The Latin Gesture of Benediction: A History in Images and a Plea for a Return

When looking at works of (Western) sacred art or old photographs of ecclesiastical occasions and figures, one thing one notices is that whenever the gesture of blessing is shown (outside of Mass itself), bishops, popes, Saints, and even God Himself (or His isolated hand in the motif of the Hand of God) are shown holding their right hand in a specific manner: thumb, index and middle finger extended, while ring and little finger are bent backwards. This gesture has become archteypical in the West as the Latin gesture of benediction. A very clear example can be seen in the coat of arms of Heiligenkreuz Abbey:



Since the occurences in works of art are countless, I will just show you some very few examples from different periods.

The Hand of God in a codex of St. Gregory the Great's Moralia in Job from Bamberg, 11th c.:


A reliquary of St. Thomas a Becket from Limoges, 13th c.:


Dürer's Salvator Mundi, c. 1504:


A crucifixion from the Beuron school of art:



Whereas for the final blessing of the Mass, the rubrics prescribe a blessing with the hand extended and the fingers joined ("extensa manu dextera iunctisque digitis", ritus servandus XII, 1, which according to references I have found goes back to St. Pius V), whenever we see pictures of blessings outside Mass, the Latin gesture of benediction is the one employed. The most prominent example are the popes, who also used to give the blessing urbi et orbi in this manner. And having their hands raised in this gesture of benediction became the customary way of being depicted in official portraits.

Here is a gallery of popes blessing this way.

St. Peter (in his most famous representation in the Vatican Basilica):


Benedict XIII:


Clement XIII:


Benedict XV:


Bl. Pius IX:


Pius XI:


Ven. Pius XII:



Bl. John XXIII:


Paul VI:



John Paul I:


Ven. John Paul II:



There is also video showing this. Here we see Benedict XV (obviously the speed, typically for film recordings of that time, does not correspond to the real speed):

Pius XII, giving the Easter urbi et orbi blessing:


And again Paul VI in the beatification of St. Charbel Makhlouf which we discussed recently (the blessing is approximately at minute 3:00):



As mentioned, the gesture was, of course, not limited to the popes. Here are some select examples of bishops.

Cardinal Léger, Archbishop of Montreal from 1950 to 1968:


Cardinal Ursi, Archbishop of Naples from 1966 to 1987:


Cardinal Quiroga Palacios, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela from 1949 to 1971:


Archbishop Fulton Sheen:


In one of the inexplicable developments after the II Vatican Council, the practice has widely disappeared, without having ever been - as far as I am aware - officially discouraged, let alone abolished. It has not, however, died out entirely, as you can see from this photograph of the abbot of Heiligenkreuz, Count Henckel-Donnersmarck:


Also, very interstingly, Archbishop Dolan of New York is, on his official portrait as Archbishop of Milwaukee, represented as blessing in this form:


if you know of other examples of current use this gesture, I would appreciate it if you would send them in.

In any case, given the deep rootedness of the Latin gesture of benediction in our tradition, and the rich theological interpretation which has been attributed to it afterwards of referring to the Three Persons of the Godhead (three extended fingers) and the two natures of Christ (two finger folded back), it would seem highly desirable if it could be returned to wider use, especially since no piece of current legislation seems to prevent that. This would ideally include a return of the papal practice as well. Interestingly, it has not completely disappeared from papal imagery either; see for example this medal of Pope Benedict distributed during World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney:


The Holy Father himself is of course well aware of this gesture, as can be seen from this most intersting video, which was taken during his summer holiday in Brixen, South Tyrol, also in 2008 (no embedding possible): http://www.kathtube.com/player.php?id=5267

In it, wee see Pope Benedict with his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, and his secretray, Msgr. Georg Gänswein, before a statue of Our Lady in the garden of the seminary of Brixen. This statue shows Our Lady teaching the Infant Lord Jesus how to bless, employing precisely the Latin gesture of benediction, which the Pope explains, repeating this gesture.

Lenten Reading Plans

For those of you who take up the practice of daily spiritual reading during Lent, you may be interested to know that Fr. Bryan Jerabek has set up a website where he provides three different Lenten Reading Plans.

These readings plans include a Fathers of the Church reading plan, a Cardinal Newman and Father Faber reading plan, and finally a Lives of the Great Medieval and Renaissance Saints reading plan -- based on the discourses of Benedict XVI.

