Do the Clothes Make the Priest? Some Debate on Clerical Garb in Greece

June 23, 2013, 11:50 pm

≫ Next: The Catholic Liturgical Music University

≪ Previous: Saturday at the Sacred Music Colloquium in photos

As we might expect in a country with such deep Catholic roots, the Italian equivalent of the English saying “The clothes don’t make the man” is “The habit does not make the monk.” (L’abito non fa il monaco.) I was reminded of this very Italian saying by an article we were tipped on to by reader JS, concerning the debates within the Orthodox Church in Greece on clerical dress; specifically, on whether the regulations should be changed that require the clergy to wear the “rason”, the Greek equivalent of the cassock, as their normal dress all the time.

An Orthodox blog called Mystagogy, translating an article from a Greek website, reports that a small number of Greek bishops have expressed an openness to relaxing the rule; among them, Metropolitan Theoklitos of Ioannina, who is reported as saying:

“The cassock is to blame for young girls not marrying priests, or perhaps all of us (are), because we do not allow a priest to take his wife by the arm and go for a stroll. Herein is the problem of pietism which results from mixing with Protestantism. We have falsely made the priest a saint and not allowed God to make him a saint.”

Another Metropolitan, Anthimos of Alexandroupolis, has said even more broadly that the current discipline on clerical attire is one of the things that will condemn the Byzantine tradition to become relics for a museum if it refuses to be brought up to date. (If I understand correctly, His Eminence appears to be in favor of simplifying liturgical garments as well, not likely to make him the most popular fellow at the next synod.)

No one will be surprised to read that Their Eminences are very much of the minority opinion among the Greek clergy, and that a recent meeting of the Orthodox Clergy Association of Greece reasserted

“with the absolute majority … that the outer appearance of the clergy should remain as is, without modification, without simplification, without the abolition of the sacred cassock…”.

This view is supported also by the majority of the bishops, according to the same article, which quotes Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos:

“(The cassock) has a history connected with sacrifices, struggles, tears and blood. … To clergy the cassock reminds them that they are spiritual physicians and not just social workers. The life of the cleric is sacrificial, an ongoing offering that requires the coming out of one’s self to offer himself to others. This is connected with the struggles, the sacrifices, the patience in slanders and the criticisms of the people. Ultimately I believe that the cassock does not make the work of the clergy more difficult, but rather it is the high mission of the Priesthood that is difficult.”

He follows with some words of wisdom which might have been perhaps more generally heeded when the Roman Catholic Church went through this same debate (though rather more rapidly) in the 1960s.

“The Church moves slowly with changes as is the same in every culture, so as not to simultaneously eliminate the deeper aspects of its tradition. Any change should be handled with care to ensure the essence of ecclesiastical life. The Church should not easily alter to any new thing, because there lurks the danger of alienation.”

If you put the Greek work for cassock, “ράσο”, into the Image Search on Greek Google, the first things you get is this picture, under the headline “Why should the honorable cassock NOT be abolished for our priests?”

↧

The Catholic Liturgical Music University

June 24, 2013, 5:47 am

≫ Next: Liturgical Notes on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

≪ Previous: Do the Clothes Make the Priest? Some Debate on Clerical Garb in Greece

The Sacred Music Colloquium ended yesterday with intense emotional exuberance on all sides. The closing Mass was the parish Mass of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, and there was standing room only. It was an ordinary form Mass with an English ordinary and full Latin propers and motets. The final motet was the winning setting of the assigned text (more on that in another post).

As I spoke to some attendees of the 210 who came, I began to see a bigger picture that I had previously missed. Ten years ago, this program taught chant and polyphony to about 30 attendees. Today, it has vastly expanded in every direction. The faculty included 25 experts in various fields. The liturgical events included: OF English with full English propers and ordinary, OF English with melismatic propers and Latin ordinary, EF Requiem Mass with polyphonic propers and ordinary, EF ferial Mass with chanted propers, OF Latin Mass of the BVM with polyphonic ordinary and chanted propers, chanted Vespers with polyphonic Magnificat.

Then there were the breakouts on Psalm setting, chant in various other ritual traditions, priest training, vocal training, organ improvisation, vernacular propers, parish music management, software development, and much more. And the celebrants themselves included Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth of ICEL, and Father Jonathan Gaspar of Boston.

