The Easter Vigil at the London Oratory
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In Defense of Holy Images—The Victory of the Resurrection
Given the iconoclastic half-century that has passed, it can never be amiss to remind ourselves of why the Catholic Church of East and West has always produced, loved, venerated, and defended “icons” or holy images of Christ, His Mother, and all the saints. Although in what follows I will be speaking primarily of icons in the usual sense of the term, the theological principles definitely apply to stained glass, relief carvings, sculptures or statues—in short, any art that seeks to bring the holy ones into our midst or, more properly, to bring us into contact with their glory.
In response to heretics who were rejecting and destroying holy images (the iconoclasts), the seventh Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, called the Second Council of Nicaea (787), unambiguously affirmed the constant teaching and tradition of the Church:
We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten traditions of the Church which have been entrusted to us. One of these traditions consists in the production of representational artwork, which accords with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it confirms that the Incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary . . .[1]The Council continued:
We, therefore, following the royal pathway and the divinely inspired authority of our Holy Fathers and the traditions of the Catholic Church (for, as we all know, the Holy Spirit dwells in her), define with all certitude and accuracy that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, so also, venerable and holy images of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, of our spotless Lady, the Mother of God, of the honorable angels, of all saints and of all the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be set forth in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels, on the vestments, on walls and panels, in houses, and on streets. For the more frequently they are seen in artistic representation, the more readily men are lifted up to the memory of their prototypes and to longing after them; and to these should be given due greeting and honorable reverence, not indeed that adoration (latreia) which pertains to the divine nature alone, but incense and candles may be offered to these, as to the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, the Book of the Gospels, and other holy objects, according to ancient and pious custom. For the honor that is paid to the image passes on to what the image represents, and he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented.Much later on, in response to a new wave of iconoclasm fomented by the Protestants who accused Catholics of “idol worship” in violation of the first Commandment, the Council of Trent had this to say:
The images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of God, and of other saints are to be kept and preserved, in places of worship especially, and to them due honor and veneration is to be given, not because it is believed that there is in them anything divine or any power for which they are revered, nor in the sense that something is sought from them or that a blind trust is put in images as once was done by the gentiles who placed their hope in idols, but because the honor that is shown to them is referred to the original subjects that they represent. Thus, through these images that we kiss and before which we kneel and uncover our heads, we are adoring Christ and venerating the saints whose likeness these images bear.[2]The Fathers of Trent mention that this is the teaching of the Councils, especially the Second Council of Nicaea.
St. Thomas says this about the Christ icon in the Summa:
No reverence is to be shown to Christ’s image, insofar as it is a thing (for instance, carved or painted wood); because reverence is not due except to a rational creature. It follows therefore that reverence should be shown to it, only insofar as it is an image. Consequently, the same reverence should be shown to Christ’s image as to Christ Himself. Since, therefore, Christ is adored with latria, it follows that His image should be adored with the adoration of latria.[3]
1. They are a means of honoring God, his saints, and the holy angels. As St. Basil the Great said, in a line often quoted by Damascene and invoked by Nicaea II: “The honor that is given to the icon passes on to its prototype [i.e., original].”
2. They serve to instruct us in the Christian Faith. They are like books: “What the book is to the literate, icons are to the illiterate, and what speech is to hearing, that the icon is to sight.” (Allow me to note that all of us are, to some extent, illiterates, in the sense that we do not fully grasp what we read in the Bible, and need many ways of entering into the mystery of God.) Books and speech teach by words; icons teach by forms and colors. Damascene: “Icons are . . . the never-silent heralds of the honor that is due to holy persons. They teach those who see them with a soundless voice.”
3. They remind us of what we have learned. Like a book always lying open, they serve as a “concise memorial.” St. Gregory the Great: “The art of painting vividly brings the story to the mind.”
4. They lift us up to the prototypes; they are anagogical, leading us to the heavenly realm which is our final destiny. St. Dionysius: “By sensible images, we are led upward, as far as possible, to divine contemplations.” Cavarnos: “Icons lift our soul from the material to the spiritual realm, from a lower level of being, thought, and feeling, to a higher level.” Damascene has some beautiful things to say about this: “I enter into the place of therapy for souls, the church, choked by thoughts as by thorns. The blossom of the paintings attracts me to gaze at it, and as a meadow delights my sight and imperceptibly instills into my soul the glorification of God.” Later on, we read of the famous iconographer St. Andrei Rublev and his fellow artist Daniel: “On feast days when they did not work, they used to sit in front of the divine and venerable icons and look at them without distraction . . . They constantly elevated their spirits and their thoughts to the immaterial and divine light.” (This is the light that Rublev was able to transmit in his work.)
5. Icons powerfully incite us to virtue and to holiness, since they urge us to strive to imitate the prototypes—to copy their virtues and to avoid vices contrary to these. We are to become, as it were, living icons on which the divine Artist inscribes a holy image, beautiful to behold, full of form and color, so that we become a blessing for all who meet us.
6. The sixth purpose is our sanctification. Damascene teaches that icons of Christ and His Saints “are filled with the Holy Spirit”: during their life on earth, they were filled with the Spirit, and when they died, the grace of the Spirit remained in their souls, their bodies in the grave, and their icons. (This is why veneration of icons is connected with veneration of relics.) When we venerate an image of Christ in particular, we become partakers of His divine grace; the icon serves as a quasi-sacrament through which the life of our God is imparted to us.[5]
7. Lastly, icons enhance the adornment of the church building. They set the house of God apart from common buildings and make it well suited for the divine liturgy that takes place within it. They make the church, in fact, an earthly image of the heavenly Jerusalem, where Christ and all His saints and angels rejoice in glory.
May Holy Mary and all the saints intercede for us with the Lord, that we may merit to be helped and saved by Him who lives and reigns, for ever and ever. Amen.
Notes
[1] Cited in CCC 1160.
[2] Council of Trent, Session XXV, December 1563.
[3] Summa theologiae, III, qu. 25, art. 3.
[4] As summarized in Cavarnos, Guide to Byzantine Iconography, 241–45.
[5] I say "quasi-sacrament" precisely because while the icon disposes us to receive the grace it signifies, it does not cause that grace ex opere operato, as a sacrament does. The icon is an occasion through which to beseech and receive grace, not a proper cause of the sanctification of the soul.
[6] Just in the opening days of April, three are commemorated: "April 1. At Constantinople, St. Macarius, Confessor, who under the Emperor Leo ended his life in exile for defending holy images. ... April 3. In the monastery of Medikion in Bithynia, St. Nicetas, Abbot, who suffered much under Leo the Armenian, for the veneration of holy images, and finally, as a confessor, died in peace near Constantinople. ... April 4. At Constantinople, St. Plato, monk, who strove with dauntless spirit for many years against the heretical breakers of holy images."
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Tenebrae at Wyoming Catholic College
For the fourth year in a row, students, faculty, and staff of Wyoming Catholic College and their families came together last Wednesday night to celebrate the full traditional Tenebrae of Holy Thursday. It has become a deeply loved custom, a perfect way to enter the Sacred Triduum.
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I have noticed over the years that there is something about the overall simplicity of this Matins and Lauds liturgy combined with the exquisitely sorrowful melodies of the responsories that puts one's soul into a timeless state, a sort of stasis where one can merge into the now-present reality of the Passion, the taking of Christ captive, the betrayal, the horror of it all and yet the tranquil surrender of the Lord and His utter control over the whole situation. The sheer magnitude of the liturgy (it takes us over 2 hours to chant it) is a form of asceticism -- as a cantor, I am almost never as exhausted as I feel after Tenebrae! -- and the waves of psalms, lessons, and responsories are, if you'll pardon the expression, musically hypnotic, even cathartic. One goes away feeling both a bit giddy and thoroughly sober (perhaps due to the strepitus, which acts like a thunderbolt on the nerves), alert to the tragedy of Gethsemane, comforted by the certainty that all of this was planned, has already happened, is happening now in my life and in our present moment, and, today as in the past, has issued and will issue in triumph. No amount of clamor can destroy the indomitable Son of God, in spite of His bruised and battered appearance, when He allows it.
