First Vespers of the Sacred Heart in St Paul, MN

Yesterday evening at the CMAA Colloquium, First Vespers of the Sacred Heart was sung at the St Thomas University Chapel in the Extraordinary Form. The choir, directed by Jonathan Ryan, sang a 17th century setting of the Magnificat attributed to Buxtehude, accompanied by strings. The celebrant was Fr Robert Pasley, chaplain to the CMAA.

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Speakers and Music Program at Fota X

St. Colman’s Society for Catholic Liturgy is pleased to announce that the Fota X International Liturgy Conference, to be held in Cork, Ireland, July 8-10, will be opened by His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaler Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. The subject of the conference is Resourcing the Prayers of the Roman Liturgy: Patristic Sources. His Eminence will deliver a paper entitled Early Sources of the Church’s Liturgical Discipline.

Card. Burke celebrating Pontifical Mass at Fota IX

The other speakers at the conference are:

Dieter Böhler SJ : Jerome and the Recent Revision of the German Einheitsübersetzung Bible.
Joseph Briody : As He Promised: Davidic Hope Resurgent - the Message of 2 Kings 25:27-30.
Markus Büning : Panis animarum – The Eucharist in St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
Sven Conrad : The Christian Sacrifice according to St. Augustine: Prospectives taking into Consideration Joseph Ratzinger`s Approach.
Gregory DiPippo : The Patristic Sources of the Roman Lectionary in Lent.
Manfred Hauke : The Holy Eucharist in the Life and Work of Pope Gregory the Great.
João Paulo de Mendonça Dantas : The Eucharist in the thought of Nicholas Cabasilas
Johannes Nebel : The Paradigmatic Change of the Post Conciliar Liturgical Reform from actio to celebratio in the Light of the Latin Fathers.
Mark Withoos: “ad audiendum silentium narrationis eius” (Ep. 147): Silence and Liturgy in St. Augustine.
Kevin Zilverberg : The Latin Fathers-’ Daniel in Antiphons and Responsories.

The Lassus Scholars under the direction of Dr. Ite O’Donovan will provide the sacred music for the ceremonies to be held at Ss Peter and Paul’s Church in Cork City. The schedule is as follows:

Pontifical Vespers, Saturday, July 9
Magnificat (Tomas Luis de Victoria 1548-1611)
Salve Regina (Peter Philips 1560-1628)

Pontifical High Mass, Sunday, July 10
Propers from the Choralis Constantinus (Heinrich Isaac c. 1450-1517)
Offertory - Benedicam Dominum (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525-1594)
Ordinary: Missa Vinum bonum (Orlando de Lassus 1532-1594)
Te Deum and Ecce Sacerdos Magnus (Tomás Luis de Victoria 1548-1611)

Solemn High Mass, Monday, July 11
Gregorian Propers
Ordinary: Qual donna (Orlando de Lassus 1532-1594)

The Introit of the Eight Sunday after Pentecost, sung by the Lassus Scholars from the Choralis Constantinus at last year’s conference.

EF Mass for the Sacred Heart in Brooklyn

Holy Name of Jesus Church in Brooklyn, New York, will celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus this evening at 7:00pm. For those new to or curious about the Latin Mass, there will be a fully instructional program with cues and translations. The church is located at 245 Prospect Park West.

Here is a note from the choir director about the music featured in this Mass: Six singers, the best of the best that New York City offers, will sing chant and polyphony as the Church has so gloriously done in the past for the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Mass setting is by David Adam Smith, as well as the offertory motet. At communion the hymn Cor dulce in three voices will be sung, as well as appointed palms.

NLM Quiz no. 19 - How Old is This Stained Glass, and What Event Does it Show?

It has been several months since our last quiz, so as a reminder of our regular procedure: Please give your answer in the combox, along with any and all details you think pertinent to it. To keep it more interesting, please leave your answer before reading the other comments. We are always pleased to hear humorous answers as well. This photograph was taken by Fr Lawrence Lew; you can click it to see it in high resolution.

The Answer: This was obviously too easy; it is indeed St Aloysius Gonzaga receiving his First Communion from St Charles Borromeo. The window was made in the middle of the 19th century for the Lady Chapel of the cathedral of Lille, France. Stylistically, it is a very good copy of the medieval style, especially in the faces of St Aloysius’ parents. Judith Whitehouse correctly noted that the range of color is too great for medieval work, and Marko Ivančičević correctly noted that a medieval image of this would not have the tabernacle on the altar.

I must admit I thought people would be thrown off by the fact St Charles as shown here looks much more like the Curé d’Ars than himself.

