Pulchritudo Musicae

Video from Media Vita

2011-05-09T21:36:00.001-05:00

World Premiere of 'Media Vita'-modern and sacred music!

2011-05-09T21:32:00.003-05:00

In the midst of Lincoln, Media Vita (In the Midst of Life) was given its world premiere on Sunday. The Lincoln Lutheran Choir performed this newest choral work of Kurt Knecht at the Church of the Holy Trinity Episcopal. Despite the heat and a church with broken air conditioner, the audience filled most of the church and fanned themselves with programs. Kurt Knecht was a beloved mentor while I was studying music in college, and I was delighted to be able to attend the premier of this beautiful work.

The title of the program was “Eternal Light” and featured the Requiem of Gabriel Faure and Kurt Knecht’s Media Vita. However, interspersed with the longer works were hymns that the congregation joined in singing. The choir’s artistic director and conductor, Joshua Norris, explained the theme for the evening in the program “I wanted to focus on one of the most significant, but neglected of themes: death and eternal life… The choir has worked diligently to present to you in a thoughtful way what we believe is one of the most important of Christian ideals to remember: life is indeed eternal!”

The hymns on the program were “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” “Now the Green Blade Rises,” and “For All the Saints.” Some are about death, but always returning to the theme of hope and faith in resurrection and eternal life. The Faure Requiem featured soloists Rebecca Shane (soprano) and Dr. William Shomos (baritone) and goes from the dark moments like “Dies illa, dies irae” (That day, the day of wrath) to the beautiful, angelic closing movement “In Paradisum” (Into Paradise).

After intermission, the audience was finally treated to the premiere of Media Vita. With the composer at the piano, an orchestra consisting of violin, viola, cello, bass, horn, harp, and timpani performed along with the choir. The composer stated that he found the text for this piece in the Lutheran “Little Hours for the Dead” which he had not previously known to exist but found in an old Lutheran hymnal. The texts come from Job, St. Paul, and Isaiah and focus on the themes of the concert: death and eternal life.

As usual with Knecht’s pieces, many musical techniques and styles were in play throughout the piece. He has a great talent in using all the musical styles from the past and present. One moment might sound like it’s from the Renaissance, another from the Baroque, and then a chord happens that reminds us that the 20th century brought atonality to the scene. Knecht created a musical panorama utilizing exactly the musical style that he needed to bring the text to life.

The five movements of Media Vita were: Si Bona Suscepimus (Shall we receive good), Credo, quod Redemptor meus (I know that my Redeemer), Si credimus (If we believe), Ecce, quomodo moritur Justus (Behold, how the righteous dieth), and In pace in id idipsum dormiam (I will lay me down in peace and sleep). Shomos sang a baritone solo for the second movement, and the fourth movement began with a soprano solo sung by Shane.

Despite the printed request in the program that the audience hold their applause until the end of the concert, the church erupted in applause as the audience leapt to their feet at the end of the piece.

Keep track of Knecht’s recitals, concerts, and premieres by following his blog or his facebook page.

young people believe in life-long love

2011-02-07T14:03:00.002-06:00

A video that shows that young people still believe in life-long love!

http://loveishere.com/videos/joyandsacrifice.html

Since it's for a contest, once you view it, "like" it to vote for it.

Personality

2011-01-16T18:35:00.002-06:00

I have always felt that just as each person has a unique and individual personality, so too does each married couple and family.

A personality means that a person will react a certain way to events in their life, they will choose certain people to be close to or associated with, they will be drawn to practice a certain kind of spirituality and prayer, and they will choose activities and a lifestyle based on their personality.

A couple's or family's "personality" means that one family may choose to be very active in their church or school, another family may devote time more to sports, and another family may choose to live a quiet life at home, avoiding lots of extracurricular activities. Some families choose to homeschool by "unschooling," and some choose to have a tight schedule and curriculum to follow.

While each couple and family need to discern what their unique "personality" is, it is important to also remember that what is right for you and your family may not be right for the Jones family or the Smith family or the...

That's right, don't give into peer pressure at any age or stage!

Happy New Year

2011-01-09T21:57:00.002-06:00

We are already well into 2011--especially since the Liturgical New Year began weeks ago with the first Sunday of Advent!

I always try to start the (calendar) New Year right by praying the Preparation for Total Consecration by St. Louis Marie de Montfort. It begins on December 31 and ends on the Feast of the Presentation on February 2nd. What better way to give the year to the Lord than by consecrating oneself to Him through weeks of prayerful preparation and a devotion to His Blessed Mother.

Publication

2010-10-26T19:34:00.004-05:00

Today, I opened my mailbox to find the latest issue of "Sacred Music." Months ago, I had sent in my abstract, and the editor said that he was interested in the entire thesis for publication. After sending my thesis, however, I did not hear any confirmation, so I was uncertain if my thesis had actually made it into the journal.

...But there in the index, third from the top, was "A Blessing in Disguise" with my name next to it.

It is a thrill to see my hard work in print and know that it is being read.

Perhaps there'll be more to come now that I know I can do it!

in honor of All Saints Day

2010-10-26T15:03:00.002-05:00

Featuring: St. Bridget of Sweden-historical, political, and religious figure honored to this day throughout Scandinavia and the entire Catholic world.

Birgitta of Sweden: Countries and Centuries

St. Birgitta of Sweden

Birgitta of Sweden had far reaching influence in her own lifetime in Church and State, and her influence has continued through the centuries not only in her native land, but also in the studies of Catholics throughout the world. She may be little known outside of Swedish and Catholic circles, but her legacy deserves recognition and admiration. This humble woman lived a life of service and steadfastness. Born in 1303, she was married at her father’s behest in 1316 to Ulf Gudmarson.[1] Despite the fact that she did not want to be married and had wanted to remain as a virgin, dedicated to God, Birgitta and Ulf went on to have a happy marriage. During her lifetime, Birgitta won renown and respect throughout not only Sweden, but also throughout the rest of Europe by her influence within the Catholic Church. Interestingly, her fame has survived throughout the subsequent centuries. Many influential or significant women in history have been rediscovered or uncovered in the last few decades because of the feminist movement, but Birgitta did not need rediscovery. This woman from Sweden continues to inspire people as she did in her own lifetime throughout Europe.

The accounts of Birgitta’s life serve to illustrate why she earned and deserves such recognition. No biography of Birgitta can leave out her deep religious faith. Catholicism had been present and influential in Sweden for roughly three hundred years by the time of Birgitta.[2] Religion was a part of her earliest childhood, and prophecies and legend abound. A medieval account of her life printed in London in 1516 tells a legend about her grandmother. A nun had seen Birgitta’s grandmother walking with her servants and accused her of being proud. In a dream, she saw “a person of marvelous beauty who…said to her, ‘I shall make a daughter come of her progeny with whom I shall do great deeds in the world.’”[3] This account was written in England, two hundred years after Birgitta’s life, but the legends contained within it are bountiful. As the story goes, when she was born, the priest had a vision prophesying that the baby girl’s “marvelous voice shall be heard throughout the whole world.”[4] As a child, she prayed and did good deeds; her first vision reportedly occurred when she was twelve years old.

While still a child, she was married. Despite wanting to live as a virgin dedicated only to God, Birgitta dutifully obeyed her father’s plan for her marriage. In a prayerful and holy marriage, Ulf and Birgitta had eight children. Birgitta “deliberately brought [the children] along on her visits to the sick in their homes or in hospitals, so that her children would witness her splendid example of willing, humble service.”[5] None of the offspring attained the fame of their mother, although her daughter, Catherine, joined her in founding the Birgittine Religious order and is also regarded as a saint by the Catholic Church.[6] In a 1979 secular history by T.K. Derry, the author relates that Birgitta’s “life story is in some ways typical of that age of noble privilege.”[7] Because of Ulf’s knighthood, Birgitta and Ulf were frequently in attendance on the royal couple. King Magnus granted a gift of land at Vadstena to Birgitta; however, she was not afraid to “criticize what she found amiss in the marital relations of the royal couple, and when the king tried to restrict the financial privileges of the nobles, she denounced him bitterly.”[8] Thus, in her marriage and in her homeland, she was pious and influential.

After twenty-eight years of marriage, Ulf died, and Birgitta renewed her desire to be a consecrated religious. She began planning the rule for her religious order that she intended to found at Vadstena, the land given to her by King Magnus. She planned two branches of the order, for monks and for nuns. This order would be called the “Order of the Most Holy Savior,” although it is more commonly known as the Birgittines in honor of the foundress.[9] Despite the long lasting and widespread presence of her order, Birgitta’s fame during her lifetime was due to the prophecies and visions that prompted her to travel across Europe and write letters urging the Holy Father to return to his seat in Rome. This period for the Catholic Church was known as the “Babylonian Captivity” because the Popes had for some time chosen to live in Avignon, France instead of the traditional seat of the papacy, namely, Rome. The danger in this displacement of the papal court to Avignon was that the Church came more and more under the control of French leaders. In Catholic books summarizing world history, such as the high school textbook Christ the King—Lord of History, Birgitta’s name appears along with an Italian woman, St. Catherine of Siena. Both women were inspired to urge and implore the Popes to return to Rome. Birgitta’s influence convinced Pope Urban V to return to Rome although “the temptations to return to France were too strong and he prepared to return to Avignon in 1370. [Birgitta] prophesied that he would die within the year if he left Rome, but Urban refused to listen…at the end of December, when he died exactly as she had prophesied.”[10] Birgitta herself died in 1373, and following her death, St. Catherine of Siena carried on the task of calling the Pope to return to Rome.

