The Feast of St John Chrysostom, and Mozart’s Birthday

Although the Christian names most commonly used in reference to Mozart are “Wolfgang Amadeus”, he was actually baptized as “Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.” The first two of these names were chosen for the feast day on which he was born, that of St John Chrysostom, which was universally kept in the West on January 27th until the calendar reform of 1969. “Wolfgang” was the name of his maternal grandfather, while “Theophilus” was one of the names of his godfather, Johannes Theophilus Pergmayr, a name which is Germanized as “Gottlieb” and Latinized as “Amadeus.” He was baptized the day after his birth in 1756.

The Te Deum

St John Chrysostom died on September 14, 407, at the city of Comana in Pontus, in the north-central part of modern Turkey, while travelling into exile, banished at the behest of the Empress Eudoxia by her husband Arcadius. Over thirty years later, their son Theodosius II, as a gesture of penance for his parents’ injustices against the Saint, had John’s relics translated from their original burial site to the church of Hagia Irene (Holy Peace) in Constantinople. Since he died on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, his feast day was appointed for November 13th, and is still kept on that day in the Byzantine Rite; the Byzantine Calendar also marks the feast of the translation of the relics on January 27th, whence his traditional Roman day. I have a copy of the Hieratikon, a priestly service book for all the main functions of the Byzantine Rite, printed in 1977, an official publication of the Orthodox Church of Greece; in the Calendar, the feast of his Translation is marked as one of a fairly small number of “red letter days,” but the November 13th feast is not.

The Byzantine Rite keeps on January 30th a feast with the imposing title (again, from my copy of the Hieratikon) “Our Fathers among the Saints, the Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian (i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus) and John Chrysostom.” This commemoration arose from a vivid dispute in the 11th century as to which of the three should be regarded as the Church’s greatest theologian and teacher, a dispute in which people formed parties that called themselves “Basilians” (not, of course, in reference to the religious order), “Gregorians,” or “Johannites”. It was resolved when all three Saints appeared to John, bishop of Euchaita (a city fairly close to where Chrysostom died), saying “There are no divisions among us, and no opposition to one another.” The Byzantine Calendar keeps the feasts of St Basil on January 1st, and Gregory Nazianzen on the 25th, the days of their respective deaths; therefore, the principle feasts of all three, as well as their joint commemoration, all occur within the same month. Along with St Athanasius, all three were declared Doctors of the Church by Pope St Pius V in 1568.

A 17th-century icon of the Three Holy Herarchs. (image from wikipedia)

St Basil shares his Byzantine feast day with the Circumcision; the structure of the Byzantine Rite permits the celebration of more than one feast on the same day, without really “reducing” any of them to a mere commemoration, as is historically done in the Roman Rite. This was clearly not an option in the West, which therefore assigned his feast to June 14th, the day of his episcopal ordination. January 25th is the Conversion of St Paul in the Latin Church, and so St Gregory was historically kept on May 9th, a week after St Athanasius, whose mantle he inherited as the greatest theological writer in the controversies over the Trinity and Incarnation. In the beautiful Byzantine custom of giving distinctive epithets to the more important Saints, he shares the title “the Theologian” with St John the Evangelist.

While the tradition of keeping the ;Saints’ feasts on the day of their death is certainly very ancient, and for that reason alone laudable, it was frequently applied with more zeal than wisdom to the Calendar reform of 1969. One could hardly keep St Basil as a mere commemoration on the newly-created Solemnity of the Mother of God, which replaced the Circumcision in the Roman Rite, even if commemorations still existed. He and Gregory were therefore given a joint feast on January 2nd. Chrysostom, on the other hand, was moved from January 27th to September 13th, the day before his death. It is perplexing, to say the least, why any of this was thought necessary, especially in an age purportedly so concerned with ecumenism. The final result of these changes is that none of these Saints keeps his traditional Western day, not even the one shared by the East; none of them moves to his Byzantine feast day; and none of them moves to his death day.

The Feast of St John Chrysostom, and Mozart’s Birthday

Although the Christian names most commonly used in reference to Mozart are “Wolfgang Amadeus”, he was actually baptized as “Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.” The first two of these names were chosen for the feast day on which he was born, that of St John Chrysostom, which was universally kept in the West on January 27th until the calendar reform of 1969. “Wolfgang” was the name of his maternal grandfather, while “Theophilus” was one of the names of his godfather, Johannes Theophilus Pergmayr, a name which is Germanized as “Gottlieb” and Latinized as “Amadeus.” He was baptized the day after his birth in 1756.

