What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

For those priests who may be called on tomorrow to sing the Mass for the Feast of Christ the King (the Last Sunday in October in the older, traditional Roman Calendar), there is a PRAYERCAzT available.

Welcome to another installment of What Does the Prayer Really Sound Like? 

Today we will learn the antiphons, orations and readings, for Trinity Sunday in the 1962 Missale Romanum. 

In this installment I will read the texts for Trinity Sunday in the 1962 Missale Romanum. I have a separate PRAYERCAzT for the Preface of the Most Holy Trinity.  I will sing the Collect in the festal tone. The Epistle can always be done recto tono, but I here use a standard tone for the Epistle.  For the Gospel tone this time I use an ancient tone which can be sung ad libitum.  I sing the Post communion in the festal tone.

Helpful tip: Remember, Reverend Fathers, not to rush through the conclusions of the orations, but continue in a measured tone consistent with the rest of the prayer. 

http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/090531_trinity_sunday.MP3

If priests who are learning to say the older form of Holy Mass can get these prayers in their ears, they will be able to pray them with more confidence. So, priests are my very first concern. 

However, these audio projects can be of great help to lay people who attend Holy Mass in the Traditional, or extraordinary form: by listening to them ahead of time, and becoming familiar with the sound of the before attending Mass, they will be more receptive to the content of the prayers and be aided in their full, conscious and active participation.

My pronunciation of Latin is going to betray something of my nationality, of course. Men who have as their mother tongue something other than English will sound a little different.  However, we are told that the standard for the pronunciation of Latin in church is the way it is spoken in Rome.  Since I have spent a lot of time in Rome, you can be pretty sure my accent will not be too far off the mark.

If this was useful to you, let your priest friends know this resource is available. 

Pray for me, listen carefully, and practice practice practice.

Welcome to another installment of What Does the Prayer Really Sound Like? 

Today we will learn the antiphons, orations and readings, sequence, preface and proper parts of the Roman Canon for Pentecost in the 1962 Missale Romanum. 

In this installment I will read the texts for Pentecost Sunday in the 1962 Missale Romanum, including the sequence, the preface and the proper Communicantes and Hanc igitur.  I will sing the Collect in the festal tone, the two readings, the preface of the Holy spirit in the solemn tone, and the Post communion in the festal tone. 

Pay attention for variations in the endings of the orations which are addressed to the Holy Spirit. 

In the preface on Pentecost you say the words hodierna die.  Those words are omitted during the octave and votive Masses.  Helpful tip: In the conclusion of the Gospel the conclusion begins on the second last accent.

http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/090525_pentecost.MP3

If priests who are learning to say the older form of Holy Mass can get these prayers in their ears, they will be able to pray them with more confidence. So, priests are my very first concern. 

However, these audio projects can be of great help to lay people who attend Holy Mass in the Traditional, or extraordinary form: by listening to them ahead of time, and becoming familiar with the sound of the before attending Mass, they will be more receptive to the content of the prayers and be aided in their full, conscious and active participation.

My pronunciation of Latin is going to betray something of my nationality, of course. Men who have as their mother tongue something other than English will sound a little different.  However, we are told that the standard for the pronunciation of Latin in church is the way it is spoken in Rome.  Since I have spent a lot of time in Rome, you can be pretty sure my accent will not be too far off the mark.

If this was useful to you, let your priest friends know this resource is available and make a donation. 

Pray for me, listen carefully, and practice practice practice.

Welcome to another rapid installment of What Does the Prayer Really Sound Like? 

Today we will learn the antiphons, orations and readings for the 5th Sunday after Easter in the 1962 Missale Romanum. 

I read the texts and then sing the prayers the priest must sing in the Festal tone and sing also the Epistle and Gospel in tones you can use on Sundays and feasts.

You can find the Easter Preface HERE.

http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/090512_easter_5.MP3

If priests who are learning to say the older form of Holy Mass can get these prayers in their ears, they will be able to pray them with more confidence. So, priests are my very first concern. 

