From a reader:
Dear Fr. Z,
Here’s an email we received at Ave Maria University:
"Dear AMU Community,
The AMU Chamber Choir will sing a Missa Cantata tomorrow at 12:30pm in the Oratory.
In Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, tomorrow is the feast of Christ the King, instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI with the encyclical Quas Primas. In the calendar of the Extraordinary Use, the feast of Christ’s Kingship occurs in proximity to that of His holy court, All Saints.
Music will include:
• Missa Brevis by 16th-century Italian composer, G. da Palestrina
• Coenantibus autem illis by 17th-century indigenous Mexican composer Juan de Lienas
• Gregorian propers of the feast
Vivat Christus Rex."
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The good news keeps on coming! Tom
Thanks to all those who through the years fought, and fought hard, with the administration at Ave Maria to get to this point. It is truly a miracle of grace and prayer.
God bless the priest appointed by the local ordinary to AMT. Strength and bravery to him.
It was great!
There is a known rivalry between my alma mater, Franciscan University and
Ave Maria University.
First Steubenville has a Missa Cantata and now Ave Maria?
That does not sound like sheer coincidence to me.
As a member of the Ave Maria Univ. Chamber Choir, women’s Schola, and a very active member of the sacred music department here on campus, let me assure you, Mr. Symonds, that this was not what you seem to think it was. It wasn’t until last year that the TLM was offered on campus, and this year, our priests have had more time to prepare, as has our music department, to pray the Mass in a more perfect way. Our choir has been training all semester, perfecting the ins and outs of Palestrina’s Missa Brevis to present it to Our Lord in its entirety on the Feast of Christ the King. Also, our Men’s and Women’s Scholae (or the Chamber Choir) have been singing every Sunday since the beginning of the semester, singing the Propers and the Ordinaries of the TLM. Regardless of any “rivalry” between Steubenville and Ave Maria, our Missa Cantata has nothing to do with their Missa Cantata. I am, however, very happy to hear that Steubenville also has the Missa Cantata now. Deo gratias!
Fr. Z, thanks for re-posting this. Please pray for our sacred music department – there are many people here, students and faculty alike, whose hearts and souls are dedicated to furthering true sacred music in the liturgy, and who are doing a splendid job.
ad majorem Dei gloriam!!
Yes, the Mass was beautiful, and I’d wager that there are few places in the world where you would find such music at Mass anymore. There was even one contemporary piece and no, not with drums and guitars, but with Gregorian chant and polyphony in true sense of the Church. I thank God for all who worked so hard to contribute to such a beautiful liturgy.
But the liturgical war still rages there. Recently the boys and girls choirs, who were learning the tradition of sacred music were displaced from their weekly weekday Masses to make room for “Praise and Worship” music that now reigns at 5 weekday Masses in Ave town. What happened?