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Tenebrae: the Office of Darkness. Catholicism does not ignore the darkness, but faces it squarely, walks into it and through it towards the Light. The Light of the Resurrection banishes the gloom, but only for those who know that they are in the gloom, in the valley of the shadow of death, and need a Savior. Even in this Paschal season, may the Lord grant us -- as sinners in desperate need of His mercy -- the grace of entering into the Passion with Him, so that we may share in His uncreated, unapproachable light.
Some additional photos:
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Some additional photos:
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Commentary on Hieronymous Bosch's Christ Carrying the Cross
You can watch the video by going to the Sacred Art Resources page, here.
Dr Farey is one of the best that I know among those who consider symbolism of paintings; she explains the meaning of each figure in the painting individually, as well as the placement of the city and the trees in the background.
For example, she tells us how just one figure in the crowd, in the red pointed hat, looks beyond to the two small figures in the background, who are St John and Our Lady, taking the narrow road to the New Jerusalem in the distance. All the others are participating in leading Christ to His death. This was painted at time when the Church was not at its purest (at the end of the 15th century, prior to the Reformation). The figures on the left characterize the flaws in humanity and in the institutional life of the Church; the figure on the right of the cross, a soldier, has a crescent moon on his shoulder and represents Islam. So, the greatest threats to the Faith at this time were Islam outside Christendom and the waywardness of the Church within it...plus ça change.
Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'.
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Sacra Liturgia USA 2015 - Registration Deadline Approaching; Student and Partial Registrations, and Less Expensive Housing Options
The registration deadline is quickly approaching for Sacra Liturgia USA 2015. The registration deadline is May 1.
Register by clicking here.
A 40% discount is available for full-time students and seminarians.
Monday only Registration is $40, $24 for students.
Tuesday through Thursday day registrations are $100 per day, $60 per day for students.
Full-time regular registration is $250; Full-time student registration is $150.
Less Expensive Housing Options
The conference website lists a number of less expensive options for accommodations in New York, including a conference rate at the Bentley hotel, just a few blocks away from St. Catherine of Siena, which has been extended until April 8.
Click here to view these options.
A list of those interested in saving on this expense through room sharing is also available. Send us a note at our contact page, and we'll help connect you with someone else willing to split the cost of a hotel room.
Seminarian and Student Scholarships
Want to make a difference? Donate to our scholarship fund for seminarians and full-time students. We've got over 20 people on our list and are looking to raise funds for tuition scholarships for worthy recipients. Click here to donate using PayPal or any major credit card.
Conference Updates
Want to stay informed? Follow our Facebook page, or subscribe to periodic email updates.
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Register by clicking here.
Student and Partial Registrations
Full registration, including conference packet and admission to all events is $250.A 40% discount is available for full-time students and seminarians.
Monday only Registration is $40, $24 for students.
Tuesday through Thursday day registrations are $100 per day, $60 per day for students.
Full-time regular registration is $250; Full-time student registration is $150.
Less Expensive Housing Options
The conference website lists a number of less expensive options for accommodations in New York, including a conference rate at the Bentley hotel, just a few blocks away from St. Catherine of Siena, which has been extended until April 8.
Click here to view these options.
A list of those interested in saving on this expense through room sharing is also available. Send us a note at our contact page, and we'll help connect you with someone else willing to split the cost of a hotel room.
Seminarian and Student Scholarships
Want to make a difference? Donate to our scholarship fund for seminarians and full-time students. We've got over 20 people on our list and are looking to raise funds for tuition scholarships for worthy recipients. Click here to donate using PayPal or any major credit card.
Conference Updates
Want to stay informed? Follow our Facebook page, or subscribe to periodic email updates.
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Chant Workshops at Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe PA
Saint Vincent Archabbey and College in Latrobe, PA will offer Gregorian Chant Workshops on June 15-19 and June 22-26. The first week is an Introduction to Historical Performance Practice of Gregorian Chant, the second an introduction to Gregorian Semiology and the new Science of Gregorian Modality. The workshops, which have been offered every summer since 2011, are taught by Saint Vincent College music faculty Fr. Stephen Concordia, O.S.B, who studied chant with Nino Albarosa and Alberto Turco at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome. Brochures are available for download at: http://www.stvincent.edu/SVC_Pulse/Events/Sacred_Music/Gregorian_Chant_Workshop/.
For more information contact Fr. Stephen at: stephen.concordia@stvincent.edu.
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“The Angel Cried Out” - The Byzantine Easter Hymn to the Virgin
In the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, there are several places where the priest sings a part of the anaphora out loud, and the choir makes a response, while he continues the anaphora silently. In the liturgy of St John Chrysostom, which is by far the most commonly used anaphora, the priest commemorates the Saints after the consecration and epiclesis, praying in silence “Again we offer unto Thee this rational service for them that in faith have gone to their rest before us: the Forefathers, Fathers, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Preachers, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors, Ascetics, and for every righteous spirit in faith made perfect.” He then sings out loud, “Especially for our most holy, immaculate, blessed-above-all and glorious Lady, the Mother of God, and ever-Virgin Mary:” The choir then sings a hymn to the Virgin, which in the Easter season reads as follows.
Ангел вопияше благодатней: чистая Дево, радуйся! и паки реку: радуйся! Твой Сын воскресе тридневен от гроба, и мертвые воздвигнувый: людие веселитеся! Светися, светися, новый Иерусалиме! слава бо Господня на тебе возсия: ликуй ныне и веселися, Сионе! Ты же чистая, красуйся, Богородице, о востании рождества Твоего.
Here is another version in Old Church Slavonic:
And one in Greek (even thought the title is given in Slavonic):
Ὁ ῎Αγγελος ἐβόα τῇ Κεχαριτωμένῃ· ῾Αγνή, Παρθένε χαῖρε, καί πάλιν ἐρῶ χαῖρε, ὁ σός Υἱός ἀνέστη, τριήμερος ἐκ τάφου. Φωτίζου, φωτίζου, ἡ νέα Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ γὰρ δόξα Κυρίου ἐπὶ σὲ ἀνέτειλε, Χόρευε νῦν, καὶ ἀγάλλου Σιών, σὺ δὲ ἁγνή, τέρπου Θεοτόκε, ἐν τῇ ἐγέρσει τοῦ τόκου σου.
The Angel cried out to Her that is full of grace: ‘Hail, o holy Virgin, and again will I say “Hail!” Thy Son is risen from the tomb on the third day. Be enlightened, be enlightened, o new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Rejoice and be glad, o Sion; and Thou, o Holy Mother of God, exult in the resurrection of Thy Son!’
Not surprisingly, this beautiful text has inspired some of the best efforts of composers who have written for the Byzantine Rite, such as this version by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-81).
Not surprisingly, this beautiful text has inspired some of the best efforts of composers who have written for the Byzantine Rite, such as this version by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-81).
Ангел вопияше благодатней: чистая Дево, радуйся! и паки реку: радуйся! Твой Сын воскресе тридневен от гроба, и мертвые воздвигнувый: людие веселитеся! Светися, светися, новый Иерусалиме! слава бо Господня на тебе возсия: ликуй ныне и веселися, Сионе! Ты же чистая, красуйся, Богородице, о востании рождества Твоего.
Here is another version in Old Church Slavonic:
And one in Greek (even thought the title is given in Slavonic):
Ὁ ῎Αγγελος ἐβόα τῇ Κεχαριτωμένῃ· ῾Αγνή, Παρθένε χαῖρε, καί πάλιν ἐρῶ χαῖρε, ὁ σός Υἱός ἀνέστη, τριήμερος ἐκ τάφου. Φωτίζου, φωτίζου, ἡ νέα Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ γὰρ δόξα Κυρίου ἐπὶ σὲ ἀνέτειλε, Χόρευε νῦν, καὶ ἀγάλλου Σιών, σὺ δὲ ἁγνή, τέρπου Θεοτόκε, ἐν τῇ ἐγέρσει τοῦ τόκου σου.
