Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone commissioned “Requiem for the Forgotten” for the repose of the souls of people on the margins: the homeless, the refugees escaping war and political or religious persecution, the martyrs of totalitarianism in all its forms.
Composed by Frank La Rocca (2024)
In the fall of 2020, as statues of St. Junipero were being defaced and his history was being rewritten, Archbishop Cordileone commissioned a new Mass by Benedict XVI Institute’s composer-in-residence Frank La Rocca to honor St. Junipero Serra.
The Mass integrates both the likely chanted Ordinaries in the missions at the time (Missa Orbis Factor) and St. Junipero Serra’s favorite Marian hymn (the lesser-known Salve Virgin Pura, a vernacular hymn to the Virgin Mary), using the simple instruments available to the Native Americans and Franciscan friars in California. It is composed for the traditional Latin rite as St. Junipero Serra would have prayed.
First celebrated at the Mission Dolores in San Francisco, the Mass will be celebrated again in 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mission Dolores and the founding of San Francisco by St. Junipero Serra and his Franciscan brother.
This Mass is a gift of Terry Caster in honor of his late, beloved wife, Barbara Caster. Please pray for the repose of Barbara Caster’s soul.
“Shortly after beginning work on the Mass, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. Let me hasten to add it was caught early and I am cancer-free, Deo gratias. I composed this Mass during the weeks and months of uncertainty about the outcome, and so I felt very, very close to God. Indeed, working on the Mass was a profound comfort to me, reminding me of my dependence on grace not just for my health, but for musical inspiration. I did pray to St. Junipero, asking for his blessing on the work and to intercede for a good outcome to my illness.”
Messe Des Malades: Honoring Our Lady of Lourdes Composed by Frank La Rocca (2023) “To my understanding and my ear, this Mass stands shoulder to shoulder with the great masterworks of the Renaissance.” Martin Rokeach, Sacred Music Journal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgUhY4QPUXchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWpN2QGN0tw Archbishop Cordileone commissioned this new healing Mass from Frank La Rocca in the aftermath of COVID. …
By Frank La Rocca (2024)
Frank La Rocca wrote Missa Pange Lingua with “holiness, beauty and universality” in mind. “Music in the liturgy takes on the role of a sacramental; it must prepare the faithful to receive grace and dispose them to cooperate with it. To do this, it must be fused to the Logos, the Word, in an intimate and filial relationship, not drawing undue attention to itself and thereby distracting from the primacy of the Word,” said La Rocca in the Catholic World Report.
“Missa Pange Lingua is a musical work that leads the worshippers into the depth and beauty of the Mass itself. The processional Pange Lingua aids the faithful to serenely reflect on the true presence of God in the Eucharist, the Kyrie is heartfelt and penitential, the Gloria is resolute, the Sanctus combines passion and grace to precede the Consecration, and finally the Agnus Dei provides clarity and peace.”
The patrons of the Missa Pange Lingua: A Mass for Eucharistic Renaissance, Sally and Frank Hanna, give profound thanks to our Lord for the accompaniment. He gave us with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, and humbly pray for a renaissance of gratitude and appreciation for the sublime gift of the Eucharist.
Kindly use the form below to contact Frank La Rocca for the purchase and licensing of scores or to request a perusal copy.
A new and extraordinary liturgy composed by Benedict XVI Institute composer-in-residence, Frank La Rocca.
The next great Frank la Rocca Mass commission by Archbishop Cordileone will be: A Requiem for Pope Benedict XVI celebrated in 2027, the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict’s birth and the 5th anniversary of his death. A conference at St. Patrick’s Seminary June 1-4, 2027 will bring together major prelates who served with him, artists inspired by him, and scholars who study him to explore and honor Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy.
