Yesterday, the feast of St Bernard of Clairvaux, two monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz in Austria made their solemn vows. Our good friend Sancrucensis has some very nice pictures of the ceremony, and the following explanation of the ceremony. Click over to him for more photos.
The ceremony for solemn vows follows more or less the outline described by St Benedict in the Rule, and is marked by St Benedict’s Roman sobriety. After the Gospel the candidates prostrate themselves before the Abbot, who asks: Quid pétitis? (What do you ask for?) They respond Misericórdiam Dei et Ordinis. (The mercy of God and of the Order.) The abbot then tells them to arise and preaches a sermon, sitting on the faldstool with the candidates standing in front of him. Then comes the feudal “homagium,” in which the candidates lay their hands in the abbot’s and promise him and his successors obedience according to the Rule of St Benedict “usque ad mortem.” Then every one kneels down and the Veni Creator Spiritus is sung. Then come the actual vows. The candidates read out the vows of stability, conversion of morals and obedience, which they have written by hand on parchment. They then sign the vow charts on the altar. The charts remain on the altar and are offered to God together with the gifts of the Mass. After signing the vows they sing Súscipe me, Dómine, secúndum elóquium tuum et vívam; † et non confúndas me ab exspectatióne mea three times. (Psalm 118, 116. In Benedictine breviaries, this verse, which is sung at Terce of Monday, is printed in small caps or otherwise distinguished as a weekly reminder of the day of one’s profession.) They then kneel down in front of each and every monk in the community, saying Ora pro me Pater, (Pray for me, Father) to which the monks reply Dóminus custódiat intróitum tuum et éxitum tuum. (The Lord keep thy entering and thy going forth.) While this is going on cantors sing the Miserere. Then the newly professed monks are then blessed with an extraordinary three part prayer, addressed to each of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity in turn. They are then clothed in the cowl and the Mass proceeds.
Last May while visiting a dear friend, Pater Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist., a monk of the Abbey of Heiligenkreuz in Lower Austria and maintainer of the ever-thoughtful blog Sancrucensis, I had the opportunity to see certain parts of the monastery that I had never seen (or seen up close) before. Among the stages of our tour were the immensely beautiful wooden choir stalls where the monks chant the daily Divine Office, to which they are very devoted.
But it was not so much the woodwork that caught my attention as it was certain over-sized wood-covered leatherbound volumes set up between every other stall.
As a cantor and schola director, these naturally engaged my curiosity and I asked Pater Edmund to tell me about them. Seeing my great interest, he not only obliged me at the moment, but sent notes and photos to be shared with the readers of NLM who might be interested in this fine example of contemporary book-making on a scale rarely seen. What follows is Pater Edmund’s account of the genesis of this project.
Heiligenkreuz Choir Books
Pater Edmund Waldstein, O.Cist.
In the 1970s Heiligenkreuz put together an edition of the Divine Office that was meant to adopt some of the reforms of the new Roman Office, while preserving many traditional monastic elements. It was decided to adopt a two-week Psalter developed by Fr. Guido Gilbert-Tarruel, O.Cist., which sought to preserve many features of the division of the Psalms given by St. Benedict in the Rule. (Fr. Gilbert-Tarruel’s division, included in the latest edition of the Cistercian Ritual as one among many options for Cistercian monasteries, is reproduced below.) At the time, it was hoped that other Cistercian monasteries would adopt our breviary, but today Heiligenkreuz is the only monastery that uses it, as well as the only monastery that uses this particular Psalm-division. It could be said, therefore, to constitute a sort of local usage, the “Heiligenkreuz Office.”
In the 1970s, hand-size editions of the breviary, hymnarium, antiphonarium, and psalter were printed. Inevitably, the wear and tear on the books, together with the desire for something more permanent and more worthy of the splendor of the liturgy, motivated the monastery to take a decisive step. In the early years of the millennium, work began on the large choir edition of the Psalter. For the new edition, everything was newly typeset by one of the monks, including all the music (this took him several years).