(You can discover many more versions yourself by putting the words “The Angel Cried”, “ Ὁ ῎Αγγελος ἐβόα ” or “Ангел вопияше” as the search criterion on youtube.)
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Thought on the Easter Octave from Fr Hunwicke
Speaking of the Byzantine Rite, the wise Fr Hunwicke has posted some excellent observations (as always) on the relationship between the Octave of Easter and the rest of the Easter season.
The post-Conciliar reforms made much of Easter being 50 days long and being one single Great Day of Feast. They renamed the Sundays as ‘of Easter’ rather than ‘after Easter’, and chucked out the old collects for the Sundays after Easter ... because they didn’t consider them ‘Paschal’ enough. To replace them, they cobbled together a set of collects which was substantially new. They gave their game away by transferring the Collect for the Sunday after Easter (with its talk about now having finished the festa Paschalia) to the Saturday before Pentecost.Read the whole piece over at “Fr Hunwicke’s Mutual Enrichment.”
... It certainly seems to be true that the reforms of the 1970s represented a new divergence between the customs of West and of East: by leveling out Eastertide we lost the ecumenical practice, which we shared with Orthodoxy, of marking the unique character of this one very special week by allowing it to retain a whole lot of unique (mostly archaic) liturgical features. The Byzantines delightfully call it ‘Bright Week’ ... and they make the service each day to be completely unlike that of any other week of the year. One example in our Western idiom of thus making Easter week ‘strange’ was the traditional Western disuse of Office Hymns during this week; in place of them and of other elements in the Office, we used simply to sing the anthem Haec dies. Considering the enthusiasm with which the ‘reformers’ orientalised so much of the Roman Rite, it seems extraordinary that in other respects, such as this one, their concern was to drag the West out of a usage common to both of the Church’s ‘lungs’. But then, they always did what suited their whimsy.
There is an even profounder ‘ecumenical’ aspect to this question. S Paul assumes the familiarity of his largely Gentile Corinthian congregation with the Jewish usages of a seven-day Passover Festival celebration ... This suggests that the Paschalia festa, that is, of Easter Sunday until Easter Saturday, represent not only Apostolic practice but are part of the immemorial continuities linking the Old Israel with the New. Which would make the post-Conciliar alterations seem even more irresponsibly capricious ...
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Why We Fight
Over the past almost-a-decade, NLM has published much about dubious aspects of liturgical reform and current liturgical practice from a scholarly point of view, but fairly little about specific examples of liturgical abuses or dubious practices. This general tenor of things is not about to change; we accentuate the positive. The following video, however, has been making the rounds over the last few days, even though it is now five years old; I believe it was The Crescat who first brought it to the recent attention of the blogosphere, and it was then picked up by Fr Z. and Rebecca Hamilton, the author of “Public Catholic”. (The joke has been made in all of these fora, and by several of my friends on facebook, that this is something which is difficult to unsee and unhear; you have been warned.)
My purpose in posting this is not to run down this liturgy, this church, or this diocese, but rather, to highlight some important things in what Mrs Hamilton writes about it. Her piece is headlined “I Apologize. I was Wrong. I. Had. No. Idea.”, and goes on to say “I apologize to everyone I ever dissed for being too concerned about the state of the liturgy. ... I honestly thought the people who came on this blog and ripped and snorted about bad liturgy were hypering themselves into a frenzy over nothing much at all. But now I know. ... Again, I apologize to every person I ever dissed for their talk of clown masses.” She also explains that she is from a place where this kind of abuse does not exist, and that she has never encountered anything like it in her travels. But the ongoing debate within the Church about the liturgy, what it is and what it ought to be, is not just important, but indispensable, precisely because her experience is the exception, where it should be the rule, and iron-clad at that. And while it has to be stated, as a matter of fairness, that most of what we see in this video is happening in violation of the Church’s liturgical law, that law is in far too many places simply unenforced. Law exists to enshrine rights; and it is a right for Catholics to celebrate the liturgy in accordance with the tradition of the Church, not a privilege to be revoked at the whim of the pastor and the liturgy committee.
Mrs Hamilton goes on to note, as part of her realization, “There really are nutty masses and performer priests who knock Jesus right out of center place and take a big swooping bow for themselves.” And this is the essential point. A performance like this in the liturgy is theoretically forbidden, and should be actually forbidden, not because the music is bad and the dancing awful. Much less is it forbidden, as some would perhaps have it, because recent Popes and their lieutenants are hopelessly retrograde and out-of-touch with the life of the Church. It is forbidden because it is a performance, and the performers, having turned the holiest part of their church into a theatrical stage, have swept God Himself right off it.
If this critique seems far-fetched or overly harsh, note where the altar actually is in this church’s sanctuary, and note how little respect is shown even to the very Word of God from the ambo which is placed on an equal footing with it. The refrain of the canticle of Moses in Exodus 15 is changed from the official English version of its opening words, “Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory!” to a distant paraphrase, “Sing the song of freedom; God has won the vict’ry. Horse and chariot are cast into the sea.” If you listen all the way through to the end, (which you can’t, of course), you will hear of several other things which have been cast into the sea, each illustrated by a new dance move: “fear and loneliness, death and emptiness ... hate and prejudice, chains and slavery.” There is no point in putting the liturgy in the vernacular, if we do so only to rob the people of God of the truth and majesty of His Word in this fashion.
Now cleanse your palate with some real music: “Cantemus Domino” by Gioacchino Rossini.
Cantemus Domino, gloriose enim honorificatus est: equum et ascensorem projecit in mare. Adjutor et protector factus est mihi in salutem.
Let us sing unto the Lord, for He is honored in glory: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. He hath become my helper and protector, unto salvation.
My purpose in posting this is not to run down this liturgy, this church, or this diocese, but rather, to highlight some important things in what Mrs Hamilton writes about it. Her piece is headlined “I Apologize. I was Wrong. I. Had. No. Idea.”, and goes on to say “I apologize to everyone I ever dissed for being too concerned about the state of the liturgy. ... I honestly thought the people who came on this blog and ripped and snorted about bad liturgy were hypering themselves into a frenzy over nothing much at all. But now I know. ... Again, I apologize to every person I ever dissed for their talk of clown masses.” She also explains that she is from a place where this kind of abuse does not exist, and that she has never encountered anything like it in her travels. But the ongoing debate within the Church about the liturgy, what it is and what it ought to be, is not just important, but indispensable, precisely because her experience is the exception, where it should be the rule, and iron-clad at that. And while it has to be stated, as a matter of fairness, that most of what we see in this video is happening in violation of the Church’s liturgical law, that law is in far too many places simply unenforced. Law exists to enshrine rights; and it is a right for Catholics to celebrate the liturgy in accordance with the tradition of the Church, not a privilege to be revoked at the whim of the pastor and the liturgy committee.
Mrs Hamilton goes on to note, as part of her realization, “There really are nutty masses and performer priests who knock Jesus right out of center place and take a big swooping bow for themselves.” And this is the essential point. A performance like this in the liturgy is theoretically forbidden, and should be actually forbidden, not because the music is bad and the dancing awful. Much less is it forbidden, as some would perhaps have it, because recent Popes and their lieutenants are hopelessly retrograde and out-of-touch with the life of the Church. It is forbidden because it is a performance, and the performers, having turned the holiest part of their church into a theatrical stage, have swept God Himself right off it.
