Elijah And The Priests of Baal - An Anticipation of the Trinity

Recently, I was reading some of the hymns from the Midnight Office of the Byzantine Rite, and the following one from the third tone of the Sunday octoechos particularly caught my attention:

In days of old, Elijah ordered that water be poured three times over the wood and the sacrifice; thus, he manifested a symbol of the Three Hypostases of the one and divine Lordship.

This is a commentary on a passage from 1 Kings 18, in which the prophet Elijah challenges 450 prophets of the pagan God Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel. Each side prepares a bull on an altar without lighting a fire:

Then Elias bade the people come near; and when they were standing close to him, he began repairing the altar of the Lord, which was broken down. Twelve stones he took, one for each tribe that sprang from the sons of Jacob, to whom the divine voice gave the surname of Israel; and with these stones he built up the altar again, calling on the Lord's name as he did it. Then he made a trench around the altar of some two furrows breadth; piled the wood high, cut the bull into joints, and laid these on the wood. Now, he said, fill four buckets with water, and pour it over victim and wood alike. And again he bade them do it, and when they had finished a third time. The water was running all around the altar, and the trench he had dug for it was full. (1 Kings 18, 30-35)

He then calls on their god to send flames from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Elijah, needless to say, prevails, calling upon God who consumes altar, bull and water with fire.

Here are examples of artistic depictions of this scene that I found. There weren’t many to choose from, so this is pretty much all of them!

3rd Century Fresco, Dura Europos, in modern Syria.

The Sacrifice of Elijah, by Aert Jansz. Marienhof (1626-54) Credit: The Bowes Museum

Albert Joseph Moore: Elijah’ Sacrifice, 1863. (Bury Art Museum)

Rembrandt, pen and ink, 17th century Dutch

Domenico Fetti (Rome c. 1588-Venice 1623) - The Sacrifice of Elijah Before the Priests of Baal

Looking at these, I realised that, as far as I could see, none of the artists attempted to draw out the simple Trinitarian symbolism referred to in the Byzantine liturgy. This, therefore, provides an opportunity for contemporary artists to enrich the tradition. It is important to draw out these parallels, just as Rublev reflected the Trinitarian imagery in his depiction of the Hospitality of Abraham. By connecting the texts of the Old and New Testaments through prototypes, artists and hymnographers help to reinforce the unity of Scripture and establish the sense of a single arc of time in Salvation History.

I was reflecting on this and thinking about how I would do it if I were to paint it. What follows is purely speculative.

I suggest incorporating a clear triangular geometry and a representation of the triple action of pouring water, showing each of the three instances as a triple image.

We might also draw out other prototypes too, it occurs to me. First is Eucharistic (just as Rublev’s Trinity is both Eucharistic and Trinitarian...and even Marian); second is Baptismal; and third is Pentecostal.

The Eucharistic parallels are in the sacrifice, while the baptismal arises from the purifying action of the water.

It is the pentecostal that is most interesting to me. First, the action of fire that consumes evil but leaves the pure untouched echoes that of the three children in the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel. The hymns of the liturgy describe this scene from Daniel very often, and refer to the action of God in the fire of the furnace, and of the young men who were protected by the presence of a cooling dew. Both dew and fire are connected symbolically to the Holy Spirit. The other place where this parallel with dew and the Spirit is made in the commentaries of Church Fathers is in the description of the fleece of Gideon. So how might I bring all of this together?

I suggest creating a painting of Pentecost in which the New Testament scene is the primary image, with subsidiary images in the same painting of Gideon, Elijah, and the prophets of Baal, and the three young men in the fiery furnace. Just a thought!

13th century Armenian illumination: The Fiery furnace by Toros Roslin.

The Feast of St Hugh of Lincoln

In England and in the Carthusian Order, today is the feast of a Saint called Hugh (1140 ca. – 1200), a French Carthusian who in 1186 became bishop of Lincoln, which was at the time the largest diocese in that country. (Image below: part of an altarpiece from the Carthusian monastery of Saint-Honoré in Thuison-les-Abbeville, France, ca. 1490/1500. Like his contemporary St Francis, Hugh was known for his love of animals; he is often depicted with a wild swan which would follow him around like a pet and eat from his hand, not at all typical behavior for those ill-tempered creatures.)

St Hugh was born to a noble family in a village called Avalon in the kingdom of Burgundy, roughly 80 miles to the south-southeast of Lyon. When he was eight, at the death of his mother, his father sent him to be educated by a local community of Augustinian Canons Regular, which he decided to enter in his mid-teens. He was ordained a deacon, and sent to assist an aged parish priest whose church was a dependency of the canonry; he soon had a reputation for being a very good preacher. But he had already begun to long for a more contemplative life when he paid a visit to the Grande Chartreuse, which is roughly a long day’s walk (around a mountain) from Avalon. The monastery was then relatively new, founded by St Bruno in 1084 on property donated by another St Hugh, bishop of nearby Grenoble (1053 – 1132). He entered the community in 1163, and was ordained a priest; after about ten years, he was chosen for the office of procurator, the administrator of all the monastery’s temporal possessions. He would hold this position until he left the monastery seven years later.

Normally, the life of a Carthusian would pass unnoticed by the wider world, but Hugh was a man of noble birth who held an office of high importance in a much-admired monastery, a leading institution of reform in an age of reformers, and was destined not to remain in the obscurity of his cell.