With Lent beginning in just over one week's time, now is a good time to begin to consider your Lenten exercises. In the coming week, the NLM will write something more on this topic.

Lenten Gospel Acclamation, Latin OF

Fr. Samuel Weber composed some very beautiful Gospel Acclamations for Lent. Here is a complete set with responses.

Time to Start Thinking: Qui Habitat

One of the longest pieces of music in the Gradual is Qui Habitat, the tract for the first Sunday of Lent. It runs 6 pages in my book. I know that it is a bit early but I would like to post (probably yet again) this wonderful setting of the text by the brilliant Josquin - it is for 24 singers. If you ever hear it live, you are very blessed. Remember: this was written 500 years ago. There is something profoundly wrong with the Whig theory of music that we are always progressing. Hmmmm.

The History of Prinknash Abbey Incense and Incense-Making

We have spoken of monastic produce on the NLM a number of times before, and of the pertinence of helping to support our monastic communities and the monastic way of life by purchasing the products they produce. Traditionally this is manifest through items like cheeses, fruitcakes, preserves, honey, oil, wine, beer and liqueurs. It is also manifest through items like candles, sacred art and incense. These latter have an application for the home as well as for our churches.

One of the most famous brands of monastic-produced incense in the West is that made by the monks of Prinknash Abbey in England -- "Prinknash", incidentally, is pronounced "Prin-nage" or "Prin-nish". In view of a general interest in promoting monastic produce, and in view of a specific interest in Prinknash's own pursuits, I asked one of the monks of Prinknash if something of the history of their incense producing could be published. I was very pleased to be presented with this account which they wrote for the occasion of the 100th anniversary of incense-making at their abbey, which I can now share with you today.

As a personal aside, I was recently gifted with some samples of Prinknash incense, and it is a very fine incense indeed. Basilica and Sanctuary, so far, have proven to be amongst my favourites.

(If other monasteries produce their own blends, or if other monasteries would like to contact us about other products they produce for possible feature, please do not hesitate to write.)

* * *

Prinknash Incense

by monks of Prinknash
On the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of Incense Making at the Abbey

It is traditionally believed that incense was first made in our Community in 1906. Like all traditional dates this one is not easy to pin down with evidence. But there is some. Abbot Dyfrig Rushton, writing a memoir in 1976, describes how he came to Caldey in November 1916 to join a scheme for training boys in arts and crafts under the patronage of St Joseph. Dyfrig says: "While I was with St. Joseph's boys, I worked mostly with Fr. Samson Carrington in his vestment room and incense department. He was in charge of both." Speaking of Samson, Dyfrig says: "He began the vestment work and the making of incense while the Community were at Painsthorpe; it was he who made up the recipes for the different grades." The Community was at Painsthorp from 1902 until October 1906, when it moved to Caldey. Therefore if Dyfrig is right, incense making started in the first nine moths of 1906 at Painsthorpew Hall, Yorkshire.

The problem is that there is no other evidence to support this. The magazine PAX had started in the Painsthorpe days in 1904, and there is no mention of incense until the Caldey period in 1907. In the essay attributed to Abbot Aelred Carlyle called Our Purpose and Method, first printed in PAX in 1905-6 and then called The Benedictines of Caldey Island in 1907, Aelred says that "all our work is done by the brethen - baking, washing, scrubbing, tailoring, carpentering and gardening" but not the making of incense.

First Advertisement

The first advertisement for "incense made at Caldey by one of the brothers" dates from PAX 7 and 13, in March 1906 and September 1907, and contains a message of thanks to the Rev. R. Sorbey for half a pound and tin of incense. This has been taken to show that the community could not have been making the product themselves. But it might be argued that Richard Sorbey, then Vicar at Prestbury near Cheltenham, was a benefactor in other ways to the Painsthorpe Community. He helped provide for the Sacristy. So it quite possible that his contributions of incense were only to supplement what was already there.

