The Dominican Libera me, Domine

One of the most beautiful and beloved pieces of the Gregorian chant repertoire is the last responsory of Matins of the Dead, Libera me, Domine, which is also sung during the Absolution at the catafalque. The Roman version, certainly the best known, is one of the rare examples of a responsory with more than one verse; another very prominent example is the very first responsory of the liturgical year, Aspiciens a longe on the First Sunday of Advent. Many medieval Uses expanded Libera me by adding more verses, and dozens of variants are attested. Here is the text of the Dominican version as sung on All Souls’ Day, which has three additional verses; the last and longest of these is particularly beautiful. Note that the verses Tremens factus sum and Dies illa are in the opposite order from the Roman version, and the Dominicans do not sing the words Requiem aeternam ... luceat eis with any of the responsories in their Office of the Dead. The verses Quid ego miserrimus and Nunc Christe are sung only on November 2.

R. Líbera me, Dómine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda, * Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra, * Dum véneris judicáre sáeculum per ignem.
V. j  Dies illa, dies irae, calamitátis et miseriæ, dies magna et amára valde. Quando.
V. ij  Tremens factus sum ego et tímeo, dum discussio vénerit atque ventúra ira. Dum.
V. iij  Quid ego misérrimus, quid dicam, vel quid faciam, cum nil boni pérferam ante tantum júdicem? Quando.
V. iv  Nunc, Christe, te pétimus, miserére, quæsumus; qui venisti redímere pérditos, noli damnáre redemptos. Dum.
V. v  Creátor omnium rerum Deus, qui me de limo terrae formasti, et mirabíliter proprio sánguine redemisti, corpusque meum, licet modo putrescat, de sepulchro facies in die judicii resuscitári: exaudi, exaudi me, ut ánimam meam in sinu Abrahae, Patriarchae tui, júbeas collocári.
Repetitur R. Líbera me.

R. Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death on that awful day * when the heavens and the earth shall be shaken, * when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
V. j  That day shall be a day of wrath, of calamity and misery, a great day, and exceeding bitter. When the heavens...
V. ij  Trembling do I become, and fearful, when the trial and wrath shall come. When Thou shalt come...
V. iij  What shall I say or do, most wretched man that I am, since I have no good to bring before so great a judge? When the heavens...
V. iv  Now, o Christ, we ask Thee, have mercy, we beseech Thee; Thou who came to redeem the lost, condemn not the redeemed. When Thou shalt come....
V. v  Creator of all things, o God, Who formed me from the slime of the earth, and wondrously redeemed me with Thy own Blood, and, although it now rot, will cause my body to be raised up from the grave on the day of judgment: hear, o hear me, that Thou may command my soul to be placed in the bosom of Abraham, Thy Patriarch. Deliver me, o Lord...

Online Resources: The Oldest Notated Dominican Breviary

On the feast of St Dominic last year, we posted notice (via the website Dominican Liturgy) of a very high quality scan of the Humbert of Romans Codex (Rome: Santa Sabina MS XIV L1), the manuscript which served as the prototype for the medieval (and early-modern) Dominican Liturgy. (Also available at https://archive.org/details/rome_santa_sabina_xiv_l1) Our friend Fr Innocent Smith OP, a scholar of Dominican chant and liturgy has just recently posted scans of an even older breviary from the same archive, which is kept at the Order’s mother house of Santa Sabina in Rome (Santa Sabina, XIV L2). Fr Smith informs me that this is the earliest Dominican breviary, dating from the middle of the 13th century, to include musical notation of the Office chants. It therefore slightly predates the reform of Humbert of Romans, which gave a definitive stamp to the Dominican Use; there are a few other pre-Humbert chant sources for the office, but this one is especially important since it also has the breviary texts in addition to the chants. It can be seen and downloaded at the following link: https://archive.org/details/rome_santa_sabina_xiv_l2_202401

Note the file is quite large, almost 600 JPGs at 3008x2000 pixels each, totaling 2GB, so it may take some time to download. Here are a few sample pages.

The calendar pages of February and March. The entire calendar is in a different hand from the main body of the breviary, which indicates that it was added to the book later; the feast of St Thomas Aquinas has been added to March 7, sometime after his canonization in 1323. 

