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The Mass Is Source and Summit of a Catholic Campus

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Many of you may be following the Sacra Liturgia conference in Rome (Jeffrey has been writing more about it). The following is an exerpt of an article by one of the scholars present at the conference.

Such a commitment should mean the regular use of the Roman Church’s mother tongue, Latin; her native music, Gregorian chant; her time-tested and unbroken customs.  This is not a mere matter of taste or preference; it is a matter of internal consistency within the educational program, a matter of consistency with Catholic ideals.  Why would we study the best that our Tradition has to offer—the Fathers and Doctors and mystics of the Church—but not worship in a way like unto the way they worshiped?  Why would we dazzle the eyes and ears of our students with the glories of Western art and music, but not ensure for them the greatest glory of all—the Holy Mass celebrated with dignity, solemnity, and beauty?  Truly the Mass must be the focal point of the daily campus life, and this it will only be when a concerted effort has been made to purify and elevate the details of its celebration.

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Program for the Fota VI International Liturgy Conference in Cork, Ireland, July 6-8

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The St. Colman's Society for Catholic Liturgy will be holding its sixth annual liturgical conference this coming weekend; the focus of the conference this year is on Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council's document on the liturgy, on the fiftieth anniversary of it's promulgation. The conference is taking place at the Clarion Hotel, Lapp's Quay in Cork, Ireland.
The program of the conference is as follows:

Saturday, July 6

10.00 - Registration
11.00-13.00Dr D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth: An Introduction to Sacrosanctum Concilium
Fr Paul Gunter, OSB, Sant’Anselmo, Rome: ‘Per Ritus et preces’ and ‘fideles scienter’: A Study of these directing characteristics for active participation in the reform and promotion of the Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council
Padre Serafino Lanzetta, F.I., Professor of Dogmatic Theology, Theological Institute Maria Mediatrice (Sassoferrato, Italy):Sacrosanctum Concilium in the Light of the Liturgical Reform

15.00-18.00Dr Mariusz Bilinewicz, Dublin:Fifty Years of Sacrosanctum Concilium: A Review of the Theological Critique
Dr Carmina Chapp, St. Joseph’s College, Maine (USA): Sacrosanctum Concilium on the Centrality of Liturgy in the Apostolic Life of the Church

19.30 Pontifical Vespers, celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, Sts Peter and Paul’s Church, Cork

Sunday, July 7

11.30 Pontifical High Mass for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Raymond L. Burke; the Missa Papae Marcelli of Palestrina will be sung by the Lassus Scholars of Dublin. Sts Peter and Paul’s Church, Cork

16.00-19.00Fr Robert Abyneiko, General House of the Cistercians, Rome:“All lawfully acknowledged rites are to be of equal right and dignity” (SC 4): The Anaphora of Addai and Mari.
Dr Ralph van Bueren, Pontifical University of Santa Croce, Rome:Sacrosanctum Concilium and Sacred Architecture Sources and post-Conciliar Reception of the Liturgical Constitution

20.00 Gala Dinner

Monday, July 8

9.30-12.00 Prof. Dr Helmut Hoping, Professor of Dogmatic Theology and Liturgy, Freiburg (Germany):What Reform? The Hermeneutics of Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Liturgical Renewal
H.E. Raymund Cardinal Burke:Liturgical Law in Sacrosanctum Concilium and Its Implementation

12.30 Solemn High Mass with the Missa Brevis of Palestrina sung by the Lassus Scholars of Dublin, at Sts Peter and Paul’s Church, Cork

15.00-18.00 Prof. Dr. Manfred Hauke, Professor of Dogmatic Theology, Lugano (Switzerland):The Dogmatic Discussion on Concelebration from Sacrosanctum Concilium to the Present (SC 57)
Fr. Sven Conrad, FSSP, Liturgical Scholar (Germany):Liturgical Act or Liturgical Celebration? Some Considerations in the Light of Sacrosanctum Concilium and Presbyterorum Ordinis
Prof. Robert L. Fastiggi, Professor of Systematic Theology at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary (Detroit):The Mass as the Sacrifice of Christ and the Church according to Sacrosanctum Concilium 

For further information, please contact the society in writing, to Terry Pender, Leeview, Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland
by telephone 021-4813445/4813636 (within Ireland); +353-21-4813445/4813636 (from outside Ireland)
or by e-mail: colman.liturgy@yahoo.co.uk

Please note that the program may be subject to change. 

The Contribution of Catherine Pickstock to Liturgical Renewal

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Strolling through St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, 7:00am when the priests are saying their Masses, I saw something very instructive. I counted among the side altars at least 4 extraordinary form Masses being said with attending pilgrims. There were more being said in the lower church as well.

It's a very gratifying thing to see. This whole time I was thinking: this was NOT how the world was supposed to turn from the vantage point of, say, 1969. A certain group of cock-sure liturgists and theologians had thought they had done away with the past, and didn't figure anyone would miss it. Those few who might miss it will be treated in the way they deserve. 

And yet, here we are, all these years later, and while the Tridentine Missal of 1962 is not mainstream, it is no longer shocking, scandalous, considered rebellious  or otherwise put down as a hopeless museum piece. It is a living part of our liturgical reality.

We know of the many milestones that made this happen but a hugely important one is often overlooked. It was a book that appeared in 1997. The title is After Writing: The Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy. The author: philosopher Catherine Pickstock. The book came as something of a shock, partially because of its brilliance and partially because, so little that is both new and true ever appears in any field. This book was both.

Here thesis spoke directly to the philosophical nihilism of our age, as channeled through the deconstructionist mode of thinking that began in mid-20th century and continues to this day. In this tradition of thought, much of what we believe has fixed meaning and consists of true propositions are really social and cultural fabrications filter through our own subjective understandings. Through this line of thinking, many categories of thought have been falling into the abyss: law, language, literature, sexual identity, and much more. And truly, this way of thinking is not entirely wrong. Look at law today. Is it the product of legislation or does it extend from what medieval thinkers called natural law? Literature is the same way: no reader of my own articles interprets what I say in the same exact way, and who am I to say with absolutely certainty which interpretation is correct in some final sense? We always understand through the veil of our own subjectively.

Now, you are following this line of thinking, you can easily become rather doubtful about religious teachings and institutions as well. Maybe they too are artificial, the products of privilege and power, the results of an unjustified push to objectify and immortalize what is really the belief of only an elite? In fact, this is the most common criticism of religion today.

Ok, so how does Pickstock fit in here? Pickstock's thesis was utterly unpredictable and stunningly brilliant. She is willing to concede every one of the deconstructionist arguments in every field in which they have traditionally been applied. But, she said, there is one field that this critique cannot apply: liturgy. Why? Because liturgy makes special claims that other fields do not make. It comes from God and is delivered back to God in forms that developed over time through the experience of many generations working through a system of belief that seeks to communicate out of the limits of time. Its forms borrow from revelation and seek to perfect the presentation in light of the lived prayer lives and rituals of countless people and over a period of time that extends beyond any existing regime of elites. Thus does it lack the arrogance of the truth claims that are made for law, literature, or even plain language. Liturgy is defined by its deference to what has come before, and it is improved only in small forward motions and always in the context of that striving for contact with the eternal.

