Cardinal Zen, Motets, the Ordinariate, Converts, and Dominican Chant

What do these diverse topics have to do with one another? They’re the topics of the latest episodes of Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast.

Catch up on episodes here on YouTube, or on our podcast feed. 

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An Old Documentary about Exeter Cathedral

A friend on Facebook discovered this documentary about the cathedral of Exeter, England, which I think you will find very interesting. It was made originally made in 1972 by a Canadian company, and broadcast on television in the UK later that year; it has just recently been made available on the National Film Board of Canada website. In addition to a lot of interesting historical information about the church, it also shows some liturgies in the very “high” Anglican style, with very nice copes and miters and other such Popish mummery. We also see scenes of the boys’ choir rehearsing, and life in the town of Exeter; all in all, it conveys a beautiful impression of the important part a great cathedral would have been played in the lives of ordinary people.

Sacred Music Symposium in British Columbia, July 2020

The parish of Ss Joachim and Ann in Langley, British Columbia, will host the third British Columbia Sacred Music Symposium this summer from July 17-19, 2020. (Thanks to NLM reader Ryan Bjoorgard for notice of this).

This year the keynote speaker is Dr. Aaron James, Director of Music at the Toronto Oratory of St Philip Neri, who will explore “The Church Musician as Exegete”, while a panel discussion will consider “The Church Musician as Worshiper”. You can read our review of the second Symposium in a past NLM posting, here.

The BC Sacred Music Symposium is Western Canada’s largest and most in-depth teaching conference on sacred music; the program offers opportunities for learning, singing, listening, and interacting with high-quality teachers and musicians from the Catholic world. There are practical workshops, lectures that focus on the place of music in the worship of the Church, and daily liturgies. This year for the first time there will also be sessions that focus on Byzantine (Eastern Catholic) and Anglican chant. Lectures and plenary sessions this year will be exploring the role of the Church musician.

Early registration is now open through the end of April. For more information, or to register please visit http://bcsacredmusicsymposium.com

Back In Print At Last: Enid Chadwick’s My Book of the Church’s Year

As a regular NLM reader likes to say: “The hits keep on comin’!” Even in these dark times of ours, we hear news on an almost daily basis of new (positive) pastoral initiatives, new locations of the old Mass, new sacred music commissions, new religious communities and apostolates, and especially new traditional Catholic books of the highest quality. What was once a trickle has become a river.

Some years ago, I attempted to reprint a gem of a book, Enid Chadwick’s My Book of the Church’s Year. My cheap and flimsy paperback was by no means adequate to the task, and I let the project fall by the wayside. Happily, Lisa Bergman of St Augustine Academy Press, well known for their book Treasure and Tradition (available now in English, Spanish, and Portuguese), has just released a beautiful hardcover edition of Chadwick done so well that the endpapers, thickly-textured paper, and rich color illustrations of the original edition are all faithfully reproduced. The photos will show this better than any words.

Lisa asked me to contribute a Foreword, which I was glad to do, as this is one of my all-time favorite children’s books. Here’s part of what I wrote:

It’s the loveliest, most charming, and in many ways most clever introduction to the liturgical calendar I’ve ever come across. It is informed by a deep Catholic love for the seasons of the year, the feasting and fasting, the great holy days, the pageantry of the saints and their stories, the underlying rhythm that connects nature, culture, and sanctity. . . . Though written and illustrated by a High Church Anglican, the feasts depicted in this book differ only in very minor ways from the traditional Catholic calendar. Chadwick’s handsome illustrations are simple enough for young children, and yet at the same time full of complexities for those who are attentive.

My Foreword includes pointers on the theological insights built into the illustrations, comments on terms and calendar features, and notes on particular saints who may be less known to readers. As Fr Hunwicke recently pointed out, it can be striking to see how closely traditional Anglican publications like Chadwick’s correspond to the ethos and even the details of traditional Roman Catholicism than either of them do to anything from the sphere of the Novus Ordo. Examples would include an emphasis on Christ coming in judgment; Epiphanytide; January 1st as the Circumcision; February 2nd as the Purification or Candlemas; February 14th as St. Valentine; Septuagesimatide, with mention of Lenten fasting; Passiontide; Low Sunday; May 3rd as the Finding of the Holy Cross; Rogationtide; the lifting of the chasuble at the elevation and kneeling for communion (p. 33); a catafalque on All Souls, being incensed by a priest in a black cope; and so forth. Such things are simply not to be found in children’s books published after 1969.

Helpfully, Lisa has provided at the book link an electronic flip-through of the contents (scroll to the bottom of the page to find it) for anyone who would like to preview the content before purchasing. If you are looking for an ideal Advent or Christmas gift, a read-aloud to catechize about the liturgical year, or a special weapon for the arsenal of books for little ones to look at in church, you’ll want to check this out!

Some comparison photos, showing the original 1948 edition and the 2018 facsimile edition (selling at the website for $12.95).