However, these audio projects can be of great help to lay people who attend Holy Mass in the Traditional, or extraordinary form: by listening to them ahead of time, and becoming familiar with the sound of the before attending Mass, they will be more receptive to the content of the prayers and be aided in their full, conscious and active participation.

My pronunciation of Latin is going to betray something of my nationality, of course. Men who have as their mother tongue something other than English will sound a little different.  However, we are told that the standard for the pronunciation of Latin in church is the way it is spoken in Rome.  Since I have spent a lot of time in Rome, you can be pretty sure my accent will not be too far off the mark.

Let your priest friends know this resource is available. 

Pray for me, listen carefully, and practice practice practice.

Welcome to another rapid installment of What Does the Prayer Really Sound Like? 

Today we will learn the antiphons, orations and readings for the 4th Sunday after Easter in the 1962 Missale Romanum.  I read the texts and then sing the prayers the priest must sing in the Festal and Solemn tones and sing also the Epistle and Gospel in tones you can use on Sundays and feasts.


NB: I had lots of interruptions making this installment… phone calls and vehicles whizzing by outside.  As a result, I had some stops and starts.  Thus, my pitch might drift a little. 

http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/090504_easter_4.MP3

If priests who are learning to say the older form of Holy Mass can get these prayers in their ears, they will be able to pray them with more confidence. So, priests are my very first concern. 

However, these audio projects can be of great help to lay people who attend Holy Mass in the Traditional, or extraordinary form: by listening to them ahead of time, and becoming familiar with the sound of the before attending Mass, they will be more receptive to the content of the prayers and be aided in their full, conscious and active participation.

My pronunciation of Latin is going to betray something of my nationality, of course. Men who have as their mother tongue something other than English will sound a little different.  However, we are told that the standard for the pronunciation of Latin in church is the way it is spoken in Rome.  Since I have spent a lot of time in Rome, you can be pretty sure my accent will not be too far off the mark.

Let your priest friends know this resource is available. 

Pray for me, listen carefully, and practice practice practice.

Welcome to another rapid installment of What Does the Prayer Really Sound Like? 

Today we will hear the Preface of Easter as it is in the 1962 Missale Romanum as well as the 2002 edition.  I speak the Preface and then sing it in the Solemn Tone.  I use the text as it is during Easter Season rather than as it is on Easter Sunday or the Octave.

http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/090504_easter_preface.MP3

If priests who are learning to say the older form of Holy Mass can get these prayers in their ears, they will be able to pray them with more confidence. So, priests are my very first concern. 

However, these audio projects can be of great help to lay people who attend Holy Mass in the Traditional, or extraordinary form: by listening to them ahead of time, and becoming familiar with the sound of the before attending Mass, they will be more receptive to the content of the prayers and be aided in their full, conscious and active participation.

My pronunciation of Latin is going to betray something of my nationality, of course. Men who have as their mother tongue something other than English will sound a little different.  However, we are told that the standard for the pronunciation of Latin in church is the way it is spoken in Rome.  Since I have spent a lot of time in Rome, you can be pretty sure my accent will not be too far off the mark.

Let your priest friends know this resource is available. 

Pray for me, listen carefully, and practice practice practice.

The EXSULTET is one of the most spectacular moments of all the Church’s liturgical life.

When it is sung well in Latin the Church is in her glory!

I have fond memories of singing the Exsultet. The first time, I was a deacon on retreat at a monastery in central Italy, where the largest community of Benedictine nuns in Italy sing every word of their office and Mass in Gregorian chant in their 12th c. abbey. Another time, I was asked by my bishop (of an ancient Roman Suburbicarian diocese) to sing the Exsultet in Latin. We started outside in the deep night in the square before an enormous fire. It took over 10 minutes to get everyone inside, with long pauses between each “Lumen Christi!” The candle was the size of a Scottish caber. Though there was still much movement and exuberance I started singing, and when they heard the rarely use Latin and chant the great crowd quieted. As I sang about the “red-glowing flame” being “divided into parts” I could see a thousand candles and hear the fire still crackling outside as it cast flickering glows through the main door.

Most precious, however, are the times I sang the Exsultet in my home parish.