In the course of the argument, she singled out the pre-Trent Roman Rite for special investigation. Her presentation ran probably 10,000 words, piece by piece, and she explained so much that we might otherwise take for granted. Reading that section created a kind of love in the reader that one might not have had before, and there was a serious critique of modern liturgy embedded here. Did the committees that slapped together the 1969/70 revision really understand? In one sense, they simply could not because, as Pickstock demonstrates, absolutely no one can fully understand. The full knowledge of the why and what of liturgy is actually inaccessible to one person and to even a whole generation or several

Ouch. I can tell you that this argument spoke to a generation. That book set the smart set in the Catholic world on fire. We held a symposium in New York on the book and invited the author. It was madness and joy all around. She was brilliant.

Now, here is some history that I don't think has been put into print. For the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, John Cardinal O'Connor, had already heard that this phenom was in town. So when we all went to Mass that Sunday, he was very excited to meet her. When they met, Pickstock and he spoke and spoke, but at some point she said gently to him: "I understand that you do not have the Tridentine form of the Missal at this Cathedral? Would you consider permitting it

His response came immediately: "Absolutely. Consider it done."

Then...to everyone's amazement...it was done. This was years before Summorum Pontificum but the decision had a huge influence on the changing culture of the Catholic liturgy. If St. Patrick's could do this, it was something permissible to do. I have no doubt that this moment helped pave the way. And of course this wonderful book changed the environment completely. It caused a completely rethinking of the way intellectuals think about liturgy. It made possible the currently liberality that is ours todays.

Sometimes great intellectuals change the world for the better. Catherine Pickstock is among those who have accomplished this.

Traditional Confirmations in Vancouver

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At Holy Family Parish in Vancouver, which has been covered here before, a confirmation was celebrated in the Extraordinary Form.

Prayers from the NLM for the newly confirmed.







Everything Sounds Better When Sung by 100 People

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even when they have been recorded by my dinky little hand-held camera.

This is the fifth antiphon of First Vespers of Ss. Peter and Paul, sung with Psalm 116, and followed by the Chapter.
Aña:  Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.
Psalm:  O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his mercy is confirmed upon us: and the truth of the Lord remaineth for ever. Glory be. Aña Thou art Peter.
Chapter:  Herod the king stretched forth his hands, to afflict some of the Church. And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. And seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take up Peter also. (Acts 12, 1-3)
This was recorded in the parish church of the village of Opfenbach, the next village over from Wigratzbad, where the Fraternity of St. Peter has its European seminary. A very large number of priests were present for the days of recollection held for them at the seminary; His Excellency Vitus Huonder, Bishop of Chur, who celebrated the ordinations which took place the following day, attended in choir.
The church at Opfenbach seen from the choir loft.
 
 
After Vespers, the entire community went down to the cemetery of the church, and recited together the De profundis for Fr. Pierre Gaudray, a priest of the archdiocese of Rouen and associate of the F.S.S.P., who served as the spiritual director of the seminary for more than 20 years. Fr. Gaudray passed away earlier this year at the age of 91, and was buried at Opfenbach. The feast of St. Peter was not only his name-day, but the anniversary of his priestly ordination in 1948, and the patronal feast of the order and seminary in which he lived and served. He died in his room at the seminary, surrounded by his confreres, on January 28th, the feast of the Mercedarian St. Peter Nolasco. Requiescat in pace.
Fr. Gaudray performs the laying-on of hands at a priestly ordinations in Wigratbad.
(Photograph courtesy of the F.S.S.P., © 2001-2013 - www.fssp.org)

Benediction at St. Isidore, Grand Rapids, Michigan

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I was truly taken aback last night. I thought I was attending a quiet and small Benediction service last night at St. Isidore, Grand Rapids, a parish I had never been too. I walked in to find 300 plus people packed in for the event. It was truly beautiful and holy in every way. It ended with a talk by Fr. Robert Sirico on religious freedom and received a wild ovation (clapping is ok when the liturgy is over!).

In any case, this is a very pretty parish and I was just so touched to experience such an outpouring of desire on the part of this community to practice their faith. Imagine so many people choosing to spend their Tuesday night this way! Also, it was not only an older crowd. Whole families were packed into the pews, and plenty of teens without adults too.


I want to make special mention of a wonderful priest I met afterwards. He is in residence at St. Isidore. His name is Fr. George Fekete. He serves the parish but he is retired. He is 83 years old. At the social after, he bounded over to me and said "I hear you are a musician! Praise God that you are offering your talents to the holy faith!"

I was truly startled at his energy and enthusiasm. He has these deep blue eyes that seem to be searching for content to extract from the world and process in his mind. His mind works on overdrive too, like a young teenager without hangups. He is an absolute delight to speak with because his speech pattern has these unexpected periods of bursting energy that settles down again before its bursts again -- like adulations of a song. Apparently he says morning Mass every day for this parish. I can just imagine how essential he is to this community.

As I looked at him and his happiness, and his completely unspoiled way of viewing the world, I thought: "this man is one of the best walking advertisements for the priesthood I've ever met."


The Transformation of Traditionalism

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I always look forward to Fr. Christopher Smith's posts. He has a keen eye. I was at this conference but I learned from his post, which I reprint here.

A conference like Sacra Liturgia 2013, from which I have just returned, is the kind of thing that arguably could never have taken place during the Jubilee year of 2000 when I entered the seminary in Rome. In fact, it could not have been conceived of even in the wake of the election of Joseph Ratzinger to the throne of St Peter in 2005, just before I was ordained to the priesthood. I was reminded of just how much things have changed when I went this week early in the morning to St Peter’s to offer Holy Mass.

During my Roman years, which was really not all that long ago in a Church that thinks in centuries, I could easily walk into St Peter’s, and a few side altars would be busy at 7am with some few priests, mostly Vatican types or pilgrims, offering the Novus Ordo Mass in various languages. Every once in a while you could spot the Latin edition of the Missale Romanum 2002, but not very often. To even speak of the Missale di San Pio Quinto was to invite a reaction which could quite possibly result in expulsion from the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles. Sure, there were a few brave souls who had the indult who would produce a Missal from within their cassock pocket, but always with the Missal on the left side, and without altar cards, and fudging the rubrics just enough not to get caught.

You can imagine my surprise when I went this time. The sacristy of St Peter’s, which used to be so delightfully quiet on an early weekday morning, is now a hive of activity. Priests and pilgrims from all over the world find themselves at every single usable altar of the Basilica. Altar cards adorn several altars in the North Transept, and one can see several of the Pope’s ceremonieri and other Vatican officials going back and forth from those altars celebrating Holy Mass in the classical Roman rite. More than once I had to wait for an altar, and some priests eventually gave up after waiting in line for more than 2 hours to say Mass. (Private Masses have a very small window of time in the Basilica, and either you get it in between 7 and 9am or you don’t!)

There were celebrations all over the Basilica, in various languages and uses of the Roman Rite, and in Latin in Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms. Many of the kids from the Preseminario San Pio X have now learned to serve the Extraordinary Form, which some of them call, irony of ironies, la Messa nuova. And the queue for the altars reserved for the Extraordinary Form was so long one morning I just gave up and celebrated Mass in Italian.