Really, the full range of what took place extends far beyond this. New friendships were formed and old ones renewed. The event also put together world-class musicians with priests and laity from all over the world, and provided plenty of time for these groups to talk to each other and gain a great appreciation of the struggles and issues that confront us all in these changing times.

If you look at the full range of what was available here, you see much more than a conference. It is a university-like setting for a full week. It is a program that is otherwise unavailable anywhere in the world. Just in the last five years, more than 1,000 people have come through the program and come back to their parishes with a renewed commitment to excellence. It is the result of privately funded efforts -- operating on a shoestring budget really -- and a tremendous amount of passion and love for the cause. It is a wonderful thing to see and experience.

Next year's event will move from Salt Lake to Indianapolis, Indiana.

↧

Liturgical Notes on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

June 24, 2013, 11:00 am

≫ Next: Benedict XVI and Beauty in Sacred Music

≪ Previous: The Catholic Liturgical Music University

The Birth of St. John the Baptist is celebrated as one of the most ancient of all the Church’s feasts; it is mentioned several times by St. Augustine in his sermons, and in the Martyrology written around 440 A.D. and falsely attributed to St. Jerome. The date is determined by the words of the Gospel of St. Luke that St. John’s mother Elizabeth was six months pregnant at the time of the Annuntiation (chap. 1, 36). The feast is kept on the 24th of the month however, where Christmas is kept on the 25th, because of the Roman system of counting days. The Romans counted the days backwards from three points in each month, the Kalends, the Nones and the Ides (“Kalendae”, “Nonae” and “Idus” in Latin). Thus Julius Caesar was killed on the Ides of March, which we call March 15th, but the Roman name for March 14th was “the day before the Ides of March”. Therefore, the birth of both the Savior and His Forerunner are kept seven days before the Kalends of the following months.

The feast was formerly kept with three Masses like Christmas, but this custom gradually died out and was no longer observed at the time of the Tridentine liturgical reform; the Mass in the Missal of St. Pius V is the equivalent of the third Mass of Christmas, to be said around the hour of Terce. St. Augustine notes that John the Baptist is the only Saint whose birth the Church celebrates apart from that of the Savior Himself, the feast of Our Lady’s Birth having not yet been instituted in his time. This custom is observed in fulfillment of the words of the Angel Gabriel to John’s father Zachariah that “Many shall rejoice in his birth,” (Luke 1, 14) in the Gospel read on the vigil of the feast.

The liturgical commentator William Durandus, writing at the end of the 13th century, says that “the Church solemnizes three births, namely, those of John the Baptist, the Blessed Mary, and Christ. And indeed John was the morning-star, for just as the morning-star precedes the sun, so he preceded Christ; for he preached Him first. Mary was the dawn. The birth of Christ was the rising of the sun, because in Him the splendor of the Father appeared.” (Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, 7, 28) The feasts of the Birth of Christ and of John the Baptist are preceded by penitential vigils, Masses celebrated in violet, without the Gloria in excelsis or Alleluia, since John preached a baptism of repentance, and Christ came to call sinners, but the Virgin had no need of repentance, and so the feast of Her birth has no vigil.

It has often been noted that the days of the year begin to grow shorter right after the Birth of John the Baptist, which is three days after the summer solstice, and begin to grow longer right after the Birth of Christ, four days after the winter solstice. The priest who taught me to serve the traditional Mass once explained in a beautiful homily of two sentences how this symbolizes the words in which St. John “summed up the entire Gospel in a single sentence, ‘I must decrease, that He may increase.’ ” (John 3, 30)

Many popular customs are attached to this feast. Durandus notes that it was a custom in places to make bonfires of the bones of animals, to drive away evil influences (such as dragons!) that were believed to pollute the waters in summertime: a custom which he is astute enough to note was inherited “from the gentiles”. But he also notes that bones were burned to commemorate the fact that the bones of John the Baptist were burnt “in the city of Sebaste.” (Rationale 7, 14) In point of fact, to this day, the city of Genoa preserves in its cathedral relics that are venerated as the ashes of St. John the Baptist, the tradition being that the bones were deliberately burnt to make the relics easier to transport and hide from iconoclasts. As any good medieval liturgist would Durandus also sees in this custom an allegory of the passing of the Old Law and the coming of the New, noting also that torches were also made of the bones to symbolize that John was “the light, the lantern that burned and preceded, the forerunner of the true light that enlighteneth every man.” A vestige of this custom is preserved in the Rituale Romanum of Pope Paul V, which provides for a blessing of a fire on the eve of St. John.