The Te Deum

St John Chrysostom died on September 14, 407, at the city of Comana in Pontus, in the north-central part of modern Turkey, while travelling into exile, banished at the behest of the Empress Eudoxia by her husband Arcadius. Over thirty years later, their son Theodosius II, as a gesture of penance for his parents’ injustices against the Saint, had John’s relics translated from their original burial site to the church of Hagia Irene (Holy Peace) in Constantinople. Since he died on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, his feast day was appointed for November 13th, and is still kept on that day in the Byzantine Rite; the Byzantine Calendar also marks the feast of the translation of the relics on January 27th, whence his traditional Roman day. I have a copy of the Hieratikon, a priestly service book for all the main functions of the Byzantine Rite, printed in 1977, an official publication of the Orthodox Church of Greece; in the Calendar, the feast of his Translation is marked as one of a fairly small number of “red letter days,” but the November 13th feast is not.

The Byzantine Rite keeps on January 30th a feast with the imposing title (again, from my copy of the Hieratikon) “Our Fathers among the Saints, the Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian (i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus) and John Chrysostom.” This commemoration arose from a vivid dispute in the 11th century as to which of the three should be regarded as the Church’s greatest theologian and teacher, a dispute in which people formed parties that called themselves “Basilians” (not, of course, in reference to the religious order), “Gregorians,” or “Johannites”. It was resolved when all three Saints appeared to John, bishop of Euchaita (a city fairly close to where Chrysostom died), saying “There are no divisions among us, and no opposition to one another.” The Byzantine Calendar keeps the feasts of St Basil on January 1st, and Gregory Nazianzen on the 25th, the days of their respective deaths; therefore, the principle feasts of all three, as well as their joint commemoration, all occur within the same month. Along with St Athanasius, all three were declared Doctors of the Church by Pope St Pius V in 1568.

A 17th-century icon of the Three Holy Herarchs. (image from wikipedia)

St Basil shares his Byzantine feast day with the Circumcision; the structure of the Byzantine Rite permits the celebration of more than one feast on the same day, without really “reducing” any of them to a mere commemoration, as is historically done in the Roman Rite. This was clearly not an option in the West, which therefore assigned his feast to June 14th, the day of his episcopal ordination. January 25th is the Conversion of St Paul in the Latin Church, and so St Gregory was historically kept on May 9th, a week after St Athanasius, whose mantle he inherited as the greatest theological writer in the controversies over the Trinity and Incarnation. In the beautiful Byzantine custom of giving distinctive epithets to the more important Saints, he shares the title “the Theologian” with St John the Evangelist.

While the tradition of keeping the ;Saints’ feasts on the day of their death is certainly very ancient, and for that reason alone laudable, it was frequently applied with more zeal than wisdom to the Calendar reform of 1969. One could hardly keep St Basil as a mere commemoration on the newly-created Solemnity of the Mother of God, which replaced the Circumcision in the Roman Rite, even if commemorations still existed. He and Gregory were therefore given a joint feast on January 2nd. Chrysostom, on the other hand, was moved from January 27th to September 13th, the day before his death. It is perplexing, to say the least, why any of this was thought necessary, especially in an age purportedly so concerned with ecumenism. The final result of these changes is that none of these Saints keeps his traditional Western day, not even the one shared by the East; none of them moves to his Byzantine feast day; and none of them moves to his death day.

Mozart Mass on the Feast of the Assumption in Sleepy Eye, MN

On the feast of the Assumption, the parish of St Mary, Help of Christians, in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, will have a Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form; the Ordinary for the Mass will be Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C (K.317), sung by the Sleepy Eye Mozart Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by guest conductor Mr Kevin Allen, who has recently been appointed Director of Sacred Music at St John Cantius in Chicago. The complete Gregorian propers will be sung by a men’s schola, along with the Tota Pulchra Es of Fr José Mauricio Nunes Garcia, a Brazilian composer and contemporary of Mozart, and the famous Ave Verum Corpus of Mozart himself. The day is also the anniversary of the church’s consecration. The Mass will begin at 7.30 p.m.; the church is located at 636 1st Avenue North.

The Feast of St John Chrysostom, and Mozart’s Birthday

Although the Christian names most commonly used in reference to Mozart are “Wolfgang Amadeus”, he was actually baptized as “Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.” The first two of these names were chosen for the feast day on which he was born, that of St John Chrysostom, which was universally kept in the West on January 27th until the calendar reform of 1969. “Wolfgang” was the name of his maternal grandfather, while “Theophilus” was one of the names of his godfather, Johannes Theophilus Pergmayr, a name which is Germanized as “Gottlieb” and Latinized as “Amadeus.” He was baptized the day after his birth in 1756.

