Our good friends at Canticum Salomonis are pleased to announce the publication of a pocket-sized (4” x 6”) edition of the traditional Roman Office of the Dead, featuring the full Office (Vespers, Matins, and Lauds) according to the 1568 Roman Breviary. This edition includes the Latin text with a facing English translation, along with the additional orations from the 1614 Roman Ritual. The English translation of the psalms follows the original Douay-Rheims version with modernized spelling. The booklet also features a meditation on the mystical significance of the Office, drawn from Dom Prosper Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year, and a section for recording prayer intentions.
Thursday, September 12, 2024
The Most Holy Name of Mary
Gregory DiPippoWhosoever thou art that knowest thyself to be here not so much walking upon firm ground, as battered to and fro by the gales and storms of this life’s ocean, if thou wouldst not be overwhelmed by the tempest, keep thine eyes fixed upon this star’s clear shining. If the winds of temptation rise against thee, or thou run upon the rocks of trouble, look to the star, call on Mary. If thou art tossed by the waves of pride, or ambition, or slander, or envy, look to the star, call on Mary. If anger or avarice or the enticements of the flesh beat against thy soul’s barque, look to Mary. If the enormity of thy sins trouble thee, if the foulness of thy conscience confound thee, if the dread of judgment appall thee, if thou begin to slip into the deep of despondency, into the pit of despair, think of Mary.
The Apparition of the Virgin Mary to St Bernard, 1486 by Fra Filippo Lippi (1457-1504); public domain image from Wikimedia Commons. |
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Review of a New Reprint of an Old Edition of the Vulgate: Guest Article by Mr Sean Pilcher
Gregory DiPippoOur thanks to Mr Sean Pilcher for sharing with us review of a new reprint of a very beautiful edition of the Clementine Vulgate. He is the director of Sacra: Relics of the Saints (sacrarelics.org), an apostolate that promotes education about relics, and works to repair, research, and document relics for religious houses and dioceses; last year we published a three-part article by him on that subject.
St Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Bible stands with St Benedict’s Rule and the Roman Missal as one of the most copied and circulated texts in the Christian tradition. It is surely a sign of the times, then, when the number of affordable editions of our canonical Scriptures wanes and the text accordingly loses its place in our daily lives. If we can wince at the scarcity of editions of these books, then we can also be encouraged when they return to print in useful, affordable, sometimes rather fine editions.
The Vulgate is the basis for most of our liturgical books, and is a locus of prayer, meditation, and commentary for so many saints and Fathers of the Church. It is the constant source of reference, and a primary text for lectio divina. In more recent decades, one of the most widely-purchased editions of the Latin Bible is the German Bible Society’s big green Bible.St Jerome in His Study, 1442, by the workshop of the Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck (1390 ca. - 1441; public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.) |
The Feast of St Louis at the Oratory of Ss Gregory and Augustine
Gregory DiPippoWe are very glad to share these pictures from the Oratory of Ss Gregory and Augustine in St Louis, Missouri, of the celebrations of the city’s patron Saint at the end of August: solemn Vespers on the eve of the feast, and solemn Mass on the day itself, followed by a procession to the statue of St Louis in Forest Park. Once, again, we can see that these young people have no time for nostalgia; they are too busy building the city of God and evangelizing through beauty - Feliciter! And many thanks to Kiera Petrick for sharing her lovely photos with us.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
The Church of the New Liturgy and the New Ecclesiology (Part 2)
Gregory DiPippoThis it the second part of an article which our founding editor, Mr Shawn Tribe, has graciously shared with us from his site Liturgical Arts Journal, his translation of an article originally written in French by Abbé Grégoire Celier. It forms a very illuminating collection of citations from protagonists and proponents of the post-Conciliar reform, some well-known, some less well-known, which demonstrate why they believed that the reform required old church buildings to be modified, and new ones to be built differently. The first part was published last week. The first two photographs in this part were selected by Mr Tribe, the rest by myself. – NLM editor.
As the celebration according to the new liturgical norms depended on an architectural environment suited to it, it was not possible to leave things as they were. Indeed, Father [Joseph] Gélineau notes “the all too obvious difficulty encountered in trying to inscribe post-Vatican II liturgy in spaces and volumes designed for a very different type of liturgy” (Joseph Gélineau, Demain la liturgie, Cerf, 1976, p. 29).
But these liturgists would not give up: “It should also be emphasized that priests are invited to continue fitting their churches according to the requirements of the [new] liturgy. In particular, they are advised to place the Blessed Sacrament in a chapel separate from the main vessel of the church, and to give a new place to treasures of sacred art if they need to be removed from their present location.” (“L’instruction sur le culte eucharistique montre que la mise en œuvre de la réforme est fermement poursuivie”, Informations catholiques internationales 290, June 15 1967, p. 8).(photograph from Wikimedia Commons by Martin Geisler) |
Sunday, September 08, 2024
The Song of Songs on the Feast of the Virgin’s Nativity
Gregory DiPippoBefore the Tridentine reform, very few feasts had Scriptural readings in the first nocturn of the Divine Office. On Saints’ days, it was typical for readings of their lives to supply all the Matins lessons, while on those of Our Lord and Our Lady, the first two nocturns were usually taken up with a sermon about the feast, and the third by a homily on the Gospel read at Mass. There were, however, certain exceptions to this, such as Christmas and Epiphany, which always had the same readings from Isaiah that they do today. Among the feasts of the Virgin Mary, only that of her Nativity had Scriptural readings; these were taken from the Song of Songs, or Canticle of Canticles, as it was traditionally known in the Latin West, from its title in the Vulgate, “Canticum Canticorum.”