Since European monarchs of this time were Catholic, Birgitta’s ability to influence the Pope was hugely important politically and religiously. Besides her fame in regards to her activities with the papal court, Birgitta also gained renown with the writing of her Revelations which was “largely compiled, arranged, and edited after her death, circulated in Latin and vernacular languages from the end of the fourteenth century until at least the seventeenth century.”[11] Besides the visions that pertained to the papal return to Rome, some of “her most famous revelations include a vivid description of the Nativity…and advice concerning a peaceful solution to the Hundred Years War.”[12] The Revelations fascinate modern scholars because it lays out clearly and distinctly medieval morality and theology from the Real Presence, life after death, and calls to repentance. It is also interesting to note the images and metaphors that are vivid and well known to her readers and to herself such as “nature, medieval technology…domestic life…food, clothing, and maternity.”[13]

By means of this broad range of revelations and the influence it gained her, priests sometimes consulted Birgitta and they would at times preach her revelations from their pulpits. She was not as learned in theology as priests, nor did she have the sacred character of the priesthood conferred by Holy Orders; however, Birgitta received “admiring respect for her prophetic abilities” which “allowed her to exercise a measure of authority over individual clerics, who otherwise were her superiors.”[14] Wielding moral and prophetic power over popes, priests, and kings, Birgitta nonetheless remained humble and devout. As she lay on her deathbed, Mass was said before her, and her last words were the words of the dying Christ, “‘In manus tuas domine commendo spiritum meum’—which is to say, ‘Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit.’”[15]

After Birgitta’s death in 1373, debates surrounded the authenticity of her revelations. Many people and priests loyally defended her, while others demanded close inspection of all her claims and writings. In the first twenty years following her death, the canonization process took place. Popes, councils, and committees undertook to study her life and work. Her spiritual advisors reported miracles attributed to her, and the king of Sweden, Albrekt of Mecklenberg, also submitted a petition to the Pope for her canonization.[16] Birgitta’s daughter, Catherine, was highly active in promoting her mother’s canonization and the formation of her mother’s order. Catherine was able to return to Vadstena in 1380 to officially found the Birgittines, and the canonization finally occurred after further committee investigations in 1391.[17] Through the canonization process, Birgitta’s renown had grown in circles around Rome as well as throughout the kingdom of Sweden. Criticism from various church figures continued to circulate through the 15^th century and beyond until, during Benedict XIV’s pontificate (1740-1758), he issued “a bull ‘De servorum Dei beatificatione et beatorum canonizatione’…which silenced the critics of the canonization of…Birgitta of Sweden.”[18]

Meanwhile, in Sweden, the Birgittines grew and expanded, spreading St. Birgitta’s rule and her special devotions. Although the order had members only from the aristocratic families, “as her cult grew she attracted women of more varying social origins.”[19] For Sweden, the monastery at Vadstena became a source of learning and culture, a connection the learning of European monasteries. Birgittine monasteries were soon being built outside of Sweden, the first, near Florence, was founded in 1394, but also in other parts of Scandinavia with an abbey outside Bergen in Norway and an abbey in Finland was founded in 1441.[20] An important monastery was founded in England in 1415 with the support of Henry IV; although this monastery suffered from the dissolution of monasteries under the reformation of Henry VIII in 1539, the nuns took refuge in the Netherlands and later settled in Lispon, carrying on their religious life until they were able to return to England in 1861. Through their perseverance through centuries of exile, the Birgittine Abbey of Syon can now make the unique claim of “being the only English religious community founded in medieval times that has maintained an unbroken lineage to the present.”[21]

In Vadstena, the reformation also took its toll. Throughout Europe, monasteries were forbidden, “From 1595, when our abbey here was closed, up until modern times, it was forbidden to have any monasteries at all in Sweden.”[22] The attitude towards the Catholic Church and religious communities is still negative after the many years of being suppressed in Sweden, but the monastery has been reestablished and flourishes with new vocations of young women. Sr. M. Patricia, soon to celebrate her Golden Jubilee as a religious, loves “Holy Mother” Birgitta, and describes her “as a very wise and loved woman…during her happy and blessed marriage, she kept her heart and her mind fixed on Christ…This did not prevent her from being a charming hostess, a happy mother and wife. She was a very balanced person, healthy and once again, happy. In her widowhood she became free from family ties and was able to give herself totally to God and he accepted her in a very wonderful way.” The sisters who follow closely the rule of Birgitta and try to learn from her holy love of the Savior and His Blessed Mother see that the secret of Birgitta’s relationship with God and the complete privacy in her prayer-life is a good thing for a nun to copy.”[23]

Besides the abbeys in Vadstena and England’s Syon Abbey, there are two original medieval monasteries survive in the Netherlands and a Spanish abbey established in 1630. In Rome, the house where Birgitta stayed for many years became a Birgittine abbey in 1911, and it was from there that the Birgittines came back to Sweden in 1923.[24] The branch of the Birgittine order for men had disappeared since the 1850s, but since 1976, has been reestablished by the founding of a monastery in Amity, Oregon. This branch in the United States abides by the rules as laid out by Birgitta in prayer and silence, actually supporting itself by making candy.[25]

Besides the recently established monastery in Oregon, the United States’ Swedish immigrants brought devotion to their saint to various parts of the United States. The Swedish community of Lindsborg, Kansas is home to St. Bridget’s of Sweden Catholic Church,[26] and another Church built in her honor flourishes in Lindstrom, Minnesota,[27] and yet another St. Bridget of Sweden Church was built in 1955 as an offshoot of St. Elisabeth and St. Catherine of Siena parishes in Van Nuys, California.[28] In these and other churches, St. Birgitta (or Bridget as she is known to English speakers) continues to be known throughout the world. Although in Lincoln, Nebraska there is not a church dedicated to St. Bridget, her name is known by means of saints’ books, All Saints’ Day celebrations, and Catholic history books. In the Catholic world, she appears in world histories, in saint books, and in the devotion of Catholic throughout the world from the naming of Churches after Birgitta to the naming of daughters, Birgitta or Bridget, in her honor.

The Swedes, of all faiths, also love to remember Birgitta. Indeed, when explaining to Americans Birgitta’s place in their hearts and homes, Sr. Patricia, O.Ss.S compared Birgitta to Abraham Lincoln in the United States. “Everybody in U.S.A. knows something about him, or even a lot about him. The same applies to saint Birgitta. Her memory is still very much alive and her relics, now in the Lutheran church here that used to be ours before the Reformation, her relics are revered and there is always a lighted lamp before the shrine. Pilgrims come from all over Europe to venerate her relics.”[29] There in that Lutheran church, some 30 years ago, the parish was discussing whether or not to gild the cross atop steeple, but when someone exclaimed the Birgitta would not like it, as if she were still alive, “the spire was not gilded.”[30] Sr. Patricia, in correspondence with the author of this paper, expressed excitement at the growing interest in Birgitta outside of Sweden, particularly in Norway, “where she has been sadly neglected until now.”[31]

In secular histories, Birgitta continues to appear in Scandinavian history books of all kinds not only for the fame she had during her lifetime, but also for her legacy, the religious order, with which she “left her mark on the whole of Scandinavia…The Swedes acquired in her a saint of their own.”[32] The Birgittines explain what she means to them by saying:

“She shows us the way to follow. You have some ‘idol’ out there… James Dean, or whoever. Who remembers him even nowadays? In six hundred years nobody will have any idea of who he was. But Saint Birgitta is still well known over the entire world. Since she became officially made a saint, her feast day 23 July is celebrated in every Catholic Church or chapel on this earth (i.e. if the local priest wants to)! She is really the only Swede who ever got that far.”[33]

Because of Birgitta’s continued presence in Catholic devotion, Scandinavian histories, and (more recently) women’s studies, the Birgittine nuns are certainly right in their claim that no other Swede achieved the lasting renown of Birgitta.

Scandinavia can also feel proud to claim such an influential woman in the medieval ages when such women were up against incredible odds. Pope John Paul II acknowledged Birgitta’s incredible influence in Europe by proclaiming her the Co-Patroness of Europe in 1999. She had already been honored as the Patroness of Sweden for many years, but with the proclamation of Birgitta as Co-Patroness of Europe, the Catholic world had a resurgence of interest in Birgitta.

Birgitta of Sweden had far reaching influence in her own lifetime within Sweden and throughout Europe. Her Revelations influenced and defined much of medieval theology and morality while also motivating Popes and kings. Her name lives on in Swedish history because of her deep faith, her vocation and visions that took her throughout Europe, and her founding of the Birgittine order. For a medieval woman, a legacy of such widespread endurance is rare, but it is even rarer for a woman from the cultural backwaters of Scandinavia. The rest of Europe had its culture, artists, religious orders, aristocrats, and religious leaders long before Scandinavia, but Birgitta swept across Europe from the North, perhaps she could be compared to the Vikings—they too came from the North and swept across Europe. However, those Viking men, centuries before Birgitta, came with immorality and laid waste to Europe while she came to those lands of southern Europe with morality and peace.

Bibliography

Andersson, Ingvar. A History of Sweden. Second Edition, first published in the United States in 1956. Translated by Carolyn Hannay and Alan Blair. New York, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970.

Brigittine Monks. "About Us." Brigittine Monks: Order of the Most Holy Savior. 2005. http://www.brigittine.org/monks/ab0711.html (accessed April 30, 2010).

Carroll, Anne. Christ the King--Lord of History. Third Edition. Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, 1994.

Catholic Information Network. "St. Bridget of Sweden." Catholic Information Network. July 22, 2000. http://www.cin.org/saints/bridget-sweden.html (accessed April 30, 2010).

Derry, T.K. A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1979.

Gascione, Thomas. "Life of St. Birgitta." February 20, 1516. http://www.umilta.net/thgascbirgitta.html (accessed April 26, 2010).

Holbock, Ferdinand. Married Saints and Blesseds Through the Centuries. English translation from the second edition of the original German: Heilige Eheleute: Verheiratete Selige und Heilige aus allen Jahrhunderten. Salzburg (2001). Translated by Michael J. Miller. San Francisco, California: Ignatius Press, 2002.

Lindsborg Kansas. St. Bridget's of Sweden Catholic Church. http://www.lindsborgcity.org/index.aspx?NID=79 (accessed April 30, 2010).

Morris, Bridget. St. Birgitta of Sweden. Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1999.

Patricia, O.Ss.S., Sr. M., interview by Amy D Waddle. (May 1, 2010).

Patricia, O.Ss.S., Sr. M. "One Thousand and One Questions." Birgittasystrarna. http://www.birgittaskloster.se/?h=8&l=eng#vocation (accessed April 30, 2010).

Sahlin, Claire L. Birgitta of Sweden and the Voice of Prophecy. Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2001.

St. Birgittas Kloster Vadstena. "About the Order." Birgittasystrarna. 2002. http://www.birgittaskloster.se/?h=5&l=eng (accessed April 30, 2010).

St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic Church. Parish History. 2006. http://www.sbos.org/about.html (accessed May 1, 2010).

—. St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic Church. http://www.stbridgetofsweden.org/ (accessed May 1, 2010).

Steele, F. "Catholic Encyclopedia: Brigitines." Catholic Encyclopedia. 1907. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02785a.htm (accessed April 30, 2010).

Syon Abbey. "Syon Abbey and the Bridgettine Order." Syon Abbey. http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/SyonAbbey.htm (accessed April 30, 2010).

[1] Ferdinand Holbock, Married Saints and Blesseds Through the Centuries, English translation from the second edition of the original German: Heilige Eheleute: Verheiratete Selige und Heilige aus allen Jahrhunderten. (Salzburg: Christiana-Verlag, 2001), trans. Michael J. Miller (San Francisco, California: Ignatius Press, 2002): 241-242.