Mag. Theol., you take the prize for Best Humorous Answer for “St Karl Rahner receiving communion from St Annibale Bugnini”, but it should really be the other way around, since Bugnini was 8 years younger.

FSSP Ordinations in England

Many of our readers have probably already seen that two members of the Fraternity of St Peter, Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra, were ordained to the priesthood at St Mary’s Shrine Church, Warrington, the first traditional ordination rite celebrated in England in decades. The FSSP’s LiveMass channel has now made  available a video of the entire ceremony, just a little bit shy of three-and-a-half hours long. The FSSP England Facebook page has also posted a link to an enormous flickr album with pictures of the ceremony. Our congratulations to the newly ordained fathers, to their families and friends, and to the entire order. Ad multos annos!

Matins Readings During the Octave of Corpus Christi

When St. Thomas Aquinas composed the office of Corpus Christi, he wrote not only the musical texts such as the antiphons and hymns, but also the sermon to be read in the first and second nocturns of Matins, according to the custom of his times. (Very few feasts had Scriptural readings in the first nocturn in the Middle Ages.) This sermon, Immensa divinae largitatis beneficia, is found in almost all pre-Tridentine breviaries. However, it is not long enough to provide readings for Matins on each day of the octave; other readings had therefore to be selected for the remaining days. The homily of the third nocturn is taken from St Augustine’s Treatises on the Gospel of John, commenting on the Gospel of the feast, John 6, 56-59.

St. Thomas Aquinas in glory among the Doctors of the Church, by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1631.

In the 1529 Roman Breviary, the readings of the first and second nocturn on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are taken from the famous Decree of the 12th-century canonist Gratian, which was, broadly speaking, the medieval code of Canon Law. The third part, called On Consecration, is a long florilegium of texts from the Church Fathers and various other sources, and is quite suitable for spiritual reading, despite being essentially a law textbook. These readings include a fairly lengthy excerpt from St Ambrose’s book On the Mysteries, another from the treatise On the Sacraments traditionally attributed to him, and a fragments of other writers, principally St Augustine. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the readings are taken from the bull Transiturus, by which Pope Urban IV (1261-64) originally promulgated the feast; this was read in many medieval Uses, in some places, even after the Tridentine reform. The readings of the third nocturn continue from St Augustine’s Treatises on John. On the Octave day, all nine readings of the feast are simply repeated. This arrangement is typical of all medieval breviaries.

In the Tridentine Breviary, this system is changed, but not entirely. Scriptural readings are assigned to the first nocturn: I Cor. 11, 20-32 on the feast day and the octave, the lectio continua of I Kings on the days between. The readings from St Augustine in the third nocturn are almost exactly the same in the pre- and post-Tridentine breviaries, in response to the reformers’ pretenses that their teachings on grace corresponded to his. (Calvin once declared, even more absurdly than was his wont, “Augustine belongs entirely to us.”) On Wednesday, however, they are taken from St Hilary of Poitiers, and on the octave, from St Cyril of Alexandria.

For the second nocturn, the sermon of St Thomas is split into two parts, the first of which is read on the feast, the second on Friday. The remaining days are dedicated to the Church Fathers, Ss John Chrysostom (Saturday to Monday), Cyprian (Tuesday), Ambrose (Wednesday, part of the De Sacramentis also excerpted by Gratian), and St Cyril of Jerusalem on the octave day.

It is easy to see in this selection a Catholic response to the early Protestants, and their rejection of the traditional doctrine of the Eucharist. Papal bulls or medieval canon law collections would hold no authority with the “reformers” of the age, (Martin Luther burned both at Wittenberg), whether openly Protestant or uncertain Catholics, who were many in that age. The writings of the Fathers, on the other hand, were frequently appealed to as proof that Protestant teachings were in fact those of the primitive Church, and things like Eucharistic processions and Adoration later corruptions of the medieval era. In such a climate, the writings of St Cyril of Jerusalem in particular were a source of profoundest embarrassment to early and later Protestant controversialists.

“The teaching of blessed Paul seems of itself amply sufficient to make certain your faith concerning the Divine Mysteries; and you, having been made worthy thereof, have become, so to speak, of one Body and of one Blood with Christ. For he proclaimed that on the night He was betrayed, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying: Take, and eat, this is my Body. And taking the cup, and giving thanks, He said: Take this, and drink; this is my Blood. Since therefore He Himself has proclaimed this and said, ‘This is my Body’, who will dare henceforth to doubt that it is so? And since He again has said so insistently ‘This is my Blood’, who would ever doubt, and say that it is not his Blood?