In the principal church of Christendom, Pope Benedict’s vision of liturgical pluralism had taken root. There were no more suspicious glances, clerical catfights or mutual recriminations. In fact, the spirit of peace and energy that now reigns over St Peter’s on weekday mornings was also very much evident at the Pontifical University Santa Croce this week for Sacra Liturgia 2013.

I cannot for the life of me imagine such a conference being held even a short time ago, at least outside of a dingy ballroom in a minor city with little interest and with some unsavory characters around. But this event attracted not only first-rate liturgists, hierarchs and theologians, but also many laypeople, many of them very young, who were eager to learn and network with other people all over the world who had caught on to Pope Benedict’s vision. And of course, there was the presence of the gliteratti of that new grand salon, the Blogosphere, and the knowledge that every thought, word and deed of the conference was going to reach an audience that it would never have reached before, merely because of advances in technology in service of tradition.

But what was even more amazing than the quality of the speakers at the conference, which I could go on about at length, and the beauty of the liturgies, which were celebrated in both forms, was the spirit which animated it all. A conference which focused so much on the traditional liturgy once upon a time not so long ago would have been the preserve of people who have been caricurated, pilloried and described, sometimes not entirely inaccurately, as rigid, reactionary and schismatic. Now, there are some in the Church today who still have not grown up quite past employing this paradigm for any and every who darken the door of a Mass celebrated according to certain books. But the atmosphere at Sacra Liturgia 2013 was not like that at all.

While there was the occasional barb at liturgical looniness, it was directed, not in the service of a critique borne from a desire to paint the Liturgical Reform as a Masonic plot to destroy the Church, but from a desire to highlight a proper ars celebrandi. And those barbs, few in number, were directed, not only against some of the most bizarre incarnations of the Novus Ordo, but also the hurried, hapless celebrations of the 1962 Missal and the psychopathologies of some who think that traditional Catholicism is a matter of dressing like the Amish. Overwhelmingly, the tone was positive. How can the entire Church develop a liturgical spirit via a beautiful ars celebrandi for the salvation of souls and the regeneration of society? One of the most arresting things I took away from the Conference was the idea that ars celebrandi is not just a matter of externals to which the priest must attend, but a spiritual and theological orientation of the entire Christian assembly.

I must confess that, going to the conference, I wondered whether some of the participants and speakers might see it as a “last hurrah” for the Benedictine liturgical party within the Church, and that it might be seen by its critics as the swan song for the Benedictine reform. I wondered whether we might lose time and energy in harsh denunciations of the liturgical practices of Pope Francis, and turn on each other in division and hatred.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This was a group which truly “thought with the Church”, not in a slavish manner, but as free men and women of God. We were able to raise serious questions about the liturgical reform without having them turn into gripe sessions or anticlerical bashes. There was a profound experience of communion, conviviality, prayer and study.

Why is this important? Well, I think that it is representative of what has happened in the Church because of the Pope in whose honor the conference was called. There are many people who have discovered the beauty of the liturgy conceived, not in restrictive terms as saying the black and doing the red of one particular Missal, but in terms of an ars celebrandi which respects legitimate diversity. A traditionalism which looks only backwards, and only with an eye to criticism, while it may contain some elements of merit with which the Church must dialogue, will eventually run out of steam. But love for the liturgy, for God, for the Church and her shepherds, which is the ultimate goal, not only of various traditionalisms, but of Tradition itself, cannot stop at that. The Conference was proof that traditional liturgy has a powerful dynamism for reform and renewal when it is unshackled from the tired labellings and trench warfare of the past. The sheer diversity of the speakers and participants also point to the fact that the good insights of the traditionalists can be brought in medio Ecclesiae and transform the dialogue over the nature of the Church and her worship in a way which is not tied to the past, but can do good for the future. Far from being critical of Pope Francis, a traditionalism freed from being tied into the critique of Vatican II and crisis rhetoric, embued with a spirit of communion and the spirit of the liturgy, shares in the desire of the Bishop of Rome for the Church to reflect Christ ever more.

Those for whom liturgy is not a battle to be fought over and won by texts and rubrics, but an enchanting participation hic et nunc in the divine life, will anxiously look forward to the publication to the Acts of Sacra Liturgia 2013. There they will grasp a coherent vision of the Church’s life and worship which has, thanks to Pope Benedict XVI, transcended this tumultous time and its wars and opened up a way for the Church, not just towards the future, but towards the final consummation of all things in Jesus Christ.

Lectures at the Sacred Music Colloquium 2013

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There are some amazing recordings of music at the Colloquium. Consider this offertory chant from the first day. It is English. It is the liturgical text. It was not difficult. All of these singers met each other only at this event. Why, oh why, do choirs continue to leave out this part of the Mass? Why do priests let them get away with it? 

Here are the lectures from the event. All are worth your time. 

Monday, June 17  
 Remarks at opening dinner, including Prof. Mahrt's address 1:14:34
 Veni Creator Spiritus 3:07
Tuesday, June 18  
 Life-long Learning: Personal Reflections on the Influence of the LiturgyMsgr Andrew Wadsworth53:57
    
Wednesday, June 19  
 Plenary Lecture
   Written Transcript
Archbishop Alexander K. Sample1:01:09
    
Thursday, June 20  
 The Art of Effortless SingingDr Mee Ae Cecilia Nam57:45
    
Friday, June 21  
 Gregorian Chant as the splendor formae of the LiturgyDr William Mahrt58:32/td>
    
Saturday, June 22  
    
Sunday, June 23  
 Closing Remarks at Brunch

Steal these recordings and use them

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I'm going to post all of this amazing music from the colloquium and invite you to take it and use it as you want to. It is all part of the common culture. Remember that these are volunteer singers who paid to come to the event. They have met only this one week and had only a day or two to pull all of this together. There are moments of great beauty and there are also plenty of mistakes -- such is the way real life works. There is no event in the world like this. As I look at the list, I almost can't believe it all happened.

My favorite here is the Requiem. The last Mass was a parish Mass.



Mass in English, Ordinary Form
11th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Tuesday, June 18
Rev Robert Pasley, celebrant
David Hughes, organist

1PreludeIntermezzo, JA 66, Jehan AlainDavid Hughes6:21
2IntroitHearken, O Lord, unto my voice, mode ivRyan2:06
3KyrieMissal0:37
4First ReadingJanet Gorbitz3:22
5PsalmPraise the Lord, my soul, mode viiMorse1:59
6AlleluiaI give you a new commandment, mode iiRyan1:09
7Gospel1:31
8Prayers of the faithfulMissal1:59
9OffertoryI will bless the Lord, mode iMahrt2:39
10Motet at OffertoryHonour and Majesty, Maurice GreeneBuchholz1:38
11SanctusMissal0:45
12Memorial acclamationMissal0:22
13The Lord’s PrayerMissal1:38
14Agnus DeiMissal0:51
15CommunionOne thing have I asked, mode viiMorse5:22
16Motet at CommunionO for a Closer Walk With God, Charles Villiers StanfordBuchholz3:42
17RecessionalWhen in Our Music God Is Glorified, Stanford3:27
18PostludeJoie et clarité des corps glorieux
Les Corps Glorieux, Olivier Messiaen
David Hughes8:33