The choir Psalter is printed on thick Italian paper, usually used for reproducing art prints (size: DIN A3). It was bound by the monks in our own book-binding shop. The covers are made of wood harvested from the abbey’s own forests in the vicinity. The tabs are made of goat leather, and were cut and printed by one of the monks. The pictures are reproductions of pencil drawings by Michael Fuchs, drawn especially for this Psalter.
The monks have been using these magnificent books for close to ten years. The books are durable, easy to read, and beautiful. One may hope someday for a widespread revival of the art of the book, which, despite or perhaps because of its extremely ancient techniques, has much to recommend it in our high-tech world. As a Navajo Indian says to the elderly Bishop Latour in Death Comes for the Archbishop: “Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.”
From the Cistercian Monastery of Stift Heligenkreuz in Austria, our friend Sancrucensis has some very nice photos of a Corpus Christi procession with various stations. Click over to him for the full set.
Some readers of NLM will already be familiar with the blog "Sancrucensis," written by Pater Edmund Waldstein, a Cistercian monk of the Abbey of Heiligenkreuz, not far from Vienna. Pater Edmund often blogs about political philosophy and the arts. In a recent post he makes some fascinating observations concerning the liturgy. I have reproduced some paragraphs of the article below; be sure to visit his website for the full text.
POLITICS AND THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT
... I don’t deny that there are some continuities between the pre-1947 Liturgical Movement and mainstream liturgical thought in the 1960s and 70s, but when I read pre-’47 liturgical theology now, I am far more struck by how different it is from what followed. I claim that this discontinuity is partly a reflection of changing political ideology, and that it is present even in apparently unchanging liturgical projects. I want to show this with the example of celebration versus populum. Both the pre-’47 Liturgical movement (or at least many influential figures in it) and the post-conciliar liturgical establishment (obviously) were for versus populum, but for very different reasons. The pre-’47 promotion of versus populum had to do with an anti-individualist, anti-subjectivist, reactionary politics that fit with the authoritarian and totalitarian political movements of the times; the post-conciliar promotion of the same liturgical posture was on the contrary tied to an anti-authoritarian, egalitarian ideology that reflected the egalitarian/fraternalist movements of the 1960s.
Charles De Koninck's masterpiece On the Primacy of the Common Good provides a key for understanding what was going on. De Koninck shows that there are two opposite errors concerning the common good. The first is the individualist error (which he somewhat misleadingly calls “personalist”). This is the error of considering every common good as merely a useful good, a means to realizing purely private goods. The second error is the totalitarian error of considering the common good to be the good of a reified totality (“the nation,” “the classless society” etc.), to which individuals are entirely subordinated. The true position, which De Koninck unfolds with unrivaled brilliance, is that the common good is more truly the good of the person than any merely private good, so that the necessary and just subordination of the individual to the common good is not the alienation of the individual to someone else’s good. Now each of the two errors about the common good tends to produce a reaction toward the opposite error, and this is the key to understanding the Liturgical Movement.
The original Liturgical Movement was (in part) a reaction against an overly subjectivist, individualistic piety that its proponents saw as being prevalent in late 19th century bourgeois society. ... In this context versus populum celebration had the purpose of letting the congregation see the objective liturgical action so that they would not be shut up in their own private devotions, but rather absorbed into the action of the Mystical Body, considered as a kind of giant individual.
After the Second World War, however, people were understandably rather disillusioned with authoritarian and totalitarian ideas. It took a while for the reaction to set in with full force, but in by the 1960s egalitarianism was everywhere on the rise. It was in this climate that the liturgical reforms were carried out, and while liturgists continued to press for versus populum (without any mandate from Vatican II of course), the reasons had changed. Now versus populum took on an egalitarian, horizontalist, anti-hierarchical, almost anti-supernatural sense. The Wir sind Kirche [We Are Church] ideal of a happy brotherhood gathered around the table.