The beginning of the psalter; the texts of the Sunday and ferial antiphons was added by a later hand throughout.

The Litany of the Saints at the end of the psalter; the folio on the right is obviously a replacement for one that fell out.

Rubrics before the beginning of the Temporal cycle.

More rubrics, and the first Sunday of Advent, with the prolix responsory after the chapter at Vespers of the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent in chant notation. 

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Feast of All Saints 2021: the Angels

From the Breviary according to the use of the Roman Curia, 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the fifth day in the Octave of All Saints:

To this day’s solemnity, dedicated to all the Saints, let us now call the heavenly and angelic spirits, who, knowing no fall or disobedience, stand in their numberless legions, looking upon the countenance of the divine majesty with clear and unfailing sight, sounding forth the harmony of an unending hymn, and the glory of the supreme and simple godhead. There the Seraphim burn before Him, the Cherubim shine, the Thrones sit in judgment; there the exalted Dominations, that hold primacy among the great spirits in the halls of heaven, worship God. There the mighty order of Principalities holds sway over the host of heaven, there the Powers rule, and with burning zeal press down the necks of the princes of hell. There the glory of the blessed Virtues shines forth, and the magnificence of the Archangels, the lovely innocence of the Angels.

It is these who drive from us the assaults of the enemy, who proclaim to us the secrets of the divine will, strengthen our minds when we grow weak, and always pray for us before our Father in heaven. Upon us, therefore, is laid a great obligation to preserve our honest conduct in all places, since nowhere can we hide from the sight of such princes and guardians, and of the divine majesty.

The ceiling of the Baptistery of Florence, ca. 1240-1300. The Nine Choirs of Angels are depicted within the third octagonal band from the lantern; the Cherubim and Seraphim (not labelled) to either side of Christ, followed, in clockwise order, by the Thrones, Virtues, Principalities, Angels, Archangels, Powers, and Dominations.

A new recording of the Dominican version of the Introit for the feast of All Saints, from the OP Chant YouTube channel.

Introitus Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino, diem festum celebrantes sub honóre Sanctórum ómnium, de quorum sollemnitáte gaudent Angeli et collaudant Fílium Dei. Ps. 32 Exsultáte, justi, in Dómino: rectos decet collaudatio. Glória Patri. Sicut erat. Gaudeámus.

Introit Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a feast day in honor of all the Saints, on whose solemnity the Angels rejoice, and join in praising the Son of God. Ps 32 Exult, ye just, in the Lord; praise becometh the righteous. Glory be. As it was. Let us all rejoice.

The Dominican Libera me, Domine

One of the most beautiful and beloved pieces of the Gregorian chant repertoire is the last responsory of Matins of the Dead, Libera me, Domine, which is also sung during the Absolution at the catafalque. The Roman version, certainly the best known, is one of the rare examples of a responsory with more than one verse; another very prominent example is the very first responsory of the liturgical year, Aspiciens a longe on the First Sunday of Advent. Many medieval Uses expanded Libera me by adding more verses, and dozens of variants are attested. Here is the text of the Dominican version as sung on All Souls’ Day, which has three additional verses; the last and longest of these is particularly beautiful. Note that the verses Tremens factus sum and Dies illa are in the opposite order from the Roman version, and the Dominicans do not sing the words Requiem aeternam ... luceat eis with any of the responsories in their Office of the Dead. The verses Quid ego miserrimus and Nunc Christe are sung only on November 2.

R. Líbera me, Dómine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda, * Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra, * Dum véneris judicáre sáeculum per ignem.
V. j  Dies illa, dies irae, calamitátis et miseriæ, dies magna et amára valde. Quando.
V. ij  Tremens factus sum ego et tímeo, dum discussio vénerit atque ventúra ira. Dum.
V. iij  Quid ego misérrimus, quid dicam, vel quid faciam, cum nil boni pérferam ante tantum júdicem? Quando.
V. iv  Nunc, Christe, te pétimus, miserére, quæsumus; qui venisti redímere pérditos, noli damnáre redemptos. Dum.
V. v  Creátor omnium rerum Deus, qui me de limo terrae formasti, et mirabíliter proprio sánguine redemisti, corpusque meum, licet modo putrescat, de sepulchro facies in die judicii resuscitári: exaudi, exaudi me, ut ánimam meam in sinu Abrahae, Patriarchae tui, júbeas collocári.
Repetitur R. Líbera me.

R. Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death on that awful day * when the heavens and the earth shall be shaken, * when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
V. j  That day shall be a day of wrath, of calamity and misery, a great day, and exceeding bitter. When the heavens...
V. ij  Trembling do I become, and fearful, when the trial and wrath shall come. When Thou shalt come...
V. iij  What shall I say or do, most wretched man that I am, since I have no good to bring before so great a judge? When the heavens...
V. iv  Now, o Christ, we ask Thee, have mercy, we beseech Thee; Thou who came to redeem the lost, condemn not the redeemed. When Thou shalt come....
V. v  Creator of all things, o God, Who formed me from the slime of the earth, and wondrously redeemed me with Thy own Blood, and, although it now rot, will cause my body to be raised up from the grave on the day of judgment: hear, o hear me, that Thou may command my soul to be placed in the bosom of Abraham, Thy Patriarch. Deliver me, o Lord...

Medieval Dominican Chants for Christmas

The version of the Roman Rite used specifically at the Papal court in the High Middle Ages, which became the liturgy of the Tridentine reform, was in many respects very conservative, and did not take on many of the elaborations of the liturgy which were done nearly everywhere else. One of the best examples of this from the Christmas season is the singing of the Gospel of Our Lord’s Genealogy according to St Matthew, 1, 1-16, which was done between the ninth responsory of Christmas Matins and the Te Deum in basically every other Use of the Roman Rite. Because the text itself is very repetitive (“Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, etc.”), it was generally set to an ornate tone to keep it interesting. The same was done at Matins of the Epiphany with the Genealogy according to St Luke, (3, 21 – 4, 1); the first three verses of this passage are Luke’s account of Christ’s Baptism, one of the three major events celebrated on Epiphany.

A friend who is a priest of the Fraternity of St Vincent Ferrer wrote to let me know that they have just lately posted a recording of this Gospel as it was sung at Christmas Matins in their church last year. Hopefully they will post the Epiphany one before long.

The Dominicans also preserved the use of the very popular Christmas Sequence Laetabundus, another thing which was never adopted into the Roman liturgical books. Here it is sung by the friars of the OP Chant YouTube channel; the text and translation are given in the notes under their original post.

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. 

Continue Reading this Article. . .

An Update from OPChant

We first wrote last December, about OPChant, a YouTube channel founded last October by two young seminarians of the Dominican order living and studying in Fribourg, Switzerland, Brother Alexandre Frezzato, who is Swiss, and Brother Stefan Ansinger, who comes from the Netherlands. The mission of OPChant, as the brothers explain, is to use YouTube as a teaching tool to preserve and promote the rich Catholic heritage of Gregorian chant. Each video includes in the description a link to a PDF of the full musical score with the lyrics in Latin, as well as an English translation. In only 11 months, they have produced over 100 videos with appropriate works of music, recorded in high quality in beautiful Swiss monastic settings. Originally intended to reach other Dominicans or church music specialists, they now have 19,000 subscribers, and their videos have been viewed almost 450,000 times.

The brothers also run an ancillary website, OPChant.com, which gathers together all of their scores as an aid to learners, and which includes a Media section that presents links to press coverage of their project. The wide coverage is a phenomenon in itself, and a very encouraging one for those of us who love the chant tradition and wish to see it restored to more regular use in the sacred liturgy. To date, 54 media outlets in 17 countries and regions around the world have produced articles, short videos, or radio programs with and about the brothers. As the channel prepares to celebrate one year online, its success is also newsworthy. This project is the most widely-received public initiative of the Dominican order in Switzerland in over 50 years. The fact that it is a channel for teaching medieval sacred music in Latin makes that all the more remarkable.

Here is a message which Brothers Alexandre and Stefan recently recorded for their followers, and below, a few of their more recent recording. (This post is taken in part from a press-release.)

Per signum Crucis, the Communio of the Exaltation of the Cross.

