Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

An oldie PODCAzT about an Advent hymn

Posted on 29 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

An oldie PODCAzT about an Advent hymn.

As I wrote back then:

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!

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You will hear various versions of the famous hymn along the way!

Posted in PODCAzT | Tagged ADVENT, Conditor alme siderum, hymn
7 Comments

REVIEW: St. Antoine Daniel Gregorian Chant Ordinaries (and Fr. Z rants)

Posted on 28 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

At what became my home parish back in my native place, on Saturday mornings there was always a modest sung Mass in Latin, with incense and Gregorian chant.

People would file into the chapel and take from a basket to the left of the door a copy of the Kyriale (if they didn’t have one of their own). A small schola, just three or four of the larger Sunday group, would sing the Propers.

The whole congregation sang the Ordinary. Before Mass the director of the choir would simply announce which Mass setting was to be used, ("Today we are singing Mass IV.") and people simply sang it.

Over the years many people no longer needed to use the Kyriale: they knew the chants by heart.

Want to talk about congregational singing? This was no assembly being hounded by an arm waving wanna be American Idol contestant with a mic. Over one hundred people singing chant: blue collar workers and old ladies, students and execs, women religious, children and a scattering of seminarians on a stealthy foray from what we called "The Hole" just to learn and recharge batteries.

Growing up as a Lutheran, I remember the congregation singing in four part harmony from a hymnal. Can’t Catholic congregations can’t sing a one part Gregorian chant setting from a Kyriale?

This is not rocket science. Chant is not hard. Singing Gregorian chant can and should be entirely normal for a parish. The Council said that Latin was to be retained (SC 36) and that the faithful should be able to sing and speak the parts that pertain to them (SC 54). Gregorian chant should have pride of place (SC 116).

Are we going to pretend the Council didn’t mean what it promulgated?

In this time when people are reassessing the Second Vatican Council through a hermeneutic of continuity, in this time when people are stressing fidelity to the Council in the face of a resurgent traditional worship, Gregorian chant must be more widely embraced.

With a biretta tip to NLM I visited a site designed to help people learn to sing Gregorian Chant Ordinaries for Holy Mass.
Saint Antoine Daniel Gregorian Chant Ordinaries

The site is beautifully designed. You can listen to recordings of each of the chants in the Kyriale, which is a small book published my Solesmes and which contains these settings (Kyrie, Gloria, Creed, Sanctus, Agnus Dei).

Since the Kyriale simply numbers these settings with Roman numerals, it could be hard for newbies to figure out which setting to use for which Mass, and also how to sing them. Appropriate recommendations are made for which Mass setting to sing for different seasons or feasts. For example, if it is a Sunday of Advent you should use Missa XVII and can use Credo IV.

The site is very well designed and easy to navigate. They provide mp3s of the individual pieces sung both by an individual and a schola. The schola versions are, I believe, mostly from recordings, such as those made by the monks at Solesmes. It looks like they will eventually have a YouTube link. This is a site under construction. You can also download the musical score with the Gregorian chant notation and also for organ accompaniment.

The site could be useful for both people who want to sing chant for both the older, traditional form of the Roman Rite as well as for the Novus Ordo.

Let us not forget that Gregorian chant really is the official music for the Novus Ordo. Hopefully more and more priests and parish music directors will come to realize that and use sites like these to bring Gregorian chant to their congregations.

Finally, on the site in question there is a description of who St. Antonie Daniel was and why his name was chosen for the site.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Brick by Brick, REVIEWS, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged Gregorian chant, Saint Antoine Daniel Gregorian Chant Ordinaries
30 Comments

New Benedictine Ferula

Posted on 27 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

NLM has this:

Tomorrow Pope Benedict will celebrate Pontifical Vespers as the first Vespers of the first Sunday of Advent, which also marks the beginning of the new liturgical year.