Pope St Gregory the Great (busily writing a Biblical commentary in cope and tiara, as one does), ca. 1370, by the Bohemian painter known as Master Theodoric, active in Prague ca. 1360-80. |
The Nativity of the Virgin Mary 2024
Gregory DiPippoThe Nativity of the Virgin, by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1335-42; originally painted for one the side-altars of the Cathedral of Siena, now in the Cathedral Museum. |
- From St Bernard of Clairvaux’s Sermon on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (P.L. 183, 0437D et seqq.)
Saturday, September 07, 2024
The Feast of St Cloud
Gregory DiPippoClodoaldus was the youngest of three boys born to Clodomir, the second son of Clovis, King of the Franks, whose baptism heralded the general conversion of his people to Christianity. After the death of their father, the three boys were raised by their grandmother Clotilda, who is also a Saint. (The family’s penchant for names beginning in “Clo-” makes them rather hard to keep track of.) In the midst of the very complicated, and absolutely horrifying, dynastic struggles of the Merovingian kings, the two older brothers were murdered by their uncle Clotaire. Clodoaldus escaped to Provence, where he became a hermit, renouncing any idea of reclaiming the royal title and dignity that were rightfully his.
Part of a painting by Charles Durupt (1831) in the church of St Clodoaldus in St Cloud, France. The Saint is shown cutting his hair as a sign of his renunciation of his rights to the throne, consecrating himself to the monastic life. At the time, long hair was a privilege of princes. (Image from the church’s website.)
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Relics of St Clodoaldus in the altar of the above-named church. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Reinhardhauke.)
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“Many think it a man’s greatest happiness in this life to enjoy dignity and power and to live amid the riches and splendour of a court. Of these you know I have had a share; and I can assure you I could never find in my soul true satisfaction in anything but retreat and contemplation. I am persuaded that the Caesars, if they could speak from their sepulchres, would declare Pico more happy in his solitude than they were in the government of the world; and if the dead could return, they would choose the pangs of a second death rather than risk their salvation again in public offices.” Amen.
Friday, September 06, 2024
Durandus on the “Dominus Vobiscum”
Gregory DiPippoFollowing up on last week’s Lost in Translation on the “Dominus Vobiscum”, here are some excerpts from William Durandus’ Rationale Divinorum Officiorum (IV, 14), the Summa Theologica of medieval liturgical commentaries, which explain its use and meaning in the rite of Mass
When the angelic hymn (i.e. the Gloria in excelsis) is finished, the priest, turning towards the people, greets them by saying, “The Lord be with you”, which is taken from the book of Ruth (2, 4), for thus do we read that Boaz greeted his harvesters. Likewise, the prophet in Chronicles (2 Par. 15, 2) greets king Asa and those who were with him, and the Angel greeting Gideon says, “The Lord be with you.” (Judges 6, 12) Boaz is a figure of the Savior, who took Ruth the woman of Moab as his wife, and this greeting signifies the greeting which Christ made to the Apostles after the Resurrection.
Landscape with Ruth and Boaz, ca. 1823-25, by the Austrian painter Joseph Anton Koch (1768-1839). |
Society for Catholic Liturgy Annual Conference, Houston, Texas, September 26-27
Gregory DiPippoThe Society for Catholic Liturgy will hold its annual conference at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, Texas, on September 26 & 27. The theme this year is “Liturgy & the Human Imagination”; the conference is open to members and non-members alike, and will begin with a members-only reception and a talk by Joseph Pearce. Keynote addresses will be delivered by Drs. David Fagerberg and Alexander Lingas, along with over 35 paper presentations.
Attendees will also enjoy a live concert of Byzantine Chant directed by Dr Lingas and performed by his world class ensemble, Cappella Romana. Masses will be celebrated by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Archbishop Leonard Blair. Additionally, Studio io will provide a free guided tour of St. Mary’s at Texas A&M on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 25.Thursday, September 05, 2024
The Church of the New Liturgy and the New Ecclesiology (Part 1)
Gregory DiPippoWe are very grateful to our founding editor, Mr Shawn Tribe, for sharing with us this article from his site Liturgical Arts Journal, his translation of an article originally written in French by Abbé Grégoire Celier. It forms a very illuminating collection of citations from protagonists and proponents of the post-Conciliar reform, some well-known, some less well-known, which demonstrate why they believed that the reform required old church buildings to be modified, and new ones to be built differently. Since it is fairly lengthy, it will be presented here on NLM in two parts. The paragraphs in italics after this one are Mr Tribe’s own prefatory material. – NLM editor.
Liturgical reform was one of the most important elements of the developments following the Second Vatican Council, if not the most significant. A quote from Paul VI, on January 13, 1965, among many other possible ones, opportunely reminds us of this: “The new religious pedagogy which the present liturgical renewal seeks to establish is grafted in, and almost taking the role of a central engine, in the great movement, inscribed in the constitutional principles of the Church of God, and made easier and more urgent by the progress of human culture [...]”
It is therefore a good idea, then, to look back at this liturgical reform, to gain a better understanding of its foundations, implications and results. We propose to do so here through the lens of the church building. The question of how the liturgy resulting from the Council is incorporated into churches built before the Council is particularly timely for assessing the changes brought about by the reform.