Early Recipe

It is easy to forget how important incense was to the early community. Aelred had in his possession books on Catholic liturgy that described the traditional practice. The Sacristan's Manual by a certain J.D. Hilarius Dale, explained how "the incense commonly used at Rome is simple Gum Olibanum," and told the interested reader how it could be obtained from a "wholesale chemist at a moderate price." It added that "one ounce of powdered cascarilla bark mixed with each pound of gum olibanum will be found an agreeable compound." Daniel Rock's Hierugia had been in the library at the Community's original foundation on the Isle of Dogs in 1896. It described the usages of incense and its value. Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament after Mass was a common custom in those days. Aelred also seems to have followed the Llanthony priory custom of using incense at Lauds. It is worth noting that the procession from the jetty on Caldey for the celebrated "home-coming" in October 1906 was lead by a thurifer with a boat bearer at his side, as the photograph on the frontispiece of PAX 10 taken by the lighthouse keeper clearly shows.

Samson Carrington

In sum, it looks likely enough that the tradition is correct and incense was made in the community, at least to supplement its own needs, at Painsthorpe in 1906. The manufacturer was Samson Carrington. He had joined the community in 1906, at Milton Abbas, but was not clothed until the first sojourn on Caldey in 1901. He is a most important man in the community's history. It was he who saw the possibility and advantage of arts and crafts. He himself could make vestments and did so successfully at Painsthorpe and Caldey. He ran the vestment and incense departments for many years and had overall charge of all the crafts at Caldey. He never made vast sums of money. That was hardly intention. His idea only flourished many years later - long after he himself had left the community - at Prinknash, in the hands of several able and dedicated Brothers. But in 1906, Samson, as a priest, ran the departments himself and used what labour he could find. He had a difficult time and left the Community in the turmoil of 1920. He died in 1934 and was buried at Stoubridge, where three members of the Community were present at the funeral, including Dyfrig Rushton, who had a great respect for him both as a man and a monk.

Samson first produced incense to sell in 1907. Two varieties are advertised in PAX 14, December 1907: "Incense made at Caldey by one of the brothers, from a very good recipe, may be had from us at 6/ - and 3/6 a pound." On page 377 the same incense is said to be a "combination of the choicest gums which burns without any disagreeable fumes." It is also post free. Neither of the two varieties seems to have a name at this time. For the rest of Samson's period the adverts in PAX show that the varieties of incense fluctuated between three and five. None are named; they are distinguished solely by price.

David Bunce

After Samson's departure in 1920, the incense was taken over by David Bunce. He joined the community soon after the conversion and was a member of a well-known Dudley family. He was clothed in December 1914. For some years he was in charge of the alumni, where he was very popular as a gentle and understanding monk. It seems that he was the man who first gave names to the varieties of incense, They appear in an advertisement in PAX 63, March 1922, p. 95 as Cathedral (12/-), Abbey (8/-), Sanctuary (6/-) and Mission (3/6). A very cheap variety called "Church" (92/6) was added in the advert for September of the same year (PAX 64 p. 189). It is humbly described as a 'special blend' to "meet the requirements of some very poor missions." The notices, in contrast to today, show the wide variety in prices. Cathedral was five times as expensive as Church. David Bunce suffered from ill health and left the Community soon after his ordination in December 1926. He worked as a priest in the Birmingham diocese until his death in 1948.

Gabriel Burles

His place in the incense department was taken by Gabriel Burles. He was the first Brother to take charge. The Brothers had been formed by Abbot Aelred in 1919 when he brought over the Master of Lay-brothers from Quarr to set the scheme in motion. But Aelred's mind there was another purpose. For many years there had been "oblates" in the Community who had no definite status; they took no vows and were free to come and go. Aelred thought the Brothers would provide a definite vocation for them and give the necessary stability and commitment to the Community. Gabriel had been an oblate on and off since 1916. In 1920 he decided to commit himself completely to the newly formed Brothers, and remained one of then until his death in 1975. Gabriel was a slow but conscientious worker. He took enormous pains in preparing the different varieties of incense. Dyfrig, in his memoir, says of Gabriel that "his equipment was very primitive and worked against many difficulties; he was assisted by some of the younger brethren, but it was clear who was the Boss." He found he was able to expand the work after the move to Prinknash in 1928. He dropped Church incense from the list of recipes and introduced a new variety at 16/-, soon identified as Basilica. Priory also appeared in the advert for May 1929 (PAX 91 p. 64). This gave six varieties in all. It is astonishing that the names and prices remained the same right through to the end of the Second World War.