As part of his penance for his role in the murder of St Thomas Becket, King Henry II of England had agreed to establish the first Carthusian house in his country, at a place called Witham in Somerset in the west country, but the project was going forward at a snail’s pace. Henry had heard about Hugh from a French nobleman who had lands near the Grande Chartreuse, and therefore sent a deputation to formally request that he be sent to take over as prior. Against his great reluctance, Hugh was constrained to accept the position by the Carthusian chapter, and thus departed for England, where he would spend nearly all the rest of his life.

The Grande Chartreuse. St Hugh’s native place is on the other side of the mountains seen here behind it.

On arriving at Witham, he found the monastery barely begun, and the local peasants, many of whom had been displaced from the king’s land to make room for it, understandably quite hostile. Hugh was able with great tact to persuade the king not only to fulfill his promise to provide all that was necessary to complete the building project, but also to properly and fully compensate the peasants. The monastery began to flourish, and was often visited by the king, whose favorite hunting grounds were nearby.

King Henry held Hugh in very high regard, as illustrated by the story that once when he and his army were caught in a terrible storm at sea, he called upon God to save them “though the merits and intercession” not of St Nicholas or St Elmo, but by those “of the prior of Witham”, and the storm died down immediately. However, although he had been chastened in the aftermath of St Thomas’ murder, Henry had not really renounced any of the importunities which had for too long characterized relations between the monarchy and the Church. Among other things, it had become a common custom to leave episcopal sees vacant, so that the revenues attached to the bishop’s office would default to the royal coffers. The see of Lincoln had thus been left vacant for all but 18 months of the previous 18 years. St Hugh prevailed upon the king to redress the matter, at which Henry pressured the chapter of Lincoln to elect Hugh himself as their bishop. Once again, this was done very much against his will, and once again, he was obliged to accept the office by the authority of his order.

The Martyrdom of St Thomas Beckett, depicted ca. 1220, the year of St Hugh’s canonization, in an illuminated psalter.

Not at all surprisingly, his tenure as bishop demonstrated the truth of the axiom that power is best given to those who do not want it. After so long without a shepherd, the diocese of Lincoln was very much in need of reform, and Hugh proved to be an exemplary reformer, assiduous in his administration of the sacraments, in his preaching, and in his visitation of his very large diocese, diligent in his leadership of his clergy, and in his care of the poor and the sick. Each year he would make a retreat to Witham Priory, and live for a time as an ordinary monk within the community.

He was known for his good cheer and sense of humor, which is illustrated by an anecdote regarding yet another of King Henry’s intrusions into the life of the Church. It was a common abuse in that era for the nobility to reward their courtiers with lucrative ecclesiastical jobs under their patronage. (Very often, the salary would go to a man with no interest in actually doing the job, who would then use part of it to pay a man of much lower social class to act as his vicar, and do all the work in his stead.) St Hugh refused to seat a proposed nominee to one of the prebends of his cathedral, saying that “the king does not lack (other) means to reward his servants.” Henry summoned him to court, but ordered everyone in the castle to simply ignore him when he arrived. Hugh came upon the king sewing a bandage on his cut finger, and after a few minutes of icy silence from his majesty, remarked, “Now you look like your kinsman at Falaise,” a reference to Henry’s great-grandmother, Herleva of Falaise, who had been the daughter of a glove-maker. The king is said to have laughed out loud at this, and once again, been reconciled with the holy bishop.

In 1189, Henry died, and was succeeded by his son Richard I, known as the Lionhearted; that same year saw the beginning of the Third Crusade, and several outbreaks of mob violence against the Jews in England. On three different occasions, one of them at his own cathedral, St Hugh single-handedly faced down the mobs, and solely by the force of his own authority and personality, cowed them into leaving their would-be victims alone. In 1197, Richard attempted to force the bishops of England to help finance a war with the king of France; Hugh successfully resisted this importunity as well.

A year before his election to Lincoln, the city’s original cathedral had been badly damaged by an earthquake, an extremely rare event in England. St Hugh began an ambitious rebuilding project, and lived to see the completion of the choir, which is traditionally named after him. (From the time of its completion in 1311 until 1549, Lincoln Cathedral was the tallest man-made structure in the world. It lost its rank as such not because it was outbuilt, but because its central spire collapsed.)

Lincoln Cathedral. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Julian P Guffogg, CC BY-SA 2.0. 

St Hugh’s Choir within the cathedral, as it appears today.

When King Richard died in 1199, his brother and successor, John, sent Hugh as an ambassador to France. On this trip, he visited the three great mother-houses of the major monastic congregations, his old home, the Grand Chartreuse, Cluny and Citeaux, and was received with great honor. But his health was now failing; he was taken badly ill while attending a council in London, and died after lingering for two months. His body was taken back to Lincoln and buried in the cathedral, and he was canonized by Pope Honorius III only 20 years after his death. His shrine became an important pilgrimage site, and his feast was kept on this day throughout England until the reformation, when the shrine was destroyed.

In the 16th century, the importunity of the English monarchs against the Church finally reached its zenith, the greed and impiety of another eighth Henry was brought down on all the monasteries of England, and the charterhouse at Witham was suppressed, along with the nine other Carthusian houses that had subsequently been founded. When the order was reestablished in England in 1873, in the southern town of Parkminster, the new house was named for St Hugh.

The Charterhouse of St Hugh at Parkminster. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Antiquary, CC BY-SA 4.0.)

