Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Texarkana, Texas, will have a Solemn High Mass for the feast of the Ascension this Thursday, May 13, starting at 6 p.m. CDT. The Mass will be celebrated in the usus antiquior, accompanied by Joseph Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis (Mass in troubled times) for orchestra and voice, led by conductor / composer Marc-André Bougie. The Mass is being offered in thanksgiving for the work of recently retired pastor, Fr. Michael Adams, whose ordination anniversary is May 13. H.E. Joseph Strickland, bishop of Tyler, Texas, will attend the Mass in choir and preach. A reception will follow in the parish hall; the church is located at 4505 Elizabeth St.
The Missa in Angustiis, regarded by many as one of Haydn's finest liturgical works, was composed in 1798, and is commonly known as The Nelson Mass after the British Admiral Horatio Nelson, who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile very shortly before its first performance.
