A club at an elite US university has dropped sponsorship of a satanic Mass that drew widespread condemnation from academic and religious leaders.

The event planned by a group at Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had been criticised by the Archdiocese of Boston and the university's president.

The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club said yesterday that a Cambridge restaurant and nightclub would not host the black Mass as planned. It says no other location offered a site.

The Harvard group says event organiser Satanic Temple will stage its own ceremony at an undisclosed location.

Harvard President Drew Faust said in a message on the university's website that the satanic Mass is "flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory".

She says she plans to attend a Eucharistic holy hour and benediction on the Harvard campus.

The Archdiocese of Boston last week said the black Mass mocks the Catholic Mass.