2541 Earl Rudder Freeway South
College Station, TX 77845
979-693-6994
What is a "Principal Mass"?
Throughout the history of the Church, She has developed a beautiful and elaborate form of worshiping God. She developed particular elevated practices that set aside worship as something truly beautiful. These practices are things like chanting, polyphony, incense, Latin, and other practices that helped to enflesh our worship in sacred sensible signs, as Christ became man and enfleshed the divine mystery. These beautiful practices became the expectation at all important liturgies. However, practically it became difficult to expect all of these elevated practices at every mass, so churches started picking a particular mass, usually one of their most attended masses, to have all of these accouterments. This is the "Principal Mass." It is the one mass on a given weekend or feast day that a church has designated as a place where all the elaborate liturgical practices are to be expected. It is not a guarantee that the liturgy will always have all of these elements, but it is where one could expect to find them.
When are the Principal Masses at St. Thomas Aquinas?
We have designated our 8:30am mass as our Principal Mass for consistency on the weekend. If we are going to do any elevated liturgy on a random weekend, it would be at the 8:30am mass. Below is a list of all the Principal Mass liturgies for feasts during the 2022-2023 school year. The ones in "red" indicate that there are multiple principle masses on a specific weekend. Please take a look at this list of liturgies, and if you want to try to make any of them, or avoid any of them, please plan accordingly.
Date | Time | Liturgy |
Sunday, January 1, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God |
Saturday, January 7, 2023 | 5:30 PM | Vigil of the Epiphany |
Sunday, January 8, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Solemnity of the Epiphany |
Sunday, January 29, 2023 | 8 AM - Solemn Lauds 8:30 AM - Mass for the Solemnity of St Thomas Aquinas 4 PM - Solemn Vespers |
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Wednesday, February 22, 2023 | 6:00 PM | Ash Wednesday |
Sunday, March 19, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Fourth Sunday of Lent |
Sunday, April 2, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Palm Sunday w/ Procession |
Thursday, April 6, 2023 | 7:00 PM | Holy Thursday |
Saturday, April 8, 2023 | 8:40 PM | Easter Vigil |
Sunday, April 9, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Easter Day |
Sunday, April 16, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Second Sunday of Easter |
Sunday, April 23, 2023 | 4:30 PM | Confirmation Mass - Third Sunday of Easter |
Saturday, May 20, 2023 | 5:30 PM | Vigil of the Ascension |
Sunday, May 21, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Solemnity of the Ascension |
Saturday, May 27, 2023 | 5:30 PM | Vigil of Pentecost |
Sunday, May 28, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Solemnity of Pentecost |
Sunday, June 4, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Solemnity of the Holy Trinity |
Thursday, June 22, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Solemnity of Corpus Christi w/ Procession |
Tuesday, August 15, 2023 | 6:00 PM | Solemnity of the Assumption |
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 | 6:00 PM | Solemnity of All Saints |
Monday, November 20, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Solemnity of Christ the King |
Friday, December 8, 2023 | 6:00 PM | Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception |
Monday, December 11, 2023 | 8:30 AM | Third Sunday of Advent |
Sunday, December 24, 2023 | 8:00 PM | Vigil of Christmas: Mass During the Night |
Monday, December 25, 2023 | 10:00 AM | Solemnity of Christmas: Mass During the Day |