If this critique seems far-fetched or overly harsh, note where the altar actually is in this church’s sanctuary, and note how little respect is shown even to the very Word of God from the ambo which is placed on an equal footing with it. The refrain of the canticle of Moses in Exodus 15 is changed from the official English version of its opening words, “Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory!” to a distant paraphrase, “Sing the song of freedom; God has won the vict’ry. Horse and chariot are cast into the sea.” If you listen all the way through to the end, (which you can’t, of course), you will hear of several other things which have been cast into the sea, each illustrated by a new dance move: “fear and loneliness, death and emptiness ... hate and prejudice, chains and slavery.” There is no point in putting the liturgy in the vernacular, if we do so only to rob the people of God of the truth and majesty of His Word in this fashion.
Now cleanse your palate with some real music: “Cantemus Domino” by Gioacchino Rossini.
Cantemus Domino, gloriose enim honorificatus est: equum et ascensorem projecit in mare. Adjutor et protector factus est mihi in salutem.
Let us sing unto the Lord, for He is honored in glory: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. He hath become my helper and protector, unto salvation.
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Pope St John XXIII Blessing the Agnus Deis
Some interesting unused footage on the youtube channel of British Pathé: Pope St John XXIII blessing the Agnus Deis in 1959. (The video has no sound.)
Agnus Deis are discs of wax impressed with an image of the Lamb of God, and often with the arms of the Pope or the image of a Saint on the reverse. They were traditionally blessed by the Popes as described by the old Catholic Encyclopedia: “The great consecration of Agnus Deis took place only in the first year of each pontificate and every seventh year afterwards, which rule is still (in 1907) followed. The discs of wax are now prepared beforehand by certain monks ... On the Wednesday of Easter week these discs are brought to the Pope, who dips them into a vessel of water mixed with chrism and balsam, adding various consecratory prayers. The distribution takes place with solemnity on the Saturday following, when the Pope, after the Agnus Dei of the Mass, puts a packet of Agnus Deis into the inverted mitre of each cardinal and bishop who comes up to receive them.” The custom was a very ancient one, dating back to the early ninth-century; the following photo shows some very old ones formerly kept in the Papal chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum at the Lateran, but now in the Vatican Museums.
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As they were shaped like medallions, they were also used like medallions. Again from the Catholic Encyclopedia: “The(ir) symbolism ... is best gathered from the prayers used at various epochs in blessing them. As in the paschal candle, the wax typifies the virgin flesh of Christ, the cross associated with the lamb suggests the idea of a victim offered in sacrifice, and as the blood of the paschal lamb of old protected each household from the destroying angel, so the purpose of these consecrated medallions is to protect those who wear or possess them from all malign influences. In the prayers of blessing, special mention is made of the perils from storm and pestilence, from fire and flood, and also of the dangers to which women are exposed in childbirth. It was formerly the custom in Rome to accompany the gift of an Agnus Dei with a printed leaflet describing its many virtues. Miraculous effects have been believed to follow the use of these objects of piety. Fires are said to have been extinguished, and floods stayed. The manufacture of counterfeits, and even the painting and ornamentation of genuine Agnus Deis, has been strictly prohibited by various papal bulls.”
Agnus Deis are discs of wax impressed with an image of the Lamb of God, and often with the arms of the Pope or the image of a Saint on the reverse. They were traditionally blessed by the Popes as described by the old Catholic Encyclopedia: “The great consecration of Agnus Deis took place only in the first year of each pontificate and every seventh year afterwards, which rule is still (in 1907) followed. The discs of wax are now prepared beforehand by certain monks ... On the Wednesday of Easter week these discs are brought to the Pope, who dips them into a vessel of water mixed with chrism and balsam, adding various consecratory prayers. The distribution takes place with solemnity on the Saturday following, when the Pope, after the Agnus Dei of the Mass, puts a packet of Agnus Deis into the inverted mitre of each cardinal and bishop who comes up to receive them.” The custom was a very ancient one, dating back to the early ninth-century; the following photo shows some very old ones formerly kept in the Papal chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum at the Lateran, but now in the Vatican Museums.
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“Singing through the Liturgical Year” Session 5: Eastertide
The Church’s hymns are a priceless source of catechesis and inspiration. If you live in or near New York City, you may want to take part in “Singing through the Liturgical Year,” a series to learn about sacred music and to sing (even if you don’t think you have a good singing voice). Father Peter Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., guides participants through the various liturgical seasons by presenting some of the most popular hymns and polyphony, in Latin and English, analyzing their theological content and seeking to apply those insights to a life in Christ attuned to the Church’s feasts and fasts. Each session culminates in singing the selected hymns.
The fifth session of “Singing through the Liturgical Year” concerns the hymns of Eastertide and will take place on Thursday, April 23rd, at 7:00 pm, at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, Parish House, 263 Mulberry Street, Manhattan. The feasts of the Holy Trinity, Sacred Heart, and Corpus Christi will also be included.
‟Qui cantat bene, bis orat” (He who sings well, prays twice) — St Augustine
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Liturgies at Sacra Liturgia USA 2015 - Program Announced
The organizers of Sacra Liturgia USA 2015 (www.sacraliturgiausa.org - Registration deadline May 1) are pleased to announce the program of liturgical celebrations for the conference to be held in New York City from 1-4 June 2015.
On Monday, June 1st, Solemn Vespers (Breviarium Romanum 1961) will be celebrated at 7.30 pm, in the presence of a Greater Prelate, His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke .A solemn Mass (Missale Romanum 1962) will be celebrated on Tuesday, June 2nd at 5.15 pm. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will preside at a solemn concelebrated Mass (Missale Romanum 2002) at 5.15 pm on Wednesday, June 3rd, at which Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, CT, will preach.
Thursday evening, June 4th, at 5.15 pm, Bishop Joseph Perry, Auxiliary Bishop in Chicago, will celebrate a pontifical Mass at the faldstool for the feast of Corpus Christi (Missale Romanum 1962). An outdoor procession of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction will follow. We are delighted that, at the suggestion of the Archbishop of New York, His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Bishop John J. O’Hara, Auxiliary Bishop in New York, will be present for this Mass and procession and will preach.
All liturgical celebrations will take place at the Church of St Catherine of Siena, 411 East 68th Street. The liturgies are open to the public and all are welcome to participate in them, but seating will be reserved for registered participants (full time and day registration can be made here: www.sacraliturgiausa.org). Because we cannot predict the numbers of non-registered attendees, we cannot guarantee that we will have sufficient booklets for those who have not registered.
Sacra Liturgia is profoundly grateful to Cardinal Dolan for welcoming our celebrants to New York and for facilitating the participation of Bishop O’Hara, as well as to Father Jordan Kelly, OP, Pastor of St Catherine’s, and his team, for their liturgical hospitality.
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Imbuing the Ordinary Form with Extraordinary Form Spirituality
Recognizing this fact more clearly than most, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his desire for a “mutual enrichment,” with the result that people would be able to find in the new Mass the “sacrality” that they love in the old Mass.[1] Nevertheless, as we know, such a rediscovery and recovery of sacrality in the Novus Ordo will not occur automatically; it will require the taking of definite steps, within the confines of existing liturgical law. We rightly rejoice in the ecclesial benefits of a mutual coexistence of forms, but “seeking reconciliation” also needs to find an internal expression, for otherwise the gap between the celebration of the two forms (assuming the typical parish celebration of the OF compared with a rubrically-correct celebration of the EF) will remain too vast.[2]
Accordingly, there are certain voluntary steps celebrants can take to maximize the continuity between the classical form of the Roman Mass and its modern derivative, so that the latter may be rendered more spiritually fruitful for priest and people alike. The process of enrichment may be guided by the following three principles.
1. The Continuity Principle
The “continuity principle” is as follows: whenever given a choice by the rubrics, one should always do that which is most in continuity with the preceding tradition.[3] Along the same lines, since “the greatness of the liturgy depends . . . on its unspontaneity” (Ratzinger), one should, as a matter of principle, avoid variety amid the plethora of options.[4] As C. S. Lewis aptly said, such variety spoils the pleasure proper to ritual action. Some examples of how to apply the continuity principle:
- Read or chant the Entrance and Communion antiphons (unless they are already being read or sung by a schola or by the people).