O Sancta Mundi Domina, a hymn for the Nativity of the Virgin.

Gaude Mater Ecclesia, the Vesper hymn for the feast of St Dominic.

Low Sunday 2020

As newborn babes, alleluia, desire the rational milk without guile, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Ps. 80 Rejoice to God our Helper; sing aloud to the God of Jacob. V. Glory be... As it was... As newborn babes... (The Introit for Low Sunday, from the excellent YouTube channel OPChant.)

Quasi modo géniti infantes, allelúia: rationábiles, sine dolo lac concupíscite, allelúia, allelúia, allelúia. Ps. 80 Exsultáte Deo, adjutóri nostro: jubiláte Deo Iacob. Glória Patri. Sicut erat. Quasi modo...

All Gospels of the Year with Music for the Dominican Rite

I am pleased to announce that Dominican Liturgy Publications has just released the Evangelarium O.P.. This volume contains all the Mass Gospels of the year for the Temporal and Sanctoral cycles of the Dominican Rite. Each Latin Gospel is set to the traditional Dominican tone. The volume also includes all the Common Gospels and those for all Ritual and Votive Masses.

The volume is large, hard-bound, and suitable for use by the deacon at Dominican Rite Solemn Masses. A companion volume containing all the Epistles of the year for use by the subdeacon is in preparation. Until it appears one can use the previously published  Cantus Lectionum Missarum, but be aware that it only has Epistles for Sundays and major feasts.

Here is a sample page, the Gospel for Gaudete Sunday.

OPChant: A New YouTube Channel of Dominican Chant

Here is a great new music resource: two Dominican seminarians studying at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, Brs Alexandre Frezzato from the Wallis region of Switerland, and Stefan Ansinger from the Netherlands, have recently started a YouTube channel called OPChant, on which they share their recordings of chants from the traditional Dominican books. The channel was begun in October; as explained in this interview in French, their long-term goal is to provide a systematic resource for promotion of the Dominican chant reportoire, which is only sporadically available on the internet. This will certainly prove helpful to those who sing at the ever-increasing number Masses in the Dominican Rite, and of course, there is no reason why such chants cannot also be used in the post-Conciliar rite of Mass. Each video is accompanied by brief notes in English explaining the use of the chant (which is very often the same as in the Roman Rite), and a GoogleDrive file with the score. Here are a few recently posted examples from the repertoire for Advent: let’s encourage them by driving up their viewing numbers, and be sure to share information about the channel with anyone you know who might be interested, and subscribe to the channel. Feliciter!!

Conditor alme siderum, the hymn for Vespers in Advent; the Dominicans and other orders who retained their own liturgical Uses (Premonstratensians, Cistercians) etc., never adopted Pope Urban VIII’s revision of the Office hymns, and so the text differs from that which is found in the Roman Breviary.

Ad te levavi, the Introit (which the Dominicans call “Officium”) of the First Sunday of Advent.

Populus Sion, the Officum of the Second Sunday

The antiphon Alma Redemptoris Mater in the more solemn tone. In the Dominican Rite, the Salve Regina is sung at the end of Compline throughout the year, accompanied by a distinctive procession; the Alma Redemptoris Mater is sung as the antiphon of the Magnificat in the Saturday Office of the Virgin between the feast of the Purification and Easter.

A Recording of the Dominican Libera me, Domine

On All Souls’ Day two years ago, I published a post about the Dominican version of the responsory Libera me which is sung at the Absolution over the catafalque; at the time, there was no recording of it available on the internet. Yesterday, I received an email from the directress of vocations at the Dominican Monastery of St Jude in Marbury, Alabama, letting me know that they have just posted a recording of it on their website. Below the video is the full text in Latin and English, followed by some notes on the ceremony which Sister very kindly sent in as well.

Many medieval Uses expanded the Libera me by adding more verses, and there are dozens of variants recorded. The Dominican version as sung on All Souls’ Day, which had three additional verses; the last and longest of these is particularly beautiful. Note that the verses Tremens factus sum and Dies illa are in the opposite order from the Roman version, and the Dominicans do not sing the words Requiem aeternam ... luceat eis with any of the responsories in their Office of the Dead. (The verses Quid ego miserrimus and Nunc Christe are sung only on November 2.)