First Charcoal Tablets

Gabriel was responsible for a new venture - the making of charcoal. It was to have a great future. Square tablets of 'perfumed charcoal' were first advertised at 2/- per pond in PAX 179, September 1936, p 150. He was also perhaps responsible for the mystique that surrounded Prinknash incense. Gabriel kept to himself the task of blending the gums and mixing the oils. In Dyfrig's words he thought "it could not with safety be entrusted to a novice and the formula was a carefully guarded secret." (PAX 334, p. 48)

Br. Gabriel always suffered from poor eyesight. After the Second World War his vision deteriorated sharply and he eventually became blind.

Aidan Haynes

It is not clear who succeeded him in the making of incense. A book marked "Incense DPT" is still in the archives with the name "D. Aidan" on the front. This must be Aidan Haynes who entered the community in 1944. His 'log book', as it is called, begins by listing the 'oils in use' in 1945 with Latin names on the one side and the English equivalent on the other. It then gives recipes for the seven varieties of incense - Basilica, Cathedral, Abbey, Sanctuary, Priory, Mission and Church - which is odd because Church had been dropped from the sales brochure in 1928. New recipes are contrasted with old ones,and some reasons given for the changes. For example "benzion is far to (sic) dear to use in cheap blends," and "the loss of lavender" in Abbey "changes the character of the oil but not for the worse." Aidan has installed some of the new formulas in 1946 and 1947.

Basilica incense being blended by the present-day Father Abbot, the principal incense blender at Prinknash

Weights and Measures

One curious feature of the book is the use of the old "apothecary weights" that had been popular with chemists in England and America since about 1840. Aidan explains in the middle of the book under the date 1947 that "henceforth the formulae will remain written in apothecaries weight but will be used in practise (sic) as if they were written in aoirdupois." Earlier in the book someone has written in pencil, for those not in the know, that "8 drams = 1 ounce." From Aidan on, the weights are all pounds and ounces. The charcoal formula refers the reader back to the "Black Book," probably compiled by Br. Gabriel but no longer extant. Aidan was sent up to Pluscarden after the foundation there in 1948.

Emmanuel Davis: Period of Expansion

The move made way for Joseph Davis. Br. Emmanuel, as he was called after clothing, represents the new breed of Brothers who came after the war; and his short reign is perhaps the most significant in the whole history. He turned incense from craft into an industry. As Joseph Davis from Birkenhead he had run his father's stationary buisness and then continued as a salesman in the same product. When he came to Prinknash in 1948 he knew nothing about incense; but after his profession, he applied all his skills he had learned in the North East and rapidly increased production until he tripled the sales. He opened markets in America and found among his contacts the son of Francis Lawson who had been a novice at Painsthorpe. Lawson wrote enthusiastic letters about his own memories of incense at Painsthorpe and Llanthony where he had also been a novice for a time. He did not mention the actual making of incense, and as he left the community in 1905, his evidence indirectly supports the traditional date of origin as 1906.

Speedy Charcoal Boom

Emmanuel's greatest achievement perhaps was in the production of charcoal. Hitherto Br. Gabriel's perfumed and standard varieties were the bane of a sacristans life. Charcoal could never be lit in a hurry. As altar servers will remember the tablets had to be heated in a wire basket over a Bunsen burner. It took time. Emmanuel started experimenting in the summer of 1956 with saltpeter dissolved in water and mixed with powdered charcoal and then stamped out in tablet form. The charcoal could then be lit at one corner and in less than a minute the whole tablet was aglow. Emmanuel packaged forty-eight tablets in handsome red oblong boxes and sold them as "speedy charcoal" at £1 a box. They were a prodigious success. In 1958 alone "well over 10,000 boxes, over a half a million tablets were sold" (PAX 279, p. 123), making the blue boxes of perfumed charcoal and beige ones of standard, altogether obsolete.

New Premises

Emmanuel had visions of expanding the business by constructing a purpose built factory at the bottom of the lower lawn. He designed it all himself and priced it at £5000 before the cellarer got to hear of it. The cellarer was alarmed and indignant. He made counter proposals and in the end three ignominious army huts were erected on the site of Emmanuel's dream. They are still there, looking even more ignominious than before. Emmanuel never lived to see them. On the night of the 24th April 1960 he collapsed in a coma brought on by his diabetes, and in the morning he was dead. Dyfrig Rushton wrote a characteristically acute and affectionate obituary. One could hardly have mixed feelings about a man with such a sunny temperament who made light of almost everything including the diabetes that killed him. He did however write letters to the cellarer - some are extant in the archives - pointing out how he, the cellarer, failed to send a sufficient number of novices to work in the incense department and did not ensure that those assigned arrived on time. Indeed Emmanuel tended to badger the cellarer unmercifully. Dyfrig was the cellarer.