- Use the greeting “The Lord be with you,” and, in general, lower one's gaze when greeting the people, rather than attempting to make eye contact, which has an attention-getting effect that can bring the liturgy down to a purely horizontal (or perhaps ‘man-centered’) level.
- Use Penitential Rite A, namely, the Confiteor and Kyrie.
- Omit the General Intercessions on weekdays, and, when the Intercessions are to be used, borrow or craft them from the most traditional models.
- Do the Preparation of the Gifts silently rather than aloud.
- Say “Pray, brethren” rather than “Pray, brothers and sisters”[5].
- Use the Roman Canon, mentioning all of the saints and using the “Through Christ our Lord” conclusions.
- Bend noticeably over the host and chalice and recite the words of consecration slowly and deliberately, giving them their due metaphysical weight.
- Hold one’s thumb and forefinger together from consecration until the ablutions.
- Omit the sign of peace, which, as the rubrics clearly indicate, is optional.
- Do the ablutions thoroughly with wine, water, and wine, holding the fingers over the chalice.
- Use the dismissal: “Go forth, the Mass is ended” (or even better, “Ite, missa est”).
- As indicated in the rubrics but seldom followed, bow the head at the mention of the three Divine Persons, the Name of Jesus, the Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.
2. The Augmentation Principle
Second, there is what we might call the “augmentation principle,” namely, finding suitable ways in which elements of the old rite could (unobtrusively, of course) find a home in the new rite, for the enhancement of the celebrant’s own piety and devotion — which, as St. Thomas reminds us, does affect the efficacy of that particular Mass in obtaining the graces prayed for. Some examples of how to apply this principle:
- Wear the maniple and biretta, and the cope for processions or the Asperges/Vidi aquam.
- While processing to the altar — or in the sacristy before Mass, if the distance to the altar is too short — recite Psalm 42 silently or sotto voce.
- While ascending the steps to the altar and preparatory to kissing it, silently pray the “Aufer a nobis” and the “Oramus te, Domine.”
- If the size of the sanctuary or the length of the alleluia allows, add the fuller version of “Munda cor meum” from the usus antiquior after saying the one-line “Cleanse my heart.”
- Alongside the recitation of the prayers at the Preparation of the Gifts, add some or all of the old Offertory prayers as a private devotion — a practice that would be no different, in principle, from silently exclaiming “my Lord and my God” at the elevation of the host.[6]
- Say the Roman Canon in a more subdued tone of voice, to invite the faithful to a time of intensely meditative prayer; as noted above, say the words of consecration with special gravity.[7] It is a curious fact, and one that I have often noticed, how profound is a congregation's silence and concentration when the priest himself speaks softly!
- Before communion, say both prayers of preparation — one as stipulated, the other as a private devotion.
- When cleansing the vessels, in addition to praying the stipulated “What has passed out lips,” add the “Corpus tuum” from the old missal as a private devotion.
- After the final blessing, recite the “Placeat tibi” while moving towards the altar, kissing it, and departing from it.
- Recite the Prologue to John’s Gospel while going back to the sacristy or when already in the sacristy, prior to blessing the server(s).
- Alternatively, say the “Placeat tibi” and the Prologue of John's Gospel aloud after Mass as a community devotion. After all, everyone nowadays feels free to add whatever prayers they like at the middle or at the end of Mass, and there’s plenty of reason to add these, hallowed by so many centuries of use.
As regards this second category of principle and practice, one might object that the above suggestions run contrary to the rubrics or to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. However, this is simply not the case, because the practices listed above are either matters of internal personal devotion or external addenda permitted by the rubrics themselves. It is true that there are passages in the journal Notitiae, especially from the 1970s, that fly in the face of these suggestions, but Notititae seems to play an advisory or commentarial role, and it is difficult to see how its content can be thought to enjoy magisterial authority. Just to reiterate one example, there is no prohibition of wearing either the maniple or the biretta, in spite of their rarity in the OF world at this time.[8]
Back in Austria, I knew a priest (incidentally, one of the best preachers I’ve ever heard) who celebrated both forms of the Roman Rite and, when using the Missal of Paul VI, did almost all of the things mentioned in this article. He did them discreetly and efficiently so that there was no confusion or delay. He told me that he found it much easier to offer the Novus Ordo reverently when it was thus enriched with elements of the traditional Roman Rite. Of particular value, in his opinion, were the traditional Offertory prayers.[9]
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| Giotto, Stigmatization of St. Francis |
3. The Mnemonic Principle
Finally, there is what might be called the “mnemonic principle.” This consists in reminding people, gently and opportunely, of things connected with the usus antiquior that are sadly no longer found in the realm of the Ordinary Form but are certainly not incompatible with it.
The foremost example would be the saints no longer celebrated in the new calendar. Thus, on February 14, a priest could preach a little about St. Valentine as well as SS. Cyril and Methodius, or on March 10, the Forty Holy Martyrs; on September 17, the priest could mention that today is the traditional feast of the imprinting of the stigmata on St. Francis, and then proceed to relate that to the readings (or starting with the readings, bring in St. Francis as an example). He could preach about Epiphany and Ascension on the correct days as well as the transferred days. He might quote a traditional collect, secret, or postcommunion as part of his reflection on the feast or the season. He can reintroduce special blessings on feastdays, using the prayers in the Rituale Romanum. By means of such allusions and devotions, the faithful are gently put back in touch with their own tradition, which slowly becomes a part of their Catholic mindset, as it should be. Frequent reference back to the usus antiquior therefore serves as a catechesis preparatory to the restoration of tradition.
Since the usus antiquior preserves in a specially intense way the theology and piety of many centuries of faith, a judicious emulation or adoption from it of elements of holiness and “good form” will make a real difference in the devotion of the celebrant and the ensuing fruitfulness of the Mass.[10]
NOTES
[1] See Pope Benedict XVI's "Letter to the Bishops on the Occasion of the Publication of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum," in the paragraph starting "It is true that there have been exaggerations."
[2] There are a very few places (e.g., the Brompton Oratory) where the experiential gap is not very big at all, and more than one person has come away from Brompton's Sunday OF High Mass confused about which "form" they were using. There are also, sadly, places where the EF is celebrated in a manner that is lazy, incompetent, or just plain weird, as when bishops celebrate a Missa Cantata without assistant priest, deacon, and subdeacon, a practice which is, in fact, illicit.
[3] This might also be called “the Fr. Fessio principle,” since he has propounded it tirelessly. Read his two-part article here and here, and see the popular Ignatius booklet "The Mass of Vatican II."
[4] See my article "Indeterminacy and Optionitis."
[5] Note that “Pray, sisters and brothers” is not even an option in the Missal, in spite of its nearly universal adoption.
[6] Given that the liturgical reformers explicitly stated their intention of abolishing an offertory, strictly speaking, and their replacement of it with a “workerist” preparation of the gifts that has almost nothing in common with the offertory as traditionally understood, it would seem especially important to imbue the exiguous Preparation with the richly sacrificial intentionality of the classical Offertory.
[7] I’m reminded here of a funny story I head about a certain OF Mass in which the priest celebrated ad orientem and spoke the Roman Canon sotto voce. An earnest young man approached him afterwards and said: “I really loved how you celebrated Mass, but you know, I couldn’t hear you during the Eucharistic Prayer.” To which the priest replied without missing a beat: “But I wasn’t talking to you.”
[8] On the question of the maniple in particular, see this and this.
[9] See Bishop Schneider's address, "The Five Wounds of the Liturgical Mystical Body of Christ."
[10] See my article, "Two Different Treasure Chests," on how the form of the Mass, far from being a matter of indifference or mere preference, is at the crux of our spiritual maturation and development in grace.
Photos courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed; used with permission.