It is also a well-known fact that the Vesper hymn of St. John provided the names of the notes for the first diatonic scale, noted by Guido of Arezzo in the 11th century. The opening stanza reads

Ut queant laxis / resonare fibris
Mira gestorum / famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti / labii reatum,
Sancte Ioannes.

The six notes of the original scale are named for the syllables at the beginning of each half-line, each such syllable occurring on a higher note than the one preceding. The names of the notes were thus originally, “ut – re – mi – fa – sol – la”; the scale was later increased to seven notes with the addition of “si”, from “Sancte Ioannes”. In Italian, “ut” was changed to “do” to make it easier to pronounce and sing, since words do not end in hard consonants in Italian, and “si” was changed to “ti” in the English-speaking word in the 19th century.

Less well known is the story of how the hymn was composed by a monk of Monte Cassino called Paul the Deacon, who also wrote an important “History of the Lombards”, and compiled the collection of homilies and sermons which forms the traditional corpus of patristic writings in the Divine Office. According to Durandus, he had lost his voice one Easter when he was supposed to sing the Exsultet, and “wrote the hymn Ut queant laxis in honor of John the Baptist that his voice might be restored, at the bgeinning of which he asks for the restoration of his voice, which he obtained, as it was also restored to Zachariah by the merits of St. John.” (Rationale ibid.)

So that these thy servants can, with all their voice, sing thy wondrous deeds, clean the blemish of our spotted lips, O Saint John!

The Birth of John the Baptist, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, in the Tornabuoni Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, the Dominican parish in Florence, 1485-1490.

↧

Benedict XVI and Beauty in Sacred Music

June 25, 2013, 5:47 am

≫ Next: Ugliness and Disorder in Parts can Enhance the Beauty of the Whole

≪ Previous: Liturgical Notes on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Jeffrey Tucker has already posted about Benedict XVI and the Roman Missal, the compilation of the proceedings of the Fourth Fota International Conference. The proceedings of the previous conference were particularly focused on Pope Benedict's writings on Sacred Music and are contained in this magnificent book which I recommend to you if you have not already got a copy.

From the Four Courts Press site:

The Fota International Liturgy Conferences are dedicated to the elucidation and promotion of Benedict XVI’s vision of liturgical reform, emphasizing the importance of beauty in the celebration of the Church’s rites, and the necessity to go forward into the future as part of our inherited tradition.

The proceedings of the Third Fota International Liturgy Conference, contained in this volume, explore the ideas advanced in the Holy Father’s writings on liturgical music. It also provides a forum for a younger generation of liturgists and musicians, drawn from various countries, who are presently engaged in the recovery and promotion of the Church’s musical heritage for liturgical use or in composing beautiful new and uplifting works of sacred music.

Contributors: Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke (Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura), D. Vincent Twomey SVD (St Patrick’s College, Maynooth), Andreas Andreopoulos (U Winchester), Sven Conrad FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St Peter), Alberto Donini (Diocese of Brescia), Thomas Lacôte (Conservatoire d’Aubervilliers-La Courneuve/Conservatoire d’Orléans), Uwe Michael Lang CO (Consultor to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff), William Mahrt (Stanford U), Kerry McCarthy (Duke U), Ite O’Donovan (DIT Conservatory of Music), Stéphane Quessard (St Stephen’s Cathedral, Bourges), Alcuin Reid, Samuel Weber OSB (Institute for Sacred Music, Archdiocese of St Louis).

Editor: Dr Janet E. Rutherford is Honorary Secretary of The Patristic Symposium, Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth, and Irish Correspondent to L’Association Internationale d’Études Patristiques.

Buy your copy at Four Courts Press.

↧

Ugliness and Disorder in Parts can Enhance the Beauty of the Whole

June 25, 2013, 6:19 pm

≫ Next: Sacra Liturgia Meets, Prays, Sings

≪ Previous: Benedict XVI and Beauty in Sacred Music

John Scotus Eriugena wrote in the 9th century how sometimes the presence of ugly details within a broader setting allows us to recognise all the more the beauty of the whole: "For anything that is considered deformed in itself as part of a whole not only becomes beautiful in the totality, because it is well ordered, but is also a cause of Beauty in general; thus wisdom is illuminated by the relation to foolishness, knowledge by comparison with ignorance, which is merely imperfection and wanting, life by death, light by the opposition of shadows, worthy things by the lack of praise for them, and to be brief, all virtues only win praise by comparison with the opposite vices but without this comparison they would not be worthy of praise...As is the case with a beautiful painting, for example. For all that is ordered according to the design of divine Providence is good, beautiful and just. Indeed what could be better than the fact that the comparison of opposites lets us sing the ineffable praises of both the universe and the Creator?' (De divisione naturae, V; quoted in The History of Beauty by Umberto Eco).