Organ Recital
Charles Cole
Tuesday, June 18

1Ballo della battagliaBernardo Storace (fl. 1664)
2Felix namqueAnonymous (c. 1520)
3Fugue in E flat (St. Anne) BWV 5552J.S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
4Méditation (from "Suite Médievale")Jean Langlais (1907 - 1991)
5Salve Regina (with sung chant alternatim)Olivier Latry (1962 - )
6Rorate Caeli
Attende Domine
(from "12 Chorale Preludes on Gregorian Chant Themes")
Jeanne Demessieux (1921 - 1968)
7Te DeumJeanne Demessieux (1921 - 1968)

Compline
Tuesday, June 18

Compline20:47

Lauds
Wednesday, June 19

Full Recording20:53

Mass in English, Ordinary Form
Wednesday, June 19
Abp Alexander Sample, Celebrant
Jonathan Ryan, organist
Propers by Bruce Ford

1PreludeRhapsody in D-flat Major, Op. 17, No. 1, Herbert HowellsJonathan Ryan7:06
2Processional?2:27
3IntroitHearken to my voice, O Lord, mode ivHughes3:51
4KyrieMass XII, alternatem1:38
5First reading2:00
6GradualBehold, O God, our defender, mode vMahrt2:23
7AlleluiaThe king rejoices, mode viMorse3:06
8Gospel2:36
9HomilyArchbishop Alexander K Sample9:02
10OffertoryI will bless the Lord, mode iHughes1:34
11Motet at OffertoryAve, Maria, Edward ElgarGlenn2:40
12Organ interlude?Jonathan Ryan2:32
13SanctusMass XII1:20
14Pater noster1:54
15Agnus DeiMass XII1:14
16CommunionOne thing have I asked of the Lord, mode iHughes2:37
17Motet at CommunionO quam suavis est, William ByrdBrouwers5:06
18Recessional and PostludeFlourish for an Occasion, William HarrisJonathan Ryan4:52

Lauds
Thursday, June 20

Full Recording22:48

Requiem Mass in Latin, Extraordinary Form
Msgr Andrew Wadsworth, celebrant
Thursday, June 20

1IntroitRequiem aeternam, Francisco GuerreroBrouwers4:42
2KyrieMissa pro defunctis, GuerreroBrouwers2:06
3GradualRequiem aeternam, GuerreroBrouwers4:09
4TractAbsolve Domine, GuerreroBrouwers1:52
5SequenceDies irae, mode ialternatim6:20
6OffertoryDomine Jesu Christe, GuerreroBuchholz4:34
7Motet?2:02
8SanctusMissa pro defunctisBuchholz2:45
9Benedictus?1:14
10Agnus DeiMissa pro defunctisBuchholz3:26
11CommunionLux aeterna, GuerreroGlenn1:53
12Motet at CommunionO salutaris, Pierre de la RueMalinka3:48
13Homily9:03
14At the absolutionLibera me, GuerreroGlenn8:33

Lauds
Friday, June 21

Full Recording22:10

Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious, Extraordinary form
Friday, June 21
David Hughes, organist

1Prelude5:46
2Processional2:41
3IntroitMinuisti eum, mode iiiRyan2:33
4KyrieMass VII3:50
5GloriaMass VII3:11
6First reading1:08
7GradualDomine spes mea, mode vDonelson2:30
8AlleluiaBeatus quem elegisti, mode iiiSchaefer2:37
9Gospel2:53
10Organ interlude 12:11
11Homily10:12
12OffertoryQuis ascendet, mode iiiMahrt1:22
13Organ interlude 25:12
14SanctusMass VII1:59
15Agnus DeiMass VII1:37
16CommunionPanem caeli, mode viiiMorse0:51
17Organ interlude 39:27
18Postlude10:06

Vespers, Extraordinary Form
Friday, June 21
Ann Labounsky, organist

These tracks run continuously, with no gaps.
1PreludeThree versets on Iste Confessor, Jean Titelouze5:41
2Processional1:54
3Opening Versicle0:43
4Organ interlude 10:22
5First antiphonDomine probasti me, mode iii; first psalm, 138.I, tone 3.g2Mahrt3:31
6Organ interlude 20:46
7Second antiphonMirabilia, mode vi; second psalm, 138.II, tone 6.FHughes3:41
8Organ interlude 30:50
9Third antiphonNe derelinquas me, mode iv; third psalm, 139, tone 4.EMahrt4:17
10Organ interlude 40:42
11Fourth antiphonDomine clamavi ad te, mode viii; fourth psalm, 140, tone 8.cHughes3:19
12Organ interlude 51:04
13Fifth antiphonEduc de custodia, mode iii; fifth psalm, 141, tone 3.aMahrt3:26
14ChapterBeatus vir qui inventus est0:32
15Organ interlude 60:30
16HymnIste confessor, Tomás Luis de VictoriaBuchholz5:06
17VersicleJustum deduxit0:22
18Organ interlude 70:12
19Magnificat antiphonHic vir, despiciens mundum, mode viii0:27
20Magnificat octavi toniJean Mouton Buchholz11:09
21Magnificat antiphon repeated0:27
22Collect0:57
23Dismissal0:34
24Organ interlude 80:48
25Salve Regina, mode i2:45
26PostludeOffertoire sur les Grands Jeux, Nicolas de Grigny9:17

Lauds
Saturday, June 22

Full recording17:52

Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ordinary form
Saturday, June 22
Rev Jonathan Gaspar, celebrant
Jonathan Ryan, organist

1PreludeToccata in E Major, BWV 566, Johann Sebastian Bach11:24
2Processional1:25
3IntroitSalve sancta parens, mode iiMorse2:50
4KyrieMissa osculetur me, Orlando di LassoBrouwers & Glenn2:30
5GloriaMissa osculetur meBrouwers & Glenn4:31
6First reading1:37
7GradualBenedicta, mode ivSchaefer4:23
8AlleluiaPost partum, mode ivHughes2:39
9Gospel1:24
10Homily8:30
11OffertoryAve Maria, mode viiiMahrt5:54
12SanctusMissa osculetur meBrouwers & Glenn2:46
13Agnus DeiMissa osculetur meBrouwers & Glenn4:55
14CommunionBeata viscera, mode iDonelson5:08
15Communion motetAve Maria, Sergei RachmaninoffBuchholz2:50
16RecessionalAve maris stella, chantalternatim3:22
17PostludeFugue super Magnificat, BWV 733, J. S. Bach4:20

Lauds
Sunday, June 23

Full recording16:34

12th Sunday of the Year (Year C), Ordinary form
Sunday, June 23, 11:00 AM
Msgr Joseph Mayo, celebrant
Doug O’Neill, organist