[2] T.K. Derry, A History of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1979): 36-42.

[3] Thomas Gascione, "Life of St. Birgitta," February 20, 1516, http://www.umilta.net/thgascbirgitta.html (accessed April 26, 2010).

[4] Gascione, “Life of St. Birgitta.”

[5] Holbock, Married Saints: 251.

[6] Catholic Information Network, "St. Bridget of Sweden," Catholic Information Network, July 22, 2000, http://www.cin.org/saints/bridget-sweden.html (accessed April 30, 2010).

[7] Derry, A History of Scandinavia: 67.

[8] Derry, A History of Scandinavia: 67.

[9] F. Steele, "Catholic Encyclopedia: Brigitines," Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02785a.htm (accessed April 30, 2010).

[10] Anne Carroll, Christ the King--Lord of History, Third Edition (Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, 1994): 192.

[11] Claire L. Sahlin, Birgitta of Sweden and the Voice of Prophecy (Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2001): 19.

[12] Sahlin, Voice of Prophecy: 21.

[13] Sahlin, Voice of Prophecy: 21.

[14] Sahlin, Voice of Prophecy: 121.

[15] Gascione, “Life of St. Birgitta.”

[16] Bridget Morris, St. Birgitta of Sweden (Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1999): 145.

[17] Morris, St. Birgitta: 148-149.

[18] Morris, St. Birgitta: 158.

[19] Morris, St. Birgitta: 160.

[20] Morris, St. Birgitta: 169-170.

[21] Syon Abbey, "Syon Abbey and the Bridgettine Order," Syon Abbey, http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/SyonAbbey.htm (accessed April 30, 2010).

[22] Sr. M. Patricia, "One Thousand and One Questions," Birgittasystrarna, http://www.birgittaskloster.se/?h=8&l=eng#vocation (accessed April 30, 2010).

[23] Sr. M. Patricia, O.Ss.S., interview by Amy D Waddle, (May 1, 2010).

[24] St. Birgittas Kloster Vadstena, "About the Order," Birgittasystrarna, 2002, http://www.birgittaskloster.se/?h=5&l=eng (accessed April 30, 2010).

[25] Brigittine Monks, "About Us," Brigittine Monks: Order of the Most Holy Savior, 2005, http://www.brigittine.org/monks/ab0711.html (accessed April 30, 2010).

[26] Lindsborg Kansas, St. Bridget's of Sweden Catholic Church, http://www.lindsborgcity.org/index.aspx?NID=79 (accessed April 30, 2010).

[27] St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic Church, St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic Church, http://www.stbridgetofsweden.org/ (accessed May 1, 2010).

[28] St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic Church, Parish History, 2006, http://www.sbos.org/about.html (accessed May 1, 2010).

[29] Sr. Patricia, interview.

[30] Sr. Patricia, interview.

[31] Sr. Patricia, interview.

[32] Ingvar Andersson, A History of Sweden, Second Edition, first published in the United States in 1956, trans. Carolyn Hannay and Alan Blair (New York, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970): 54.

[33] Sr. Patricia, "One Thousand and One Questions."

Professional Recognition

2010-09-28T23:20:00.003-05:00

In the Fall 2010 edition of the Fine and Performing ARTS Magazine, I was mentioned and pictured on page 13. Friends and professors featured throughout the magazine that I am proud to know, Dr. Peter Lefferts, Dr. Stan Kleppinger, Dr. Kurt Knecht, Dr. Chris Marks, Dr. Nicole Narboni, as well as Nathan Todhunter, Lily Spader, and Jessica Dussault.

The School of Music at UNL was a good education and a good experience.

Moving on, I am also featured in the latest edition of the LMTA newsletter as a new member.

Graduate

2010-05-11T12:53:00.002-05:00

On May 8th, 2010, I graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with High Distinction and membership in the UNL Honors Program as well as membership in Phi Beta Kappa Honors society and the honors music society, Pi Kappa Lambda.
My Music major comes in handy with the establishment of my full-time piano studio and playing for weddings/funerals/banquets as well as part time work with the choir(s) that I direct and churches that I play for on the weekends. My English minor was a joy to attain as I studied literature that I loved, and I know it will be useful in whatever writing I end up doing, in helping me analyze what I read, and in the future when I homeschool my children.

On to what God has in store for me with teaching, singing, playing piano and organ, and getting married to start the real career goal and vocation God has given me: full-time wife and mother.

Thesis completion

2010-03-20T19:04:00.003-05:00

Also, a news bulletin:

I have completed my senior thesis. My thesis title is: "A Blessing in Disguise: Stepping Back to Make Informed Decisions in the Performance of Gregorian Chant." It is a look at chant in the past 100 years or so.

Here is the abstract:
By studying the history and current practices of Gregorian chant, modern church musicians like myself can reach an informed decision regarding the choices facing them as Schola directors in the use of Gregorian chant. I begin by focusing on the movement of the monks of Solesmes at the turn of the 20th century because Solesmes spread a unified and more accessible practice of chant to Church musicians and Scholas. The Motu Proprio of Pope Pius X gave the Solesmes’ method a boost that spread the practice of Solesmes style chant around the world and gave commands for the cultivation of further editions of chant. Examples of the widespread use and development of chant according to Solesmes’ method are the work of Justine Ward and Mary Berry. Practice of chant fell drastically after the Second Vatican Council changed the order of the Catholic Mass, and Mary Berry’s own practice was shaken by the changes, but she used the time as an opportunity to do further research into Medieval chant practices. Selecting a few examples of scholars and practicing church musicians in the debates regarding interpretation of chant I find aids for the church musician like myself interested in selecting a suitable method of practicing chant.

Lenten Music

2010-03-20T18:58:00.002-05:00

This year, while appreciating my files of music selections from years past when it comes to picking out hymns every Sunday, I have also begun using English Propers at Communion. The choir or myself sing the Propers from the Sacred Music Project. They're beautiful little melodies written in chant notation and a great way to begin introducing Propers to the congregation. We sing it and then sing a Communion hymn. It's especially beautiful for the choir to learn the way in which music is a part of the Mass as we sing something that goes perfectly with the readings and Gospel of the day--just as the Church intends.

2010-02-23T21:38:00.002-06:00

Interesting article from V.II. In certain parts of the world, especially mission lands, there are peoples who have their own musical traditions, and these play a great part in their religious and social life. For this reason due importance is to be attached to their music, and a suitable place is to be given to it, not only in forming their attitude toward religion, but also in adapting worship to their native genius....

Of course, don't forget this part too: The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.

And that the Council called for more editions of Chant to be put forth!

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html#_ftnref42

Piano Studio

2010-02-01T19:05:00.003-06:00

My piano studio is the Pulchritudo Musicae Studio--and of course, that does mean "the beauty of music."

On Sunday, my students gave their first piano recital. I was delighted at each of their performances. They did a wonderful job, each one meeting the challenge of performing with excellent concentration.

As my studio grows, I've created business cards, and also a contact listing at www.lessonmaestro.com, searching in the area will bring me up. For any of my current students, I hope they help get the word out!

2009-12-19T18:29:00.000-06:00

On these grounds Gregorian Chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music, so that it is fully legitimate to lay down the following rule: the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple.

Pope Pius X, in his 1903 Motu Proprio.

a Marian Celebration

2009-11-23T20:25:00.004-06:00

The opportunity to direct the singing for a Marian Mass offered by the Bishop of Lincoln in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. We sang Salve Regina and Ave Maria as Communion meditation--the same as are and have been sung for years at the sites of Lourdes and Fatima and throughout the Church.

for starters

2009-11-23T18:30:00.005-06:00

I guess a good thing to start with is the idea of Advent versus Christmas music.

Many people have their Christmas trees up already and are listening to Chrismas music. As exciting as that is, by the time Dec. 25th rolls around, they will be pretty tired of Christmas music and lights.

We should take the beautiful example set by the Church of celebrating and preparing for Christmas through the Advent Season. This year, we begin Advent on Nov.29. We light the first purple candle in the Advent wreath and no longer sing the Gloria (Glory to God) at Sunday Mass. The purple vestments and candle call to mind a more somber time of preparation and waiting for the Birth of the Lord.

We can meditate on the hundreds of years spent waiting for the Messiah by the Jews. We hear in the readings prophecies announcing His coming, and we begin to prepare our hearts in joyful anticipation for Christmas!

In music, besides no longer singing the Gloria, we are to no longer have instrumental music before and after Mass and to cut back on accompaniment as well. At my parish and many others, we take this opportunity to sing the parts of the Mass in a simple chant setting. Father offers Mass "ad orientem" (towards the East--facing the altar) in order to call to mind how it is that we are all waiting for the coming of the Lord--in His birth at Christmas and in the Second Coming.

Let us prepare our hearts in silence and awe.

blogging

2009-11-23T18:30:00.002-06:00

It's hard to always remember to update the blog here. Especially as I haven't gotten into the swing of exactly what kinds of things I want to include. Suggestions welcome. :)

work in progress

2009-08-27T11:26:00.002-05:00

Hymns/songs not to be sung at my parish. The list as worked on by my pastor and I--still in progress!
There are many things that must be evaluated in choosing music for the liturgy, including its musical quality and singabilty, its sacred character, and its theological correctness. Then, of course, there is the liturgical suitability: is this song appropriate for today’s scriptural texts, the season we are in, and the particular part of the Mass.

In the degrees of importance, we want to give first place to singing the parts of the Mass and the responses of the faithful. This should eventually include our learning to occasionally sign the proper Introit antiphon (entrance chant) and Communion antiphon.

Although newer songs are welcome and can be enriching, pride and place should be given to Gregorian chant, and then to hymns that form an important heritage of Catholic music.

The following points are in no particular order…

• Overplayed, stale, banal or uninspiring, and not sacred music

• Uses term “Yahweh”

• Refers to the Eucharist as only a symbol/sign

• Attempts to speak for God

• Focus is on us (the congregation) instead of God.

• Songs which should not be done from Heritage Missal or Music Issue because they have changed the traditional text.

• Finally there are probably others that are not mentioned, simply because they are not common / familiar, but would also be evaluated as unsuitable.

For hymns/songs that fall under these categories, please contact me.

ad orientem?

2009-03-06T00:01:00.002-06:00

From the Catholic Thing, a consideration of ad orientem, the Tridentine Mass, and the exhortations of our Holy Father.