It seems to me that there are two principles being described here. The first is that our ability to apprehend beauty is heightened when it is contrasted with ugliness. I think that this is a concession, albeit a welcome one, to those of us who are not fully developed in our ability to apprehend beauty. The greater that ability, the more we are able to recognise it as a good in itself and the less we need contrast to do so.

The second point that seems to be coming out here is slightly different, that local deviations from perfect order contribute to the a greater beauty in the whole. It occurs to met that this is similar to the idea that evil is permitted because it allows a greater good to come forth from it. So an evil that is known only in isolation can seem pointless, but were we to know the full truth or, as the expression goes were we able to 'see the bigger picture', we could see the greater good is that will come out of it and so the knowledge of this makes the wider horizon even more beautiful to the eye.

There are a number of thoughts of how, at a very practical level, these principles come into play in the composition design of paintings. I was taught that while there should be an overall sense of order and symmetry that runs through the painting, one does not want to impose formulae for proportions and harmony absolutely rigidly. Rather, one uses them as a first guide in the planning process, then at the end you look the whole and ask yourself the basic question 'how does it look?' At that point you should be prepared to modify it subtly so that at an intuitive level it just looks right (without reference to mathematics). So it is a combination of step by step reason and intuitive judgement that produces the finished article. If one the work of the artist is too rigidly fomulaic, then the finished painting tends to look sterile and dull. I was told that this is just like the human face. While faces are symmetrical, broadly speaking, when one examines closely no face is perfectly symmetrical. And if we draw faces that are perfectly symmetrical they do not look human - they look as though they belong to an android.

Also, we are often told that monks deliberately introduced 'errors' into their illuminations and the justification is theological: it demonstrates that the work of man is always imperfect next to the work of God. However, this seems to suggest that there is a complementary aesthetic argument for their inclusion as well. That is an illumination is more beautiful for the inclusion of the odd dislocation. I say that we are often told this, and I do not doubt that it is the case but when I look at illuminated manuscripts it never occurs to me that there are errors and mismatches there unless I break the spell, so to speak, and deliberately try and look for them. This is just anecdotal of course, but this is what suggests to me that the deviations from rigid symmetry are driven by an aesthetic sense (as my teacher Aidan was) as much as by a theology. So when I look at this 10th century manuscript I can see that the ornate design of the stylised plants in each corner and the columns are broadly symmetrical, but not perfectly so. However, the deviation, if it is deliberate, is controlled enough so that the overall sense of harmony is maintained.

In music, this seems to suggest to me that introducing occasional moments of dissonance is not altogether out of place, provided that it does not dominate and that ultimately the overall sense of the piece in context is that there is a resolution. This may be one reason why organum is so striking. As the chant melody floats above the steady drone most are the variations retain a harmonious relationship between the two. Occasionally it hops out of this cozy relationship and then just as quickly returns, like a fish leaping out of water and then falling back.

Now to gargoyles - do they represent ugliness in the context of beauty on a gothic cathedral? Perhaps, I suppose. For while one might say that the subject matter is ugly, one might also argue that the skill of the craftsman is still great and the work of art has a beauty to it. That is, it is a beautiful representation of something ugly (St Bonaventure, for example, wrote of this, and I think therefore we might return to this theme and develop a bit in a future posting). I do think, however, that the relation to the rest of the cathedral is important in our appreciation of both cathedral and gargoyle. If the whole schema of the sculptures in a church were as contorted as the gargoyles it would be overwhelming. What always occurs to me is that a much as consideration of order, harmony and symmetry in the abstract, there is, by virtue of what is portrayed, an element of an emotional contrast provided in many cases. Again, this is just my personal reaction (I have no further information to back it up) but when I look at gargoyles, I always think that it shows that the craftsmen who made them had a sense of humour. These look like artists' jokes done for a bit of fun and tucked away in corners so that we might enjoy a diversion from time to time when we discover them.