Our friend Sancrucensis has just posted some beautiful photographs of the funeral of one of his confreres, Fr. Alberich Strommer, who passed away last week at the age of 88.
Just in time for the feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, our friend Sancrucensis has posted some photos of a ceremony of Solemn Profession of Vows recently held at his monastery, Stift Heiligenkreuz (the Abbey of the Holy Cross) in Austria, the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian house in the world. They are also quite well known for their very successful and well-regarding recording of Cistercian chants, Chant: Music for Paradise. The website of the abbey has several more photos available of the same ceremony. NLM is happy to offer our congratulations and best wishes to the whole community - ad multos annos!
In February, the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz in Austria, which we have often covered here on the NLM elected a new abbot, cf. our report here. This Easter Monday, the new abbot, Rt. Rev. Maximilian Heim, received his abbatial benediction from the Abbot General of the Cistercian Order, the Rt. Rev. Dom Mauro Lepori, during a Pontifical Mass celebrated by the ordinary of the diocese, Card. Christoph von Schönborn. Here are some photographs and a video of the ceremony:
The Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz in Austria, which we have often covered here on the NLM (click here for former posts) has today elected a new abbot, after its former abbot, Rt. Rev. Gregor Count Henckel von Donnersmarck, had resigned after twelve years. The election was held under the presidency of the Abbot President of the Austrian Cistercian Congregation, Rt. Rev. Wolfgang Wiedermann, abbot of Zwettl. After a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, the swearing-in of the electors and the chant of the Veni Creator, the 63 monks in perpetual vows - a number not reached in 300 years - elected 68th abbot of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Cross, Very Rev. Maximilian Heim, prior of Stiepel and professor of fundamental theology at the Pontifical Theological Academy of Heiligenkreuz. At 49 years of age, abbot Maximilian II is one of the youngest abbots Heiligenkreuz has ever had.
Here is the new abbot (centre) with Abbot President Wiedermann (l.) and the former abbot, Count Henckel von Donnersmarck (r.):
After the election and the profession of faith and the oath of fidelity of the new abbot, the monks processed into the abbey church, where the abbot sat down before the altar and received the homage of the monks who promised into his hands: "Father, I pledge to you and your lawful succesors obedience unto death." Here is a video of this homagium:
After the homagium, the new abbot takes for the first time his place in the choir, receives the crosier, and the Te Deum is sung.
When talking about the ordinations and the oustanding development in vocations at Heiligenkreuz Abbey recently, I mentioned in passing that a monk of Heiligenkreuz - in fact the former prior, Fr. Christian Feurstein OCist - had been recently elected abbot of another Austrian Cistercian abbey. The abbey in question is the Abbey of Rein in Styria, which is actually the oldest Cistercian Monastery in the world, as it has been in existence since 1129 (see website in English here). This Saturday, the Abbot General of the Cistercian Order, The Rt. Rev. Dom Maurus Esteva Alsina, gave the abbatial blessing to the new abbot. Pontifical Mass was celebrated by the local ordinary, the bishop of Graz-Seckau, The Most Rev. Egon Kapellari. Here are some photographs (click to enlarge) and a video.
(Yes, there are altar girls and Communion in the hand. While this is regrettable, let's not make this the topic of discussion again on this occasion; otherwise I would have to disable comments on this post.)
On 16 August 2010, the Auxiliary Bishop of Graz-Seckau, H.E. Msgr. Franz Lackner OFM, ordained four monks of the Austrian Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz, which is of course well known to NLM readers (cf. here), to the sacred diaconate. Here are two pictures; in the second, you can see, in addition to the bishop and the newly ordianed, the abbot of Heiligenkreuz (to the right) and another monk of Heiligenkreuz who was recently elected abbot of another Austrian Cistercian Abbey, Rein.
There also is a video:
This is part of a truly wonderful vocational development at Heiligenkreuz. On the Sunday before the ordinations, on the Feast of the Assumption, seven monks have made their perpetual vows; and today, at First Vespers of the feast of St. Bernard, seven new novices were accepted and clothed:
Counting all monks and novices, there are as of today 88 cistercians at Heiligenkreuz.