Catholic competition

2009-02-27T16:31:00.003-06:00

The Infernal Files are a collection of devilish letters coming from different "senior devils" to their "junior devils." These letters deal directly with the temptations confronting today's young Catholics from high school to young adulthood. The senior devils are offering advice to the junior devils-on how to tempt their "patients" and foul the efforts of the Enemy, God. In the Infernal Files are to be found letters about patients at all stages of spirituality from those already well along their journey to those still in the midst of the most worldly temptations.

All the details are at www.infernalfiles.com

Spread the word and take part in the competition!

Ashes

2009-02-27T13:31:00.001-06:00

Although "Ashes" has a title that is fitting for the day of Ash Wednesday, I feel that it's message is basically opposite to the real meaning of Ash Wednesday. "Man, remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return." Whereas "Ashes" carries on about "rising again from the good we've failed to do." "Rising again" doesn't come from our own effort, on our own we are dust---the season of Lent is about recognizing our own weakness and our need for salvation. That's simply why I really avoid doing "Ashes." Probaby one of the songs at Church I feel most strongly about.

a short research project

2009-01-07T21:21:00.001-06:00

Chant of the Church:
Text and Melody

Gregorian chant, the music of the Roman Catholic liturgy has had a history of ups and downs from its earliest origins. Chant’s very existence came about because of widespread differences in liturgical music and a desire to unify the Roman liturgy. Chant became distinct to each locale once more and was again unified, this time by the Council of Trent. The downhill took place again, and the restoration was begun by Dom Gueranger at the Abbey of Solesmes. If one were to draw a diagram of the history of chant in the Church, it would appear not dissimilar to the lines drawn by the monks of Solesmes to indicate the arsic and thetic gestures of chironomy. The history is not disconnected, but is rather a continuously undulating line of practice. Unfortunately, therefore, each time in history that chant must be, as it were, rediscovered, the scholars and musicians face the challenge of reinterpreting and selecting the old manuscripts and the importance of text versus melody.

Briefly, the first upsurge of chant, resulting in its promulgation by Pope Leo III and spread by Charlemagne throughout the Holy Roman Empire, began with the beginning of Western Monasticism. Most important in preserving manuscripts was the Benedictine monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland.[1] In the years from 1545-1563, the Council of Trent was held. By this time, chant was once again widely different in each diocese across Europe and in the aftermath of the Council, the Counter-Reformation, “intelligibility of the text was important.” A new gradual, known as the Medici edition because of the press from which it came, was published in 1614-1615 with the chants to be used by the church—although they were never officially binding. [2]

Unfortunately, the Medici edition “is shocking for its mutilation of the traditional melodies.

Melismas were mercilessly shortened, and the remaining melismas were transferred to accented syllables. This was due to Renaissance and nascent Baroque understandings of the subordination of melody to text. It was no longer understood that the ancient melodies, with long melismas and ingenious placement of melismas on weak syllables, were to be sung lightly and quickly, and with a rhythmic interpretation which brought out the text.”[3]

This left, as David Hiley points out, an opening for “further rewriting of the ancient melodies…for anyone with the will and ability to follow it.”[4] Once again, chant disintegrated to individual differences across the Church and was all but lost in the Age of Enlightenment and the era of the French Revolution.

The revival of chant would be begun this time by one Dom Prosper Gueranger who, having concerned himself with the restoration of the Faith, monasticism, and the Abbey of Solesmes looked also to restore the soul of the Church, the liturgy.[5] He hoped to renew the unity of the French Church to Rome, and he would end up beginning a movement that would lead to Rome unifying chant for the Church once more. As Katherine Bergeron points out in her book, Decadent Enchantments, sometimes restoration may mean “to create a form of life that ‘may never have existed.’” Dom Gueranger did more than bring back a way of life that once existed at Solesmes, rather, he built up beyond it in the spirit of the Church and Benedictine monasticism.

Dom Gueranger “arrived at the recognition that the archeological investigation of chant manuscripts by itself was not sufficient to bring about a manner of singing which is convincing [or] appropriate for the liturgy. For him Gregorian chant was in the first place prayer, the sung prayer of the liturgy.”[6] For this first step in restoration, therefore, the focus was primarily for the text. This focus on a text-oriented manner of singing became the practice of Solesmes passed on from Dom Gueranger to Dom Joseph Pothier and Dom Andre Mocquereau in the latter half of the nineteenth century. However, Dom Mocquereau was to develop a great interest in the “most comprehensive documentation and intensive investigation” of historical manuscripts rather than limiting himself to the text as the highest principle of interpretation.[7]

As Dom Pothier followed the path of fidelity first and foremost to the text, he also “attempted to sketch Gregorian history through the very notational signs—the neumes—in whose collective features he believed that history resided.”[8] Dom Pothier spent a great deal of time focused on beautifully reproducing and seeking to publish books of chant with clear, antique neumes and ornamentations. By making their work more beautiful, the monks of Solesmes hoped to overcome other publishers of liturgical music; but the more beautiful the books, the more beautiful must be the singing.[9] As Solesmes continued to develop its singing and production of chant, Dom Mocquereau developed his ideas regarding this music of the liturgy.

Dom Mocquereau moved beyond the development of a single beautiful printed edition and studied manuscripts, all that he could find. To his study, Dom Mocquereau brought the technology of photography. By means of photography, he “exposed Gregorian tradition not as a single, idealized creation but as a staggering diversity of representations.” Dom Mocquereau’s work presented a threat to the work of Dom Pothier. The threat was in the very number and availability of the photographs; “by its willful proliferation of images, the Paleographie musical functioned…as a kind of silent critique.” Dom Pothier feared not only that his colleague’s work would cause of revision of his, but also that because the sources were “no longer the private property of monk-scholars” and other scholars were armed with “the source” and could study Dom Pothier’s work against even more sources than he perhaps had consulted.[10]

Although one might not be led to expect it by Dom Mocquereau’s serious study of manuscripts, he also was responsible for mesure libre, “a modern invention and a purely abstract system of rhythm…in clear contradiction to the data of the very Gregorian paleography which he worked so hard to establish and disseminate.”[11] Despite that, Dom Mocquereau was responsible for bringing the study of chant from solely a question of liturgy to a field of science outside of the sacred realm. Within the Church, the restoration had a victory in the Motu Proprio of 1903 when Pope Pius X reinforced the teaching that chant was the “principle music for worship.”[12] The following year, the Holy Father followed up on the Motu Proprio by declaring preference for the interpretations and work of Solesmes above other chant books.

But this victory was not the end of the saga of Solesmes. Dom Gueranger and his successors had brought about a restoration of Gregorian chant, not just in their Abbey but also in the Church and not just in the Church but also in the world of scholarly study. Although chant would fall again from public use throughout the churches and have to begin to rise again (1960 fall and current revival), the work of the monks of Solesmes accomplished the vital task of keeping chant, manuscripts, practice, and study of it alive. As scholars continue to contend on proper interpretation and compilations of melody and rhythm, they will always have Solesmes to look to for gratitude even if not in certain agreement. And chant lives on—there is more yet to discover in our study of it.

Bibliography

Bergeron, Katherine. Decadent Enchantments: The Revival of Gregorian Chant. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1998.

Fr. Anthony Ruff, O.S.B. "Beyond Medici: The Struggle for Progress in Chant." Edited by William Mahrt. Sacred Music (Church Music Association of America) 135, no. 2 (Summer 2008).

Goschl, Johannes Berchmans. "One Hundred Years of the Graduale Romanum." Edited by William Mahrt. Sacred Music (Church Music Association of America) 135, no. 2 (Summer 2008).

Hiley, David. Western Plainchant: A Handbook. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Wright, Craig, and Bryan Simms. Music in Western Civilization. Belmont, California: Thomson Schirmer, 2006.

[1] Craig Wright and Bryan Simms, Music in Western Civilization (Belmont, California: Thomson Schirmer, 2006), pages 17-33.

[2] David Hiley, Western Plainchant: A Handbook (New York City, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), page 615.

[3] Fr. Anthony Ruff, O.S.B., "Beyond Medici: The Struggle for Progress in Chant," ed. William Mahrt, Sacred Music (Church Music Association of America) 135, no. 2 (Summer 2008), pages 26-27.

[4] Hiley, page 616.

[5] Katherine Bergeron, Decadent Enchantments: The Revival of Gregorian Chant (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1998), page 10.

[6] Johannes Berchmans Goschl, "One Hundred Years of the Graduale Romanum," ed. William Mahrt, Sacred Music (Church Music Association of America) 135, no. 2 (Summer 2008), p. 11.

[7] Ibid. page 12.

[8] Bergeron, page 35.

[9] Ibid. pages 35-58.

[10] Ibid. pages 87-89.

[11] Goschl, page 13

[12] Bergeron, page 129.

Pride of Place

2008-10-28T19:35:00.001-05:00

This article provides an excellent answer to the question of why chant and sacred music is so important!

CANTATE DOMINO CANTICUM NOVUM
by Peter A. Kwasniewski

Aspects Of The Liturgical Magisterium, Part 2

The Magisterium of the Church provides us with a rich source of wisdom and guidance on the subject of sacred music in general, its various types, their varying suitability for the divine liturgy, and the qualities contemporary music composed for the Roman rite ought to possess if it is to be worthy of its exalted function.

What Is "Sacred Music"?

It is best to begin with a general definition of what the Church herself means by "sacred music." The Holy See recognized early on (1967), even before the new Ordo Missae was promulgated by Paul VI in 1970, that "the new norms relative to the faithful's active participation and the structuring of the rites . . . have given rise to some problems about music and its ministerial function. It seems necessary to solve these in order to bring out more clearly the meaning of the relevant principles of the Constitution on the Liturgy."1 A succinct definition was provided: "By sacred music is understood that which, being created for the celebration of divine worship, is endowed with holiness and goodness of form. The following come under the title of sacred music here: Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony in its various forms both ancient and modern, sacred music for the organ and other approved instruments, and sacred popular music, be it liturgical or simply religious."2

What are the definitive purposes of music that is truly sacred? According to Pius XII, "The dignity and lofty purpose of sacred music consist in this: that its lovely melodies and splendor beautify and embellish the voices of the priest who offers Mass and of the Christian people who praise the Sovereign God. Its special power and excellence should lift up to God the minds of the faithful who are present. It should make the liturgical prayers of the Christian community more alive and fervent so that everyone can praise and beseech the Triune God more powerfully, more intently, and more effectively."3 In words echoing these, the Second Vatican Council teaches:

The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy. Sacred scripture, indeed, has bestowed praise upon sacred song (cf. Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16), as have the Fathers of the Church and the Roman pontiffs who in more recent times, led by St. Pius X, have explained more precisely the ministerial functions exercised by sacred music in the service of the Lord. Therefore sacred music is to be considered the more holy, the more closely connected it is with the liturgical action, whether making prayer more pleasing, promoting unity of minds, or conferring greater solemnity upon the sacred rites. The Church, indeed, approves of all forms of true art which have the requisite qualities, and admits them into divine worship.4
What are these "requisite qualities"? In numerous documents promulgated before, during, and after the Council, one finds the Church continually pointing back to the seminal documents of St. Pius X (Inter sollicitudines, sometimes referred to as Tra le sollecitudini) and Pius XII (Musicae sacrae) where the subject is treated at length and with great clarity.