↧

Sacra Liturgia Meets, Prays, Sings

June 25, 2013, 10:15 pm

≫ Next: Splendours of Venice sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir

≪ Previous: Ugliness and Disorder in Parts can Enhance the Beauty of the Whole

Last night at the NLM "blognic" meetup at the Open Baladin -- attended by some 40 people all crammed into a pretty small space -- Gregory DiPippo said to me: "I assume you will be making regular posting on the blog about the conference." I sort of gulp a bit.

For one thing, I've yet to figure out a stable solution the internet issue. You know how it is when you travel. There are all sorts of issues with international roaming, 3-G, data connections from your hotspots, local tricks with the wireless, blank spots, time limits, posting issues over time zones, and so much else. It takes days to figure it all out. I'm right now typing from my hotel room, listening to the bird song outside my window and wondering why the birds in Rome never sleep, and just grateful that I have (for now) and connection that will allow me to post at all.

In sum here is my brief report: this conference is more successful than the organizers expected. I saw 300 plus people at the Vespers last night and it probably 50 people were standing in the back. This service was not even open to the public. So a success so far? I would say so. The mood is at once serious and exuberant.

Dom Alcuin Reid has accomplished something extraordinary here. The liturgy book itself is a feat: a large harback volume with all the music and words plus translations in four languages. It is a marvel unto itself. The liturgy was beautifully sung as the schola that sings at a local extraordinary form Mass led us in some very tricky Mode III Psalm singing that certainly kept me on my toes.

The schedule of speakers is so spectacular that it tempts anyone who came here as an excuse to sightsee to skip the sights and stay closely connected to this conference. It all begins again at 9:00am today.

I'm truly not sure how much I can really blog this event but I will try to post a few more items as the week progresses.

Fr. Z has has excellent images from the Vespers, and here are some more scenes from last night's blognic.

William Mahrt, president CMAA

↧

Splendours of Venice sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir

June 26, 2013, 1:48 am

≫ Next: Ordination at the FSSP Parish in Rome, June 22, 2013

≪ Previous: Sacra Liturgia Meets, Prays, Sings

A concert not to be missed: 'Splendours of Venice' is an opportunity to hear the Choir of Westminster Cathedral join forces with His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts in a celebration of choral and instrumental music by composers with strong Venetian associations. Monteverdi, Giovanni Gabrieli, Croce, Merulo, Hassler, Grillo, Frescobaldi and Guami are all represented, and Motets in 4, 8, 12 and 16 parts are interspersed with movements from Monteverdi's Mass (published in 1651), his five-part Beatus vir and eight-part Magnificat. Westminster Cathedral is the perfect setting, its Byzantine styling very much a visual echo of San Marco, and the siting of singers in the galleries and the use of the Cathedral's organs will provide dramatic effect.

The programme includes Croce's stunning eight-part motet In spiritu humilitatis. This setting of the Offertory Prayer opens very modestly with two four-part choirs singing a dialogue of answering phrases rendered in charming simplicity. Later the two choirs join to form an eight-part texture from which emerges a sequence of suspensions of absolutely breathtaking beauty. The concert, directed by the Master of Music, Martin Baker, takes place next Wednesday (3 July) at 7.30pm at Westminster Cathedral. You can buy tickets here.

Full programme:

Iubilate Deo, Giovanni Gabrieli
Gloria (1651 Mass), Monteverdi
Toccata quarta del secondo tuono (Primo libro), Merulo
Beatus vir, Monteverdi
Canzon Terza à 8, Grillo
In spiritu humilitatis, Croce
Hassler Canzon Duodecimitoni à 8, Hassler
Sanctus (1651 Mass), Monteverdi
Toccata Cromaticha per l'Elevatione (Messa della Domenica - Fiori Musicali), Frescobaldi
Agnus Dei (1651 Mass), Monteverdi
O sacrum convivium, Hassler
Canzon La Lucchesina à 8, Guami
Magnificat a 8, Monteverdi
Canzon Terza à 6, Giovanni Gabrieli
Plaudite omnis terra, Giovanni Gabrieli
Omnes gentes plaudite, Giovanni Gabrieli

↧

Ordination at the FSSP Parish in Rome, June 22, 2013

June 26, 2013, 7:39 am

≫ Next: Archbishop Alexander Sample addresses the responsibility of Bishops

≪ Previous: Splendours of Venice sung by Westminster Cathedral Choir

This past Saturday, the Fraternity of St. Peter’s Roman Parish, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, hosted the ordination of one of their own, Fr. Massimo Botta, and of two Sons of the Divine Redeemer, Fathers Magdala Maria and Yousef Maria. The ordinations were conferred by Archbishop Guido Pozzo, the former Secretary of the Ecclesia Dei commission, now serving as the Almoner of the Office of Papal Charities. NLM is very happy to offer our heartiest congratulations to the newly ordained priests and to their orders: ad multos annos! (Photographs of the ordination itself courtesy of the Catholic News Agency and Mr. Alan Holdren.)