The Last Supper, by Simon Ushakov, 1685

Once, at Cana in Galilee, He turned water into wine, which has a certain similarity to blood; and shall we think him too little worthy of our belief, when He said He would turn wine into Blood? Being called to that marriage, by which two bodies are joined, He did this miracle, which none expected. Shall we not all the more firmly believe that He has given us His Body and Blood, to be our food and drink, and thus receive them with all certainty as His Body and his Blood? For under the appearance of bread He gives us His Body, and under the appearance of wine, His Blood, so that when you shall receive it, you may taste the Body and Blood of Christ, being made a partaker of the same Body and Blood. Thus indeed do we become Christ-bearers, that is, bearing Christ in our bodies, when we receive His Body and Blood into our members; thus, according to the blessed Peter, do we come to share in the divine nature.

…Wherefore I would not have you understand these things, as if they were merely and simply bread, merely and simply wine; for they are the Body and Blood of Christ. For even if your senses deny this fact, yet let faith confirm you in this belief. Judge not the thing by the taste thereof, but let faith assure thee beyond all doubt, that you have been made worthy to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ.” (from the fourth Mystagogical Catechesis)

By including such a passage in a corpus of sermons that begins with a work of St Thomas Aquinas, the Breviary of St Pius V asserts a continuity of doctrine which reaches from St Paul to the Church Fathers, both Eastern and Western, and to the greatest theologian of the medieval, scholastic tradition.

Solemn EF for St John the Baptist in Victoria, BC

The cathedral of St Andrew in Victoria, British Columbia, will have a solemn High Mass this Saturday for the feast of the Birth of St John the Baptist, starting at 11 a.m., the first such Mass held there since the liturgical reform. The church is located at 740 View Street.

CMAA Colloquium Votive Mass of St Paul

Today's CMAA Colloquium Mass, a Votive Mass of St Paul, was celebrated by Father James Richardson at St Mark's Church in St Paul, MN. Some of the Chant and Polyphony Directors are pictured including Jeffrey Morse, David Hughes, William Mahrt and Melanie Malinka.

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New Book from Angelico Press: Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages

I am very happy to announce the publication of my new book with Angelico Press, which is now available on Amazon.

(Here follows the publisher's announcement:)

THE TRADITIONAL LITURGY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH is a highly formal ritual unfolding in layers of elaborate gesture, rich symbolism, whispered Latin, and ancient plainchants. “Experts” after the Second Vatican Council were convinced that such a ritual was irrelevant to “modern man.” To the shock of some, the delight of many, and the surprise of everyone, the old Latin Mass (and much that went along with it) has tenaciously survived during the past half-century and become an increasingly familiar feature in the Catholic landscape. What are the reasons for this revival, especially among the young? And why is this development so important for the renewal of Catholicism?

Peter Kwasniewski offers a lively account of the noble beauty and transcendent holiness of the traditional Roman liturgy, which humbles us before the mystery of God, stirs us with its pageantry, carries us into sacred silence, and bears us to a world of invisible realities. He contrasts this priceless treasure with the rationalistic reforms of the sixties, which yielded a Catholic liturgy severed from its own history, inadequate to its theological essence, unequal to its ascetical-mystical purpose, and estranged from its cultural inheritance. His conclusion: if there is to be a new springtime in the Church, the widespread restoration of the traditional liturgical rites will be at the heart of it.

“Anyone who wants a frank, honest, and deep explanation of worship, prayer, and liturgy should get this book. Be prepared to marvel at the depth of the Mass.” — REV. JAMES W. JACKSON, F.S.S.P., author of Nothing Superfluous: An Explanation of the Symbolism of the Rite of St. Gregory the Great

“With a delightful variety of insightful angles, Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness is an admirable contribution to reminding the Church how to move the world with her irreplaceable liturgical traditions.” — MICHAEL P. FOLEY, Baylor University

“This tremendous new book is an eloquent and erudite confrontation with the very root of the liturgical debate: whether the radical de-mystifying of the Catholic liturgy has been for the good of souls. It is a ringing affirmation that the kind of liturgy that pleases God, softens the hearts of sinners, and raises the pious towards sanctity, is the mysterious product of centuries of development.” — JOSEPH SHAW, Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales

“Peter Kwasniewski illustrates the total collapse of the hierarchy of values brought about by a modern world that has ‘turned its back to God,’ and man’s need for the Traditional Mass to spin him round to a recognition that all good things—temporal things included—flow only from aiming our attention firmly at the Creator.” — JOHN RAO, St. John’s University

“Dr. Kwasniewski has a genius for making a fresh case for Catholic tradition, with a blend of perspectives from the entire 60-year Catholic traditionalist movement. A unique reading experience.” — ROGER A. MCCAFFREY, President, Roman Catholic Books

PETER KWASNIEWSKI is a founding faculty member of Wyoming Catholic College, where he teaches theology, philosophy, music, and art history, and serves as choirmaster. He is a prolific writer and a composer of sacred music.