Being a complementary part of the solemn liturgy, sacred music participates in the general scope of the liturgy, which is the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful. It contributes to the decorum and the splendor of the ecclesiastical ceremonies, and since its principal office is to clothe with suitable melody the liturgical text proposed for the understanding of the faithful, its proper aim is to add greater efficacy to the text, in order that through it the faithful may be the more easily moved to devotion and better disposed for the reception of the fruits of grace belonging to the celebration of the most holy mysteries.
Sacred music should consequently possess, in the highest degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy, and in particular sanctity and goodness of form, which will spontaneously produce the final quality of universality. It must be holy, and must, therefore, exclude all profanity not only in itself, but in the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it. It must be true art, for otherwise it will be impossible for it to exercise on the minds of those who listen to it that efficacy which the Church aims to obtain by admitting into her liturgy the art of musical sounds. But it must, at the same time, be universal in the sense that while every nation is permitted to admit into its ecclesiastical compositions those special forms which may be said to constitute its native music, still these forms must be subordinated in such a manner to the general characteristics of sacred music that nobody of any nation may receive an impression other than good on hearing them.5

The Primacy Of Gregorian Chant

Having given this general description, St. Pius X immediately goes on to say what kind of sacred music may be considered the paradigm, the supreme expression, of these qualities:

These qualities are to be found in the highest degree in Gregorian chant, which is consequently the chant proper to the Roman Church, the only chant she has inherited from the ancient fathers, which she has jealously guarded for centuries in her liturgical codices, which she directly proposes to the faithful as her own . . . On these grounds Gregorian chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music, so that it is fully legitimate to lay down the following rule: the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration, and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple. The ancient traditional Gregorian chant must, therefore, in a large measure be restored to the functions of public worship . . . Special efforts are to be made to restore the use of the Gregorian chant by the people, so that the faithful may again take a more active part in the ecclesiastical offices, as was the case in ancient times.6
The Pope notes, further, that "the above-mentioned qualities are also possessed in an excellent degree by classic polyphony, especially of the Roman School . . . Classic polyphony agrees admirably with Gregorian chant, the supreme model of all sacred music, and hence it has been found worthy of a place side by side with Gregorian chant, in the more solemn functions of the Church."7 Pius XII repeats and develops the same teaching:

First of all, the chants and sacred music which are immediately joined with the Church's liturgical worship should be conducive to the lofty end for which they are intended. This music — as our predecessor Pius X has already wisely admonished us — "must possess proper liturgical qualities, primarily holiness and goodness of form; from which its other note, universality, is derived." It must be holy. It must not allow within itself anything that savors of the profane nor allow any such thing to slip into the melodies in which it is expressed. The Gregorian chant which has been used in the Church over the course of so many centuries, and which may be called, as it were, its patrimony, is gloriously outstanding for this holiness. This chant, because of the close adaptation of the melody to the sacred text, is not only most intimately conformed to the words, but also in a way interprets their force and efficacy and brings delight to the minds of the hearers. It does this by the use of musical modes that are simple and plain, but which are still composed with such sublime and holy art that they move everyone to sincere admiration and constitute an almost inexhaustible source from which musicians and composers draw new melodies.8
From these general principles, certain things follow in regard to the use of instruments for solos or for accompaniment. Pius XII speaks to the point: "Besides the organ, other instruments can be called upon to give great help in attaining the lofty purpose of sacred music, so long as they play nothing profane, nothing clamorous or strident, and nothing at variance with the sacred services or the dignity of the place. Among these the violin and other musical instruments that use the bow are outstanding because, when they are played by themselves or with other stringed instruments or with the organ, they express the joyous and sad sentiments of the soul with an indescribable power."9 All the Pontiffs before the Council teach the same, as one who goes through the documents can verify.

The Council: A Break With Tradition?

Did the Second Vatican Council change or relativize these teachings of Pius X and Pius XII? It has already been noted that the Council's Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC), as well as numerous post-conciliar documents, make explicit reference to the teachings of these Pontiffs, thus underlining the doctrinal continuity intended by the Council Fathers. In the first article of this series we showed, moreover, that the Council requests pastoral activity for the promotion of Latin congregational singing: "care must be taken to ensure that the faithful may also be able to say or sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them" (SC 54).10 In the section from the Constitution on the Liturgy devoted to sacred music, this request is worked out in greater detail. Stating first that "the treasury of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with great care" (SC 114), it goes on to say (116): "The Church recognizes Gregorian chant as being specially suited to the Roman liturgy.11 Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.12 Other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony,13 are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action as laid down in Article 30."14 In the context of SC 116, the phrase "other things being equal" can only mean that the Council does not intend to exclude other forms or styles of sacred music, as though it were wrong or always less desirable to make use of them. Rather, Gregorian chant "should be given pride of place" within a rich selection of musical works (e.g., classical polyphony, traditional hymns, or chant-like refrains in the vernacular) that possess the qualities requisite for liturgical worship, "which [works] are by no means excluded" by the primacy given to Latin chant.

As the authorized interpreter of conciliar reform, Paul VI frequently underlined the unique appropriateness of Gregorian chant, for example in an address to the Institut Gregorien in 1964:

This unison style of singing possesses in an eminent degree, as our predecessors have stressed, all the qualities called for by religious music. It enriches the splendor of the rites, it fosters the congregation's unity of spirit, and it disposes the congregation to praise God more perfectly. Almost as much applies to polyphony, to the degree that it is free of anything theatrical, the meaning of the words remains intelligible to the people listening, and the melody suits the liturgical rite it accompanies.
He reassures his audience of chant-lovers that they need not fear the loss of their jobs owing to the reform: "Some of you may be uneasy about future applications of the Constitution on the Liturgy, which was adopted by the conciliar Fathers and which We promulgated on 4 December 1963. Those who are uneasy should read over again the passages on liturgical singing in this wonderful document, particularly these words: 'The treasury of liturgical music is to be preserved and fostered with great care' (SC 114)." "It remains Pope Paul's firm expectation," wrote Cardinal Villot of the Vatican Secretariat of State, "that Gregorian chant will be preserved and performed . . . The Pope again recommends, therefore, that every appropriate measure be taken to transform this desire into fact, and that these ancient melodies be treasured as the voice of the universal Church and continue to be sung as expressions and demonstrations of the unity existing throughout the ecclesial community."15

The minimal place to be accorded to chant is stated in a 1974 letter to all the Bishops of the Catholic Church released by the Congregation for Divine Worship. "Our congregation has prepared a booklet [Jubilate Deo] . . . in response to a desire which the Holy Father had frequently expressed, that all the faithful should know at least some Latin Gregorian chants, such as, for example, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei." The Congregation "recommend[s] to your pastoral solicitude this new initiative, whose purpose is to facilitate the observance of the recommendation of the Second Vatican Council: 'steps must be taken to ensure that the faithful are able to say or chant together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them' (SC 54)," and supplies the reason: "Down through the centuries, Gregorian chant has accompanied liturgical celebrations in the Roman rite, has nourished men's faith and has fostered their piety, while in the process achieving an artistic perfection which the Church rightly considers a patrimony of inestimable value and which the Council recognized as 'the chant especially suited to the Roman liturgy' (SC 116)."16

The same text enlarges on the correct relationship between newly-composed vernacular music and the traditional chant of the Church.

Poets and musicians are . . . to be encouraged to put their talents at the service of such a cause [writing new music], so that a popular chant may emerge which is truly artistic and is worthy of the praise of God, of the liturgical action of which it forms a part, and of the faith which it expresses . . . At the same time, the liturgical reform does not and indeed cannot deny the past. Rather does it 'preserve and foster it with the greatest care' (SC 114). It cultivates and transmits all that is in it of high religious, cultural, and artistic worth, especially those elements, which can express, even externally, the unity of believers. This minimum repertoire of Gregorian chant has been prepared with that purpose in mind: to make it easier for Christians to achieve unity and spiritual harmony with their brothers and with the living tradition of the past. Hence it is that those who are trying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse to Gregorian chant the place, which is due to it.17
The same ideal of a balance of old and new is presented in the preface to Jubilate Deo itself:

In the Constitution on the Liturgy, after urging that the vernacular take an appropriate place in liturgical celebration, the Second Vatican Council adds this directive: 'Nevertheless steps should be taken to ensure that the faithful may say or sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary which pertain to them' (54) . . . In this way Gregorian chant will continue to be a bond that forms the members of many nations into a single people, gathered together in Christ's name with one heart, one mind, and one voice. This living unity, symbolized by the union of voices that speak in different languages, accents, and inflections, is a striking manifestation of the diversified harmony of the one Church.
The preface concludes: "May God grant that the desire shared by all will be successfully realized, namely, that the heart of the Church at prayer will have a joyful, resounding voice throughout the world in these pleasing and reverent melodies."

Has this "desire shared by all" — at least at the time of the Council — been realized during the past thirty years? Unfortunately it has not. With the exception of monasteries and religious orders faithful to their age-old traditions, the "heart of the Church at prayer" has not been characterized by "these pleasing and reverent" Gregorian melodies. Already at an early stage of the liturgical reform, Paul VI was much troubled by what he regarded as a betrayal of the Council's true spirit in the area of music, as in many other areas.18

In conformity with the Council's directives, singing in the vernacular has taken its place alongside singing in Latin. Some people have managed to misinterpret the import of the new directions taken and have been more anxious to destroy and suppress than to preserve and foster growth. But as we said last year in welcoming the Benedictine abbesses of Italy, "the Council is not to be viewed as some sort of cyclone, as a revolution that would displace received ideas and practices and open the way to unthinkable and rash novelties. No, the Council is not a revolution but a renewal" (AAS 58:1156).
In their formulation of the Constitution on the Liturgy, the conciliar Fathers made their intent absolutely clear: not to empty the Church's treasury of sacred music, but to enrich it; not to separate fidelity to tradition and openness to renewal but to unite the two; in a word, like the scribe in the Gospel, to combine in a sound balance the old and the new, the nova et vetera (Mt. 13:52). With particular reference to the traditional chant, the Congregation of Rites' recent Instruction Musicam sacram sheds a clear light on the function and need of choirs and scholae cantorum in the wake of the Council. The Instruction thus explicitly recommends, "the study and use of Gregorian chant; its distinctive qualities make it an important foundation for the mastery of sacred music" (52). We are well aware, dear children, that you are dedicated, in a spirit of complete docility to the Church, to promoting both the traditional song of the Church — Gregorian chant and polyphony — and new musical compositions . . . May you thus be enabled to contribute more and more toward bringing to liturgical celebration those marks of sublimity and beauty that are such an aid for people to draw nearer to God.19

New Music For The Liturgy

As Paul VI speaks here of "new musical compositions," a topic we have mentioned several times in passing, it is certainly appropriate to seek out more carefully the counsels of the Church in this domain. What should be said, then, about the new music, which the Council welcomed and encouraged, the contemporary compositions, which take vernacular texts of Scripture or the liturgy and make them a vehicle of congregational singing and devotion?