Kevin O'Sheehan and Hugh Dilger

Emmanuel had brought the incense department on to a rising curve. His death brought another enterprising but very different person, Br. Kevin O'Sheehan. He had been trained as an artist, but possessed many skills, all of which he used to good effect. After his first vows in 1960 he took over the incense department. He reformed the recipes and simplified production. It was in his time that Br. Hugh Dilger made truly outstanding design and lettering for the tins and later cardboard boxes in which incense was sold. The original drawing is still in the archives showing Hugh's remarkable draughtsmanship long before any design programme on a computer existed.

Post-Vatican II Period

But these heady days were not to last. Already the turmoil that arose out of the Second Vatican Council was changing life at Prinknash. Many of the most promising monks left, including Br. Kevin and the very able Hugh Dilger. The Brothers themselves came to an end in 1966 when the General Chapter decreed that there was only one kind of monk. The incense went on to expand still further and vastly increase its sales. But the great creative period was over. We have come far enough.

There are numerous boxes and gadgets scattered about the monastery and the estate, including the improbable machines converted by Br. Malachy McGann. It is to be hoped that some enterprising person could gather them all into a small museum before everyone forgets what they were actually used for. And there are the ingredients of the craft, a chunk of benzoin for example, patiently collected by Br. William, and a most all perhaps the memories of so many members of the community past and present that could tell the story of so much ingenuity as well as the plodding endeavour that make up the history.

Fr. Aelred our archivist, from whom most of this information comes, writes: "I remember as a novice manipulating a flexible spatula for days on end to catch tablets of charcoal disgorging from the mouth of a Heath Robinson stamping machine. Most of the novices helped in some way or another."

Community Work that is Useful and Continually Profitable

Incense was a possible answer to the perennial question that has afflicted nearly all monasteries since the High Middle Ages - how to find an occupation for a community that is useful and interesting and at the same time integral to the life. And of course it survived. The incense is still thriving, solvent and visible. The design on the packages is still that of Br. Hugh's from forty years ago. The names of the varieties are the same as they are eighty years ago and the product itself reaches back a hundred.

When Samson Carrington, in 1906, at Painsthorpe, turned from cutting vestment material to try his hand at mixing ground gum olibanum with oils, he never knew what he was starting!

* * *
To read more about Prinknash incense, see these pages on the site of Prinknash Abbey:

History of Prinknash Incense
Prinknash Incense

To Order:

From the UK and Ireland: Order Direct from the Abbey
From the USA: Hayes and Finch
From Australia: Church Supplies (see "Sanctuary Supplies")
From South America: Milagros

Please note: other sellers may also sell these products in these same regions.

The Role of Mothers in a New Liturgical Movement

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
-- Proverbs 22:6

Recently, I read a comment made by a Catholic husband and father which brought to mind the important and unique role of Catholic mothers in the new liturgical movement. The comment was simply this: "My wife is really great at bringing the liturgical year into our family life." Bringing the liturgical year into the home is, in fact, a vital part of the new liturgical movement for it helps to keep families rooted in the source and summit of the Christian life: the sacred liturgy. Rooting the family in the liturgical year helps to produce lives which are God-centred and continues the formation and sanctification of the Catholic family that flows from the sacred liturgy. This in turn can then be more readily carried into one's adult life, whether as a priest, religious or as a layman, to be fostered yet further in ourselves and in others. Evidently, everyone has an important part to play in the new liturgical movement, but as it relates to the "domestic church," to bringing the liturgical life into the home, it seems to be the case that in most homes it is the mother who plans and organizes the special celebrations, foods, crafts, songs, stories and prayers, along with appropriate catechesis, for her family in accordance with the Church's liturgical calendar. This is why the Catholic mother's role can be understood as so important and vital for the new liturgical movement, for it is in the home that the formative seeds of the liturgical life can be planted and nurtured.