1PreludeToccata XI, Georg Muffat5:44
2Processional?1:18
3IntroitDominus fortitudo plebis suae, mode iiBrouwers3:39
4KyrieMass of the English Martyrs, Jeff Ostrowski0:53
5GloriaMass of the English Martyrs2:17
6First readingRichard Chonak1:13
7GradualConvertere Domine, mode vHughes3:15
8Second reading1:11
9AlleluiaIn te Domine speravi, mode iiiMahrt3:12
10Gospel1:56
11HomilyMonsignor Joseph Mayo12:01
12Credo III4:18
13Prayers of the faithfulMissal2:47
14OffertoryPerfice gressus meos, mode ivRyan4:35
15Motet at OffertoryAve Maria . . . benedicta tu, Josquin des PrezGlenn3:05
16SanctusMass of the English Martyrs0:38
17Mystery of FaithMass of the English Martyrs0:22
18The Lord’s PrayerMissal2:20
19Agnus DeiMass of the English Martyrs0:49
20CommunionQui vult venire post me, mode iCole3:25
21Communion motetO Jesu Christe, Jacquet de BerchemMalinka2:10
22Communion motetO sacrum convivium, Luca MarenzioBuchholz3:37
23Hymn of PraiseTake Up Your Cross, Bourbon2:42
24RecessionalLaudate Dominum, Michael DeSayeHughes4:37
25PostludeToccata XII, Muffat

5:06

A beautiful Salve Regina from the Sarum Processional

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Whilst at the Musica Sacra Colloquium in Salt Lake City last month, another member of the faculty, Jeffrey Morse, told me about this lovely and unique Salve Regina, with five tropes, from the Sarum Processional of 1502:


On my return from the USA, Felix Yeung, the Pettman Organ Scholar at the London Oratory, kindly agreed to typeset it. Thanks to his exceptional skill in the use of Gregorio software you can freely download the full Sarum Salve Regina as a PDF with red staves (as shown above) or black staves.

Jeffrey Morse writes:
The melody is recognizable as a variant of the "Solemn" tone versions of the Salve found in the Roman, Monastic, Dominican and Cistercian Chant traditions. The unique aspect of this Sarum Salve Regina is the presence of five tropes, or prayers interspersed between the official Latin text, as well as the Latin text itself- O clemens and O pia are followed by O mitis and O pulchra before O dulcis Virgo Maria. The first trope, which would have been sung by cantors, follows ...post hoc exilium ostende and prays, "O Virgin Mother, eternal gate of glory, be for us a refuge in the presence of the Father and the Son" The second trope follows the O clemens- "O merciful Virgin, O kind Virgin, O sweet Virgin, hear the prayers of all who cry to you" Then, following the O pia, the text of the trope becomes more somber, it is Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, "Pour out prayers to your Son who was crucified, wounded, scourged, pierced with thorns, and made to drink gall for us. After O mitis (O gentle), the fourth trope follows- "Glorious Mother of God, whose Son co-exists with the Father, pray for us all who make remembrance of you" The fifth, and final trope follows O pulchra- "Wipe away the faults of the wretched, make clean the defilement of sinners, grant us, through your prayers, the life of the blessed", and then, finally the last and familiar cry to the Virgin, O dulcis Virgo Maria.

You will notice the absence of the familiar dots and episemas of the Solesmes rhythmic editions of the past. One should therefore be particularly mindful of the bar lines and grouping of notes when singing this Salve Regina. Jeffrey Morse adds: 'A knowledge of Dominican and Cistercian chant interpretation would be particularly helpful in that bar lines and spacings of notes dictate lengthening of notes.'

I am most grateful to Jeffrey Morse, Precentor & Master of the Choristers at St Stephen the First Martyr in Sacramento, California for providing an explanation of the tropes.

Holy Ghost, Tiverton, Rhode Island

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I
t is always edifying to experience a Novus Ordo liturgy that manages to be what the Second Vatican Council actually had in mind. I recently had the pleasure of concelebrating such a Mass — a pontifical Mass, to boot — at Holy Ghost Church in Tiverton, Rhode Island, on the occasion of that parish’s 100th anniversary. Under the leadership of its pastor, Father Jay Finelli, Holy Ghost has come to exemplify the reform of the postconciliar reform encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI (see, for example, here and here and here). Its Ordinary Form Masses retain Latin prayers and chant, are prayed ad orientem, and are blessedly devoid of the (no longer) extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion used all too illicitly in many parishes. (Mass in the Extraordinary Form is offered on the first Sunday of every month and on certain other occasions.) For photos of the centennial Mass, click here.

The Sung Liturgy

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As some of you who know me have seen in the past, I am a passionate advocate for the sung liturgy (a position supported by Vatican II, Jesus own chanting of the psalms as a faithful jew). Dr. Kurt Poterack, a scholar at the Sacra Liturgia conference also holds this view strongly, and offers some practical points.
One of the advantages of a choir at a college or university is that you have many bright, talented and energetic young adults to choose from – or at least to persuade to join the choir.  Whether or not the students are music majors is not quite so important.  What is important is that there is the basic ability to carry a tune, preferably some music reading skills and, above all, the commitment to attend rehearsals.  If these three things are present, or even the first and third, much can be accomplished.
Read more.

What are those strange squiggles in the Graduale Triplex?

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Sacred Music is the name of the quarterly journal of the Church Music Association of America. In the most recent issue, I have an article entitled 'The Solesmes Chant Tradition: The Original Neumatic Signs and Practical Performance Today'. The article is based on a talk I gave at the CMAA Colloquium in Salt Lake City in 2012 and is intended as an entry into the world of Solesmes and Semiology, in other words how the monks went about the process of deciphering the early chant manuscripts and converting them into a universal and singable performing edition. I know that many readers of the NLM blog are very knowledgeable about this particular field, however this may be of interest if you want to know what semiology is, what is meant by 'Old Solesmes' or if you have simply always wondered what those strange squiggles are in the Graduale Triplex:


I have posted the article here and I am grateful to the CMAA for allowing me to do so. If you would like to subscribe to the journal, you can do so here. It represents good value at $48 a year, however you can donate more to this extremely good cause should you wish and help support the CMAA's vast plethora of projects. You can also browse the online archive of previous editions.

What Can the Mathematics of Beauty and the Liturgy Offer to Scientists?

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Readers may remember a recent article In which I wrote about how when one considers both the repeated cycles of the liturgy and that of the scales and harmonic intervals in music one sees in both the numbers seven and eight governing the threaded path of a helix (Aquinas, Augustine and Benedict on Seven and Eight in the Psalms and the Liturgy). This described how as we move forward in sacred time, we also repeat cycles (every eighth day for example) so that although every day is distinct from every other, it also shares common aspects with others, for example if it is a Thursday it is like other Thursdays in this respect. Or, the other way around: although I might sing Vespers of the Week 12 of the year using exactly the same form as last year and as I expect to do it next year, it is also a unique moment in time.

One reader, Alexey in Kansas contacted me and made an intriguing suggestion based upon what he read. Here is part of what he wrote to me: "Time then is more than one dimension. Just like, when traveling through space, it is not enough to say “I am at 50 degrees latitude”, — the longitude must be specified as well, so it is not enough to say “50 days passed”, one has to add “it is Thursday".

What I fascinating idea. I know I have heard of multi-dimensional space, but not three-dimensional time. This raises the question as to what it is that brings the helix back to the start again after a 360 degree turn in our original picture of music and the liturgy.