Some have the impression that the Council "opened the doors" to all styles of music and all manner of instrumentation — that, in contrast to the teachings of Pius X, Pius XII, and others, the Church no longer favors one kind of religious music over another for the liturgy. We have already shown from numerous conciliar and post-conciliar texts that this view is quite false, since Gregorian chant should have "pride of place," being "especially suited to the Roman liturgy" owing to its exceptional qualities and time-honored presence in the prayer life of the Church. But there is something still more important to take into account, namely, the guidelines — often repeated, and repeated in the strongest terms — which must govern the composition and use of new liturgical music. For, as we learn from Paul VI, the nature of genuine sacred music remains always the same, regardless of when or where it is composed.

Music and song are servants of worship and are its subordinates. Accordingly they must always possess the qualities befitting their place: grandeur yet simplicity; solemnity and majesty; the least possible unworthiness of the absolute transcendence of God, to whom they are directed, and of the human spirit, which they are meant to express.20
Music is meant to give expression to the forms of beauty which will accompany the unfolding of the sacred rites during the celebration of the liturgy and adorn the various types of the Church's prayer with the vibrant harmonies of song. Music makes the splendor of God's own countenance shine on the congregation gathered in Christ's name. The spiritual power of art helps to raise the heart more readily to the cleansing and sanctifying encounter with the luminous reality of the sacred and thus to be best disposed to celebrate the mystery of salvation and to share deeply in its effects.21

It is good to remember that the issue of "new music" is not peculiar to the post-conciliar Church, but is a question that has been in the Church's mind as long as composers have been working, with varying degrees of success, to adorn the liturgy or foster congregational participation. The universal principles governing the use of new music were laid down by Pius X and Pius XII, who were already confronted with examples of new compositions patterned after popular styles.

The Church has always recognized and favored the progress of the arts, admitting to the service of religion everything good and beautiful discovered by genius in the course of ages — always, however, with due regard to the liturgical laws. Consequently modern music is also admitted to the Church, since it, too, furnishes compositions of such excellence, sobriety, and gravity that they are in no way unworthy of the liturgical functions. Still, since modern music has risen mainly to serve profane uses, greater care must be taken with regard to it, in order that the musical compositions of modern style which are admitted in the Church may contain nothing profane, be free from reminiscences of motifs adopted in the theaters, and be not fashioned even in their external forms after the manner of profane pieces.22
The progress of this musical art clearly shows how sincerely the Church has desired to render divine worship ever more splendid and more pleasing to the Christian people. It likewise shows why the Church must insist that this art remain within its proper limits and must prevent anything profane and foreign to divine worship from entering into sacred music along with genuine progress, and perverting it.23

It cannot be said that modern music and singing should be entirely excluded from Catholic worship. For, if they are not profane nor unbecoming to the sacredness of the place and function, and do not spring from a desire of achieving extraordinary and unusual effects, then our churches must admit them since they can contribute in no small way to the splendor of the sacred ceremonies, can lift the mind to higher things, and foster true devotion of soul . . . [Yet] We cannot help deploring and condemning those works of art, recently introduced by some, which seem to be a distortion and perversion of true art and which at times openly shock Christian taste, modesty, and devotion, and shamefully offend the true religious sense; these must be entirely excluded from our churches, like "anything else not in keeping with the sanctity of the place" (1917 CIC, 1178).24

In words reminiscent of these, Liturgiae instaurationes (1970) states: "Although the Church does not exclude any kind of sacred music from the liturgy, not every type of music, song, or instrument is equally capable of stimulating prayer or expressing the mystery of Christ. Music during Mass must serve the worship of God, and thus should have qualities of holiness and good form, should be suited to the liturgical action and the nature of each of its parts, should not impede the participation of the whole congregation, and must direct the attention of mind and heart to the mystery which is being celebrated" (n. 3). Recalling that Pius XII had said that music intended for the liturgy "must not allow within itself anything that savors of the profane nor allow any such thing to slip into the melodies in which it is expressed,"25 we are not surprised to find Paul VI insisting:

The primary purpose of sacred music is to evoke God's majesty and to honor it. But at the same time music is meant to be a solemn affirmation of the most genuine nobility of the human person, that of prayer . . . Since that is the essential function for sacred music, what ground is there for allowing anything that is shabby or banal, or anything that caters to the vagaries of aestheticism or is based on the prevailing excesses of technology? . . . Vocal and instrumental music that is not at once marked by the spirit of prayer, dignity, and beauty, is barred from entrance into the world of the sacred and the religious. The assimilation and sanctification of the secular, which is today a distinguishing mark of the Church's mission in the world, clearly has limits; this is all the more the case when the issue is to invest the secular with the sacredness belonging to divine worship.26
Once more, the post-conciliar Magisterium, instead of repudiating the traditional teaching, insists with equal force that music intended for the liturgy must possess the "requisite qualities," avoiding at all costs anything that is, or might be perceived as, profane or worldly. Writing in his capacity as Secretary of State, Cardinal Villot expanded on the dangers addressed by Paul VI:

We must avoid and banish from liturgical celebrations profane types of music, particularly singing with an agitated, intrusive, or raucous style that would disturb the serenity of the service and would be incompatible with its spiritual, sanctifying purposes. A broad field is thus opened for pastoral initiative — the effort, namely, of leading the faithful to participate with voice and song in the rites, while at the same time protecting these rites from the invasion of noise, poor taste, and desacralization. Instead there must be encouragement of the kind of sacred music that helps to raise the mind to God and that, through the devout singing of God's praises, helps to provide a foretaste of the liturgy of heaven.27
Speaking directly to church musicians, Paul VI says: "you must, above all, not lose sight of the function of sacred music and liturgical singing. The alternative is the futility of every attempt at reform and the impossibility of correct and appropriate use of the different structural resources for this noble and sacred endeavor. These resources are, as you well know, Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, and modern music."28 Noting that the liturgical reform "is not without obstacles that also involve sacred music and song," he specifies some of these obstacles: "there is a failure at times to hold in due honor the priceless musical heritage; the new styles of music are not always in keeping with the Church's magnificent and revered tradition, which is so sound even at the level of culture." The Pope laments how "musical compositions are offered that, although simple and easy to perform, are either uninspired or lacking in any nobility" (ibid.), reminding one of the words of Cardinal Villot: "The faithful, and in particular choir members, must attain and deepen a spiritual perceptiveness that is not satisfied with a few, often sentimental hymns, out of keeping with the spirit of the liturgy, but is attuned to appreciate the beauty and expressive power of sacred chant."29 The need for new music to draw from and pattern itself after the great exemplars of traditional music, most especially Gregorian chant, is repeated like a refrain by Popes, Congregations, and other officials.

Musicians will enter on this new work with the desire to continue that tradition which has furnished the Church, in her divine worship, with a truly abundant heritage. Let them examine the works of the past, their types and characteristics, and let them also pay careful attention to the new laws and requirements of the liturgy, so that "new forms may in some way grow organically from forms that already exist" (SC 23), and the new work will, in the musical heritage of the Church, form a new part not unworthy of its past.30
"Study the past if you wish for a better future. But above all make sure that the style of song in the new liturgical awareness of the people of God does not lead to a loss of the past but that it is worthy of the sound and holy tradition of the Church and of divine worship to which the Church humbly devotes its service."31

Earlier we quoted the judgment on musical instruments rendered by Pius XII. The teaching of the Second Vatican Council is exactly the same in the primacy it gives to the pipe organ and the strictures it places upon other instruments.

The pipe organ is to be held in high esteem in the Latin Church, for it is the traditional musical instrument, the sound of which can add a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up men's minds to God and higher things. But other instruments also may be admitted for use in divine worship, in the judgment and with the consent of the competent territorial authority as laid down in Articles 22:2, 37, and 40. This may be done, however, only on condition that the instruments are suitable, or can be made suitable, for sacred use; that they accord with the dignity of the temple, and that they truly contribute to the edification of the faithful.32
The post-conciliar Instruction on Sacred Music is clearer still:

One criterion for accepting and using musical instruments is the genius and tradition of particular peoples. At the same time, however, instruments that are generally associated with and used only by worldly music are to be absolutely barred from liturgical services and religious devotions (Acta 1958, 652).33 Any musical instrument permitted in divine worship should be used in such a way that it meets the needs of the liturgical celebration, and is in the interests both of the beauty of worship and the edification of the faithful.34
Summary Of The Church's Teaching

Let us draw together in five points what the Church teaches about the qualities requisite to any liturgical music, old or new, if it is to be worthy of taking a place alongside of the Gregorian chant and classical polyphony which are the chief musical resources of the Roman liturgical rites. The footnotes give the exact sources from which the following points have been carefully assembled.