Here is my rendering of the 1970 Missale Romanum version of the Exsultet. Alas, there is no space to give you the Latin also. The Exsultet is also called the Praeconium Paschale. Paschale is an adjective of a Latinized Hebrew word pascha, for the Passover meal of the lamb. The sure and certain Lewis & Short Dictionary says the adjective praeconius, a, um is “of or belonging to a praeco or public crier” while the substantive praeconium is “a crying out in public; a proclaiming, spreading abroad, publishing.” In a Christian context this of course also infers the Good News! A praeconium is simultaneously a profession of faith and a call to faith extended to all who hear.

The Exsultet is a poem, elements of which go back to St. Ambrose (+397). It is to be sung by a deacon (or priest or cantor) during the Easter Vigil as a hymn of praise to God for the light of the Paschal Candle. The text became part of the Roman liturgy around the 9th century. The text is theologically packed. It contains a summary of Easter’s mystery. Christ is risen: we too can rise in Him. This was prepared for from the fall of man, directed by a loving Father, and awaits only the end of the world, although our baptismal character allows us to live the reality now: Already, but not yet!

There is an introductory invitation to “Exult!” (whence its name) given to three different groups: the angels, the Church on earth, and the whole Church together. There follows an account of works of God in the Paschal Mystery and the history of salvation. It begins with a dialog just like a Preface during Holy Mass.

Like a Eucharistic Prayer the Exsultet is a remembrance (anamnesis) which makes the past mysteries present to us. The singer deacon begs the congregation to pray for him as he tells the story of our family history of salvation with all the foreshadowing and “types” of our redemption. So great is God’s ability to turn evil to good that the deacon dares to call Adam’s fall our “happy fault… felix culpa” since because of it we were sent the gift of our Savior. You hear of the work of bees and the shattering of chains of sin. All evil is driven away.

The constant refrain is that this is a blessed night when heavenly and earthly realities merge together and become one.

Finally, there is a humble petition that God the Father will accept our Paschal candle, our evening sacrifice of praise, and make it into one of the lights of the heavens.

This poem/hymn/prayer is too much to grasp all at once. But year by year we have the chance to hear it renewed in the heart of the Church’s greatest night. The mysteries within it do not change, but we do. Each year we are a little different. We can hear it each year with new insight and understanding.

Consider the setting.

For forty days we have done penance. We participated at the anniversary of Holy Mass and the Priesthood on Holy Thursday with the mandatum and the procession to the altar of repose, Christ in agony in Gethsemane. On Good Friday, the day with no Mass, after our humble prostration before the Crucified Lord we stood for the singing of the Passion. Now we are in a dark church. The fire was kindled and the “Light of Christ” was thrice announced. The faithful have little candles sparked to life from the single flame of the Paschal candle, the “Christ candle”, now lighted as the symbol of His resurrection. The candle is incensed and then:

2002 Missale Romanum

Exult now O ye angelic throngs of the heavens:
Exult O ye divine mysteries:
and let the saving trumpet resound for the victory of so great a King.
Let the earthly realm also be joyful, made radiant by such flashings like lightning:
and, made bright with the splendor of the eternal King,
let it perceive that it has dismissed the entire world’s gloom.
Let Mother Church rejoice as well,
adorned with the blazes of so great a light:
and let this royal hall ring with the great voices of the peoples.
Wherefore, most beloved brothers and sisters,
you here present to such a wondrous brightness of this holy light,
I beseech you, together with me
invoke the mercy of Almighty God.
Let Him who deigned to gather me in among the number of the Levites,
by no merits of mine,
while pouring forth the glory of His own light
enable me to bring to fullness the praise of this waxen candle.

Deacon: The Lord be with you!
Response: And with your spirit!
D: Raise your hearts on high!
R: We now have them present to the Lord!
D: Let us then give thanks to the Lord our God!
R: This is worthy and just!

Truly it is worthy and just
to resound forth with the whole of the heart, disposition of mind,
and by the ministry of the voice,
the invisible God the Father Almighty,
and His Only-begotten Son
our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who, on our behalf, resolved Adam’s debt to the Eternal Father
and cleansed with dutiful bloodshed the bond of the ancient crime.