When looking at works of (Western) sacred art or old photographs of ecclesiastical occasions and figures, one thing one notices is that whenever the gesture of blessing is shown (outside of Mass itself), bishops, popes, Saints, and even God Himself (or His isolated hand in the motif of the Hand of God) are shown holding their right hand in a specific manner: thumb, index and middle finger extended, while ring and little finger are bent backwards. This gesture has become archteypical in the West as the Latin gesture of benediction. A very clear example can be seen in the coat of arms of Heiligenkreuz Abbey:
Since the occurences in works of art are countless, I will just show you some very few examples from different periods.
The Hand of God in a codex of St. Gregory the Great's Moralia in Job from Bamberg, 11th c.:
A reliquary of St. Thomas a Becket from Limoges, 13th c.:
Dürer's Salvator Mundi, c. 1504:
A crucifixion from the Beuron school of art:
Whereas for the final blessing of the Mass, the rubrics prescribe a blessing with the hand extended and the fingers joined ("extensa manu dextera iunctisque digitis", ritus servandus XII, 1, which according to references I have found goes back to St. Pius V), whenever we see pictures of blessings outside Mass, the Latin gesture of benediction is the one employed. The most prominent example are the popes, who also used to give the blessing urbi et orbi in this manner. And having their hands raised in this gesture of benediction became the customary way of being depicted in official portraits.
Here is a gallery of popes blessing this way.
St. Peter (in his most famous representation in the Vatican Basilica):
Benedict XIII:
Clement XIII:
Benedict XV:
Bl. Pius IX:
Pius XI:
Ven. Pius XII:
Bl. John XXIII:
Paul VI:
John Paul I:
Ven. John Paul II:
There is also video showing this. Here we see Benedict XV (obviously the speed, typically for film recordings of that time, does not correspond to the real speed):
Pius XII, giving the Easter urbi et orbi blessing:
And again Paul VI in the beatification of St. Charbel Makhlouf which we discussed recently (the blessing is approximately at minute 3:00):
As mentioned, the gesture was, of course, not limited to the popes. Here are some select examples of bishops.
Cardinal Léger, Archbishop of Montreal from 1950 to 1968:
Cardinal Ursi, Archbishop of Naples from 1966 to 1987:
Cardinal Quiroga Palacios, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela from 1949 to 1971:
Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
In one of the inexplicable developments after the II Vatican Council, the practice has widely disappeared, without having ever been - as far as I am aware - officially discouraged, let alone abolished. It has not, however, died out entirely, as you can see from this photograph of the abbot of Heiligenkreuz, Count Henckel-Donnersmarck:
Also, very interstingly, Archbishop Dolan of New York is, on his official portrait as Archbishop of Milwaukee, represented as blessing in this form:
if you know of other examples of current use this gesture, I would appreciate it if you would send them in.
In any case, given the deep rootedness of the Latin gesture of benediction in our tradition, and the rich theological interpretation which has been attributed to it afterwards of referring to the Three Persons of the Godhead (three extended fingers) and the two natures of Christ (two finger folded back), it would seem highly desirable if it could be returned to wider use, especially since no piece of current legislation seems to prevent that. This would ideally include a return of the papal practice as well. Interestingly, it has not completely disappeared from papal imagery either; see for example this medal of Pope Benedict distributed during World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney:
The Holy Father himself is of course well aware of this gesture, as can be seen from this most intersting video, which was taken during his summer holiday in Brixen, South Tyrol, also in 2008 (no embedding possible): http://www.kathtube.com/player.php?id=5267
In it, wee see Pope Benedict with his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, and his secretray, Msgr. Georg Gänswein, before a statue of Our Lady in the garden of the seminary of Brixen. This statue shows Our Lady teaching the Infant Lord Jesus how to bless, employing precisely the Latin gesture of benediction, which the Pope explains, repeating this gesture.