The Inter-Hours of the Byzantine Office

In addition to Great Lent, the Byzantine tradition has three other fasts connected with major feasts. The liturgical year begins on September 1st, so the first of these is the fast of the Lord’s Nativity, which is often called “St Philip’s fast”, since it begins on November 15th, the day after the feast of the Apostle St Philip. This is very similar to the custom of the Ambrosian and Mozarabic Rites, which begin Advent on the Sunday after the feast of St Martin. Another fast is kept from the Monday after the feast of All Saints (which is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost, the Western day for the feast of the Holy Trinity) to the feast of Ss Peter and Paul; because of the variable date of Pentecost, this can run as long as 42 days, or as short as 8. The fast of the Dormition is kept from August 1-14, and is the strictest of the three.

One of the liturgical customs associated with these fasts is the celebration of the “Inter-Hours”, as they are called (in Greek Μεσώριον sing., -ια plur., in Church Slavonic Междочасїе sing., -їѧ plur.), a second Prime, Terce, Sext and None, which are said after the main Prime etc. Most Greek liturgical books appoint them to be said during the Nativity and Apostle fasts; some sources say that they are also done during that of the Dormition. They are not said during Great Lent, since the Hours from Prime to None are lengthened by various other additions in that season. In point of fact, the Inter-Hours are now something of an archaism, in that they are associated with the practice of keeping some weekdays within the fasting periods as “aliturgical” days, i.e., days on which the Eucharist is not celebrated. This practice is still strictly observed for all the weekdays of Lent, but has apparently mostly fallen out of use for the other three fasts. Some sources indicate that the Inter-Hours are in practice celebrated in monasteries only on the first weekday of each minor fast (this year, that would be today), so effectively, twice or three times a year. (See this article on Academia for more details.)

The beginning of Psalm 45, the first Psalm of the Inter-Hour of Prime, in a Byzantine Psalter of the mid-10th century known as the Paris Psalter. (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Grec 139; folio 119v, image cropped.)

Their structure is similar to that of the main Hours to which they correspond, but not identical. They begin with the same series of prayers said at the beginning of the other Hours, conveniently known as “The Usual Beginning.” However, when an Hour is said immediately after another, it starts with the very last part of the Usual Beginning, “Come let us worship…” Three invariable Psalms are then said: at Prime, 45, 91 and 92 (according to the numbering of the Septuagint); at Terce, 29, 31 and 60; at Sext, 55, 56 and 69; at None, 112, 137 and 139. A group of prayers called the Trisagion prayers are then said, which are repeated from the Usual Beginning (omitting the first two parts and the last part), and then a series of three chants called tropars, with the two parts of the doxology between them. These do not vary according to the day or season, as they do at the corresponding main Hour; the final tropar in any such group is almost always dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

At Prime:

Have mercy upon us, o Lord, have mercy upon us; for lacking all apology, we sinners bring to Thee this supplication, as to our Master: have mercy on us. Glory be…

Lord, have mercy us, for in Thee we have placed our trust, be not exceedingly wroth with us, and remember not our iniquities, but look (upon us) even now, as one merciful, and ransom us from our enemies; for Thou art our God, and we are Thy people, all of us the works of Thy hands, and we have all called upon Thy name. Both now and forever…

Open to us the gate of mercy, blessed Mother of God; as we hope in Thee, let us not err; may we be delivered through Thy urgent prayers, for Thou art the salvation of the nation of Christians.

At Terce:

God of our fathers, who dealest with us ever according to Thy goodness, put not Thy mercy away from us, but by their prayers, govern our life in peace. Glory be…

Thy Martyrs, o Lord, in their contests bore away the crowns of incorruption from Thee, our God; for having gained Thy strength, they threw down tyrants, and shattered the weak insolence of demons; by their prayers, o Christ our God, save our souls! Both now and forever…

Virgin Mother of God, Thou art the unconquerable fortress of Christians; for as we flee to Thee, we remain unwounded, and when we sin again, we cry out to Thee, “Hail, that art full of grace; the Lord is with Thee!”

At Sext:

Save, o Lord, Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance, granting victory to (our) kings over the barbarians, and preserving Thy citizenry (i.e., the members of the Church) through Thy Cross. Glory be… (This is also the tropar of the Exaltation of the Cross, and of the commemoration of the Cross celebrated on the Third Sunday of Lent; the traditional music of the Church Slavonic version is particularly nice.)

Be Thou prevailed upon, o Lord, by the pains of the Saints which they suffered for Thee, and heal all our ailments, we beseech Thee, that lovest mankind. Both now and forever…

By the prayer of all the Saints, o Lord, and of the Mother of God, give us Thy peace, and have mercy on us, as the only merciful one.

At None:

Thou who didst enlighten the things of the world through Thy Cross, and call sinners unto repentance, separate me not from Thy flock, o Good Shepherd, but seek me, Master of those who wander, and number me together with Thy holy flock, who alone art good and love mankind. Glory be…

Like the thief, I confess and cry out to Thee, o Good one: remember me o Lord, in Thy kingdom, and number me within it, who didst willingly accept sufferings for our sake. Both now and forever…

Come, let us all sing hymns to Him who was crucified for us, for Mary beheld Him upon the Cross and said, “Although Thou abidest the Cross, Thou are My Son and God.

There follows a series of elements also said at the other Hours except for Vespers and Orthros: Kyrie, eleison 40 times, the Prayer of the Hours, Kyrie, eleison 3 times, Glory be, a brief prayer to the Virgin (“Higher than the Cherubim…”) a conclusion said by the priestly celebrant, and then a very well-known prayer of St Ephraim the Syrian, accompanied by three prostrations. (In Lent this is added to all of the Hours.)