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Two Beautiful Recently Completed Icons of Western Saints by Marek Czarnecki
I have just been sent images of these two beautiful icons of St Cecilia and St Hildegard of Bingen painted by Marek Czarnecki. Marek is a Catholic iconographer based in Connecticut. (www.seraphicrestorations.com). They were another pair of commissions for Our Lady of the Mountains in Jasper, Georgia. Fr Charles Byrd, the pastor, and his congregation have been working together to commission a whole series of new works of art in their little church.
Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'.
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Chant Workshop in Michigan - April 25
The announcement of this workshop from a reader is for an event which promises to be excellent.
Spring Chant Workshop
Saturday, April 25, 2015
9a.m. to 3:30p.m.
The Academy of the Sacred Heart
1250 Kensington Rd.
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Sponsor: The Oakland County Latin Mass Association (www.OCLMA.org)
Presenter: Wassim Sarweh, Director of Choir for Oakland County Latin Mass Association. Mr. Sarweh is recognized for his expertise in chant and polyphony.
Tickets: $40 or $20 for full-time students with ID
Registration: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/oakland-county-spring-chant-workshop-tickets-16011545965?aff=eac2 (includes small fee; You may register by mail with a check without paying Eventbrite fees. Email us at info@OCLMA.org and we will send you a mailing address.)
Everyone is invited to join us for a day-long chant workshop.
Learn to sing or just enjoy this traditional and sacred treasury of music.
All ages and skill levels are welcome. No experience necessary.
Materials and lunch will be provided.
Check-in opens at 8:30 a.m.
The Workshop will begin at 9 a.m., includes lunch, and will conclude with an opportunity to sing Extraordinary Form Mass.
Email info@OCLMA.org for more information.
Limited walk-in registration may be available at the door; advance registration is recommended.
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Holy Thursday 2015 - Photopost
We received many beautiful pictures of Holy Thursday celebrations this year, and from there rest of the Triduum. Here are your contributions from Holy Thursday; keep checking back this week for the rest of the Triduum!
Our Lady of the Assumption - Swynnerton, Staffordshire, England
Cathedral of the Holy Rosary - Vancouver, British Columbia
Parish of the Holy Family - Diocese of Cubao, Philippines
St. Joseph - Detroit
Immaculate Conception Church (FSSP) - Omaha, Nebraska
St. Jude’s Mass Centre - Kam Tin, Hong Kong
Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception - Peoria, Illinois
Saint Anthony of Padua - Jersey City, New Jersey
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Good Friday 2015 - Photopost
For those who haven’t seen them yet, I encourage you to look through the multitude of Holy Thursday pictures here! Keep checking back this week for pictures from Tenebrae, Holy Saturday, and Easter!
Mater Dei (FSSP), Irving TX
Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
Holy Innocents Parish, 2015
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, Pittsburgh, PA
Exposition of the Holy Shroud
Parish of the Holy Family, Diocese of Cubao, Philippines
St. Denis Church in Fort Fairfield, Maine
St. Jude's Mass Centre, Kam Tin, Hong Kong
Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception - Peoria, Illinois
St. Josaphat, Detroit
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Renewed Altars at the Univ. of Nebraska Newman Center
From McCrery Architects come these photos of the two altars just recently consecrated by Bishop James Conley in the St Thomas Aquinas Chapel, at the Blessed John Henry Newman Center of the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln. Three altars, one main altar and two side altars, were purchased from a closed church in Youngstown, Ohio, Immaculate Conception. They were removed, repaired and refinished by a carpenter in West Virginia. The main altar was kept in its original form for use in the new side chapel dedicated to Mary, while the two side altars were dismantled and combined to form the new reredos altar of reservation in the sanctuary of the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel. Both altars were then shipped in pieces to Gold Leaf Studio in Washington, DC, where they were carefully decorated with gilding and polychrome work, under the collaboration of William Adair of Gold Leaf Studios and James McCrery of McCrery Architects. The altars were then shipped to Lincoln and installed.
The Chapel was consecrated on Divine Mercy Sunday by Bishop James Conley, with Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha and Emeritus Bishop of Lincoln Fabian Bruskewitz attending.
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The Chapel was consecrated on Divine Mercy Sunday by Bishop James Conley, with Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha and Emeritus Bishop of Lincoln Fabian Bruskewitz attending.
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| The new reredos altar installed. |
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| A view of the chapel from the choir loft. |
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| The central part of the altar in its original location. |
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| The altar of the Virgin in its original location. |
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| Refurbished and installed in the Newman Center |
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| Details of the reredos altar; the episcopal crests of Bishops Conley and Bruskewitz |
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| The Papal crests of Benedict XVI and Francis |
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| The pulpit was acquired from England |
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| Bishop Conely preaching from it. |
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Book Review: The Proper of the Mass for Sundays and Solemnities
THIS is the book so many choirs and scholas have been waiting for, I would even say for 40+ years. If you want to sing Propers (specifically: Entrance, Offertory, and Communion antiphons) for the Mass in English, and you would like to do so with chant melodies that are inspired by Gregorian exemplars and at the same time idiomatic and comfortable in their vernacular adaptation, Fr. Weber’s magnum opus does the job better overall than it has ever been done before. This is hardly a surprise, since Fr. Weber has been chipping away at the task — introit by introit, offertory by offertory, communion by communion — for over twenty years. It can be said without exaggeration that this book has been in progress for decades. It is the definitive book of English plainchant for the Catholic liturgy.
First, the nuts and bolts. What exactly do we find in this 1,000-page volume?
1. An excellent Foreword by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (pp. ix–xiii), explaining why the Propers should have pride of place at Mass, how this fits in with Vatican II’s call for participatio actuosa, and how this book responds to the call for a renewal of sacred music.
2. An “Introduction concerning Chant Technique” (pp. xiv–xx), reminiscent of the introductions in older Solesmes volumes. Fr. Weber explains the fundamentals of chant (notation, neums, modes) in crystal clear prose for the non-expert, and offers a wonderful mini-treatise on the art of singing chant, with an explanation of how he has approached the task of setting the English language.
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3. The rest of the book, divided into the Proper of Time (pp. 1–771: Advent, Christmas Time, Lent, Holy Week, Sacred Triduum, Easter Time, Ordinary Time, and Solemnities of the Lord), the Proper of Saints (pp. 772–917: solemnities of saints), Ritual Masses (pp. 918–67: ordinations and marriage), Varia (pp. 968–84: Asperges, Vidi aquam, Glory Be tones), and Indices (985–93).
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The Proper of the Mass contains English chant settings for the Entrance and Communion Antiphons as given in The Roman Missal (2010), as well as Offertory Antiphons in line with the Graduale Romanum (1974). (I will return below to the question of the source of the texts.)
For most antiphons, four settings are provided, from complex to simple: (i) through-composed melismatic; (ii) through-composed simple; (iii) Gregorian psalm tone; (iv) English psalm tone. Cantors or choirs that are ready to tackle it can choose a more melismatic setting, while beginners could easily render the psalm tone; or the choice can be made depending on the length of the liturgical action or other factors. Verses are given for all the antiphons, as well. Other collections tend to presume either absolute beginners or advanced scholas, but Fr. Weber has arranged his book in a way that suits every possible situation, so that it’s easy to “shift gears.”
Jeffrey Ostrowski has already been posting recordings of some of the chants. Here are the four settings given for the Introit of Christmas Day, “A child is born for us.” Notice how close in spirit and melody the first setting is to its Gregorian model.
The Ritual Masses include the Ordination of a Bishop, the Ordination of a Priest, the Ordination of a Deacon, and the Nuptial Mass. Chants given for All Souls, November 2, are set out in a way that facilitates their use at funerals as well. English settings of the Asperges me, Vidi aquam, and Gloria Patri (two settings, complex and simple, in all eight modes) round out the collection.