Order the book from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Available in paperback and hardcover.

Orthodox Holy Week on CBS, 1961

Normally, I would wait for the liturgically appropriate season to share something like this, but this video is just too interesting to wait until next year. The Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America has posted on its Youtube channel a video originally broadcast by CBS on April 16, 1961, on Light to my Feet, an ecumenical religious program which ran on that network from 1948-79. The Holy Week services were filmed at St George’s Church in Paterson, New Jersey, including parts of the procession of the Cross on Holy Thursday, the Lamentations of Holy Friday, and the Resurrection and Orthros Services of Easter. The celebrants are Metropolitan Antony Bashir (1898-1966), Fr Michael Simon, at that time pastor of St George, and Fr Gabriel Ashie, at that time pastor of St Anthony Church in Englewood. The program also credits Prof. Michael Hilko, a composer of sacred music in the Archdiocese, and Mrs Christine Lynch, who guided CBS in the television production and led the choir.

The notes on the Youtube channel state that a long-time member of the Archdiocesan Board of Trustees, Mr Robert Andrews, was organizing the library of his home parish of St Nicholas Cathedral in Los Angeles when he came across the 56-year-old film. Since it “smelled like vinegar” when he opened the canister, he rushed to preserve it by having it digitized.

Opening Mass of the CMAA Colloquium in St Paul, Minnesota

The CMAA Colloquium is now underway in St Paul, Minnesota. Today the opening Solemn Sung Mass in English was celebrated in the Chapel of the University of St Thomas. The Principal Celebrant and Homilist was Monsignor Andrew Wadsworth, Moderator of the Oratory in formation in Washington D.C. and Executive Director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy.

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Corpus Christi 2017 Photopost (Part 1)

For our first Corpus Christi photopost this year, we have a nice variety of things, some from new contributors, some from regulars; also, the Premonstratensian Mass, a church which had its first solemn Mass in 50 years (Our Lady of Peace in Fords, New Jersey), and a procession led by the bishop of the Anglican Use Ordinariate. We are very glad to continue receiving your photos; as it stands now, we will definitely have at least one more post, possibly two. Evangelize though beauty!

Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Mt Carmel - New York City

Santa Maria degli Angeli - Civitanova Alta, Italy

Currently hosting the community of the faithful of Summorum Pontificum of Tolentino (Sacred Heart Church) hit by the recent earthquakes.

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A New Feature on NLM: Catalog of Articles from 2005-16

We have just added a new feature to our site, a catalog of articles which you can find on the left sidebar underneath the list of writers. Broadly speaking, the catalog includes all of our items about liturgy in general, specific topics, and scholarly articles, as opposed to news items, photoposts, event notices etc. It also includes a tag-cloud at the bottom; we hope this will be useful to readers who may be searching for articles about a particular topic. Our archive, which includes everything we have ever posted (currently just over 12,700 items) remains in place, and there is also of course the Google search feature at the very top of the right sidebar.

Dominican Rite Solemn Mass for Sacred Heart in Youngstown, Ohio

St Dominic’s Church in Youngstown, Ohio, will have a Solemn Mass in the Dominican Rite, followed by a procession, on the feast of the Sacred Heart, Friday, June 23, starting at 7 p.m. The church is located at 77 E. Lucius Avenue.

St Thomas Aquinas on the Virtue of Religion

Here is a series of eight short videos about St Thomas's understanding of the virture of religion, produced by two Dominican friars from the Western Province.

I found them fascinating. The virtue of religion is what St Thomas calls the practice of the worship of God. It is an aspect of justice - giving to God what is due to Him - which is natural to man, and furthermore, it is the highest virtue, according to his teaching.

You can see all eight talks, each a well produced video of about 10 minutes duration, on vimeo here: St Thomas Aquinas on the Virtue of Religion.

I have heard it said before that it is natural to man to worship God. Benedict XVI talks of this in his writings; in this talk, the presenter describes how St Thomas says that there are no societies in which there is not worship, even if it is pagan worship.

That might have been true in his day, it has occurred to me, but probably not now. There is a whole section of Western society that seems to feel no need to worship God. Benedict talks of other practices emerging that are a redirecting of this natural instinct, such as some manifestations of rock concerts; the exaggerated adulation given to pop stars and also sports teams comes to my mind.