At the end of Prime, two longer prayers are said by the reader, at the others, just one. The prayers of the Inter-Hours of Prime and Terce are proper to them, but those of Sext and None are taken from the main Hour that precedes them. (When the Inter-Hours are said, the prayer of the main Terce, which is quite short, is repeated at the main Sext and None.) Like almost all prayers of the Byzantine Rite, these are not changed from one day or season to another. They are traditionally attributed to St Basil the Great. These office conclude with the same brief dismissal as at the other day Hours.

An 18th-century icon of St Basil. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

At Prime:

Eternal God, light without beginning and everlasting, maker of all creation, fount of mercy, sea of goodness, unsearchable abyss of love for mankind, shine the light of Thy countenance upon us, o Lord. Shine in our hearts, o spiritual Sun of justice, and fill our souls with Thy rejoicing, and teach us ever to take thought of Thy matters, and speak forth judgments, and confess Thee without ceasing, our Master and benefactor. Guide the works of our hands towards Thy will, and help us on the way to do what is pleasing and welcome to Thee, that even through us, Thy unworthy servants, Thy all-holy name may be glorified, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, of one divinity and kingdom to which beseem all glory, honor and worship, unto the ages. Amen.

Thou who sendest forth the light, and it goeth, who makest the sun to rise upon the just and the unjust, the wicked and the good, who makest the morn, and enlighten all the world; enlighten also our hearts, Master of all. Grant us to please Thee in the present day, preserving us from every sin and from every wicked deed, delivering us from every arrow that flieth in the day, and every opposing power, by the prayers of our all-immaculate Lady, the Mother of God, of Thy immaterial ministering heavenly powers, and all the Saints that have been pleasing to Thee from the beginning of the world. For it is Thine to have mercy on us and save us, our God, and to Thee do we give glory, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and every, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

At Terce:

O Lord our God, who hath given Thy peace to men, and sent the gift of Thy All-holy Spirit to Thy Disciples and Apostles, and by Thy power opened their lips with tongues of fire, open Thou also the lips of us sinners, and teach us how we must pray and for what things. Govern our life, calm haven of those tossed by storms, and make known to us the way in which we shall go. Renew a righteous spirit within us, and by (Thy) governing Spirit, give support to what is liable to err in our thoughts, so that each day, being led on the way by Thy good spirit to that which is beneficial, we may be deemed worthy to obey Thy commandments and ever to remember Thy return in glory, that shall search through the deeds of men, and not be deceived by the corruptible delights of this world, but strengthen us to reach out for the enjoyment of the treasures that are to come, for Thou art blessed and praiseworthy in all Thy Saints, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Durandus on the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

In his great liturgical commentary, the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, William Durandus follows the missal used in his episcopal see, the city of Mende in south central France. In this missal, the arrangement of the Masses for the Sundays after Pentecost differed in some ways from the tradition of the papal curia which became the Missal of St Pius V. Therefore, the following excerpts from book VI, chapters 140 and 141, are in part a paraphrase of the original text, in order to correspond to the tha latter missal, which we use today.

On the last Sundays of the year, the Mass chants are the same; on these days, the Church shows that She has the nuptial garment that is charity (Matt. 22, 1-14, the Gospel of the 19th Sunday after Pentecost), because She prays for the Jews, that they may be converted. This will happen at the end of the world, when they come to our faith, and this is signified in the Patriarch Joseph, who for a long time would not make himself known to his brothers, but did so at the end (Gen. 45), and they asked forgiveness from him and he said to them, “ ‘Fear not, I will feed you’, and they made merry with him.” (Gen. 50, 21; 43, 34) This merriment signifies the rejoicing of all at the conversion of the Jews; but this will be at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, and therefore this conversion is dealt with at the end of the time of pilgrimage.

Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers, 1657, by the Dutch painter Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621-74).

Therefore, on the 23rd Sunday, the introit is about the conversion of the Jews and the promise of the Lord, for he said through Jeremiah, “I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction,” for the evils which I will bring upon you lead to this, that I may reconcile you to me.

Introitus, Jer. 29 Dicit Dóminus: Ego cógito cogitatiónes pacis, et non afflictiónis: invocábitis me, et ego exaudiam vos, et redúcam captivitátem vestram de cunctis locis. Ps. 84 Benedixisti, Dómine, terram tuam: avertisti captivitátem Jacob. Glória Patri... Dicit Dóminus: Ego cógito...

Introit The Lord saith: “I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction. Ye shall call upon Me, and I will hear you; and I will bring back your captivity from all places.” Ps. 84 Thou hast blessed Thy land, o Lord, Thou hast turned back the captivity of Jacob. Glory be... The Lord saith...

In the gradual, David gives thanks for his liberation from captivity, both spiritual and corporal, saying, “Thou hast delivered us from those who afflict us”, and in the verse, he promises the praise of good works saying, “In God shall we be praised all the day.”

Graduale, Ps. 43 Liberasti nos, Dómine, ex affligéntibus nos: et eos, qui nos odérunt, confudisti. ℣. In Deo laudábimur tota die, et in nómine tuo confitébimur in saecula. (Thou hast saved us, o Lord, from our foes, and Thou hast put to shame those who hated us. ℣. In God we shall be praised all the day, and in Thy name we will give praise forever.)

In the offertory, he asks for forgiveness, as did the brothers of Joseph, saying, “Out of the depths I cried to Thee, o Lord.” And since Joseph, who represents Christ, answers, “Fear not, I will feed you”, for this very reason, that the Lord is generous and quick to forgive, there follows the communion, “Amen I say to you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it shall be done unto you.”