For these are the Paschal holy days,
in which that true Lamb is slain,
by Whose Blood the doorposts of the faithful are consecrated.
This is the night
in which first of all You caused our forefathers,
the children of Israel brought forth from Egypt,
to pass dry shod through the Red Sea.
This is the night
which purged the darkness of sins by the illumination of the pillar.
This is the night
which today restores to grace and unites in sanctity throughout the world Christ’s believers,
separated from the vices of the world and the darkness of sins.
This is the night
in which, once the chains of death were undone,
Christ the victor arose from the nether realm.
For it would have profited us nothing to have been born,
unless it had been fitting for us to be redeemed.
O wondrous condescension of Your dutiful concern for us!
O inestimable affection of sacrificial love:
You delivered up Your Son that You might redeem the slave!
O truly needful sin of Adam,
that was blotted out by the death of Christ!
O happy fault,
that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer!
O truly blessed night,
that alone deserved to know the time and hour
in which Christ rose again from the nether world!
This is the night about which it was written:
And night shall be made as bright as day:
and night is as my brightness for me.
Therefore the sanctification of this night puts to flight all wickedness, cleanses sins,
and restores innocence to the fallen and gladness to the sorrowful.
It drives away hatreds, procures concord, and makes dominions bend.
Therefore, in this night of grace,
accept, O Holy Father, the evening sacrifice of this praise,
which Holy Church renders to You
in the solemn offering of this waxen candle

by the hands of Your ministers from the work of bees.
We are knowing now the proclamations of this column,
which glowing fire kindles in honor of God.
Which fire, although it is divided into parts,
is knowing no loss from its light being lent out.
For it is nourished by the melting streams of wax,
which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious torch.
O truly blessed night,
in which heavenly things are joined to those of earth,
the divine to the human!
Therefore, we beseech You, O Lord,
that this waxen candle, consecrated in honor of Your name,
may continue unfailing to dispel the darkness of this night.
And once it is accepted as a placating sacrifice,
may it be mingled with the heavenly lights.
Let the morning star meet with its flame:
that very star, I say, which knows no setting:
Who, having returned from the nether realm,
broke serene like the dawn upon the human race,
and now lives and reigns forever and ever.

Here is a sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Lent (2002 Missale Romanum)

Here is a reading of the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, composed by Joseph Card. Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, for the 2005 Good Friday observance at the Colosseum in Rome.

The text is English, though I use Latin responses and prayers between the Stations.http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/080318_stations_ratzinger.mp3

I appreciate the support you have given to me and to WDTPRS. 

This is a token of my esteem. 

UPDATE: Way of the Cross by St. Alphonsus Liguori (voice and with chant)

 

For your Lenten spiritual warfare, here are two version of the Via Crucis, the Way or Stations of the Cross, by St. Alphonsus Liguori.

If people a truly impeded from going to a church, chapel or place where the Stations have been formally set up (which is a requirement for the indulgence to be gained) you can still gain an indulgence by spending at least a half hour in meditation on the Cross and death of the Lord.  This recording might be of help.

One version is plain, just my voice.  The other is the same voice recording, but with the Gregorian chant Sequence Stabat Mater interlaced between the stations.

  http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/080314_stations_liguori_chant.mp3
http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/080314_stations_liguori.mp3

I appreciate the support you have given to me and to WDTPRS. 

This is a token of my esteem.

UPDATE: The Way of the Cross – Joseph Ratzinger (Good Friday – 2005)

 

I decided during Advent to drill into the hymns in the Liturgia Horarum. 

We continue our drilling with the hymn for the Office of Readings in the post-Conciliar Liturgia Horarum called Verbum supernum prodiens, with its unhappier variation from the 1632 reform which is used in the Breviarium Romanum. 

I dissect this hymn, sing it in the Gregorian chant tone, and we hear different translations and many other musical versions.

Once again I ramble a great deal while digging into the meaning of the hymn.