The traditional idea of number considers it to be something that designates both quality and quantity. We are used to the idea of number designating quantity, for this is how we tend to think of it today - 9 is always greater than 8 in magnitude for example. But the idea of numbers possessing different qualities is unusual now. For the ancients, however, this was just as important. So the number eight, as we discussed quantifies, but it also 'qualifies' - in the sense that it assigns a particular quality to something. It associates that count of eight with Incarnation. This means that as we go forward in time, we might say that we have moved forward 50 days in time, this considers only the quantity of time. However, we would also say that this day is a Sunday, and that it is the eighth Sunday in the cycle and so it is a special sort of day, connected to previous and future Sundays. In order to carve out this helical path that allows it to move forward yet return to the same quality, we imagine a three dimension picture of it threading through space, hence Alexey's three dimensions in time. This means that when we move forward it is important to consider not only the magnitude that we count, but also direction. The word for something that has both magnitude and direction, many will know, is a 'vector'. So in other words, Alexey is suggesting that time is vector quantity.



What does this have to do with science? Well this is what strikes me. In the scientific method as I understand it, the scientist observes the data, and proposes a hypothesis to explain it which predicts some new, previously unobserved, effect. Then he tests the hypothesis by carrying out repeated experiments to see if the predictions are realized in practice. Then the hypothesis is considered to have a greater degree of certainty and it is now called a 'theorem'.

The creative part of this process is the development of the hypothesis. The first idea of it in the mind of the scientist is as much the product of an inspired guess as it is reason. The scientist just sees the solution that completes the pattern of data. As soon as the idea occurs, he then uses reason consciously and methodically to check it out. Underlying this process is the assumption that the world is naturally made to be patterned ie it is ordered, symmetrical. This being so it the natural sense of the beautiful that allows the scientist to see the completed pattern in his imagination and propose the hypothesis. His intuition guides him to what to what he thinks it ought to be and then he tests it with reason. There is one famous example of this that one can use to illustrate. In the early Sixties, a tenth sub-atomic particle was discovered when a scientist, Murray Gell-Mann, saw nine points on a graph in the pattern of the Pythagorean tectractys but with the tenth point, which would have been the apex of a triangular arrangement of them, missing. Assuming that the natural order was symmetrical and beautiful, he set out to discover this particle and found the tenth just where he thought it would be. You can read about this in more detail here (Liturgical Science?).

This story illustrates a point, I think. That the greater the intuitive sense of the scientist is of the symmetry and order of creation, that is its beauty, the more likely he is to be able to spot the answer that is consistent with the pattern of nature. So, I would contend, you would make a better research scientist out of the man who has receives the traditional education in traditional beauty. At the core of this is the life lived liturgically. Through our active and ordered participation in the liturgy, the rhythms and patterns of the cosmos are impressed deeply upon our hearts.

There are parallels between artist and scientist in their observation and description of the natural world. The artist that draws well uses combinations of the parabolas and elipses to create the natural looking graceful curves that describe his forms  (although he very likely knows these only by a recognition of their graceful shape and would not be able to describe them as a mathematician would). Therefore, the regular exposure to good sacred art, especially in harmony with the liturgy, will enhance the ability of the person to see the world around him in these forms. In the diagram below you can see my version of the plot of the properties of the known particles as it would have appeared to Gell-Mann so that he was inspired to look for the missing apex at the bottom. We can compare this with the pythagorean tectractys, which is a diagramatical representation of the harmonies of music and as shown above in a detail from Raphael's School of Athens.



This goes further.

Pondering over this remark of Alexey's and how even time might be a vector (with magnitude and direction) and not just a scalar (which has only magnitude), reminded me of someone I met years ago in Mountain View, California called Irwin Wunderman. His son was a friend of mine from my time studying metallurgy at Michigan Tech. Irwin was a brilliant man (he was in his seventies, I think, when I met him and he has since died). He was a PhD from Stamford where, he told me, his thesis was so advanced that even in awarding it his advisor told him that they weren't sure that they fully understood it. After leaving Stamford he went on, still in the 1960s, to invent a desk calculator in his garage, which he had patented and then marketed (you can read about this here). He was also an entertaining character who loved to give tours of his house which had been a speakeasy and bordello in the 1920s and had even been raided by the Untouchables. Here he is in his house!



When I met him he had just written a book in which he described a number system he had developed in which he suggested that numbers do not progress linearly (as we normally imagine them) but in fact counting from one to two is a vector operation (even in the absract world of mathematics). In moving from one to two, the vector of the transition is almost linear, but not quite. It moves slightly off in two other dimensions as well. This means that the process of counting follows not a linear scale but a very broad helical path. At the beginning of the conversation he had immediately launched into a complicated description of how his theories worked. I have a degree in materials science (which is the physics of solids) from Oxford University and a Masters in metallurgy from Michigan Technological University. I was never a star student, but it does mean I have more than the average grasp of maths and science. Nevertheless, Irwin lost me in about three sentences. So I stopped him and said: 'Don't tell me how this works. Tell me instead what the important consequences of this are.' Then he told me that if you used his number system, rather than the conventional one, there were no irrational numbers and you could, for example, calculate precisely the area of a circle without having to use an approximate value for 'pi' (ratio of the length of the circumference of the circle to its diameter). Also, he said, through this he had come up with his own unified wave theory in which there was no wave-particle duality in the behaviour of photons, for example. I thought that this was staggering. If he really had done this then it could turn science upside down.

However, Irwin couldn't find anyone to take any notice of him who was capable of understanding his mathematical theories, because he was not associated with any university. He was a complete amateur who had developed this at home. This was so complicated that even most university mathematicians wouldn't understand him. Eventually he had managed to find someone to read and understand it who had some authority and his book was published. But even then, its publication passed largely unnoticed. You can find it on Amazon here. after this I tried to show his book any scientists I knew, but I couldn't get anyone to take me seriously and as soon as anyone started to push me with further questions I couldn't answer them; and again, because Irwin was an amateur they were inclined not believe that it could possibly be true.

Until now, I had not thought about the comparison with the progression of time and the liturgy in a helix, but it is a striking parallel. Perhaps it means that anything that has magnitude (and not just space and time) is three dimensional; because that magnitude is counted by numbers and the number system itself is three dimensional. The question then would be what is else is changing when we count other than conventional modern pure number so that there can be magnitude and direction. I am thinking that perhaps it might be that inherent in number is its quality, as I described it above, which the ancients were aware of and described when they attributed a symbolism to number.

There is another interesting parallel here. When Irwin was describing this to me he said that when the conventional numbers system, in a linear scale remember, was used the error is very small and only becomes significant when you do a large number of counting operations from some fixed point. There are parallels here with music (h/t Fr Z who asked me about this in connection with the topic of liturgy and music). Before the tuning of modern musical instruments to a system of an equal temperament, all notes were sung relative to a pitch decided arbitrarily, say by a leader in a choir. When all notes are sung relative to each other, according to the ear of each singer the intervals and harmonies place each note in a slightly different place, relative to an absolute scale, depending on the route you take to the note. In a choir, this is fine because what happens is that the human ear recognises this and the singer naturally modifies the notes slightly according to the situation and the harmonies are made purer (depending on how good the ear of the singer of course!).