However, I was never totally convinced by these. While they represent an adulation of a sort, they don't seem to constitute anything like the complexity of ritual that we see in the liturgy of the Church or that existed in pagan rites. Furthermore, there do seem to be some people today in which this instinct is erased.

An answer is provided in these presentations. It is explained that while it is natural for man to worship God, it is not an instinct that can be manifested without a faith in a God to worship. The virtue of religion, while still a natural virtue, arises when man reflects upon his faith. Therefore, if there is no faith it might be that there is no exercise of the virtue of religion at all.

You can access all eight here, or watch the first one on the link below:

Virtue of Religion - Part 1 (Introduction) from OPWest on Vimeo.

2017 Issues of the Sacred Music Journal

The spring issue which arrived a few weeks ago in the mailboxes of subscribers will soon be followed by the summer issue of Sacred Music.

Among other things, the spring issue contained a pair of articles on Messiaen, a pair of notable documents on the 50th anniversary of Musicam Sacram, and an article by Peter Kwasniewski on contemporary music.

The forthcoming summer issue will contain a number of addresses given at the March 2017 conference hosted by St. Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie), "Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education."

Both issues, as usual, contain particularly cogent and insightful editorials by the journal's editor, Dr. William Mahrt.

The fall issue will focus on issues in Spanish-language music ministry.

Don't miss out on the forthcoming issues! Sign up for membership in the Church Music Association of America; the membership includes valuable discounts on programs and books, as well as a subscription to the journal.

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Spring 2017

Editorial
The Paradigm and the Practice | William Mahrt

Articles
Olivier Messiaen on the Metaphoricity of Music | Michael Potts
Messiaen’s “Musical Theology” | Jennifer Donelson
A Critique of Contemporary Church Music in Light of the Characteristics of Sacred Music | Peter Kwasniewski

Documents
Address of the Holy Father Francis to Participants at the International Meeting on Sacred Music | Pope Francis
A Statement on the Current Situation of Sacred Music

Letters to the Editor
Response to Wilfrid Jones | Edward Schaefer
Daniel DiCenso’s Review of A Sense of the Sacred—A Response | James Monti

News
Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education: Conference Summary | Mary Jane Ballou
Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education: Conference Welcome | Jennifer Donelson

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Summer 2017

Editorial
Ministry | William Mahrt

Articles
Sacred Music Renewal Fifty Years after Musicam Sacram | Jennifer Donelson
A Pastoral Plan for Sacred Music | Rev. Jon Tveit
Is Beauty Subjective? | Rev. David Friel
A Sense of Solemnity in the Sacred Liturgy As a Means of Catechesis and Evangelization | James Monti

Repertory
Josquin’s Devotional Motet, Tu solus qui facis mirabilia | William Mahrt

Review
Sacred Treasure by Joseph Swain | Trent Beattie

Videos of the Ambrosian Rite at Sacra Liturgia 2017

The Youtube channel Prigioniero di Zenda has just posted quite a large number of videos of the ceremonies held in the Ambrosian Rite during the Sacra Liturgia Conference in Milan last week. There are far too many to include them all, so here are the first in each of the four major ceremonies. If you click the title of each video and view it in a separate tab or window, the video that follows will appear on the Youtube sidebar on the right. (They are also numbered.)

Solemn Mass (EF) in the Presence of a Greater Prelate, (His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke), at the church of Sant’Alessandro in Zebedia.

Solemn Vespers in the Presence of a Greater Prelate (His Eminence Robert Cardinal Sarah) at the Basilica of St Ambrose.

Pontifical Mass (OF) at the Basilica of St Ambrose, celebrated by the Mitred Abbot of Basilica, Mons. Ermino de Scalzi

Solemn Vespers (OF) in the Duomo, celebrated by Mons. Gianantonio Borgonovo, Archpriest of the Chapter 

Good News from Los Angeles

A reader has written in, asking us to spread the word that St Anthony’s Church in El Segundo, California (720 E. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles County) has established a Sunday Mass in the Extraordinary Form, every week at 1:30 pm. As El Segundo is located in central LA on the coast (right next to LAX) travelers can easily attend Mass here, as can most residents of LA county, since several major freeways run to El Segundo.

The community is currently working on building up a choir; for the time being, they have a High Mass only on the 2nd and 5th (if there is one) Sundays of the month, and the rest are Low Mass with organ. Some boy from the church’s grade school are learning to serve.

It should also be noted that St Victor’s in West Hollywood now has a weekly Latin Mass with the FSSP at 7 pm. This past year, the LA archdiocese has gone from zero churches that say the Latin Mass weekly to two, while several others do the Latin Mass once per month, or on feasts like the Norbertines at Sts. Peter and Paul in Wilmington California. Good news from the city of Angels!