R. Líbera me, Dómine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda, * Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra, * Dum véneris judicáre sáeculum per ignem.
V. j. Dies illa, dies irae, calamitátis et miseriæ, dies magna et amára valde. Dum.
V. ij. Tremens factus sum ego et tímeo, dum discussio vénerit atque ventúra ira. Quando.
V. iij. Quid ego misérrimus, quid dicam, vel quid faciam, cum nil boni pérferam ante tantum júdi-cem? Quando.
V. iv. Nunc, Christe, te pétimus, miserére, quæsumus; qui venisti redímere pérditos, noli damnáre redemptos. Dum.
V. v. Creátor omnium rerum Deus, qui me de limo terrae formasti, et mirabíliter proprio sánguine redemisti, corpusque meum, licet modo putrescat, de sepulchro facies in die judicii resuscitári: exaudi, exaudi me, ut ánimam meam in sinu Abrahae, Patriarchae tui, júbeas collocári. Repetitur R. Líbera me.

R. Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death on that awful day * when the heavens and the earth shall be shaken, * when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
V. j. That day shall be a day of wrath, of calamity and misery, a great day, and exceeding bitter. When the heavens...
V. ij. Trembling do I become, and fearful, when the trial and wrath shall come. When Thou shalt come...
V. iij. What shall I say or do, most wretched man that I am, since I have no good to bring before so great a judge? When the heavens...
V. iv. Now, o Christ, we ask Thee, have mercy, we beseech Thee; Thou who came to redeem the lost, condemn not the redeemed. When Thou shalt come....
V. v. Creator of all things, o God, Who formed me from the slime of the earth, and wondrously redeemed me with Thy own Blood, and, although it now rot, will cause my body to be raised up from the grave on the day of judgment: hear, o hear me, that Thou may command my soul to be placed in the bosom of Abraham, Thy Patriarch. Repeat Deliver me, o Lord...

Sister writes, “In our new booklet for the Libera, we included these rubrics from the Ceremonial for the Use of the Dominican Sisters of the Second Order, compiled by the Rev. Father Marie-Ambroise Potton, O.P. (our copy doesn't have a date, but it was around the 1860's):

Each week after the weekly Mass of the Dead, and after the Mass of the four Anniversaries, a procession for the dead is made in the Brother's Convents. The Sisters are not bound to this procession, even when they have not had the Mass applied for the intentions of the Order. . . .

After Mass the two Chantresses begin the singing of the Libera, and the Sisters leave the Choir processionally, preceded by the holy water, Acolytes and Cross. They may make their single station near the grave-yard or vault in which the Sisters are buried, or in the cloister or Chapter hall, as may be fitting. The two Chantresses or two other Sisters, sing the verses Dies illa, Tremens and Creator; and the Sisters sing the resumption, and after the last verse, the body of the responsory. Then is sung Kyrie eleison. The Hebdomadarian turned towards the Cross sings the two words Pater Noster. During the recitation of the "Pater" in secret, the Hebdomadarian may sprinkle the ground with holy water, if such be the custom of the Convent. Afterwards, the Hebdomadarian sings: Et ne nos, A porta, Domine exaudi, and the two prayers marked in the Processional: Deus veniae (Deus indulgentiarum if it is an Anniversary) and Deus cujus miseratione, under one conclusion. She adds Requiescant in pace, to which the choir responds, Amen; and the procession returns to the Choir, singing on the tone of the graces the psalm De Profundis, or the psalm Miserere, if the station is distant from the Choir. Several stations may be made instead of one; in this case the responsories, versicles, and prayers marked in the Processional are used.

Although there have been changes in our way of life since his day, this is essentially how we make the Libera Procession each week. On All Souls Day the procession is basically the same, although there are extra verses (the “Quid ego miserrimus?” and “Nunc, Christe,”) and special orations, and we always process down to our monastic cemetery if the weather at all permits.

Antiphonarium pro Liturgia Horarum Corrected

A while ago, a reader wrote to me because the clef on the ferial hymns in volumes 3 and 4 of the Antiphonarium pro Liturgia Horarum iuxta Usum Ordinis Praediatorum, which is vailable for download here at Dominican Liturgy on the left side bar, is almost always on the wrong line.