This said, a major obstacle for Catholic mothers who wish to bring the liturgical life into the home today is that many haven't themselves been raised with the traditions, customs and celebrations that are associated with the liturgical year; they themselves have not been raised in the practice of living a liturgical life. Unfortunately, there has been a very real deficiency in this within the past decades and this has left many Catholic mothers with the challenge of re-learning and re-discovering these things for themselves. There is help in this however, so take heart. Many great resources are now available, written by other Catholic moms who have taken up that challenge, and who have written and passed along their own insights and experiences of bringing the liturgical year into their homes and families.

Resources to help families celebrate the liturgical year in the home needn't be expensive and, in point of fact, there are many free resources available on the internet. One site that I would highly recommend is Catholic Culture and its Liturgical Year section. One will there find explanations of the various feast days, along with hands-on ideas for recipes, crafts, prayers, practices and so forth. There are a number of other helpful sites online and further links and resources will be posted as we endeavour to share more ideas on the NLM for bringing the liturgical life into the home and family -- the "NLM for Moms" if you will.

I wish to encourage mothers to root their families in the sacred liturgy by bringing the liturgical year into their homes. Perhaps there is some truth to the saying that "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world" for Catholic mothers can have a great deal of influence over the next generation of Catholics, planting the seeds that can bloom and in turn propagate yet further. By taking up that challenge, they will not only see themselves and their families spiritually profit, they will also take their own important part and place in the fostering of a new liturgical movement.

Seven Processional Crosses

Byzantine, circa 11th century
(Image source)


Processional Cross of the Monastery of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux


Irish Cross of Cong, 12th century


Early 16th century, Cathedral of Atri


Italian Processional Cross


15th century, Chiesa di S.Nicola a Monticchio


15th century Croce di Roccaspilvaneti, S.Michele a Roccaspilvaneti

Antiphonale Romanum II

My edition of the new Antiphonale Romanum II arrived via Fedex a few minutes ago - all 780 pages of it.

This book provides the Gregorian music for Vespers for Sundays and Feasts (Volume I was the Liber Hymnarius). It is absolutely stunning in its production values, and the product of many years of work by the Solesmes monastery. The monks set out to restore some melodies, adapt the traditional music for the new needs needs of the three-year cycle of readings ,and make possible music for those readings and antiphons that had no previous setting in the older books - and did so by looking at the ancient chant books to recover some lost material and adapt older material.

As explained in detail on this MusicaSacred thread, the book provides Vespers for Advent, Nativity to Epiphany with feast days, along with Lent, Passion week, Triduum, and Easter season. It has the Magnificat antiphons listed separately for years A, B, and C, and Concluding prayers for Ordinary Sundays, Solemnities of the Lord. It has a 4-week psalter with hymns, antiphons, pointed psalms, canticles, readings, short responsories, and intercessions.
Propers of the Saints. It includes common and solemn tones for common and solemn intonations, tones for sung reading, responsories, intercessions, prayers, concluding rituales. It has an appendix with the pointed Magnificat in all tones, along with alternative hymn tunes for Pange lingua and Vexilla regis.

The book comes with an introductory letter from the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, as translated on the same thread:

The 25th anniversary of the typical edition of the Order for Singing the Office (commanded to be printed by Holy Father John Paul II on March 25, 1983), which responded through a reordering of chants to the needs of those who carry out the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in Latin, has already been celebrated. After that edition, a thorough work has been undertaken of melodical restoration of antiphons, a number of which were restored according to old, forgotten manuscript mediaeval sources. Now this repertory of chant merits to be employed in the Divine Office according to the Roman Liturgy, as the Fathers of the OEcumical Council Vatican II have commanded: «Let the treasure of sacred music be preserved and promoted with extreme care.» (SC 114) Hence, this congregation, according to the powers granted by Holy Father Benedict XVI, taking into account the work prepared by the monks of Solesmes, and having heard the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music as well, approved the introduction of several changes concerning antiphons and responsories in the version of the Order for Singing the Office currently in force. This dicastery will be in charge of making public law the aforementioned changes and ammendments. Anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

Many melodies are restored, but I can't comment on which ones and how. I'm curious about the structural changes but I do not know the details.

The notation is entirely reset with some newer (older) neumes not found in preconciliar chant books. The ictus is eliminated, which doesn't seem to be much of an issue given the shorter length of antiphons, but I don't think there is any question that the elimination of the episema and the dotted punctum is going to create some confusion for people who are used to singing from existing chant books.