Abp. Pozzo speaks with the ordinands before the ceremony.

The prostration of the ordinands during the Litany of the Saints.

Fr. Magdala is dressed by the Archbishop in priestly stole and chasuble.

Fr. Yousef’s hands are blessed after being anointed.

Fr. Botta presents his candle to the Archbishop.

Just before the Consecration of the Chalice.

The newly ordained priests concelebrate Mass with the ordaining bishop, saying the Offertory and Canon out loud with him. Each is assisted by another priest who remains by his side of the whole of the concelebrated part.

Trinità dei Pellegrini has laudably preserved the custom of using a special cloth called a houseling cloth when members of the clergy communicate at Ordination Masses and on Holy Thursday.

Fr. Yousef saying Mass at the main Redemptorist church in Rome, the shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Fr. Magdala celebrates a Solemn High Mass in the Borghese Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, beneath the famous icon of the Madonna Salus Populi Romani. This was the chapel where Pope Francis went to pray on the very first day of his papacy.

↧

Archbishop Alexander Sample addresses the responsibility of Bishops

June 27, 2013, 3:48 am

≫ Next: Mass in Sna Rita da Cascia alle Vergini, Rome

≪ Previous: Ordination at the FSSP Parish in Rome, June 22, 2013

Posting from the event as it is taking place at Sacra Liturgia 2013

↧

Mass in Sna Rita da Cascia alle Vergini, Rome

June 27, 2013, 9:04 am

≫ Next: Missa Cantata in Queens, NY

≪ Previous: Archbishop Alexander Sample addresses the responsibility of Bishops

Below, you can find photos of an OF Mass celebrated in the church of the Archconfraternity of St Rita of Cascia, Via dell'Umilita, Rome, - a short distance from the Via del Corso and the Trevi Fountain- taken approximately three weeks ago. It was a ferial vesperal mass. The Mass was celebrated ad orientem. Both Italian and Latin was used.

↧

Missa Cantata in Queens, NY

June 28, 2013, 9:16 am

≫ Next: Bonaventure on Beautiful Representations of Devils, Distortion and Ugliness

≪ Previous: Mass in Sna Rita da Cascia alle Vergini, Rome

On June 19, 2013 in The Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, A Sung Latin Mass "Missa Cantata" was said in Holy Child Jesus Catholic Church in Richmond Hill, Queens. The Mass was part of the event "Grilling With God", which includes Mass or Holy Hour, followed by a barbecue fellowship with a talk.

In this case the topic was "Faith and Tradition" and no other way to express tradition than the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. The Celebrant and speaker was Rev. Fr. Daniel Champoli of the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, whose has been advocating for the use of the Extraordinary Form. To my knowledge, this was the first Latin Mass ever in this Church since the reforms of the council.

↧

Bonaventure on Beautiful Representations of Devils, Distortion and Ugliness

June 28, 2013, 1:39 pm

≫ Next: Sacred Music is the About the Future: Interview on Vatican Radio

≪ Previous: Missa Cantata in Queens, NY

As mentioned in the last posting, here is St Bonaventure on how the representation of ugly things can be beautiful: 'The Beauty of the image of the painting refers to its model in a manner that is not worthy of veneration in itself, as when the image of the Blessed Nicholas is vernarated; but Beauty refers to the model in such a way that it is to be found in the image too, and not solely in the subject it represents. Thus two modes of Beauty may be found in the image, although it is obvious that there is only one subject of the image. For it is clear that the image is called beautiful when it is well painted, and it is also called beautiful when it is a good representation of the person whose image it is, and that this is another cause of Beauty emerges from the fact that one can be present in the absence of another; which is precisely why we may say that the image of the devil is beautiful when it well represents the turpitude of the devil and as a consequence of this aspect it is also repugnant.'

Here is Matthias Grunewald's painting of temptation.

