British playwright Stephen Unwin’s new play, All Our Children, had its American premiere at the Sheen Center in New York in April and May. A work of historical fiction based on the systematic murder of disabled children by the Nazi regime, it has one historical personage as a character in the play: Blessed Read more…
On Saturday, April 27th, Bishop Mario Aviles, Auxilary of the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, celebrated the 5pm Mass at Holy Family Church. A member of the Pharr Oratory prior to his ordination as bishop, as well as former Procurator General of the Oratorian Confederation, Bishop Aviles came to Toronto to baptize Read more…
On Tuesday, April 23, 2019, His Excellency Terrence Prendergast, S.J., Archbishop of Ottawa, ordained Mr. Teodor-Gheorghe Avram, S.J. to the subdiaconate at Holy Family Church. Archbishop Prendergast, a longtime friend of the Toronto Oratory, enlisted the Oratorians’ liturgical experience with the old rite to mount the ordination, as traditionally conferred, Read more…
For more than a year, the Toronto Oratory has been engaged in a fund-raising campaign, Renovatio: Rebuild and Renew, towards the goals of replacing two buildings of St. Philip’s Seminary with a safer and more suitable structure, and of establishing an endowment fund to secure the Oratory’s future. The generosity of Read more…
Next Sunday, March 17th Two motets from the 1560s exemplify the tendency toward dramatic text painting in Italian sacred music of the late Renaissance: Timor et tremor by Orlandus Lassus (to be sung at Sunday Mass) and Adesto dolori meo by Giaches de Wert (to be sung at Sunday Vespers). Read more…
There are not many pieces of Renaissance choral music that could be termed “big hits” by contemporary standards, but admirers of the style will recognize a few pieces that are especially frequently performed and recorded – works like Palestrina’s Sicut cervus, Byrd’s Ave verum corpus, and Victoria’s O magnum mysterium. Read more…
As part of the Oratory’s commitment to fostering the liturgical arts, this Ash Wednesday marked the first appearance of a new set of Solemn Mass vestments, made by our Brother Sacristan. Inspired by the shape and cut of vestments from the Italian and Spanish cinquecento, they harmonize beautifully with the Read more…
After teaching Dante’s Inferno, for many years to students at St Philip’s Seminary, Fr Paul Pearson has just published a running commentary on this book entitled Spiritual Direction from Dante: Avoiding the Inferno (TAN Books, 2019). The subtitle can be taken in two ways: Fr Paul’s new book is for those who have avoided reading Read more…
On Monday, February 25th at 8 p.m. the Oratorians offered a Solemn High Mass celebrating the anniversary of the dedication of Holy Family Church. (On June 13th, 1997, a fire gutted the original Holy Family Church. After a fundraising drive during which Sunday Masses were held in the school gymnasium, Read more…
The Fathers and Brothers are delighted to be able to update our readers on the progress of Renovatio so far. Since beginning our fundraising campaign just over a year ago, we have raised almost $5 million. This is a wonderful achievement, and we wish to thank all our benefactors who have given Read more…