I need to make a correction to something I mention in the PODCAzT.  I once accidentally say "cursus declivus", wrong declension, rather than "decllivis". ARGH!  Declivis, nominative, is "inclining downwards, sloping".  That declivus grated on my ear, but it is too much work to correct the recording right now.  I also made an edit to a comment about the use of the Nativity preface.

Sing the hymns! Buy a Liber Hymnarius! 

  

Along the way you might hear these versions of Verbum supernum prodiens:

On yoolis night: medieval carols and motets – Anonymous 4
Christmas Lullaby – Kim Robertson
Noveaento – Coro Citta’ di Roma – Damijan Mocnik
Phos Hilaron – O heavenly Word – Paul Avgerinos (this is pretty "new age-ie", beware)
O Heiland reiss die Himmel auf, Op. 74, No. 2 – J. Brahms – Emerson String Quartet & Leon Fleisher
Tryin’ To Get Ready – O Heild reiss die Himmel auf – Janet Sullivan Whitaker

The iTunes feed is working.  It stops and starts again… mysteriously.  Beats me!

075 08-12-04 An Advent hymn dissected "Conditor alme siderum"; Fr. Z digresses far afield
074 08-11-26 A hymn to Christ the King dissected – before and after Vatican II; a proclamation; "Sieze the Day" in Scots
073 08-11-16 Augustine on Ps. 95(96) and Fr. Z on how to avoid going to Hell
072 08-11-11 The death of St. Martin; starlings, cuckolds, bell ringing and a skull
071 08-11-06 "Faith inscribed across your heart": Benedict on Cyril of Jerusalem & Cyril on faith, your treasure
070 08-11-01 Venerable Bede on All Saints; a collage; don Camillo (Part IV)
069 08-10-30 Augustine on Ps 103; Benedictines can sing!

http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/08_12_07.mp3

I decided during Advent to drill into the hymns in the Liturgia Horarum. 

We begin today with the hymn for Vespers called Conditor alme siderum, with its variation Creator alme siderum as it was in Breviarium Romanum. 

I dissect this hymn and we hear different translations and many musical version.

I ramble a bit.  No… I ramble a great deal.   We get into an amusing comparison of two Latin verbs… always hilarious and interesting.   You Latin students will be ROFL, because that’s what Latin students do with this stuff.  No. Really.

Then we veer sharply into Roman agriculture and cooking. 

Then we get into a book that screwed up the world, by Jean Jacques Rousseau.  And I talk about a book that talks about books that screwed up the world.

Sing the hymns! Buy a Liber Hymnarius!

 

Along the way you might hear these versions of Conditor alme siderum:

O Divina Virgo – Ensemble Alpha
Chant – Music for the Soul – Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz
Old World Christmas – Alexander Blachly & Pomerium
Schola Gregoriana del Coro F. Paer – Gregorian Chants, Medieval & Renaissance Music
Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre at the Priory of the Resurrection, New Hall
Couperin: L’oeuvre d’orgue – Conditor, en HaulteContre Avec Le Poulce Droict en Trio – Davitt Moroney
The Musical Advent Calendar – Choralschola Lichtenthal
Ceballos: Lamentaciones, Motetes, Missa Tertii Toni, Salve Regina, Magnificat Secondi Toni – Ensemble Gilles Binchois

The iTunes feed is working.  It stops and starts again… mysteriously.  Beats me!

Some of the last offerings (check out the PODCAzT PAGE):

074 08-11-26 A hymn to Christ the King dissected – before and after Vatican II; a proclamation; "Sieze the Day" in Scots
073 08-11-16 Augustine on Ps. 95(96) and Fr. Z on how to avoid going to Hell
072 08-11-11 The death of St. Martin; starlings, cuckolds, bell ringing and a skull
071 08-11-06 "Faith inscribed across your heart": Benedict on Cyril of Jerusalem & Cyril on faith, your treasure
070 08-11-01 Venerable Bede on All Saints; a collage; don Camillo (Part IV)
069 08-10-30 Augustine on Ps 103; Benedictines can sing!
068 08-08-04 Interview – Fr. Tim Finigan on the Oxford TLM conference; don Camillo (Part III)
067 08-07-29 St. Augustine on Martha, active v. contemplative lives; don Camillo (part II)
066 08-07-25 don Camillo (part I): VM - advice on getting TLMs & “pro multis”

A change of pace today, between the last Sunday of the liturgical year and the first Sunday of Advent! 