This is a detail from his Visit of St Anthony and St Jerome and the Temptation of St Anthony, some details of the latter follow.

More details follow

It always strikes me that every picture of Christ on the cross, which demonstrates the work of the devil, can fall into this category as well. Contributing to the our sense of its beauty is our knowledge of what such a picture is communicating - Christian hope that transcends all our own suffering. This is particularly striking for me in the famous Grunewald crucifixion. As many will know, this was painted for people in a hospital suffering from a fungal infection that people in this part of France incurred by eating rye bread (we now know). The Christ in the painting is bearing the wounds of the passion and the mutilations and sores of the fungal infection. The message is very clear. Take heart, Christ bears all your suffering too.

(Once, again, just to change the focus slightly, notice how the artist has not painted a portrait. The whole person of Christ is emphasises but the facial features are in shadow.)

The quotation from Bonaventure by the way, is from his Commentary on the Four Books of Sentences, I, 31, 2. I found it in Umberto Eco's History of Beauty, Rizzoli, New York. Umberto Eco is an interesting character in that the last I heard he is not a believer, and he does not hold to the view that beauty is an objective quality. Yet his works on aesthetics explain the medieval understanding of beauty and especially the idea of its objectivity as well as any that I know of. The book I refer to is jam packed with quotes from great figures of the Church, which makes it a great resource from lazy and vain bloggers, especially those who have pretensions to scholarship and want to give the impression they are well read without actually doing the reading...like me.

↧

Sacred Music is the About the Future: Interview on Vatican Radio

June 29, 2013, 12:00 am

≫ Next: 60th Ordination Anniversary - Solemn Pontifical EF Mass - Melbourne

≪ Previous: Bonaventure on Beautiful Representations of Devils, Distortion and Ugliness

Here is an interview I did with Vatican Radio about the subject of the paper I presented at the Sacra Liturgia conference this week in Rome.

Listen to the complete interview of Jeffrey Tucker with Christopher Wells:

↧

60th Ordination Anniversary - Solemn Pontifical EF Mass - Melbourne

June 29, 2013, 10:16 am

≫ Next: Perosi's Tu es Petrus

≪ Previous: Sacred Music is the About the Future: Interview on Vatican Radio

On June 23rd, the Catholic Community of Bl. John Henry Newman, who has been featured here before, had a solemn pontifical Mass for the occasion of The Most Rev Basil Meeking's 60th anniversary of priestly ordination. Some readers also may recognize the subdeacon, blogger Fr Timothy Finigan.

A hearty NLM congratulations to Bishop Meeking, and a thank you for his service to the church over these 60 years.

Update: Additional pictures can be found here.

↧

Perosi's Tu es Petrus

June 29, 2013, 12:28 pm

≫ Next: Vespers of SS Peter & Paul at the London Oratory

≪ Previous: 60th Ordination Anniversary - Solemn Pontifical EF Mass - Melbourne

Here is the original copy of Perosi's 'Tu es Petrus' which he wrote in 1905. Underneath the title it is possible to make out his dedication to the Pope, who at that time was St Pius X:

This copy now hangs on the wall in the office of Fr Pierre Paul, 'Magister' of the Cappella Giulia, the Choir of St Peter's Basilica, who was kind enough to show it to me when I was in Rome last week for the Sacra Liturgia Conference. You can hear the piece being sung here by the Sistine Choir:

You can download a free performing edition from CPDL. Happy Feast! (Photos: Charles Cole)

↧

Vespers of SS Peter & Paul at the London Oratory

June 30, 2013, 12:25 pm

≫ Next: Rome Reports on Sacra LIturgia

≪ Previous: Perosi's Tu es Petrus

Here are photographs taken this afternoon at Vespers of St Peter and St Paul at the London Oratory. The first two photographs are of statues of St Peter and St Paul by Mazzuoli. Mazzuoli's twelve Apostles formerly stood on the piers of the Nave of Siena Cathedral and were carved between 1679 and 1695. Mazzuoli was a pupil of Bernini and the set of the Twelve Apostles was the single most important commission of his busy career. They were removed from the Romanesque Cathedral in 1890 when the baroque style was at its nadir and purchased by the Oratory from a warehouse in Genoa in 1895, on the strength of photographs alone.