1. The primary purpose of sacred music is to evoke God's majesty and to honor it; the secondary purpose is to affirm in a solemn way the most genuine nobility of the human person, namely, the activity of prayer.35 To accomplish this twofold purpose, it must have grandeur, simplicity, solemnity, and majesty; it must have the least possible unworthiness of the absolute transcendence of God to whom the music is directed, and of the human spirit which music is meant to express.36 It should have an excellence, sobriety, and gravity which make it in no way unworthy of the liturgical functions.37 Seeking to stimulate prayer and express the mystery of Christ, it should breathe a spirit of prayer, dignity, and beauty.38 Accordingly, it should always keep to its subordinate place as a servant of divine worship, 39 contributing to the splendor of the sacred ceremonies by its sanctity and goodness of form,40 lifting the mind to higher things and fostering true devotion of soul.41 If it is good music, it sheds the splendor of God's countenance upon the congregation and raises the heart to the cleansing and sanctifying encounter with the luminous reality of the sacred; it disposes the heart to celebrate the mystery of salvation and to share deeply in its effects.42

2. Sacred music thus possesses an intrinsic connection to the liturgy: it is to be considered more holy to the extent that it is more closely connected with the liturgical actions themselves, whether by making prayer more pleasing, promoting unity of minds, or conferring greater solemnity upon the sacred rites43 (Thus, there should not be merely "singing at Mass," but the Mass itself should be sung, in the chants which are authorized for the liturgical texts.) It will be most suited to the liturgical action precisely when it has the qualities of holiness, good form, and universality, and does not in any way impede the participation, rightly understood, of the whole congregation — namely, when it directs the attention of mind and heart to the mystery which is being celebrated upon the altar.44 It should have a special power to lift the minds of the faithful up to God, making the liturgical prayer of the Christian community more vital and fervent so that everyone can praise and beseech God more powerfully, more intently, and more effectively.45 Good liturgical music intensifies the spirit of devotion and disposes the faithful to receive the fruits of grace belonging to the celebration of the most holy mysteries; indeed, it should so raise the mind to God that it provides a foretaste of the liturgy of heaven.46

3. Good music and good liturgy thus possess fundamentally the same qualities; that is to say, sacred music at its height has the very qualities proper to the liturgy itself — in particular, holiness, good form or beauty, and universality47 For music to be holy, it must exclude all profanity not only in itself, but in the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it.48 Since holiness is its sine qua non, sacred music must never allow within itself anything that savors of or suggests the worldly; indeed, even in their external forms, pieces intended for use in the liturgy should not be fashioned after the style of profane pieces.49 Good liturgical music ought to be essentially good art as well — of solid artistic merit and good taste simply from a musical point of view, not lacking in or offending against the dignity and nobility appropriate to worship, in continuity with and worthy of the magnificent and revered tradition of Western sacred music, endowing liturgical ceremonies with sublimity and beauty.50 It should be characterized by lovely melodies and a splendor which contribute to the decorum of the ecclesiastical ceremonies, beautifying and embellishing the voices of all who are gathered to praise the Sovereign God.51 Finally, sacred music must be universal, meaning that, although every nation may admit into its compositions elements from its truly native music, still the adaptation of these elements is always to be subordinated to the general characteristics of sacred music already described, so that nobody of any nation may receive a bad impression.52

4. Because it is gloriously outstanding for the qualities of holiness, artistic worth, and universality,53 Gregorian chant is the supreme model of all sacred music54 a patrimony of inestimable value.55 It is the sacred music proper to the Roman Church and specially suited to the Roman liturgy,56 deserving pride of place in liturgical services.57 The more closely new compositions approach Gregorian chant in rhythm, feeling, and savor, the more sacred and liturgical they become; and the more out of harmony they are with that supreme model, the less worthy they are of use in church.58 Chant, with its pleasing and reverent melodies,59 enriches the splendor of the rites, fosters the congregation's unity of spirit, and disposes the faithful to praise God more perfectly.60 It nourishes men's faith and fosters their piety61; it makes it easier for Christians to achieve unity and spiritual harmony with their brothers and with the living tradition of the past.62 It is a bond that forms the members of many nations into a single people, gathered together in Christ's name with one heart, one mind, and one voice.63

5. All music that is not at once marked by that spirit of prayer, dignity, and beauty so striking in Gregorian chant and classic polyphony must be banished from entrance into the world of the sacred.64 Music with worldly characteristics — an agitated or intrusive style that interferes with the serenity of the service and is incompatible with its spiritual, sanctifying purpose,65 the use of popular contemporary idioms at variance with the sacred services and the dignity of church,66 or plain poor taste that contributes to the desacralization of the liturgy67 — are to be wholly excluded from liturgical ceremonies.68 Musical instruments other than the pipe organ may be used only when they are suitable for worship, that is, when they accord with the dignity of the temple of God and contribute to the edification of the faithful.69 Instruments generally associated with modern secular music are to be barred from liturgical services and devotions.70

Combining these points with the conclusion of the first article of this series (on the normative place of Latin in the liturgy), we inevitably reach a striking conclusion: according to the mind of the Church, the Modern Roman Rite celebrated in Latin with congregational Gregorian chant and a schola is not only permissible,71 not only encouraged, but is in fact the ideal to be sought throughout the Catholic world. If we raise our eyes beyond the permissions of the Church to her counsels, we can clearly see that such a manner of celebrating is the very paradigm of the Modern Roman Rite which measures the depth of one's appropriation of the full Catholic heritage — indeed, that it is the most perfect embodiment of the Constitution on the Liturgy from the Second Vatican Council.72

Peter A. Kwasniewski is an Instructor in Philosophy at the International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria.

End Notes

1 Musicam sacram, Instruction on Music in the Liturgy (Sacred Congregation of Rites, 5 March 1967), n. 2. Citations in this article have been drawn from four sources: Austin Flannery, Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post-conciliar Documents (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992); Documents on the Liturgy, International Commission on English in the Liturgy (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1982); NCWC and USCC publications; and the Catholic Liturgical Library [www.catholicliturgy.com].

2 Ibid. The Latin text of the first sentence reads: "Ideo illa dicitur Musicae sacrae quae ad cultum divinum celebrandum creata, sanctitate et bonitate formarum praedita est." One must beware of English translators who falsify the Latin original. It is important to note that the document at this point footnotes both Pius X's Inter sollicitudines (n. 2), and De musica sacra of the same Congregation (3 September 1958), a document well worth consulting.

3 Musicae sacrae. Encyclical on Sacred Music (25 December 1955), n. 31.

4 Sacrosanctum concilium n. 112. It is clear from this passage as well as many post-conciliar statements (e.g., Musicam sacram, 1967; Voluntati obsequens, 1974) that the Second Vatican Council did not intend to abrogate the principles concerning sacred music that were set forth by Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII. As students of ecclesiology know, the frequent repetition of the same teaching is prima facie evidence of its integral connection to and abiding character within the ordinary Magisterium.

5 Inter sollicitudines, Motu proprio on Sacred Music (Pius X, 22 November 1903), nn. 1-2.

6 Ibid., n. 3.

7 Ibid., n. 4.

8 Musicae sacrae nn. 41- 43.

9 Ibid, n. 59.

10 The promotion of the congregational singing of chant is certainly not new. It is stressed by Pius X; Pius XI: "so that the faithful may take a more active part in divine worship, let Gregorian chant be restored to popular use in the parts proper to the people" (Divini cultus, 20 December 1928, n. 9); and Pius XII: "it is the duty of all those to whom Christ the Lord has entrusted the task of guarding and dispensing the Church's riches to preserve this precious treasure of Gregorian chant diligently and to impart it generously to the Christian people" (Musicae sacrae n. 44). "Gregorian chant, which the Roman Church considers her own as handed down from antiquity and kept under her close tutelage, is proposed to the faithful as belonging to them also"; "it makes the celebration of the sacred mysteries not only more dignified and solemn but helps very much to increase the faith and devotion of the congregation" (Mediator Dei, Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, 20 November 1947, n. 191). The General Instruction on the Roman Missal states (n. 19): "Since nowadays the faithful of different languages come together with ever-increasing frequency, it is desirable that all should be able to sing together in Latin at least some parts of the Order of Mass, especially the Creed and the Lord's Prayer (cf. Sacrosanctum concilium n. 54)."

11 "Gregorian chant, which is used in liturgical ceremonies, is the sacred music proper to the Roman Church" (De musica sacra n. 5). In the celebration of the liturgy, "this same Gregorian chant should be most widely used and great care should be taken that it should be performed properly, worthily, and reverently" (Musicae sacrae n. 44).

12 Musicam sacram n. 50 repeats this.

13 Note that the Council Fathers, following Pius X and Pius XII, give a privileged place to polyphony.

14 Art. 30 reads: "To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalms, antiphons, hymns as well as by actions, gestures and bodily attitudes. And at the proper time a reverent silence should be observed." We saw in the first article of our series that John Paul II in his Ad limina Discourse to the Bishops of the Northwestern United States (9 October 1998) clarifies what "active participation" means, showing how it does not exclude the "active passivity" of listening to sacred chant or music in Latin. Nowhere does the Church teach that the congregation must be verbally or vocally involved in everything, especially the music.

15 Letter of Cardinal Villot, Secretariat of State, to Cardinal Siri (September 1973).

16 Voluntati obsequens, Letter to Bishops on the Minimum Repertoire of Plainchant (Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, 14 April 1974), nn. 1-3.

17 Ibid., nn. 6-8. In the Adoremus Hymnal published by Ignatius Press — which contains a small repertoire of chants for the Mass, a good number of traditional hymns, and some new compositions as well-we have, at long last, a decent model for English-speaking countries of the integration of old and new sought by the Council.

18 Recall the recent statement of John Paul II critical of "one-dimensional and unilateral interpretations of the Council" (Ad limina address to Bishops of Northwestern United States). Cardinal Ratzinger has availed himself of many public occasions to explain in greater detail what some of these faulty interpretations are.

19 Address to Choirs from France (Paul VI, 5 April 1967).

20 Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia (Paul VI, 18 September 1968).

21 Address to Church Choirs (Paul VI, 6 April 1970).

22 Inter sollicitudines n. 5.

23 Musicae sacrae n. 17.

24 Mediator Dei n. 192, n. 195.

25 Musicae sacrae n. 42.

26 Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia.

27 Letter of Cardinal Villot, Secretariat of State, to Cardinal Siri.

28 Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia.

29 Letter of Cardinal Villot, Secretariat of State, to Cardinal Ursi (September 1976).

30 Musicam sacram n. 59.

31 Letter to Bishop Charriere of Fribourg, Switzerland (Consilium, 21 August 1965).

32 Sacrosanctum concilium n. 120.

33 Let us recall that at the time this document was written (1967), guitars playing in the folk style were strongly associated with worldly music (the music of the 1960s counter-culture), not with sacred music in church, which was the hallowed domain of the pipe organ, and on special occasions, strings and wind instruments. It would be a falsification of Sacrosanctum concilium or Musicam sacram to interpret these texts "retroactively" in view of what has actually happened, since what happened was in fact contrary to the tradition and wishes of the Church. It is also important to bear in mind that the use of instruments is governed by the principles stated in DMS of 1958, which subsequent magisterial documents have only underlined.

34 Musicam sacram n. 63.

35 Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia.

36 Ibid.

37 Inter sollicitudines n. 5.

38 Liturgiae instaurations (Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, 5 September 1970), n. 3; Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia.