I dissect a hymn in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Solemnity of Christ the King in the newer, post-Conciliar Liturgia Horarum, the Liturgy of the Hours.  Changes were made to the focus of this feast.  The date was changed from the end October to the end of the Church’s liturgical year, the Mass orations were altered and the hymns moved around and edited for content.

What gives?  

I ramble a bit while I drill into what one hymn really says. We look at and listen to Te saeculorum principem, the hymn for Vespers for Christ the King.

I’m not entirely happy with what I found.

Then we hear a proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving from 1789. What a contrast to how people today try to shove god out of the public square!

Finally, we hear a guest, Martin of Scotland, reading a Scot language poetic version of the Roman poet Horace’s Ode 1.11, which contains the famous line "Carpe diem… Seize the day".  This is written by the Scots poet Robert Fergusson (1750-1774).  I posted on this on the blog on 22 November.  Here is the text and some vocabulary.  You can go to that entry for more background.

Buy a Liber Hymnarius!

Don’t Fash Your Thumb

    Ne’er fash your thumb what gods decree
    To be the weird o’ you or me,
    Nor deal in cantrip’s kittle cunning
    To speir how fast your days are running;
    But patient lippen for the best,
    Nor be in dowie thought opprest.
    Whether we see mair winter’s come,
    Than this that spits wi’ canker’d foam.
    Now moisten weel your geyzen’d wa’s
    Wi’ couthy friends and hearty blaws;
    Ne’er let your hope o’ergang your days,
    For eild and thraldom never stays;
    The day looks gash, toot aff your horn,
    Nor care ae strae about the morn.

ae: one, a single
blaws: blows (back-slappings?)
canker’d: gusty, stormy
cantrip: magic
couthy: agreeable, sociable
dowie: sad, melancholy
eild: age, time of life
fash: trouble, bother, fret (fash your thumb = care a rap)
gash: pale, dismal
geyzen’d: dried out
kittle: tricky
lippen: trust, have confidence
morn: tomorrow
speir: ask
strae: straw
wa’s: ? The context requires something like weasand (Scots weason) = throat, but the only definitions I can find for wa’s are walls and ways, from which I can extract no satisfactory sense. Or could it be waes = woes?
weird: fate, destiny

I really enjoy when people call in and participate.  Many thanks to Martin!

 http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/08_11_26.mp3

Along the way you might hear these tunes:

The Robe – opening credits
Praise to the Lord – Faith of our Fathers II
Spirit of America – US Army Old Guard
Te Deum – Maitrise de Notre Dame de Paris
Hymn to the Muse – Musique de la Grèce Antique
"The Condundrum" (2/4 march) into "Cabar Feidh" (4/4 strathspey) – Jori Chisholm – bagpipe

The iTunes feed is working.  It stops and starts again… mysteriously.  Beats me!

Some of the last offerings (check out the PODCAzT PAGE):

073 08-11-16 Augustine on Ps. 95(96) and Fr. Z on how to avoid going to Hell
072 08-11-11 The death of St. Martin; starlings, cuckolds, bell ringing and a skull
071 08-11-06 "Faith inscribed across your heart": Benedict on Cyril of Jerusalem & Cyril on faith, your treasure
070 08-11-01 Venerable Bede on All Saints; a collage; don Camillo (Part IV)
069 08-10-30 Augustine on Ps 103; Benedictines can sing!
068 08-08-04 Interview – Fr. Tim Finigan on the Oxford TLM conference; don Camillo (Part III)
067 08-07-29 St. Augustine on Martha, active v. contemplative lives; don Camillo (part II)
066 08-07-25 don Camillo (part I): VM - advice on getting TLMs & “pro multis”

I got this from a reader (edited):

Dear Father Z,

I’ve recently gotten our pastor to start the TLM, and we had our second  monthly mass this Sunday.  (Trinity Sunday)  We’re now getting grief from the bishop, but that’s another story.