I would like to examine it more in depth, but I have to part with my copy tomorrow to send to William Mahrt, who will be able to explain more. A special thank you to my Rome benefactor who sent this to me! You can order a copy from Solesmes for about $54.00 plus shipping.

Given that this is the digital, I would like to make a suggestion: Solesmes and the Vatican should grant permission to the CMAA (Musicasacra.com) to put this entire book online immediately. It will not hurt sales; just the reverse. Very few these days will pay this kind of money for something they can't see. Let people use it online, print the pages, sing Vespers, and then people see the need for the physical copy. I have my doubts, in fact, that this wonderful work will achieve its much-needed circulation without being online. This will also help poor parishes that have no means of buying this book. I'll make a separate inquiry but if anyone at Solesmes is reading this, please forward the post and let me know. Again, we can have a gorgeous scan up in a matter of one week or so.

Institute of the Good Shepherd in Rome Interview Papal Master of Ceremonies

The website if the Institute of the Good Shepherd in Rome have recently posted an interview they pursued with Msgr. Guido Marini, papal master of ceremonies: Entretien avec Mons. Guido Marini.

Critics of the Vernacular Shouldn't Read This

Not a day goes by when I don't hear about the objection to the introduction of Latin in the OF Mass. Even after all the progress that has been made. Or the progress we think we've made. And this is not just from the faithful. It is mostly from pastors and music directors who themselves have objections to Latin!

I was speaking with someone yesterday who served at the altar in the early 1960s, before everything changed. He remembers that he and the other altar boys were the only ones reciting responses. He would turn around and see the congregation not paying attention at all, were disengaged, obviously didn't understand the Latin and had no idea of what was going on, or were otherwise occupied with private devotions. In his eyes the change to the vernacular (lets leave out all of the other things that changed) was a good thing, in that it opened up the Mass to the people. They began to participate.

Are his comments borne of a young boy's insecurity? Are they borne of a sense of discomfort with doing something he was supposed to do, yet saw that others, not even grown ups, were doing it? Or are they observations of someone looking back after all these years and assessing the situations then and now, and making an informed judgment? We'll never know.

But it got me thinking. With the new translations looming (and looming and looming), maybe this is a good opportunity to stop talking about Latin so much – for the time being. Yes, tradition is important, and Latin is the language of the Roman rite. So we can't ignore it. I'm not proposing that.

But isn't it also true that lack of solemnity and decorum is one of biggest problem that we face? Maybe even a bigger problem than the choice of language itself? One can celebrate an OF Mass in English in a dignified way, after all.

Does suddenly forcing people to sing a Sanctus or Agnus in Latin change things all that much if they don't understand what is at stake — that Mass plays an essential role in the sacramental life of the Church, and is not intended as a vehicle for their own pleasure or an opportunity to wear their new flip flops? This is an abrupt change for them – and in their eyes — as inexplicable as the sudden changes that ravaged parish after parish after Vatican II. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to first understand that the Mass is as "apostolic" as anything else, and that the way we celebrate is borne of tradition and a mark of who we are in the Christian world?

Of course the new translations will have to be taught. In all honesty, I think the learning will happen on its own and without long pedagogy sessions before Mass. A few weeks or months of repetition, and they'll be learned — ingrained. It won't be a problem.

Right now so many of us our busy printing the English in our programs so people can read along as we sing or say something in Latin. Providing a translation has been argued as a way to make the Latin accessible. I think it helps. And when the new translations come out, many will want to print the new English responses, Creed, Gloria, etc., in their programs. Publishers of hymnals and other "newsprint" worship aids will be doing the same.

How about we turn things on their heels? Up the ante just a bit? How about instead of just the new translations, we print the Latin, too, right next to the new responses. The way we do with the English now – for transparency purposes. People may gain some sense that the changes are not just a result of the desire to update things for our times. It might show them that language is serious business, and that the language we use at Mass carries with it an obligation to tradition.

A New Love for Obrecht

The CD/DVD of Jacob Obrecht's St. Donation Mass has my head spinning about the magnificence of the timeless work of this genius.