I can speak from experience about the value of this Proper. On Sundays at Wyoming Catholic College, the chaplaincy offers two Masses: an EF High Mass in the morning, and an OF English Sung Mass in the evening. Music for both Masses is provided by the Choir (different members of the choir at each service). For the evening Mass over the past year, we’ve been singing from a proof copy of Fr. Weber’s Proper, and it has been PERFECT for the liturgy. The combination of well-crafted Gregorian-inspired melodies and approved liturgical texts, usually drawn from Scripture, yields an unambiguously liturgical chant that invests the entrance procession and incensation, the offertory, and the communion procession with due dignity, formality, peacefulness, and a transcendent focus — just as all good sacred music should do. In this sense, The Proper of the Mass is by far the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the Graduale Romanum, from which our schola chants at daily Masses. Going back and forth between these two books, one in English and the other in Latin, has been a surprising and welcome experience of a seamless spiritual and liturgical continuity.
To provide a sense of the book’s layout and the four options given for each chant, below are the sets of propers for Easter Sunday. (At the end of the article are appended photos of the propers for the 5th Sunday of Easter, as well as chants from Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Christ the King, just to offer a good sample.)
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In some circles, much is being made of the fact that Fr. Weber's Proper takes the texts of its Entrance and Communion antiphons from the Roman Missal rather than from the Graduale Romanum. (The Offertory antiphons had, of course, to be drawn from the Graduale Romanum, since they are not printed in the altar missal.)
To go into this recondite matter extensively would require a much longer article (there are already several such online); it will suffice here to note a few points.
1. The GIRM lists the Roman Missal as a legitimate source of these two antiphons; indeed, it is listed prior to the Graduale Romanum. This is not to say that the GR should not be considered prior from some other point of view — unquestionably, if one is singing the chants in Latin, one would use the GR — but merely to say that the Missal is a fully legitimate source text.
2. There is no official English translation of the Graduale Romanum, so setting its texts in English means translating them oneself or picking an off-the-shelf Bible. It is understandable that some musicians and pastors will be happier to see liturgical texts drawn from the official liturgical books of our language territory.
3. Many of these antiphons from the Missal already correspond with those of the Graduale Romanum, so not infrequently, there is no difference between the sources.
4. Finally, one could definitely make too big a deal out of this issue. The first step that most parishes need to take, in order to revitalize sacred music, is to have beautiful English plainchant based on Scriptural texts drawn from the liturgy — away from the desert of the four-hymn sandwich and into a land flowing with antiphons, as befits our Roman liturgical heritage. This is exactly what Fr. Weber has provided, filling an embarrassing lacuna with proper chants of exquisite musicality.
I was pleasantly surprised by the handy size of the volume — I was somehow imagining that it would be a lot thicker, to judge from my old proof copy. It’s just about the size of a Graduale Romanum. The cover is also quite handsome, and I like the fact that it’s black rather than blue, which, by this time, has become a kind of Solesmes trademark.
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The printing is crystal clear. There is some bleed-through due to the thinness of the paper, but it’s no more than I find in the contemporary Solesmes editions or, for that matter, in almost any Bible one purchases.
Before concluding this review, I would like to address a concern that I’m sure will be on the minds of many NLM readers. Is it not a step in the wrong direction to promote vernacular chant, when clearly the “gold standard” for the Church, and the expectation of Vatican II, was that we utilize the Latin Gregorian chants?
Fr. Weber is the first to admit, as he has done in past interviews, that the authentic Latin Gregorian chant is the best and most beautiful music in the Church’s repertoire, and that it should be recovered whenever and wherever possible. In fact, with a wonderful humility, he has said to me that he would be happy if someday his vernacular chants were forgotten because everyone had taken up the Latin chants again. However, Fr. Weber is also a realist who knows that the Church in the modern world is not even remotely ready for a widespread and comprehensive restoration of Latin. The unexpectedly burgeoning EF movement, as wonderful as it is, touches but a small minority of believers, and while its steady growth promises longevity and influence, at this rate we might be looking into the next century before most Catholics would be fortunate enough to hear either Latin or Gregorian plainchant at their Masses.
With the vast majority of parishes today so far removed from the Latin liturgical heritage and even from a basic sense of sacredness in music, a sudden introduction of melismatic Latin plainchant is either inconceivable or inadvisable. Really, it is a step in the right direction to introduce the sacred idiom of plainchant in the vernacular, so that one of the major neuralgic reactions (“we can’t understand the language”) is off the table. As a choir and schola director, I have seen the incredible difference it makes in a liturgy simply to be chanting propers rather than always singing yet another hymn (or, for that matter, never having any liturgical music — the long revenge of the Low Mass culture). Fr. Weber’s chant settings are distinguished by a spirit of reverence, devotion, sensitivity to the biblical text, and fittingness for ritual action that makes them a natural point of departure for the resacralization of worship.
Ignatius Press has done an immense service to sacred music by producing this handsome and compact Gradual for the Ordinary Form of the Mass. If this resource is widely adopted and utilized to the full, it will be a watershed moment in the history of the resacralizing of the Novus Ordo, a key date along the timeline of the hermeneutic of continuity.
We have 10 copies of the Proper in our choir loft, getting plenty of use already. For the English sung Mass, there’s no turning back now. At least when it comes to the vernacular Ordinary Form, one must go forwards, never backwards...!
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Content
First, the nuts and bolts. What exactly do we find in this 1,000-page volume?
1. An excellent Foreword by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (pp. ix–xiii), explaining why the Propers should have pride of place at Mass, how this fits in with Vatican II’s call for participatio actuosa, and how this book responds to the call for a renewal of sacred music.
2. An “Introduction concerning Chant Technique” (pp. xiv–xx), reminiscent of the introductions in older Solesmes volumes. Fr. Weber explains the fundamentals of chant (notation, neums, modes) in crystal clear prose for the non-expert, and offers a wonderful mini-treatise on the art of singing chant, with an explanation of how he has approached the task of setting the English language.
The Chants
The Proper of the Mass contains English chant settings for the Entrance and Communion Antiphons as given in The Roman Missal (2010), as well as Offertory Antiphons in line with the Graduale Romanum (1974). (I will return below to the question of the source of the texts.)
For most antiphons, four settings are provided, from complex to simple: (i) through-composed melismatic; (ii) through-composed simple; (iii) Gregorian psalm tone; (iv) English psalm tone. Cantors or choirs that are ready to tackle it can choose a more melismatic setting, while beginners could easily render the psalm tone; or the choice can be made depending on the length of the liturgical action or other factors. Verses are given for all the antiphons, as well. Other collections tend to presume either absolute beginners or advanced scholas, but Fr. Weber has arranged his book in a way that suits every possible situation, so that it’s easy to “shift gears.”
Jeffrey Ostrowski has already been posting recordings of some of the chants. Here are the four settings given for the Introit of Christmas Day, “A child is born for us.” Notice how close in spirit and melody the first setting is to its Gregorian model.
The Ritual Masses include the Ordination of a Bishop, the Ordination of a Priest, the Ordination of a Deacon, and the Nuptial Mass. Chants given for All Souls, November 2, are set out in a way that facilitates their use at funerals as well. English settings of the Asperges me, Vidi aquam, and Gloria Patri (two settings, complex and simple, in all eight modes) round out the collection.
I can speak from experience about the value of this Proper. On Sundays at Wyoming Catholic College, the chaplaincy offers two Masses: an EF High Mass in the morning, and an OF English Sung Mass in the evening. Music for both Masses is provided by the Choir (different members of the choir at each service). For the evening Mass over the past year, we’ve been singing from a proof copy of Fr. Weber’s Proper, and it has been PERFECT for the liturgy. The combination of well-crafted Gregorian-inspired melodies and approved liturgical texts, usually drawn from Scripture, yields an unambiguously liturgical chant that invests the entrance procession and incensation, the offertory, and the communion procession with due dignity, formality, peacefulness, and a transcendent focus — just as all good sacred music should do. In this sense, The Proper of the Mass is by far the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the Graduale Romanum, from which our schola chants at daily Masses. Going back and forth between these two books, one in English and the other in Latin, has been a surprising and welcome experience of a seamless spiritual and liturgical continuity.