I was unable to fix this because of a glitch in the Meinrad font I use to set the music. The font specialist at St Meinrad’s was kind enough to fix the issue, so I have now corrected this mistake. The new PDFs for volumes 3 and 4 can now be downloaded - Gratias Deo!

A Historic Dominican Gradual Online

The Coates Library at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, has just made available through their website a Dominican Gradual dated roughly 1480-1520, a useful resource for chant scholars and the study of the Dominican Rite. The book is missing a couple of folios, but is in otherwise fairly good condition; it has decorated initials, but no illustrations. The provenance is listed as “Spain?” on the site, but no further information is given; from the date, it is tempting to speculate that this may be one of the earliest choirbooks to be brought over during the Spanish settlement of the New World and the establishment of the first missions. (h/t Michael Carroll)

Folio 1r, the Introit of the First Sunday of Advent, which is noted with the term Officium used by the Dominicans inter alios.

Regular Sunday Vespers with the Dominicans in Manhattan

The Dominican parish of Ss Vincent Ferrer and Catherine of Siena in New York City is beginning an excellent new initiative to promote what should be one of the most important aspects of the Catholic liturgical life. Beginning on Sunday, September 18, they will celebrate Vespers every week in the Ordinary Form. These celebrations will draw on the Dominican chant tradition as well as the contemporary Antiphonale Romanum, using a combination of Latin and English: Latin for the ordinary chants, the psalm and Magnificat antiphons, and the short responsory, and English for the hymn, psalms, readings, intercessions, and collect. (See the parish website at this link.)

Each week there will be a singing class at 4:30 pm covering the chants for the week, and Vespers will then be sung at 5:15; the booklet for the first Sunday can be consulted here. The priest who prepared it, Fr Innocent Smith O.P., has been mentioned here on NLM several times in connection with his interest in Dominican chant and various talks that he has given about it. I have known Fr Smith for many years, and I know that he will certainly do a great job in making this a worthy and beautiful celebration of the Church’s evening prayer. The parish evening Mass, sung with Gregorian propers in English, follows at 6 pm.

The choir of te church of St Vincent Ferrer.

Dominican Stabat Mater

Nuns Singing in the Bologna MS

As Good Friday is approaching and many churches sing the Stabat Mater at Stations of the Cross, I thought it would be suitable to reprint the transcription of the text and music of a thirteenth-century version of the Stabat Mater, recently discovered by Prof. Cesarino Ruini in a manuscript that once belonged to a convent of Dominican Nuns in Bologna, Italy, and on which I have already posted. A miniature of the Bologna nuns, from their manuscript, decorates this post.

The discovery of this manuscript, as explained in the article available here (in Italian), shows, by the date of the manuscript that the traditional ascription of authorship to Jacopone of Todi can no longer be sustained. The date, however, leaves open the possibility, often mentioned, that it is the work of Pope Innocent III.  Perhaps it was composed by the Dominincan nuns of Sant'Agnese in Bologna.

This version is interesting for a number of reasons. First, this is the earliest use of the text as a sequence. Until the discovery of this version, it was only known as a hymn until the late middle ages. This manuscript shows that the earliest known use of the text as a sequence was among Italian Dominican nuns in the 1200s. Next, the text includes not only a number of verbal variants, but also includes two verses absent from the commonly received version. Those who wish to examine these can download my transcription and compare the text to the received version here.

Even more interesting is the music. As pointed out to me by the Dominican nuns of Summit NJ, this ancient sequence borrows, with the exception of one stanza (cf. verses 19 and 20), the melodies of the Sequence of St. Dominic in the Dominican Rite. There are a number of minor musical variants as well. Those interested might want to compare the music to that found in the Dominican Gradual for the Mass of St. Dominic.

Through the kindness of a reader who converted the PDFs of this music into JPGs, here are images of the newly discovered 13th-Century Stabat Mater.  I am aware that these images are a bit blurry; if you click on them or download them, you will get a clearer image.

Introduction to Dominican Chant at St Vincent Ferrer in NYC

Beginning on Sunday, February 7, 2016, the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena will offer a three-part series of workshops on Dominican chant, the dialect of Gregorian chant used by the Order of Preachers.