Here is a piece of Obrecht's gorgeous work, an elaboration of the Salve Regina tune known to most Catholics in the middle ages before it was displaced by the more modern version that Catholics, if they have heard a Salve Regina at all (and most have not), know the best. So to understand this piece, imagine that the tune at the outset is deeply familiar - perhaps the most familiar Marian antiphon.

Some Other Examples of Reliquary Busts

Reliquary Bust of St. Margaret the Virgin (c. 1465-1470), Nicolaus Gerhaerdt van Leyden. Art Institute of Chicago.


Reliquary Bust of St. Marinus the Martyr (c. 1590), anonymous. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.


Reliquary Bust (Unidentified Saint) (c. 1510), Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (More). A view of the back can be seen here.

(Originally posted on The Shrine of the Holy Whapping, 5 February 2010).

The Royal Chapel: Versailles

(Image source)

The Question of the Septuagesima Season and the Modern Roman Liturgy: Possible Enrichment?

In the older form of the Roman calendar today is "Sexagesima" Sunday, the second of three Sundays found within the pre-Lenten season of Septuagesima. In the modern Roman calendar, by comparison, the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time is what is observed today, this pre-Lenten period having been removed as part of the post-conciliar liturgical reform.

Last Sunday, we took under consideration the historical origins and character of Pre-Lent and as was noted, this particular time of the liturgical year is one which perhaps most visibly stands out as it relates to the variances between the older and newer Roman calendars. For that reason, it is also a time which may invite our consideration. This may be further amplified by the existence -- and continued existence -- of a similar three week pre-Lenten season within various parts of the Christian East.

Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, in the twenty-first chapter of The Reform of the Roman Liturgy: 1948-1975 (p. 307, footnote 6), readily noted that the removal of Septuagesima in the modern Roman calendar was the source of some disagreement. He specifically notes Paul VI's own thoughts on the matter: "On one occasion Pope Paul VI compared the complex made up of Septuagesima, Lent, Holy Week, and Easter Triduum to bells calling people to Sunday Mass. The ringing of them an hour, half-hour, fifteen, and five minutes before the time of Mass has a psychological effect and prepares the faithful materially and spiritually for the celebration of the liturgy." In the end, whatever Paul VI's (and others) personal thoughts might have been on the preparatory value of the steps of Septuagesima season in relation to both Lent and ultimately Easter, the desire for simplication and an emphasis on the season of Lent, Archbishop Bugnini notes, was what won the day during those times -- and so it was removed from the modern Roman calendar.

Sitting a few decades out from the liturgical reform, and in the specific light of principles of the Benedictine liturgical reform such as "reform in continuity" and "mutual enrichment", a question for our own time may well arise; namely, whether these pre-Lenten Sundays might not be profitably re-inserted into the modern Roman calendar, thereby reforging a continuity with this aspect of the Roman calendar as it stood since around the time of Pope Gregory the Great, and a connection with the liturgical calendars of various Eastern churches -- while additionally proffering some spiritual benefit to the faithful as well?

As with all prospective questions of how Benedictine mutual enrichment or liturgical reform may eventually be manifest -- whether that pertains to development within the usus antiquior or within the modern Roman liturgy -- it will surely inspire debate and no small measure of disagreement.

Fr. Christopher Phillips, a priest of the Anglican use and pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement parish in San Antonio, Texas, recently offered his owns thoughts on this subject as it relates to the Anglican Ordinariate:

There are things about the old calendar that I miss, and I hope there will be a restoration in a revised liturgical use for the [new Anglican] Ordinariate.

I always loved the old "gesima" Sundays - the three Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima, forming a pre-Lenten season which served as a bridge between Epiphanytide and the great Forty Days... The Collect appointed for the day makes for a real change of gears, as we moved from the outward-looking aspect of the manifestation of Christ to the world, into a more introspective attitude by looking into our own hearts and souls...

The Gospel reading then served as a reminder that the coming discipline of Lent was to prepare us for our work in building God's Kingdom...

There's a spiritual richness when these things are put into an historical context, and it would be a pity to lose it. It's all part of the treasury of the Church.

* * *
To give readers an opportunity to express their own sense of this question (particularly readers who do not themselves comment in the comment boxes) and to perhaps provide a spark to further consideration of the matter, I thought an informal poll on the subject might be of interest.

Evidently, the intent here is not in any way to suggest "liturgy by popular demand" or "by committee" but it is of interest always to hear from our readers.