Offertorium, Ps. 129 De profundis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exaudi oratiónem meam: de profundis clamávi ad te, Dómine. (Out of the depths I have cried to thee, o Lord: o Lord, hear my voice. Out of the depths I have cried to thee, o Lord.)

The gospel from St Matthew (9, 18-26) begins, “As Jesus spoke to the crowds, behold a ruler came to Him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come, lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live.’ ” And while He was following him, behold a woman with an issue of blood said, “If I but touch his garment I shall be saved,” and she was healed by the Lord; then afterwards the Lord healed the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue.

Allegorically, this ruler of the synagogue signifies Moses, or one of the prophets, or even one of the apostles, who asked the Lord on behalf of the synagogue, and the Lord goes to heal it, because He does not cease to offer correction, that He might heal the Jews through various tribulations and servitudes, but their healing will happen at the end of the world. The woman who suffers the issue of blood represents the gentiles, and says, “If I but touch his garment,” that is, if I keep the least precepts, “I will be saved.” In the issue of blood is understood sin.

The healing of the woman with an issue of blood, and the raising of the daughter of Jairus, depicted in a 10th century fresco in the church of St George in Oberzell, on the German island of Reichenau in the lake of Constance. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by Wolgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 4.0.)

The synagogue will be saved later, which is signified by the daughter of Jairus, who is raised up later. Again, in the figure of Jairus, which means “enlightening” or “enlightened”, are understood the prelates. For a prelate, having been enlightened by the Lord, enlightens others, and as such must pray for his subjects, as this man prays for his daughter…

A Schola for Young People in Louisville, Kentucky

We are glad to share this report from Dr Emily Meixner on the Schola Cantorum Program for young people which she directs at the Shrine of St Martin of Tours in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Shrine of St. Martin of Tours in downtown Louisville, Kentucky is known for its historic architecture, 24-hour perpetual adoration chapel, and for the two early Christian martyrs enshrined beneath its side altars. It is also known for its dedication to beautiful liturgy and sacred music. Mindful of the teachings of Sacrosanctum Concilium (Paragraphs 112-115), the Shrine founded the Schola Cantorum program in the fall of 2016 as a means of preserving and fostering the Church’s vast treasury of sacred music in the local Catholic community. In its first year the Schola program was small but mighty, comprising 7 students; since that time, it has thrived and grown, filling the choir loft, and currently boasting 27 students ranging in age from 7 to 15.

The Schola program primarily assists the liturgical needs of the Shrine, meeting weekly on Wednesday afternoons during the school year to learn healthy singing techniques and a variety of forms of sacred music, ranging from Gregorian Chant to Anglican Chant, as well as traditional hymnody and polyphonic motets. The Schola primarily sings for Sunday Mass and Vespers at the Shrine multiple times a year (roughly three events in the fall and three in the spring), as well as occasional events outside of the Shrine, including a recital of organ music and Gregorian chant co-sponsored by the Louisville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists in October 2024, and a fall concert for the residents at the Wesley Manor Retirement Home in 2019. The Schola also has an annual tradition of chanting Compline at the historic Cave Hill Cemetery during the month of November, a time when the Church encourages the faithful to pray for the souls in Purgatory.

In 2022, the program was expanded to include an advanced Schola, which meets for rehearsals on Saturdays in addition to Wednesdays. The advanced students are those within the broader Schola program who have progressed in their singing and reading abilities to be able to sing more complex Gregorian chants and polyphonic motets, with the expectation that this will better prepare them to eventually join the ranks of the Choir of St. Martin’s. The advanced students prepare and sing for additional liturgical events at the Shrine, particularly monthly Vespers. Recent accomplishments include singing Maurice Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas, Elizabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Magnificat from The Short Service in C.

Fall of 2026 will mark the 10 year anniversary of the Schola Program’s founding. In the past nine years, the program has served 70 children and 32 families in the Louisville area. Upcoming events include singing for the Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve, Vespers for the Feast of the Annunciation, and their debut singing a Missa Cantata at the Sunday celebration of the Extraordinary Form Mass.

The Nobis quoque peccatoribus

Lost in Translation #148

After the Memento and Ipsis, Domine, the priest prays:

Nobis quoque peccatóribus fámulis tuis, de multitúdine miseratiónum tuárum sperántibus, partem áliquam et societátem donáre dignéris, cum tuis sanctis Apóstolis et Martýribus: cum Joanne, Stéphano, Matthía, Bárnaba, Ignatio, Alexandro, Marcellíno, Petro, Felicitáte, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnéte, Caecilia, Anastasia, et ómnibus Sanctis tuis: intra quorum nos consortium, non aestimátor mériti, sed veniae, quaesumus, largítor admitte. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum.

Which I translate as:

To us sinners as well, Thy servants hoping in the multitude of Thy mercies, deign to grant some part and fellowship with Thy holy Apostles and Martyrs: with John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia, and with all Thy Saints, into whose company, we beseech, admit us, not as an Assessor of merit but as a generous Bestower of pardon. Through Christ our Lord.