To provide a sense of the book’s layout and the four options given for each chant, below are the sets of propers for Easter Sunday. (At the end of the article are appended photos of the propers for the 5th Sunday of Easter, as well as chants from Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Christ the King, just to offer a good sample.)
Source of Texts
In some circles, much is being made of the fact that Fr. Weber's Proper takes the texts of its Entrance and Communion antiphons from the Roman Missal rather than from the Graduale Romanum. (The Offertory antiphons had, of course, to be drawn from the Graduale Romanum, since they are not printed in the altar missal.)
To go into this recondite matter extensively would require a much longer article (there are already several such online); it will suffice here to note a few points.
1. The GIRM lists the Roman Missal as a legitimate source of these two antiphons; indeed, it is listed prior to the Graduale Romanum. This is not to say that the GR should not be considered prior from some other point of view — unquestionably, if one is singing the chants in Latin, one would use the GR — but merely to say that the Missal is a fully legitimate source text.
2. There is no official English translation of the Graduale Romanum, so setting its texts in English means translating them oneself or picking an off-the-shelf Bible. It is understandable that some musicians and pastors will be happier to see liturgical texts drawn from the official liturgical books of our language territory.
3. Many of these antiphons from the Missal already correspond with those of the Graduale Romanum, so not infrequently, there is no difference between the sources.
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| An antiphon with an identical source text in Missal and Gradual |
4. Finally, one could definitely make too big a deal out of this issue. The first step that most parishes need to take, in order to revitalize sacred music, is to have beautiful English plainchant based on Scriptural texts drawn from the liturgy — away from the desert of the four-hymn sandwich and into a land flowing with antiphons, as befits our Roman liturgical heritage. This is exactly what Fr. Weber has provided, filling an embarrassing lacuna with proper chants of exquisite musicality.
Book Quality
I was pleasantly surprised by the handy size of the volume — I was somehow imagining that it would be a lot thicker, to judge from my old proof copy. It’s just about the size of a Graduale Romanum. The cover is also quite handsome, and I like the fact that it’s black rather than blue, which, by this time, has become a kind of Solesmes trademark.
The printing is crystal clear. There is some bleed-through due to the thinness of the paper, but it’s no more than I find in the contemporary Solesmes editions or, for that matter, in almost any Bible one purchases.
Objection & Reply
Before concluding this review, I would like to address a concern that I’m sure will be on the minds of many NLM readers. Is it not a step in the wrong direction to promote vernacular chant, when clearly the “gold standard” for the Church, and the expectation of Vatican II, was that we utilize the Latin Gregorian chants?
Fr. Weber is the first to admit, as he has done in past interviews, that the authentic Latin Gregorian chant is the best and most beautiful music in the Church’s repertoire, and that it should be recovered whenever and wherever possible. In fact, with a wonderful humility, he has said to me that he would be happy if someday his vernacular chants were forgotten because everyone had taken up the Latin chants again. However, Fr. Weber is also a realist who knows that the Church in the modern world is not even remotely ready for a widespread and comprehensive restoration of Latin. The unexpectedly burgeoning EF movement, as wonderful as it is, touches but a small minority of believers, and while its steady growth promises longevity and influence, at this rate we might be looking into the next century before most Catholics would be fortunate enough to hear either Latin or Gregorian plainchant at their Masses.
With the vast majority of parishes today so far removed from the Latin liturgical heritage and even from a basic sense of sacredness in music, a sudden introduction of melismatic Latin plainchant is either inconceivable or inadvisable. Really, it is a step in the right direction to introduce the sacred idiom of plainchant in the vernacular, so that one of the major neuralgic reactions (“we can’t understand the language”) is off the table. As a choir and schola director, I have seen the incredible difference it makes in a liturgy simply to be chanting propers rather than always singing yet another hymn (or, for that matter, never having any liturgical music — the long revenge of the Low Mass culture). Fr. Weber’s chant settings are distinguished by a spirit of reverence, devotion, sensitivity to the biblical text, and fittingness for ritual action that makes them a natural point of departure for the resacralization of worship.
Conclusion
Ignatius Press has done an immense service to sacred music by producing this handsome and compact Gradual for the Ordinary Form of the Mass. If this resource is widely adopted and utilized to the full, it will be a watershed moment in the history of the resacralizing of the Novus Ordo, a key date along the timeline of the hermeneutic of continuity.
We have 10 copies of the Proper in our choir loft, getting plenty of use already. For the English sung Mass, there’s no turning back now. At least when it comes to the vernacular Ordinary Form, one must go forwards, never backwards...!
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An Introduction to Orthodox Liturgical Praxis
During Holy Week and the Pascha Octave, I had occasion to fondly remember St. Andrew's Catholic Church in El Segundo, CA. It was a short drive from where I was living for my undergraduate studies, and I tried every year to bring a group of fellow students to celebrate the Bright Monday Liturgy observed there. The Church itself was a marvelous place, crafted within to be do everything one hopes that a Byzantine Temple would do. The vestibule was black and dark, but once one had entered into the main body of the Church, it was like you were lifted to heaven. The chanting was exquisite, the liturgies precise and glorious. It was certainly a good introduction to the Byzantine Liturgy for those who had not had the privilege of attending. Then at the conclusion of the Liturgy, the entire Church would march around the Temple, chanting the Pascahl Troparion "Christ is Risen", and then read the resurrection account of one of the Gospels at each corner. And then, as an added plus to hungry college students, we ate the leftovers from the parish's Pascha feast of the day before.
Here is a sliver of the Paschal Liturgy from St. Andrew's:
For me, therefore, St. Andrew's was the perfect place to introduce my fellows to the Byzantine liturgical practice, and many of them would fall in love with the tradition because of that experience. It was much to my delight, therefore, that when I attended the Society for Catholic Liturgy's Conference in Colorado Springs this past fall, I met Bernard Brandt, the cantor for St. Andrew's, and learned that he was giving a presentation entitled, "An Introduction to Orthodox Liturgical Praxis." So often I hear from people with a wide range of questions about the nature of the Byzantine Liturgical tradition, and not being able to as readily take them to the exquisite liturgical experience offered by St. Andrew's, I thought I would offer something analogous, by posting the link to the text of Mr. Brandt's talk. I'll quote from his conclusion, but the article as a whole is well worth the read:
And so, at the completion of my brief excusus into Orthodox liturgy, the question arises: what does Orthodox Liturgical Praxis have to do with Roman Catholic liturgy?My answer would be this: I would commend you to study Orthodox liturgical praxis further, because it is quite simply the praxis of the Early Church, to which Roman Catholics are heir, and who until fairly recently had continued to practice most of the same things. In saying this, I would remind you of two repeated themes of two important Roman pontiffs: of the Blessed John Paul the Great, who believed that in the Body of Christ, its two lungs were the Eastern and Western Churches, and for that Body to breathe freely, both of those lungs must breathe freely; and of His Holiness, Benedict XVI, that we must study the Christian past in order to bring its treasures into the present and into our worship.I would also remind you that Tradition, rather than being a dirty word, is according to the Vatican II statement on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, is one of the three fonts, together with Scripture and the Teaching Authority of the Church, by which the Holy Spirit has spoken. The Orthodox would go much farther, and would say that Holy Tradition is the means by which ALL Christian truth has come down to us, the Holy Scriptures included.I would further remind you that Traditio (and its Greek cognate, Paradosis) it is not simply a noun, but the description of a process: the process of handing something on. While I was in law school, studying the laws of property, this fact came home to me when I learned that in Anglo-Saxon law, the sale of a piece of land was solemnized by what they called the Traditio: in which the owner of the land picked up a clod of dirt from that land, and handed it to the new owner. In short, rather than being a dirty word, Tradition is simply a process of communication, and a process which can be resumed by whoever wishes to do so. All that it takes is something to hand on, someone to hand it on, and someone to receive it.
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