The Te Deum

St John Chrysostom died on September 14, 407, at the city of Comana in Pontus, in the north-central part of modern Turkey, while travelling into exile, banished at the behest of the Empress Eudoxia by her husband Arcadius. Over thirty years later, their son Theodosius II, as a gesture of penance for his parents’ injustices against the Saint, had John’s relics translated from their original burial site to the church of Hagia Irene (Holy Peace) in Constantinople. Since he died on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, his feast day was appointed for November 13th, and is still kept on that day in the Byzantine Rite; the Byzantine Calendar also marks the feast of the translation of the relics on January 27th, whence his traditional Roman day. I have a copy of the Hieratikon, a priestly service book for all the main functions of the Byzantine Rite, printed in 1977, an official publication of the Orthodox Church of Greece; in the Calendar, the feast of his Translation is marked as one of a fairly small number of  “red letter days,” but the November 13th feast is not.

The Byzantine Rite keeps on January 30th a feast with the imposing title (again, from my copy of the Hieratikon) “Our Fathers among the Saints, the Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian (i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus) and John Chrysostom.” This commemoration arose from a vivid dispute in the 11th century as to which of the three should be regarded as the Church’s greatest theologian and teacher, a dispute in which people formed parties that called themselves “Basilians” (not, of course, in reference to the religious order), “Gregorians,” or “Johannites”. It was resolved when all three Saints appeared to John, bishop of Euchaita (a city fairly close to where Chrysostom died), saying “There are no divisions among us, and no opposition to one another.” The Byzantine Calendar keeps the feasts of St Basil on January 1st, and Gregory Nazianzen on the 25th, the days of their respective deaths; therefore, the principle feasts of all three, as well as their joint commemoration, all occur within the same month. Along with St Athanasius, all three were declared Doctors of the Church by Pope St Pius V in 1568.

A 17th-century icon of the Three Holy Herarchs. (image from wikipedia)

St Basil shares his Byzantine feast day with the Circumcision; the structure of the Byzantine Rite permits the celebration of more than one feast on the same day, without really “reducing” any of them to a mere commemoration, as is historically done in the Roman Rite. This was clearly not an option in the West, which therefore assigned his feast to June 14th, the day of his episcopal ordination. January 25th is the Conversion of St Paul in the Latin Church, and so St Gregory was historically kept on May 9th, a week after St Athanasius, whose mantle he inherited as the greatest theological writer in the controversies over the Trinity and Incarnation. In the beautiful Byzantine custom of giving distinctive epithets to the more important Saints, he shares the title “the Theologian” with St John the Evangelist.

While the tradition of keeping the Saints’ feasts on the day of their death is certainly very ancient, and for that reason alone laudable, it was frequently applied with more zeal than wisdom to the Calendar reform of 1969. One could hardly keep St Basil as a mere commemoration on the newly-created Solemnity of the Mother of God, which replaced the Circumcision in the Roman Rite, even if commemorations still existed. He and Gregory were therefore given a joint feast on January 2nd. Chrysostom, on the other hand, was moved from January 27th to September 13th, the day before his death. It is perplexing, to say the least, why any of this was thought necessary, especially in an age purportedly so concerned with ecumenism. The final result of these changes is that none of these Saints keeps his traditional Western day, not even the one shared by the East; none of them moves to his Byzantine feast day; and none of them moves to his death day.

All Saints and All Souls Announcements: O. Praem. in California; St John Cantius in Chicago; Columbus, Ohio

Here are a couple of other announcements about liturgies for tomorrow’s solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed on Thursday.

Premonstratensian Rite in Wilmington, California

The church of Ss Peter and Paul in Wilmington, California, will have solemn Mass in the Premonstratensian Rite, celebrated by the Norbertine Fathers of St Michael’s Abbey, on All Saints’ Day and All Souls, both starting at 7:30 pm. The church is located at 515 West Opp Street; see the current parish bulletin here.

The deacon at a Premonstratensian Mass, wearing the almuce, which is donned only for the singing of the Gospel and the Ite, missa est. a unique custom of the Norbertines. 

Mozart’s Requiem in Chicago at St John Cantius

On Thursday, November 2nd, the annual All Soul’s Requiem Mass will be offered in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite at the church of St John Cantius in Chicago, Illinois. The Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626) by W.A. Mozart will be sung by the St Cecilia Choir and Orchestra., as well as the Miserere of Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) and Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Webber (b. 1948). The Mass begins at 7:30 pm; the church is located at 825 North Carpenter Street.