Having prayed for all other members of the Church Militant and the Church Suffering, the priest prays lastly for himself and for the other liturgical ministers, the servants of God’s house (famuli). [1] The 2011 ICEL translation renders the opening words “To us, also, your servants, who, though sinners…” but the Latin places the primary emphasis on their status as sinners: “To us sinners also, your servants…” The only time that the priest breaks the silence of the Canon besides the ending per omnia saecula saeculorum is to utter aloud the words nobis quoque peccatoribus as he strikes his breast. The historical reason for this anomaly is that the subdeacon formerly remained bowed down during the Canon; at the words nobis quoque peccatoribus, he straightened up and prepared for the fraction rite. When the Canon came to be recited silently, these three words needed to remain audible so that subdeacon could hear his prompt. [2]

But as with so many other elements of the Roman Rite, the historical or literal cause of a thing providentially yields a rich symbolic or allegorical meaning. In this case, the elevated volume and contrite gesture amplify and elucidate the prayer’s meaning. As with his Confiteor at the beginning of Mass, the priest leads his flock, in part, by public contrition. The medieval liturgist William Durandus sees even more. The elevated voice, he opines, calls to mind the confession of the centurion at the foot of the Cross (“Truly this was the Son of God”) as well as the contrition and confession of the Good Thief who was crucified at the same time as Our Lord. [3]

The Nobis quoque peccatoribus marks the second time in the Canon that a group of Saints is listed. In the Communicantes (which is also preceded by a Memento prayer), the Saints are organized in such a way as to stress the hierarchical nature of the Church, beginning with the Blessed Virgin Mary and descending from there according to ecclesiastical rank. In the Nobis quoque peccatoribus, the Saints are organized in such a way as to stress the charismatic nature of the Church, beginning with St. John the Baptist, who never held an ecclesiastical position but certainly had a charism as the prophet of the Most High, and continuing with seven male and seven female martyrs. [4]

The numbering is also significant. The Communicantes begins with the Blessed Virgin Mary and, before the insertion of St. Joseph’s name in 1962, continues with twelve Apostles and twelve martyrs, i.e., 1 + 12 + 12. The Nobis quoque peccatoribus begins with St. John the Baptist, followed by seven male martyrs and seven female, i.e., 1 + 7 + 7. [5] And, as Fr. Neil Roy observes, the placement of the Theotokos and the Precursor of the Lord at the head of each list (and on either side of the Consecration) creates a literary “deesis,” a triptych that depicts Christ flanked by His mother and His cousin. [6]

Deesis, Hagia Sophia

There are other differences as well. In the Communicantes, the priest describes “all here present” (omnes circumstantes) as communicating with (communicantes) the Saints before asking that their merits and prayers bring the help of God’s protection. In the Nobis quoque peccatoribus, the priest asks for communion with the Saints: first he asks for “some part and fellowship” with them, and then for their “company.” Some translations render communicantes in the first prayer as “in union with,” but if we are already in union with the Saints, why do we ask for fellowship with them here? (Unless, perhaps, it is another example of the liturgical stammer). I suspect, however, that the first prayer merely states that we are in touch with the Saints through our prayers, and that the second asks that we may enjoy their company for all eternity. But a note of humility and unworthiness pervades the petition. As Fr. Pius Parsch notes, in asking for “some part” of their company, the prayer essentially asks for “some obscure place in the realm of glory.” [7] The scene is redolent of the Publican who strikes his breast saying, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18, 9-14)

As for the order of the Saints, the male martyrs are organized according to rank while the women are organized according to vocation and region. For the men, the Apostles Stephen, Matthias, and Barnabas are followed by Ignatius the bishop, Alexander (who was a bishop or priest), Marcellinus the priest, and Peter the exorcist. 

For the women, there are two possibilities for Felicity and Perpetua. The first is that they are the famous Carthaginian martyrs Perpetua and Felicity, the former a well-educated noblewoman and mother of an infant son, the latter her slave who was pregnant when they were both fed to the beasts in A.D. 203. The only problem with this option is that it is more common to list the nobleman before the slave, whereas in the Nobis quoque peccatoribus Felicity comes first. The second possibility is that Felicity is a Roman matron and possible mother of the Seven Holy Brothers (July 10) who was martyred in A.D. 165 and who is here followed in the list by the Carthaginian martyr Perpetua. [8]

The next five are virgin martyrs (the same number as the five wise virgins in the Parable, Matthew 25, 1-13). Agatha and Lucy are from Sicily, Agnes and Cecilia are from Rome, and Anastasia of Sirmium, who has a station church in Rome once used for the Christmas dawn Mass and on Pentecost Tuesday, is from modern-day Serbia. The Roman Rite, as we have seen before, is steeped in the history of the Eternal City, but it is not insular, and so it honors Saints outside its borders.

In preconciliar hand Missals, as in the 2011 ICEL translation, the clause non aestimator meriti, sed veniae, quaesumus, largitor is usually translated with verbs, e.g., “not weighing our merits but granting us your pardon.” The Latin, however, uses two nouns, aestimator and largitor (a liberal giver). The difference is between doing and being. In this prayer, the priest goes further than petitioning God to do or not do something; he asks Him not to be the kind of Person who measures our value (which we know is wanting) and instead to be the kind of Person who is generous to a fault. And we already know that God is a Liberal Giver of Pardon because elsewhere we address Him with that title [9] along with “Liberal Giver of all goods” (omnium largitor bonorum) [10] and “Liberal Giver of indulgences” (largitor indulgentiae) [11]

Notes

[1] As Fr. Josef Jungmann explains, it was common for the clergy to designate themselves as sinners. They even signed their signatures in this manner. See The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development, vol. 2 (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1951), pp. 249-50.

[2] See Jungmann, vol. 1, p. 72.

[3] See William Durandus, Rationale Divinorum Officionorum IV.35.11, IV.46.1, resp.

[4] See Rev. Neil J. Roy, “The Roman Canon: deëis in euchological form,” in Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy, eds. Neil J. Roy and Janet E. Rutherford (Four Courts Press, 2008), pp. 181-199.