39 Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia.

40 Musicam sacram n. 2.

41 Mediator Dei n. 192.

42 Address to Church Choirs.

43 Sacrosanctum concilium n. 112.

44 Liturgiae instaurations n. 3; Ad limina Address to the Bishops of the Northwestern United States.

45 Musicae sacrae n. 31; Ad limina Address.

46 Inter sollicitudines n. 1; Letter of Cardinal Villot, Secretariat of State, to Cardinal Siri.

47 Inter sollicitudines nn. 1 and 2.

48 Inter sollicitudines n. 2.

49 Musicae sacrae n. 42; Inter sollicitudines n. 5.

50 Inter sollicitudines nn. 2 and 5; Mediator Dei nn. 192 and 195; Musicae sacrae n. 31; Sacrosanctum concilium 112; Musicam sacram n. 59; Liturgiae instaurations n. 3; Address to Choirs from France; Letter to Bishop Charriere of Fribourg; Address to Church Choirs; Letter of Cardinal Villot to Cardinal Siri; Letter of Cardinal Villot to Cardinal Ursi; etc.

51 Musicae sacrae n. 31; Inter sollicitudines n. 1.

52 Inter sollicitudines n. 2.

53 Musicae sacrae n. 42.

54 Inter sollicitudines n. 4.

55 Voluntati obsequens, n. 3.

56 De musica sacra n. 5; Sacrosanctum concilium n. 116.

57 Sacrosanctum concilium n. 116, Musicam sacram n. 50.

58 Inter sollicitudines n. 3.

59 Iubilate Deo (Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, 11 April 1974), preface.

60 Address to the Institut Gregorien of Paris (Paul VI, 6 April 1964).

61 Voluntati obsequens, n. 2.

62 Voluntati obsequens, n. 8.

63 Iubilate Deo, preface.

64 Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia.

65 Letter of Cardinal Villot to Cardinal Siri, etc.

66 Inter sollicitudines n. 5; Musicae sacrae n. 59; Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia; etc.

67 Mediator Dei n. 195; Liturgiae instaurations n. 3; Letter of Cardinal Villot to Cardinal Siri, etc.

68 Mediator Dei n. 195; Address to Associazione Italiana di Santa Cecilia; etc.

69 Musicae sacrae n. 59; Sacrosanctum concilium n. 120; Musicam sacram n. 63.

70 Musicae sacrae n. 59; Musicam sacram n. 63.

71 Far from expressing reservations about scholae or special choirs dedicated to Gregorian chant, the conciliar and post-conciliar documents recommend their preservation and founding on the widest possible scale, not only to lead congregational singing but to chant the more difficult Propers of the Mass (Entrance, Offertory, and Communion antiphons; Gradual and Alleluia).

72 A booklet recently published by Ignatius Press, The Mass of Vatican II — which contains the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin with chant and an English translation — conveys the kind of liturgy we are speaking of. For more information, go to www.ignatius.com.

Worship in the liturgy

2008-10-28T19:32:00.001-05:00

This is a beautiful sermon on worship and the liturgy given by Father Richard Cipolla at the Byrd Festival, Holy Rosary Church, Portland, OR on August 17 2008.

In the interest of completeness we give the full text of the sermon below.
From the Gospel: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
How do we understand these words of Jesus, these very famous and oft heard words? If the truth be told, they make us uneasy, and they make us uneasy because of the culture in which we live, or, one could say because of a lack of culture in the world in which we live. For these words go against that ingrained work ethic that is part of American culture, that work ethic that is certainly older than our own country, for it finds its roots in the post-reformation European thought that forgot what Western man understood until then: that work and difficult work at that is part of man’s life, that it is related to the fall of man, but that it can be used for good ends. But everyone understood as well that leisure, non work, the time for contemplation, is what makes possible humanitas, the art of being human, the art of living well, the basis, in the words of Josef Pieper, of culture itself.
Unfortunately the very word “leisure” in modern Western society has a slightly malodorous quality about it. Think of the phrase: leisure suit. It brings a picture of the worst taste possible: something made of polyester that perhaps John Travolta would have worn in 1976. Leisure is also, because of the Protestant roots of American culture, contrasted unfavorably with work, as if leisure is a form of idleness, as if it were the product of laziness. Or leisure is defined in terms of work: as taking off a few days from work to restore oneself, to restore oneself before one does what is good for you: namely good, hard work. We live in a society in which, perversely, the verb to do is synonymous with the verb to be, facere is essere.
Jesus’ words in the gospel: consider the lilies, presents a very different way of being. To consider the lilies is not to deny that their life does not depend on chemical reactions, need for sunlight, water, carbon dioxide: all processes, all part of the work of nature. And yet when one considers the lilies, that is, when one contemplates them instead of observing them, one sees their beauty and sees what a lily is. When one begins, on the other hand, to observe the lily, one immediately begins to dissect and examine, to tear apart if need be, to find out how these things, yes, things not lilies, manage to live. This is work and as all work can lead to a good end. But to consider the lily is to contemplate the lily, to allow its givenness to enrich us and to delight us. You notice that this contemplation has no end outside of itself. Observation, the basis of modern science, always has an end outside of itself. Consideration, contemplation, has no end other than itself. It is always completely open to being surprised by joy, surprised by beauty, surprised by truth. This is always opposed to that striving that wants to make sure that I have all the material goods I need and more, that striving that occupies so much time and energy and never fills the big hole inside us, that striving that causes anxiety, that anxiety that may be the sickness unto death.
But our Lord is not telling us to chill out and wander through the fields looking at flowers as some cartoon version of St Francis of Assisi that omits the stigmata. But first seek his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. What the Christian must do is to keep his gaze on the God of glory and majesty who is Love, and in this act of gazing, he will see clearly what he must do in his life. Contemplation of God is the necessary foundation for the living out of a Christian life. Love of God must be the foundation for love of neighbor. Knowing how to live a Christian life can never the result of work, be it Bible study, a theology degree, a course in ethics, a sermon, or any like thing. Just as one can understand the lily only in the act of considering, of contemplation, and never by observing it in an objective way, so too, the Christian faith is not grasped by working at it in the worldly sense, but by exercising that human freedom to let oneself be seized by the reality of God, and this is impossible without leisure in one’s life.
For leisure affords the opportunity to let oneself go. Leisure affords the opportunity of entering into that silence in which the listener can hear. Leisure brings about serenity that comes from the acknowledgment of the ultimate mystery of things, that comes with a giving over of the reins, those reins that have been held so tightly that our hands are deeply calloused. “O Sabbath rest by Galilee, O calm of hills above, Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee, the silence of eternity, interpreted by love.”
Leisure allows for the feast, for the festival, for celebration, that is, for a rejoicing in someone or something that calls us from ourselves. Celebration: that word in this culture has a false ring, like a sappy Hallmark card, like something we conjure up or work at to force everyone to be happy, and there is that word happy, whose stuffing has been knocked out of it by a world that confuses blessed with happy. And no where is this state of affairs seen more clearly than in the worship life of the Church today, where terms like celebration, participation, and liturgy, torn away from their proper context of contemplation, have become part of the terrible misunderstanding of what Catholic worship is about, a misunderstanding that threatens the very life of the Church. And the basis of this misunderstanding is thinking that worship can ever be the product of work, that worship can ever be embedded in facere, that worship can ever have a purpose beyond itself.
The liturgy that is the ordinary worship of the Church today is the product of the opposite of consider the lilies. It is the result of a liturgical movement that sought to recover the living experience of the liturgy for the whole Church in a time when that experience had been stifled by legalism and clericalism. But along the way this movement made the fatal error of falling into believing that observation of the liturgical texts, that the study of the sociology of contemporary man, that historical research into the development of the liturgy, that all of this WORK, could do what had to be DONE. And of course it failed, and what it produced is a piece of work, and unlike lilies, a piece of work cannot be considered nor contemplated. It is something always artificially constructed, never something given to be contemplated. It turns participation into multifarious acts, hoping that if enough different people are given different things to do that the whole thing will add up to a worship experience. It is still born, because it does not understand that celebration is inextricably linked to contemplation that is the basis of divine worship. And no matter how well or beautifully the piece of work is done, it can never be that experience of playing in the fields of the Lord that is Christian divine worship.
And so today we celebrate this Mass in what is now known as the extraordinary use of the Roman rite. That title is almost incomprehensible. But this Mass is extraordinary firstly because this is not what the ordinary parish church does at Mass. But it is truly extraordinary because it is precisely what has been given to the Church as that divine worship that is sacrifice and sacrament. It is precisely this Mass, the Mass of the Catholic tradition, the Mass of Gregory the Great, of Pius V, of Pius X, of Blessed John XXIII, that is the place where culture and leisure meet, this is the place where what makes leisure possible and what is its goal is found and experienced. This Mass is given to us, not made: it is given, and at the heart of that givenness is that Sacrifice that is at the heart of all worship, but here not sacrifice in general but the Sacrifice of the Son to the Father in the Holy Spirit, and this givenness is in the very physicality of the use of the senses: the chant that is not something one uses for some purpose like reducing stress but rather that is the distillation of prayer, as frolicking among the neumes; the polyphony that is like a waterfall that diffracts the words of the Ordinary into a contemplative rainbow: the Latin whose very state as a dead language allows mere words to transcend their literal meaning and to allow oneself to escape the prison of rational intellectualism and to taste the freedom of heaven; the ceremonial, archaic yet contemporary in the sense of engendering an understanding that goes beyond what liturgical research could ever tell us. And the silence, the silence, especially during the canon of the Mass, that allows us to participate at leisure and therefore actively, in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice.
Now it is true that this Mass takes rehearsal, study, time and effort: it takes work, but work can never bring us to the consideration of the lilies and the contemplation of God. But the work that goes into the learning of this Mass, the hours spent by the sacred ministers and acolytes learning the ceremonial, the hours of practice by the choir, the time needed by all who assist at Mass to discover, to remember what has been almost forgotten. But, and this is crucial, this work is not labor, this work is not related to the fall of man, this is not sweat and toil: this work is the preparation for what makes us most human, what makes us able to participate in the life of God, this work is part of the offering that is the Holy Sacrifice, this work is how we engraft ourselves to the givenness of the cultus, the divine worship that is never doing but being, being in the presence of God. All of this is not the labor hominis. It is the opus Dei, what is never forced, what is never planned by a committee, but rather what is delighted in, what is enjoyed, what is played in, what is considered, what is contemplated: that Beauty, ever ancient and ever new.

music as Lectio Divina

2008-10-28T19:07:00.007-05:00

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http://www.adoremus.org/1008SacredMusic.html