Holy Family, Columbus, Ohio

The Latin Mass Community of Columbus, Ohio, will have Mass for All Saints will be at 5:30pm, a first Mass for All Souls at 9am, and a Solemn Requiem at 7pm. All three Masses will be at Holy Family Church, located at 584 West Broad Street.

Mozart’s Requiem for All Souls’ Day at St Agnes in St Paul, MN

Now in its 44th season at the Church of Saint Agnes in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale will continue its tradition of performing the Requiem of Mozart (K 626) with orchestra, at a Solemn Latin Mass, beginning at 7:30 p.m.on November 2. For more information, visit the website http://www.catholicchorale.org/. The church is located at 548 Lafond Avenue.

From last year’s All Saints and All Souls photopost, here are a couple of great pictures taken at St Agnes during the ceremony.

Ascension Mass in Fribourg, Switzerland

The Youtube channel of the Basilique Notre-Dame, the FSSP’s church in Fribourg, Switzerland, where their international headquarters are also located, has published a video of their Ascension Mass celebrated this past Thursday. The musical program includes, in addition to the Gregorian chant propers, Mozart’s Mass for solo organ in C-major, (K 259 - Mozart seems to be very popular in the liturgy these days!) Campra’s Jubilate Deo, Bournonville’s Accende lumen sensibus, and J.S. Bach’s Toccata in F-major (BWV 540).

Here is their Mass for Easter Sunday.

A Mozart Mass in Tribute to Mother Angelica

Join the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale for a tribute to Mother Angelica, a performance of Mozart’s Spatzenmesse during a Latin High Mass, at St. Agnes Parish in St. Paul, Minnsota, Sunday, May 8, starting at 10 a.m.

All Souls’ Requiem Mass at St John Cantius Tonight

Tonight, November 2nd, at St John Cantius in Chicago, the annual All Souls’ Requiem Mass will be offered by Bishop Joseph N. Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (1962). The Requiem Mass in D minor (K.626) by W.A. Mozart will be sung by the St. Cecilia Choir and Orchestra. Mozart’s Ave verum will also be sung, as well as Mendelssohn’s Beati mortui.

Mozart’s Missa Brevis (“Spatzenmesse”) for All Saints’ in McLean, Virginia

The choir of the Church of St John the Beloved in McLean, Virginia, will sing Mozart’s Missa Brevis in C Major, KV 220 (“Spatzenmesse“ ”) with soloists and a small orchestra, as well as motets by Lassus and Victoria, at a Missa cantata on the feast of All Saints, starting at noon. Details in poster below; click to enlarge.

Mozart’s Requiem on All Souls’ Day at St. Agnes in St Paul

Join the Church of Saint Agnes in Saint Paul, Minnesota as they offer a Solemn Mass for All Souls’ Day on Monday, November 2, 2015 at 7:30 pm. The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale with orchestra will sing the Mozart Requiem Mass K. 626.

For more information, visit the website of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale at http://www.catholicchorale.org/.

Solemn Music for a Wedding

Probably more than a few of our readers have experienced an important life event like a wedding or an ordination which, if not ruined, was at least diminished by bad music in the liturgy. I recently received notice about the following blog, Sed Una Caro, which documents the wedding in July of Alexander Ruder and Esther Kim at the church of St John the Evangelist in Lambertville, New Jersey. The couple put a great deal of thought into their wedding ceremony, as most couples do, but with particular and serious attention to the program of music to be used at the liturgy. The wedding was celebrated in the OF, with the chant Mass De Angelis, and a number of pieces by Mozart, Bach and Monteverdi, and some very good organ music. As one might imagine, it was well received by the guests, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. The whole set of musical pieces is linked on the blog; here is just one selection, Mozart’s Laudate Dominum from the Solemn Vespers of a Confessor sung at the bride’s entrance.

The church was also renovated recently, with the walls of the sanctuary redecorated, and a new organ installed, as documented on this page.

The front page of the wedding program includes an image by well-known Catholic artist Daniel Mitsui.

Congratulations to Alexander and Esther, and our thanks to them for sharing the images and sounds of their wedding, which they have done in the hopes of inspiring other Catholic couples in arranging theirs.

Beautiful Recordings from St John Cantius

If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas, here are two wonderful CD recordings from St John Cantius in Chicago. The recording of Handel's Messiah, made last year, is sung by Ensemble Cor et Vox directed by Rev Scott A. Haynes SJC. The Hallelujah Chorus is featured in the YouTube clip below. The other recording, also by the musicians of St John Cantius, features Mozart's Coronation Mass K317, Dixit Dominus and Magnificat. The second clip below features the Gloria of the Coronation Mass. Both recordings, and many others, are available from the St John Cantius online store.