Led by Fr. Innocent Smith, o.p., the workshops will take place on three successive Sundays, February 7, 14, and 21, from 3:00–3:50 pm in the Parish Hall of the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (in the undercroft the Church, accessible from Lexington Ave. to the right of the front steps of the Church). On February 14 and 21 the workshop will be followed by Vespers at 4:00 pm in the Church, giving participants a chance to sing some of the chants they have studied in the workshop.

To RSVP for the workshops, please email parish@svsc.info.

A leaf of a Missal decorated by Saint Fra Angelico, the famous Dominican painter, from the museum of the Dominican church of San Marco in Florence, ca. 1430.

The Fourth Sunday of Advent - O Clavis David 2015

Introit Isa. 45 Rorate, caeli, désuper, et nubes pluant justum: aperiátur terra, et gérminet Salvatórem. V. ibid. Et justitia oriátur simul; ego Dóminus creávi eum. Gloria Patri... Rorate.

Introit. Isa. 45 Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Savior. V. And let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him. Glory be... Drop down.

Note that in this recording, the Dominicans sing the introit not with the first verse of Psalm 18, as is found in the Roman Missal, but with the rest of the verse of Isaiah, 45, 8. This was the common practice with this particular Introit in the Middle Ages, and is also found in the Sarum Use, just to give one example.

In Milan, today is the Sixth Sunday of Advent, one of the days on which two different Masses are said in the Ambrosian Liturgy. At the more important of the two, called the Mass of the Incarnation, the following is sung as the Ingressa; this is broadly the equivalent of the Introit, but is sung only once, without a psalm verse or doxology. The text is actually the translation of an Ode for Matins for the Nativity of St John the Baptist from the Byzantine Rite.

Videsne Elisabeth cum Dei Genitrice Maria disputantem: Quid ad me venisti, mater Domini mei? Si enim scirem, in tuum venirem occursum. Tu enim Regnatorem portas, et ego prophetam: tu legem dantem, et ego legem accipientem: tu Verbum, et ego vocem proclamantis adventum Salvatoris.

Dost thou see Elizabeth discussing with Mary, the Mother of God: Why hast Thou come to me, o mother of my Lord? For if I had known, I would have come to meet Thee. For thou bearest Him that reigneth, and I the prophet; Thou the Giver of the Law, and I him that receiveth it; Thou the Word, and I the voice of him that proclaimeth the coming of the Savior.

And finally, since it is the 20th of December, the following O Antiphon is sung at Vespers.

O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel; qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; who openest and no man shutteth; shuttest and no man openeth: come and lead the prisoners from the prison house, that sit in darkness and the shadow of death. 

The Harrowing of Hell, from an Exsultet scroll of the later 11th century.

Advent Stations

A statio or station was the post at which a Roman soldier would keep watch, and from this was derived the Lenten practice of having the Church in Rome keep watch at various churches in the city, keeping vigil against the Devil during those forty sacred fast days. In time, Advent, too, came to have stational churches although these are not as well known as the stational churches of Lent.

But given that Advent is the season wherein we are re-awakened to keep vigil for the Lord in his Second Coming, and also in remembrance of his First Coming, it seems especially fitting that we should have some devotional exercise in which we keep our station, that is, keep watch for the Lord's coming. The nascent custom of holding a devotional service of 'Advent Stations' is thus a welcome development. Begun last year by the Dominican friars in Washington, D.C. at their historic and handsome downtown church of St Dominic, the Advent Stations service is a beautiful and contemplative way to prepare for Christmas, especially when they are celebrated during these 'Golden Nights', that is, the Novena days before Christmas.

The service is reminiscent of so many existing traditions in the Church, and in its blend of these various elements it is strikingly 'post-modern' and thus it is very much a devotional exercise born of our times. I am reminded of Pope Francis' observation in Evangelii Gaudium that "[g]enuine forms of popular religiosity are incarnate, since they are born of the incarnation of Christian faith in popular culture. For this reason they entail a personal relationship, not with vague spiritual energies or powers, but with God, with Christ, with Mary, with the saints". I have found this to be true both of this Advent Stations and of the All Saints Vigil, also promoted by the friars of the St Joseph Dominican Province. 