[5] Pius Parsch, The Liturgy of the Mass, trans. Frederic C. Eckhoff (St. Louis, Missouri: Herder, 1940), p. 187.

[6] See Roy. pp. 191-92.

[7] See Parsch, pp. 249-50.

[8] See Roy.

[9] The Collect Deus, veniae largitor et humanae salutis amator for All Souls’ Day, Office of Prime, and in the Office for the Dead.

[10] See the Collects for St. Bibiana (December 2) and St. Rose of Lima (August 30).

[11] The Lauds hymn Rex gloriose Martyrum for Several Martyrs.

Pictures of the Tomb of St Dominic from Fr Lew

Our long-time friend and contributor, and photographer extraordinaire Fr Lawrence Lew, is currently with a group of pilgrims in Italy, and was able to say the Dominican Mass yesterday at the tomb of St Dominic in the Order’s church in Bologna. (This is an important liturgical week for the Dominicans: November 12th is the traditional date for the feast of All Dominican Saints, although in the post-Conciliar Rite, it has been moved to November 7th. Today is the feast which honors St Thomas Aquinas as the patronage of all Catholic schools, and on Saturday is the feast of St Albert the Great.) The arc of St Dominic was original commissioned from the sculptor Nicola Pisano in 1264, 30 years after Dominic’s canonization, and completed in 3 years, but new sculptures were added to on more than one occasion, including three by the young Michelangelo in the later 1490s. It has stood in its current location since 1411, but the decorations of the chapel have been reworked very considerably since then. The basilica is currently undergoing a major renovation, but worked halted long enough for Fr Lew and his group to have Mass and venerate the relic of St Dominic in the very beautiful Gothic reliquary, which is accessed from behind the altar, as seen below. It’s very nice to see the red drapes on the columns, a custom which was once very popular in Italy and is making something of a comeback.

The fresco in the apse of the chapel of St Dominic in the glory of heaven was painted by a native of Bologna, and one of the greats of the Italian Baroque, Guido Reni (1575-1642).

Continue Reading this Article. . .

New Masters in Sacred Music & Certificates in Gregorian Chant at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music

The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music is delighted to announce the 2026 launch of its summer-based 36-credit Master of Sacred Music degree, and two 20-credit Post-Baccalaureate Certificates in Gregorian Chant and Sacred Choral Music, pending approval from WSCUC. Applications open November 18th, 2025.

catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/graduate-study

The MSM and Certificates are completable over three to five summers, depending on how many weeks you can be on campus during the summer. During the regular fall and spring semesters, you’ll work with a voice teacher in your area, and take a 1-hour online (live via Zoom) colloquium with other graduate students.

Our affordable tuition ($250 per credit hour) and compact format mean that you can keep your job at a parish or school while completing graduate studies.

Courses will also remain open to students wishing just to take a graduate class or two, without matriculating into a degree/certificate program.

Check out this summer’s classes here: catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org/summer-courses.

Our curriculum prepares you with the theological, philosophical, and historical knowledge—as well as the practical skills (singing, playing, conducting, teaching, composing, organizing, fundraising)—necessary to build excellent sacred music programs in parishes and schools.

Our world-class faculty of dedicated Catholic scholars and practitioners delivers a curriculum that is robust, and focused on musical excellence and fidelity to the Catholic faith and tradition. Summer classes are buttressed by an horarium that allows time for sung daily Mass and vespers, access to confessions, and time for private prayer, study, relaxation, and fellowship. Interested in learning more?

We have two digital open houses upcoming. Sign up here to learn more.

Summer 2026 Courses: 

• History and Principles of Sacred Music
• Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Manuscript Sources, Semiology, and Interpretation
• Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Vocal Technique and Semiological Performance Practice
• Teaching Gregorian Chant to Children 
• Liturgical Theology 
• Introduction to Gregorian Chant 
• Organ Accompaniment of Chant 
• Choral Institute 
• Composition Seminar 
• Organ Improvisation 
• Choral Preparation: Choral Conducting, Rehearsal Techniques, and Group Vocal Pedagogy 
• Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Notation and Practice in the Tenth through Fourteenth Centuries 
• Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Cantare super librum 

Program faculty:

• Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, Music History and Gregorian Chant 
• Prof. Christopher Berry, Choral Music and Organ 
• Dr. Frank La Rocca, Composition 
• Dr. Charles Weaver, Gregorian Chant 
• Dr. Alison Altstatt, Gregorian Chant 
• Prof. Sandra Raquel Bengochea, Vocal Pedagogy 
• Dr. Joseph Dyer, Gregorian and Old Roman Chant 
• Dr. Rosemary Heredos, Gregorian Chant 
• Fr. Joshua Neu, Liturgy and Scripture 
• Dr. Edward Schaefer, Gregorian Chant 
• Dr. Christopher Tietze, Organ 
• Fr. Nicholas Schneider, Liturgy 
• Dr. Adrian Walker, Philosophy 
• Fr. Vincent Woo, Canon Law and Liturgy 

Contact us for more information at info@catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org

Pictures from Mt Athos (Part 5): Iviron Monastery

I realized this morning that I had forgotten to post the last set of photos from Mt Athos which a friend very kindly shared with me. The first four parts were published in late September and October, from the monasteries of Simonos Petra, Koutloumousiou, the church of the Dormition in Karyes, the administrative center of the Monastic Republic, and the Skete of St Andrew. This final set was taken at Iviron Monastery, the third in the Athonite hierarchy, which was founded in the 980s by monks from Georgia. (The name derives from “Iberia”, the Greek word for the Caucasus.) Iviron was very influential in the development of Georgian language and liturgy, but the community waned over the centuries, and the last Georgian monk died in 1955. The photos below include views of the original, very beautiful cosmatesque floor and marble panels on the walls, very little of which survives on Athos, and some pictures of liturgical items in the museum.