I was contacted by a woman in the parish that wanted to learn more about the Latin and what it sounds like.  I recall you had several posts where you went through the prayers at the foot of the altar, etc. but after hours of searching, I cannot find them.

Would you please direct me to the proper place on your site where I can find these and help this dear lady.

I’ve commented under _ and also __.  I didn’t want to ID myself, since I was working with the pastor to start this mass and he wanted to keep it a secret until we were ready and got it underway.  We’ve done that and are now getting the grief.

God bless you for all the wonderful work you are doing for the TLM and the church.

The audio PRAYERCAzT projects are all listed on this page, and there is a link to this page on the left side bar (at least as long I we have this template for the blog, that is)

You might let us know what sort of grief you are getting from the bishop.  Remember: keep copies of every piece of correspondence and notes of your conversations.

About the PRAYERCAzTs: I stopped doing them because there seems to have been too little interest in them to merit my effort to make them.  They were originally intended to help priests get the Latin into their ears, and therefore their tongues, but they could also have been useful to help lay people in the congregation prepare to participate more fully at Holy Mass.

I would make them again if there was enough support, but I didn’t have enough evidence that many people were actually using them.

This is superb.

“At this moment I can only thank you for your love of the Church
and Our Lord, and for the love which you show to the poor
Successor of Saint Peter. I will try to do all that is possible
to be a worthy successor of the great Apostle, who also was a man
with faults and sins, but remained in the end the rock for the
Church. And so I too, with all my spiritual poverty, can be for
this time, in virtue of the Lord’s grace, the Successor of Peter.

It is also your prayers and your love which give me the certainty
that the Lord will help me in this my ministry. I am therefore
deeply grateful for your love and for your prayers. My response
now for all that you have given to me during this visit is my
blessing, which I impart to you at the conclusion of this beautiful
Celebration.”

In italiano

«Posso solo rendervi grazie per il vostro amore per la Chiesa, per l’amore a Nostro Signore, e per l’amore che date anche al povero successore di Pietro. Io farò tutto il possibile per essere un vero successore del grande san Pietro che era anche un uomo con i suoi difetti e alcuni peccati, ma alla fine rimase la roccia della Chiesa e così anch’io, con tutta la mia povertà spirituale possa essere con la grazia di Dio in questi tempi il successore di Pietro». Parole che fanno tornare alla mente un appunto nei diari di Paolo VI, che parlava della propria «inadeguatezza» al compito ricevuto, o l’espressione di Papa Luciani che davanti ai cardinali, chiedendo preghiere per la sua missione, aveva definito se stesso un «poverocristo vicario di Cristo».

 

I had the honor of being celebrant for the Vigil of Easter, with the 1962 Missale Romanum, at St. Augustine’s Church in S. St. Paul, Minnesota.

Here is my sermon.

http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/080323_Vigil_sermon.mp3 

If any of you out there must sing the Exsultet in Latin, there is a PODCAzT available with a recording of me doing it, in the Novus Ordo version, a couple years ago and explaining some things about it.

UPDATE: I made a rapid recording of the Exsultet with the 1962 Missale Romanum.  No frills! And I am a little stuffed up, ... but it should help anyone who needs to practice it.

________

ORIGINAL POST: 

For forty days we have done penance. We participated at the anniversary of Holy Mass and the Priesthood on Holy Thursday with the mandatum and the procession to the altar of repose, Christ in agony in Gethsemane. On Good Friday, the day with no Mass, after our humble prostration before the Crucified Lord we stood for the singing of the Passion. Now we are in a dark church. The fire was kindled and the “Light of Christ” was thrice announced. The faithful have little candles sparked to life from the single flame of the Paschal candle, the “Christ candle”, now lighted as the symbol of His resurrection.