Hence, the service is entirely in candlelight as the traditional Rorate Masses were; there is movement from one Station to the next within the church as with traditional Stations of the Cross, and this movement is accompanied by singing; and at each Station, there is a prophetic reading followed by a fervorino as in the English Church's Festival of Lessons and Carols. The combination of music and dramatic movement and preaching brings to mind St Philip Neri's oratoria. When the seven Stations are completed, the procession returns to the Sanctuary and Compline begins. The addition of a liturgical element, particularly through singing the Divine Office, is something favoured by Dominicans around the world. However, it seems to me a fruition of some of the work of the classical Liturgical Movement and of one of the desires of Vatican II, which is that the laity should re-discover the Liturgy of the Hours. 

Finally, the service ended with veneration of a relic of the Holy Manger which is yet another traditional devotion that is rightly being re-introduced to the people. Given that the Stational church for Christmas Midnight Mass in Rome is Santa Maria Maggiore where the Holy Manger is enshrined, this seems a fitting way to end the Advent Stations. For just as the Stations of the Cross are a way of spiritually walking through Jerusalem to Calvary, so these Advent Stations enable us to spiritually walk to the Holy Manger of Bethlehem (albeit now housed in Rome!).

Musically, the service consisted of the singing of an 'O Antiphon' (from the Antiphonarium S.O.P.) followed by the corresponding verse of 'O come, o come, Emmanuel' sung by all present. This is a laudable practice because although some may know of these antiphons few have had a chance to hear them sung, and fewer still may realize that this ever-popular hymn is based on the Church's ancient liturgical texts. So, this practice of putting them together makes this apparent, and I hope it also reminds us that 'O come, o come' is really only fit to be sung from the 17th of December. 

Below are photos which I took during the service held on the 19th of December 2015, but they do not do justice to the occasion which was a time of solemn beauty, contemplative wonder, and fine Dominican preaching – not just through the reflections given by seven friars, but through music, and Liturgical prayer. I hope that this new devotion becomes a fixture in the local annual calendar, and that it will be taken up in parishes around the world!

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Upcoming UK Conference on Dominicans in the Middle Ages

From the website of the Dominican Friars of England and Scotland comes this news of a conference to be held at Oxford from Sept. 10-12, on “The Influences of the Dominican Order in the Middle Ages.” Among the topics covered will be some aspects of the early Dominican liturgical tradition, especially in regards to music and the production of liturgical books. The organizer of the conference, Dr Eleanor Giraud of Lincoln College, Oxford, explains in an interview. Information about registration, fees and location is available by clicking here.

“One of the distinctive aspects about Dominican chant is its brevity in comparison to other chant repertories: the Dominicans tended to eliminate repetitions of notes or melodic patterns, and cut down on extensive melismas (that is, several notes sung to one syllable, e.g. saaaaanctus). This was probably related to the focus in Dominican life on dedicating oneself to study, even over worship. One of the early Master Generals of the Order, Humbert of Romans, said ‘A short Office with study is better than a long [Office] with study hindered’ and he even recommended that if the brothers accidentally slept in, then the Cantor should hurry things along and shorten the length of the readings at Matins! So it’s no surprise that the early Dominicans sought to cut down the length of their chant. ...

As the conference is interdisciplinary, there is probably something here for everyone! We have various panels covering how the Dominicans influenced art history, music, liturgy, and book production—the latter being the subject of our keynote paper, given by Mary Rouse. In addition, there are panels looking at the interaction of medieval Dominicans across different parts of Europe.... Another highlight of the conference will be a concert of music that can be associated with the Dominican Order—both Dominican chant, and scraps of polyphony found as binding fragments in Dominican books.”

Dominican Chants in Honor of Our Lady

I am pleased to announce that the brothers of the Province of St. Joseph have released a new recording of Dominican Chant. It is the complete Mass of the Immaculate Conception, and other Marian chants, including those of Compline (very rich in our Rite).

If you are a lover of chant, or your choir intends to sing the Dominican music for the upcoming feast, this is for you.  It also makes an excellent Christmas gift.

You can hear samples and order here.