This could work as well in instrumental music where the player has the scope to modify the pitch subtly in response to what is happening around him, for example a stringed instrument without frets, such as a cello. As I understand this, around the time of Bach, they realised that when the player does not have the scope to modify the pitch of the note subtly (such as in a harpsichord, for example, or a flute) in order for instruments to be able to play together in ensemble, they all need to be tuned relative to a single fixed point. The designation of 'equal temperament' refers to the fact that each single interval of pitch is set relative to a single point and is of equal size. This is a compromise and it means that in most situations everything is very slightly out of tune, musical composition was affected by this (I have been told) from this point to take this into account. Here's the point: this being the case, one would expect that just as with the Wunderman mathematical system, the error would become greater of the more iterations there are. In fact this seems to be what we find. It was recognised by those who were working out the new tuning that at a certain point the error becomes large enough to be very clearly audible and so standard modification was introduced, called a 'Pythagorean comma'. This is the difference in pitch that appears between 12 perfect fifths and the tempered seven octaves. In the ideal there should be no difference between the two, however you establish the scale, but there is due to the imposition of equal temperament in the latter case.

Everything that I have written here is highly speculative and if any physicists, mathematicians or experts in musical theory are reading this and tut-tutting and shaking your heads then you are probably right - I am getting out my depth. But I am thinking that there may be enough here for some who really know about these things to be motivated to read Irwin's book and see whether there is anything to it. I would love to think there might be. Maybe this is unifying even more than waves and particles? We might have a bridge between the physical and the metaphysical.

The broader point here in my writing this is to illustrate a conviction that I have that the more we have a deep sense of the beauty of the cosmos (the greatest teacher of this is the liturgy), the greater our creativity in all areas of life for the good of man. I will close with a comment from called Wil Roese, who on reading the first article made this observation: Christ is the Light of the World is simultaneously fully man and fully God, just as light is wave and particle. What an interesting thought!

Below the garage in which Irwin invented his desk calculator; and below that his invention as produced in the 1960s.




Images from Sacra Liturgia 2013

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I wouldn't even know where to begin in posting from the 1,000 plus images from Sacra Liturgia. So many are just breathtaking in their quality and in the moments they so beautifully evoke. I would only suggest that you look through the entire stream, which is publicly available.


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The Pope Emeritus makes a rare appearance

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Pope Francis was joined by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI today for the blessing of a statue of St. Michael the Archangel and for the consecration of Vatican City to the protection of the saint.

The statue was commissioned by Pope Benedict during his pontificate and is by Giuseppe Antonio Lomuscio. These lovely photographs of the blessing in the Vatican Gardens appeared on Facebook earlier today. (Click below to reveal all twelve photos)

























Is Traditionalism Really Transformed?

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Fr. Christopher Smith responds to his critics: 

A few days ago I posted an article on Chant Café entitled Sacra Liturgia 2013 and the Transformation of Traditionalism. It was meant to be more a report on the conference itself and how what was seen of “traditionalism” there was a very different variety than that caricatured by detractors from various vantage points. I was surprised, therefore, at how the article has been engaged by authors and Commentariats of blogs representing a plethora of viewpoints across the Catholic spectrum. Raising the question of whether the traditionalist phenomenon is undergoing its own transformation has obviously touched a nerve. So perhaps it might be the time for me to elaborate a little.


We have to remember that the word “traditionalism” first gets on the radar screen of the Magisterium with the thought of Bonald and Lammenais. It proposed that human reason in and of itself is radically unable to apprehend truth, and thus it is faith alone which provides the certainty of truth. It was a reaction against Rationalism, and Vatican I responded with its thundering declaration in Dei filius preserving the legitmate sphere of reason in ascertaining knowledge. Traditionalism was a kind of fideism, and as such, was condemned.

The word “traditionalism” does not have the same sense in Catholic discussions today. In fact, like the word “pastoral”, it has been used to mean just about anything under the sun. But most often it is attached to a certain type of thought that harbors criticism of Vatican II and its aftermath. It is by no means a homogeneous phenomenon, and unfortunate attempts to paint it with the same dark, ugly brush stroke have served only to obfuscate and anger critics and criticized.

I would like to contend, though, that, the second half of the twentieth century has been marked by two main strands of traditionalist thought: (By the way, this is built upon the analysis of Nicla Buonasorte in the book Tra Roma e Lefebvre, and I do not count it is particularly original)

1. École française. The Ultramontane spirit in its Gallican form, affected sometimes with a sympathy for counterrevolutionary political thought, could perhaps be incarnated in someone like Mgr Louis Pié, Archbishop of Poitiers (1815-80). Its attachment to, and its own declension of, the scuola Romana of neo-Scholastic Thomism in the wake of Leo XIII’s Aeterni Patris, after the Modernist Controversies during the pontificates of Blessed Pius IX and St Pius X, developed a remarkable homogeneity of thought as a system by the eve of the Council. This theological position can best be seen in the works of Fr Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877-1964). The position was deeply suspicious of anything outside of the system, as it were, and the advent of the nouvelle théologie, and especially its apparent triumph around Vatican II, was deeply worrisome to those who took this position. As French seminarians in Rome around Vatican II saw that theology, and its practical consequences, in the ascendant, they rallied around Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (1905-91) as someone who in his person was emblematic of the best of the école française. The Society of St Pius X, and, to a lesser extent, some quarters of the communities founded from them and returned into communion with the Apostolic See, to a greater or lesser degree reflect this position even today. Wherever positions are at variance with the thrust of their own neo-Scholastic Thomism, they tend to be rejected.

2. Scuola Romana. The prevailing neo-Scholastic Thomism of the world of the pontifical university system, at least intellectually, shares much of the same humus as its French counterpart. Where it differs is in its ecclesiological roots. Whereas French Ultramontanism was in a sense a reaction to, and in some sense conditioned by, Gallicanism, the Roman school was more properly papal. For it, the geographical closeness of the Pope was more consistently formative, and, uncomplicated as it was by parries with Gallicanism, it was (ironically) much more firmly attached to the Roman See than the French. Garrigou-Lagrange can be seen as the type of theologian who bridged both schools. Where the two schools depart is less a matter of substance as regards their crititque of theological and pastoral trends outside the system, but in terms of their deference to Rome. The iconic hierarch of the Roman school, and counterpart to Lefebvre, was Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, the Archbishop of Genoa (1906-89). His sense of Romanità figured more prominently in his thought than a Gallic version of Ultramontanism. His book Gethsemane (1980) substantially reflects the criticism of both schools of the theological and pastoral trends in the Church. What separates Siri from Lefebvre, is that Siri was able to continue in visible communion with the Church by accepting Vatican II in a nuanced fashion that might today be called closer to a hermeneutic of continuity, and all without breaking visible bonds of communion as a result of his critique.

While it is perhaps simplistic to say that contemporary traditionalism tends along this binary path of école française and scuola romana, it does explain some of the differences among traditionalists, differences which must be grasped if an accurate portrayal of the movement is to be had. While both remain skeptical of much of the theological and pastoral climate of the post-Vatican II Church, the latter reflects a hermeneutic of continuity much more than the former, which stressed, sometimes almost exclusively, rupture.

It is perhaps also simplistic to say that both strands could continue on as they were throughout the pontificate of Blessed John Paul II. Both were synonymous for those who accused them all equally of being traitors to the Council, and both also substantially continued in the same vein of critique. Ecclesia Dei of 1988 may have granted more access to people to the classical Roman liturgy, which became the most potent symbol of traditionalist resistance. But it did little to change the perspectives of either school of traditionalists or their detractors.