The candle is incensed and then the deacon sings:

    Exult now O ye angelic throngs of the heavens:
    Exult O ye divine mysteries:
    and let the saving trumpet resound for the victory of so great a King.
    Let the earthly realm also be joyful, made radiant by such flashings like lightning:
    and, made bright with the splendor of the eternal King,
    let it perceive that it has dismissed the entire world’s gloom.
    Let Mother Church rejoice as well,
    adorned with the blazes of so great a light:
    and let this royal hall ring with the great voices of the peoples.
    Wherefore, most beloved brothers and sisters,
    you here present to such a wondrous brightness of this holy light,
    I beseech you, together with me
    invoke the mercy of Almighty God.
    Let Him who deigned to gather me in among the number of the Levites,
    by no merits of mine,
    while pouring forth the glory of His own light
    enable me to bring to fullness the praise of this waxen candle.

    Deacon: The Lord be with you!
    Response: And with your spirit!
    D: Raise your hearts on high!
    R: We now have them present to the Lord!
    D: Let us then give thanks to the Lord our God!
    R: This is worthy and just!

    Truly it is worthy and just
    to resound forth with the whole of the heart,
    disposition of mind,
    and by the ministry of the voice,
    the invisible God the Father Almighty,
    and His Only-begotten Son
    our Lord Jesus Christ,
    Who, on our behalf, resolved Adam’s debt to the Eternal Father
    and cleansed with dutiful bloodshed the bond of the ancient crime.
    For these are the Paschal holy days,
    in which that true Lamb is slain,
    by Whose Blood the doorposts of the faithful are consecrated.
    This is the night
    in which first of all You caused our forefathers,
    the children of Israel brought forth from Egypt,
    to pass dry shod through the Red Sea.
    This is the night
    which purged the darkness of sins by the illumination of the pillar.
    This is the night
    which today restores to grace and unites in sanctity throughout the world Christ’s believers,
    separated from the vices of the world and the darkness of sins.
    This is the night
    in which, once the chains of death were undone,
    Christ the victor arose from the nether realm.
    For it would have profited us nothing to have been born,
    unless it had been fitting for us to be redeemed.
    O wondrous condescension of Your dutiful concern for us!
    O inestimable affection of sacrificial love:
    You delivered up Your Son that You might redeem the slave!
    O truly needful sin of Adam,
    that was blotted out by the death of Christ!
    O happy fault,
    that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer!
    O truly blessed night,
    that alone deserved to know the time and hour
    in which Christ rose again from the nether world!
    This is the night about which it was written:
    And night shall be made as bright as day:
    and night is as my brightness for me.
    Therefore the sanctification of this night puts to flight all wickedness, cleanses sins,
    and restores innocence to the fallen and gladness to the sorrowful.
    It drives away hatreds, procures concord, and makes dominions bend.
    Therefore, in this night of grace,
    accept, O Holy Father, the evening sacrifice of this praise,
    which Holy Church renders to You
    in the solemn offering of this waxen candle
    by the hands of Your ministers from the work of bees.
    We are knowing now the proclamations of this column,
    which glowing fire kindles in honor of God.
    Which fire, although it is divided into parts,
    is knowing no loss from its light being lent out.
    For it is nourished by the melting streams of wax,
    which the mother of bees produced for the substance of this precious torch.
    O truly blessed night,
    in which heavenly things are joined to those of earth,
    the divine to the human!
    Therefore, we beseech You, O Lord,
    that this waxen candle, consecrated in honor of Your name,
    may continue unfailing to dispel the darkness of this night.
    And once it is accepted as a placating sacrifice,
    may it be mingled with the heavenly lights.
    Let the morning star meet with its flame:
    that very star, I say, which knows no setting:
    Who, having returned from the nether realm,
    broke serene like the dawn upon the human race,
    and now lives and reigns forever and ever.

 

 

http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/07_04_07.mp3
http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/080320_1962MR_exsultet.mp3

Here is a reading of the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross, composed by Joseph Card. Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, for the 2005 Good Friday observance at the Colosseum in Rome.

The text is English, though I use Latin responses and prayers between the Stations.

http://www.wdtprs.com/prayercazt/080318_stations_ratzinger.mp3