The Oratory's bronze statue of St Peter is a copy of the famous statue in St Peter's in Rome. The papal tiara is an exact copy (slightly larger than life size, just as the statue is) of the papal tiara that Pope Pius XII was crowned with at his coronation on the balcony of St Peter's on March 12th 1939. Today's Solemn Vespers and Benediction were followed by the procession to the statue of St Peter enthroned. (Photos: Charles Cole)

↧

Rome Reports on Sacra LIturgia

July 1, 2013, 2:38 am

≫ Next: Archbishop Sample Receives the Pallium

≪ Previous: Vespers of SS Peter & Paul at the London Oratory

↧

Archbishop Sample Receives the Pallium

July 1, 2013, 2:45 am

≫ Next: Behind the Vatican Walls with Fr. Pierre Paul

≪ Previous: Rome Reports on Sacra LIturgia

Archbishop Alexander Sample of the Portland archdiocese is a leading liturgist among the American bishops, H/T Philothea on Phire. In the previous week, he had been with us in Salt Lake for the Sacred Music Colloquium. His lecture from that event will soon be available.

↧

Behind the Vatican Walls with Fr. Pierre Paul

July 1, 2013, 5:44 am

≫ Next: Sts. Peter and Paul - Imperial Beach, CA

≪ Previous: Archbishop Sample Receives the Pallium

A highlight of my trip to Rome to present at the Sacra Liturgia conference was finally meeting the great conductor Fr. Pierre Paul. We had been corresponding for years, about the time he instituted broad reforms of the music in St. Peter's Basilica, resulting in a huge upgrade in the quality of liturgy at the Vatican. His choir the Capella Giulia performs at most every liturgy at which the Pope is not specifically present for some big occasion. Gregorian chant is consistently heard now every day in the Vatican, at Mass and Vespers, thanks largely to his tireless work. By the time we met, I had a sense of his being an old and dear friend.

Here I am outside the Vatican walls waiting for the Maestro to escort our small party back.

Here is Fr. Paul showing us some artwork in his office.

One might expect that the rehearsal room for the choir would be huge and opulent. On the contrary, it is tiny and fairly primitive, and mostly consists of large and expansive racks containing the musical programs for the liturgical year. Fr. Paul makes every one of the them. The space for the choir to rehearse is very small actually, much smaller than that given to the average parish choir practically anywhere.

So if you are a director of music who feels sorry for yourself because you have to do so much typesetting, you are not alone. It is exactly the same in the Vatican. I didn't get the impression that he has much help at all.

The choir has learned to sing from the Solesmes editions with the early signs added to them to reveal subtleties of performance. Here is the rack of the Cappella's own collection of the Graduale Triplex. These are the editions they sing from.

This little item is interesting. It is a conductor's chair that looks out to the front while allowing the director to turn around and conduct the choir. So it is a combination music stand and chair. It was being thrown out in the course of some renovation but Fr. Paul rescued the chair and put it in his office. It probably dates from the 1600s. Why would someone throw something like this out? In Rome, that's just not very old as things go. It's a different world from one I've ever known.

We enjoyed our visit very much, but I left generally alarmed that such a high and important position would not come with obvious signs of prestige and a large staff. Those who know the way the Vatican works would not be surprised. This is the way things work around the Vatican. Prestige, wealth, resources, and the like, are just not part of the job. It looks like an exhausting job that is full of frustrations but also incredible satisfaction too.

Totally unrelated, here is a photo taken during my visit with Cardinal Burke. I was thrilled that he had read my book Sing Like A Catholic, and that he keeps up with the ChantCafe.com and the NewLiturgical blog. He is such a friendly and nice person -- a man of principle who has a great human touch about him. It was a pleasure to meet him.

↧

Sts. Peter and Paul - Imperial Beach, CA

July 1, 2013, 9:00 pm

≫ Next: The Mass Is Source and Summit of a Catholic Campus

≪ Previous: Behind the Vatican Walls with Fr. Pierre Paul

On the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, a Missa Cantata was celebrated in Imperial Beach, CA. The Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego sang and served, along with the serving corps of St. Charles Catholic Church, with Fr. Burt Boudoin celebrating the mass.

Fr. Burt is the assistant priest at St. Charles, and is a priest committed to Roman orthodoxy who is well liked in his parish, and has been an excellent friend in tradition to the San Diego Oratorian secular brothers.

The full Gregorian propers, mass XIV (Jesu Redemptor), Credo IV, and the office hymn for Peter and Paul were all sung.

↧

Latest Images