Pope Benedict XVI changed all that. On the surface, the Bavarian theologian belonged to the same nouvelle théologie that both schools found suspect. His dealings with the affaire Lefebvre had gained him some modicum of respect, albeit it at a distance, with the école française, which grew in numbers as the scuola romana became the preserve of some very few circles in Italy. French traditionalism was imported as a missionary endeavor along with the Mass of the Ages all over the world. But Benedict was also to challenge that école française as well. His overtures to the Society of St Pius X and his increasing questioning of the implementation of Vatican II became a pietra d’inciampo for the traditionalist world (and a scandal for those who hated it). Were they a ruse to lure the faithful into Modernism, or were they a sincere gesture of a loving pastor concerned for unity in the Church? In all of this, Benedict XVI emerged, not as a liturgical traditionalist, but as a liturgical pluralist. While he remained committed to the Council and to the initial motives for the nouvelle théologie’s departure from Scholasticism, he also gained the confidence of many traditionalists, who migrated from a more polemical anti-Roman attitude of the postconciliar école française to a nuanced hermeneutic of continuity which was a kind of rebirth of the scuola romana.

After Summorum pontificum of 2007 effectively ended the exile of traditionalists within the Church, as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass was introduced to more people, especially the younger with no historical memory of the affaire Lefebvre, a new Ratzingerian strand of traditionalism seems to be emerging.

It is it possible that there is now a new Ratzingerkreis emerging in the traditionalist world? The école française in many ways risks disintegration as the Society of St Pius X experiences its own internal divisions and spinoffs, such as sedevacantism and strict observances. The classical scuola romana approximates many of the traditionalist communities who have followed the path from Ecône back to Rome. But now there are many people, who are perhaps a bit more open to certain insights outside of the pre-conciliar manualist theological tradition, such as those of Ratzinger, who now find themselves engaging the same critiques of the traditionalists, but from within the desire of a hermeneutic of continuity. Such a school of tradition is no mere reincarnation of Ultramontanism in its neoconservative Amerophilic form. It is embued with the classical liturgical movement, with an eye to the Patristic age, the East, as well as certain insights of the nouvelle théologie. One thinks of a Ratzinger scholar like Tracey Rowland as perhaps more of an example of this type of thought.

In its own way, contemporary traditionalism, like Catholic liberalisms of the 19th century and the post-Vatican II era, is a critical resistance movement. Both shy away from a facile “everything is alright in the state of Denmark” false piety that is lamentably very much alive in self- identifying "conservative" Catholic circles, which carry forward Ultramontanism after a series of popes and a council have disavowed the possibility of any such attitude being authentically Catholic. Both also caution against a one-sided fundamentalist reading of Vatican II, a reading which arguably is hardly tenable given Blessed John XXIII’s inspiration for the Council to break with anathematizing people and invite them to dialogue in charity.

Yet it is hard to maintain an essentially critical spirit for long without descending into bitterness, a lack of communion, decreasing charity, and the rise of ideologism. If traditionalism (or for that matter, antiquarian strands of liberalism) remains fixed in a position according to which the true nature of the Church is such that, to be who she really is, the Church must return to a status quo ante, regardless of whether that ante is 313, 1054, 1570, 1962 or 1968, it cuts itself off from a dynamism which makes the Tradition living and present to every age.

It is clear to me that, many of the participants in Sacra Liturgia 2013 have moved beyond traditionalism as a particular school of thought tied into a certain time period and critique, towards a desire for profound immersion into the Traditio which is the glory of the Catholic religion. And that transformation, whether it be caused by or only chronologically successive to the Benedictine papacy, is, for me at least, a sign of hope for the Church, the real Gaudium et spes of the 21st century.

Evangelization vs. Copyright

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Brandon Vogt really liked the new papal encyclical but noted that the Vatican only made it available in HTML. So he worked to convert it to PDF, epub, Mobi, and more, and then he gave away these formats on his website.

Perhaps he was inspired by the message: "The transmission of the faith not only brings light to men and women in every place; it travels through time, passing from one generation to another. Because faith is born of an encounter which takes place in history and lights up our journey through time, it must be passed on in every age."

Whoops. Both the Vatican and the USCCB wrote to demand a takedown. Clearly, Vogt was "stealing from the Pope" (really? I don't think making other formats available causes the text to be mystically removed from the Vatican website). Also, he was accused of "violating the civil law." Perhaps, but the Church does not need to take recourse to civil law -- a law that restricts information flow by assigning legal right of ownership to the expression of ideas. The Church can easily publish into the commons, as millions of others do today as a way of avoiding restrictive state laws.

Multinational copyright enforcement is a legal invention of the late 19th century. It serves to block the light of truth. This is a great example of that. Thousands, maybe millions, who would be able to obtain the encyclical on their ereaders will now not be able to -- at least not until it is published by the state-protected monopoly agent. That's just a very strange way to go about distributing light and truth.

When faced with the question of whether to impose and enforce copyright over core Catholic texts, one might ask the question that was popular among the teen set a few years ago: What Would Jesus Do?


A First Mass and a "New" Salve Regina

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This past Wednesday, Fr. Juan Tomás, a newly ordained priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter. celebrated his first solemn Mass in the Borghese Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Palestrina's Mass Tu es Petrus was sung for the Ordinary; the final piece, however, was a setting of the Salve Regina written by the very first master of the Borghese Chapel, Ugolino, in the first decades of the 17th century. The piece has never been transcribed before, and so I believe this is the first recording of it ever made. Hopefully, the choir which sang the Mass, the Concerto Romano, conducted by maestro Alessandro Quarta, will do a professional recording of it at some in the future; this is the second time I have been present for a Mass sung by them, and do not hesitate to say that they are probably one of the best choirs in the world. At their website, you can hear several short recordings of some of their performances.

The NLM is very pleased to offer our congratulations to Fr. Tomás, and to the other young men ordained with him this past Saturday at the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lindenberg, Bavaria: Hubert Coeurderoy, Charles Gauthey, André Hahn, and Bertrand Lacroix. (Fr. Lacroix served as the deacon at this Mass, and Fr. Gauthey as the subdeacon.) Ad multos annos!



Cathedral Renovation in Steubenville, OH

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According to the June 21 edition of the The Steubenville Register, the diocesan newspaper of the Diocese of Steubenville, OH, there are currently plans to renovate Holy Name Cathedral, the cathedral of the diocese. The Most Rev. Jeffrey M. Monforton is the bishop of the Diocese, and is

Additional details can be found on pages 1 and 12 of the newspaper, which I have compiled into a pdf here for ease. The entire newspaper can be found here.

Our anonymous contributor points out that the architectural renderings below are simply initial drafts, not the final plans.

This definitely appears to be a step in the right direction. Or, brick by brick, as others might say.

Current:


For current interior pictures, I was only able to find this one, courtesy Fr. Zuhlsdorf. You will note that they have their statues veiled for passion-tide, another positive development. This photo is from 2009.

Proposed:


Historical (1910, from Wikipedia):
This picture is from the requirem for the funeral of the first bishop of Steubenville


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