National Latin Mass Pilgrimage
On Saturday, October 5th, 2024, the Arlington Latin Mass Society (ALMS) held its fourth annual National Latin Mass Pilgrimage. Solemnly processing from the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, VA, pilgrims marched seven miles past residences and monuments to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC gleefully singing hymns and praying the 15 traditional mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Inaugurated in 2022 in response to the motu proprio, Traditionis Custodes, which severely limited the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in the Diocese of Arlington, Archdiocese of Washington, and around the world, the pilgrimage has now become a yearly tradition showcasing the power and beauty of Catholic Tradition in the streets of our nation's capital.
The Traditional Latin Mass is the Mass of the Ages and our rich heritage as Catholics. Its beautiful, ancient, and reverent liturgy has forged our greatest saints and evangelized the world long before the reformed and vernacular Mass of today. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church’s faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place (Pope Benedict XVI, Letter on Summorum Pontificum, 2007). Until these restrictions are lifted, we will continue to make public acts of penance and reparation, and witness boldly and openly to the beauty and evangelistic power of the traditional Roman Rite liturgy.
Images featured on DC Rosary Rally and Rorate Caeli.