These first two photos were taken on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (which falls on September 21 on the Gregorian Calendar), during the All-night Vigil, the concatenation of Great Vespers, Orthros (Matins and Lauds) and the First Hour. The term “all-night vigil” is something of a rhetorical exaggeration, but on Athos, not by much; the service began at 8 p.m., and ended at 2 a.m.

This plate with three candles attached at the back is used for the ceremony called the Litia. There are five loaves of bread on the plate, and in the three cups below them, wine, oil, and some grains of wheat. These are blessed towards the end of Vespers; during Orthros, the bread is distributed to the clergy and faithful, tinged with the wine, and a cross of the oil is painted on each person’s forehead, a symbol that the feast has now formally begun.

A view of the main church, called the “Katholikon” in Greek, from the central plaza.

Byzantine-era fortifications.

Another view of the Katholikon.

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Simone Martini’s Frescos of the Life of St Martin

A document dated to March of 1312 attests that an Italian cardinal named Gentile Partino, a member of the Franciscan Order, commissioned a chapel to be added to the lower basilica of St Francis in Assisi, dedicated to St Martin of Tours, whose feast is kept today. Later that spring, His Eminence was in Siena, and commissioned the painter Simone Martini, a native of that city, to go to Assisi and decorate the chapel with a series of frescos of the titular Saint’s life. The cardinal himself died in October of that year; Martini would complete his work in the chapel in three phases, ending in 1318. Martin is one of the very first confessors to be widely venerated in the West, partly because of a biography of him written by a contemporary and friend named Sulpicius Severus. The stories presented here are partly based on it, but also on traditional legends which are not in Sulpicius’ work. 

The cycle begins with the most famous story of Martin’s life, that when he was a young soldier serving near Amiens, and still only a catechumen, he met a half-naked beggar, and having nothing else to share with him, cut his own cloak in two and gave the beggar one of the halves.

That night, Christ appeared to him in a dream holding the piece of the cloak, saying “Martin, while still a catechumen, covered me with this garment.” This direct quote from Sulpicius’ biography is the first antiphon of Matins of St Martin.

Although it may seem like a folk-etymology, it is actually true that the word “chapel” derives from the Latin word for cloak, “cappa”, in reference to the relic of St Martin’s cloak. As explained by the Catholic Encyclopedia, “This cape, or its representative, was afterwards preserved as a relic and accompanied the Frankish kings in their wars, and the tent which sheltered it became known also as cappella or capella. In this tent Mass was celebrated by the military chaplains (capellani). When at rest in the palace the relic likewise gave its name to the oratory where it was kept, and subsequently any oratory where Mass and Divine service were celebrated was called capella (in Latin), chapelle (in French), chapel.”

Sulpicius then says that Martin continued to served as a soldier for two years. His military service is anachronistically represented here by the medieval rite of the investiture of a knight. 

As the barbarians invade Gaul, Martin renounces his military service before the emperor Julian the Apostate, in order to dedicate his life to serving Christ.

The cycle now jumps over the years when Martin lived as a monk to his episcopacy, which began in 371. The story shown here, which is in the Golden Legend, but not in Sulpicius, tells that Martin had a request to make of the emperor Valentinian, something which the emperor did not wish to grant, and therefore forbade Martin entrance to the palace on two occasions. After a week of fasting and wearing of a hairshirt, Martin was told by an angel to return, and he was able to gain access to the throne room. The emperor was at first greatly angered by this, but then his throne was engulfed in flames, and his majesty singed on his hind parts. He offered Martin everything he intended to ask for, but in the Golden Legend’s telling, Martin inexplicably refuses it.

Martin raises a man from the dead; the first responsory at Matins refers to the tradition that he such a miracle three times. However, the Roman version of the lessons does not include a passage found in many others, that he himself said that he had not received such great grace in the episcopacy as he had before it, since he raised two men from the dead before he became a bishop, but only one after.

As he celebrates Mass, a globe of fire appears over him. Commenting on the liturgical texts for his feast day, William Durandus writes (Rat. Div. Off. VII, 37), “He is called ‘equal to the Apostles’, not, as some people think, because he raised people from the dead, since many other martyrs and confessors have done the same; nor because of the multitude of his miracles, but especially because of one particular miracle... (while he was celebrating Mass) a globe of fire appeared over his head, by which it was shown that the Holy Spirit had descended upon him… as He came upon the Apostles at Pentecost. Whence he is rightly called ‘equal to the Apostles,’ and is indeed equal to them in the liturgy.”

A famous legend of St Ambrose tells that he once fell into a deep sleep for several hours during services in church, and on waking, told his clergy that he had been present for the funeral of St Martin in the city of Tours. (St Martin actually died in the same year as St Ambrose, but 7 months later.)

The death of St Martin...

and his burial; at top, his soul is accompanied to heaven by angels. 

This last part of the fresco cycle represents Cardinal Partino kneeling before St Martin as a sign that he is offering the chapel to him.

The large arch that leads into the chapel is decorated with eight portraits of Saints: Anthony of Padua and Francis... 

Clare and Elizabeth of Hungary

Louis IX, the king of France, and Louis of Toulouse

Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria.