and Phone

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

Click Here for Directions

 

Copyright © 2023 St. Mary of Victories Catholic Church. All Rights Reserved.
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!