Bishop Celebrates Mass in Latin on the Feast of St Mark

Bishop Marcus celebrated Mass in Latin in a packed Leeds Cathedral for the Feast of St Mark, Evangelist – his own Saint’s Name Day.

After Holy Mass, during which the Choirs of Leeds Cathedral sang chant, polyphony and a Mozart Mass setting, there was lunch followed by two short talks entitled ‘Gregorian Chant: a Voice for All Time’, given by Fr Guy Nicholls CO from the York Oratory in our sister Diocese of Middlesbrough. The Second Vatican Council was clear about the primacy of Latin in Catholic liturgy, and Gregorian Chant, which the Council said should be given ‘pride of place’ in services, by clergy and laity alike.

In a superb homily which can be listened to again, as the Mass was livestreamed and recorded on our Leeds Cathedral YouTube channel, Fr Guy’s fellow Oratorian Fr Richard Duffield CO preached on the importance of Western Catholics respecting our living traditions in the same way as the Eastern Churches do. Quoting Pope Leo XIV’s exhortations that we keep a sense of mystery, the beauty of salvation, and of God’s majesty, alive in our liturgies and preserve our traditions from being corrupted by consumerism and utilitarianism, Fr Richard emphasised the Goodness, Truth and Beauty at the heart of the Catholic faith, which prompts the faithful to ‘kneel and adore’. In this, we have much in common with the faith of Saints Peter and St Mark, which is Apostolic and Evangelistic: rooted in tradition and fearless in proclamation!

Later, Fr Anton Webb led Latin Vespers and Benediction (also livestreamed) and superbly sung by the Leeds Cathedral Choir. This concluded a day organised by the Association for Latin Liturgy: which promotes Latin Liturgy and Gregorian Chant for the Church of today, under the patronage of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

The Mass in Latin at this event was novus ordo; the vetus ordo (the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962) is celebrated by a rota of priests at St Patrick’s Mission Church in Bradford every Sunday at 1pm. Parishioner Neil Walker’s Latin Mass Leeds Blog also has a YouTube channel which broadcasts livestreamed Holy Mass once a month – the next livestream is on Sunday 3 May 2026.