CNA Staff, Dec 14, 2025 / 06:00 am
Advent is a season filled with rich Catholic traditions, but a slightly lesser-known one is growing in popularity among younger Catholics.
The ancient liturgy of the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass honors the Blessed Virgin Mary through a Mass celebrated at dawn, in complete darkness, and lit only by candles, which symbolizes Christ, the Light of the World, entering into the world with Mary as the vessel.
Emerging in the Middle Ages, the Rorate Caeli Mass gets its name from the prophecy of Isaiah. Rorate Caeli is Latin for “drop down, ye heavens.” These are the opening words of this liturgy’s Introit, which is used as an opening psalm or entrance antiphon and comes from Isaiah 45:8.
Father Tony Stephens, rector at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, calls this Mass “a teachable moment.”
“As all of us are gathered in the church, only lit with the candles, slowly the light begins coming in through the windows and it’s like the light of Christ,” he told CNA. The process symbolizes “the light of Christ coming into our lives, slowly but surely and progressively as we go through life.”
“And just like that light begins to come in through the windows, as the physical sun rises, so in our journey as Catholics, the closer we get to Christ, the more his light shines in our life,” he said.
Stephens has been rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion for two years but was scheduled to celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass there for the first time on Dec. 13. The shrine is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States. It was here that the Blessed Mother is believed to have appeared to Adele Brise in 1859.
When speaking about the Blessed Mother’s role in Advent, Stephens described it as “a season of anticipating Our Lord, but when you look at the subtext of Advent, things about Mary are everywhere — in the readings and her role in salvation history is so important. And so that’s, again, part of the reason you have these special Marian Masses honoring her during this Advent season.”
He also highlighted the fact that this ancient Mass is seeing a resurgence in popularity and credited Pope Benedict XVI, in part, for reintroducing Catholics to older, traditional practices and his “desire of the hermeneutic of continuity.”
“He in his pontificate really emphasized a desire to have that continuity between the earlier traditions of the Church, even prior to the [Vatican II] council … looking at all of the rich liturgical heritage that we have as Catholics,” he added.
The priest pointed out that young people are also searching for more traditional practices.
“There is a great love, especially amongst young people, for things that are traditional,” he said, adding that the Mass also “appeals to the senses in a way that technology and phones don’t.”
“The real light of a candle is way different than the electronic light put off by a cellphone screen,” he said. “A burning, living candle, the way it flickers, and you can’t recharge a candle — it gives everything it has like Jesus did on the cross. A candle burns with all its might to put off that light. And so there is a selflessness about that light of that candle that’s different than technology, and young people desire that kind of self-gift and authenticity.”
Stephens said he hopes those who attend a Rorate Caeli Mass will leave with “an eager anticipation of Jesus coming at Christmastime.”
“A Rorate Caeli Mass is one of those times that we can have a little consolation and we’re reminded of the author of all consolation and his mother,” he said.
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I hope a fire sweeps across the nation with the burning love of our Lord and our Lady as the celebratory offering of Rorate Caeli Masses spread. Such a beautiful tradition. The key beyond the priests willing to offer the earlier Mass is a trained schola. When folks perhaps new to tradition experience a sung predawn Mass by candlelight, the piercing, penetrating voices (or voice is the choir is in perfect unison) exposes them to a sacred beauty rarely know these days in Catholic corners of the country. Our Lady of Champion, pray for us! Drop down dew from above, ye heavens!
The banality, self-centeredness, “resurrection-oriented” mass of Bugnini is coasting at best and, at worst, has run completely OUT OF GAS with the younger generation, i.e. the Catholics that actually matter now. It would be far better for the church to disengage from the protracted decomposition of the NO mass and reinvigorate the church with the elegant, transcendent and edifying Mass that made the Catholic Church a world-wide, global creed, culture and presence. The youth are attending Mass in large numbers, but NOT at the “Boomer mass” of the Woodstock generation. That ship has sailed and is sinking as more and more boomers are admitted to hospice or pass this life. The leadership of the church will have no choice but to advance the Latin Mass at some point or risk rebellion and complete irrelevancy.
My first assignment as a newly ordained priest was at a Czech national parish. Although the parish had changed drastically due to urban flight, there were still some second and third generation Czech-Americans living in the area and many would drive in for Sunday Mass. it was a privilege to learn about their rich culture and traditions, one of which was a novena of Masses beginning on December 16. The Mass offered was the Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary during Advent, the Rorate Mass. Because people in bygone days often had to be at work very early the standing room only candlelit Solemn Mass was offered at 4:30 in the morning so folks could get home and have breakfast before heading off to work. This was not only a custom among the Czechs, but was held in other National Parishes of Eastern European nationalities. Unfortunately the practice, like so many others, was ended by an Archbishop in the 60s who felt it was not in accord with the liturgical reform. It’s wonderful and heartening that our Catholic customs are being revived even as the Western Civilization is in decline. There is hope. And, as the Rorate Mass reminds us, the Light will always overcome the darkness.
Wonderful. We need to reclaim Advent, the antidote to the mindless pre-season frenzy we are currently subjected to.
In the Philippines, we call the Rorate Masses, “Misas de Aguinaldo,” (meaning, “gift Masses” to Our Lady in Advent) a tradition that dates back to the time the country was a Spanish colony under the Mexican administration.
They start on December 16 thru the 23rd, at 3:00 every morning and last till 5am, with time for little kids to go back to sleep and wake up around 7am, to prepare for school. The Masses are sung with the Gloria in Excelsis and the priest wears white.
The atmosphere is festive; the church grounds are well-lighted, and breakfast is served after Mass in stalls surrounding the church – well, usually just rice cakes and tea.
This tradition is carried by Filipino immigrants to Australia and the US where weather permits, where they are called “Simbang Gabi” (night Masses.)
The Masses
This is actually how the Easter Vigil should be celebrated. Not at ‘first darkness’, but an hour or so before sunrise. Then we would leave the church with dawning hope. As S.S, notes, “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.” She is the first to see the Risen Lord. This is Easter.