On this occasion, the Holy Father will begin to use a new pastoral staff. As Msgr. Guido Marini, the Papal Master of Ceremonies, tells tomorrow’s edition of the Osservatore Romano:

Similar in shape to the ferula of Pius IX so far in use this can be considered to all intents and purposes the pastoral staff of Benedict XVI.

Like the ferula of Bl. Pius IX in 1877, the new staff is donated to the Pontiff by the Circolo San Pietro, a Roman association founded in 1869 in support of the papacy. It is slightly smaller and lighter than the ferula of Bl. Pius IX.
On the front side of the new ferula is depicted in the centre the Lamb of God, and on the four points of the cross, the symbols of the four Evangelists. The arms of the cross are decorated in a net-like pattern which evokes the fisherman whose successor Pope Benedict is. On the backside there is in the centre the Chi-Rho, the monogram of Christ, and on the four points of the cross, four Fathers of Occident and Orient, Augustine and Ambrose, Athanasius and John Chrysostom, the same who also carry Bernini’s cathedra. On the top of the shaft is the coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI.

Posted in Just Too Cool | Tagged ferula
17 Comments

Pope Benedict to beatify John Henry Newman in England

Posted on 27 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is some news in the best Catholic weekly in the UK, The Catholic Herald:

Pope Benedict plans to beatify Newman during visit to Britain
By Simon Caldwell

27 November 2009

The Pope is to waive his own rules so he can preside in person over the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman during a papal visit to Britain next year, according to sources close to the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI will personally take charge of the ceremony to declare the Victorian convert Blessed when he visits England in early September at the invitation of Gordon Brown.

The Pope has previously insisted that all beatifications are carried out by a Vatican official in the diocese in which the candidate died, which in Newman’s case is Birmingham.

But because the Pope has such a strong devotion to Cardinal Newman and his theological writings he has decided to break his own rules and beatify the cardinal himself.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster refused to either confirm or deny the report: "The details of the Pope’s visit are far from clear," he said. "What is clear is that the Holy Father has a great and long-standing devotion to Cardinal Newman and the beatification of Cardinal Newman is due."

Fr Ian Ker, author of the definitive biography of Cardinal Newman, said: "By breaking his own rules Pope Benedict clearly shows he regards Newman as a completely exceptional case, one of the great theologians of the Catholic Church. Many of the popes have been anxious to canonise Newman. They look to him as a man who welcomed modernisation but in fidelity to Church authority and in continuity with the traditions of the Church."

Pope Benedict announced the beatification in July after Vatican theologians ruled that the inexplicable healing of Jack Sullivan, an American with a severe spinal condition, was a miracle brought about by praying for help to Cardinal Newman.

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged beatification, England, John Henry Newman
8 Comments

CDWDS responds on question of H1N1 and restriction of Communion on the tongue

Posted on 26 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I don’t know how many e-mails I have received from people in distress about parishes or even dioceses attempting to issue edicts which effectively forbid reception of Holy Communion on the tongue because of the risk of contagion (e.g., Swine Flu, H1N1).

Many thanks to our friends at Rorate for digging this up.

I think it is legitimate to suggest that people receive in the hand, but it is not proper to compel them.

Now there is a development…. or rather a development has come to light.

While this is not an official declaration or clarification of the Congregation for Divine Worship, this is nevertheless not nothing.

The means of a letter dated from July 2009 the CDWDS’s Sotto-Segretario Fr. Anthony Ward responded to a question about this matter.

In several entries here and in many e-mails I have go back to the key document in this regard, the CDWDS’s 2004 instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum.

"But Father! But Father!", you might be saying. "Why that document in particular? Don’t you know that permission has been given for Communion to be given on the hand? Don’t you know that many bishops think it is to be preferred?"

Yes, I know those things as facts. But Communion in the hand remains an option, and not even the normative option. Permission was given to do something other than receive directly on the tongue. Reception on the tongue is the actual norm and standard.

This is affirmed by the Holy See.

Here is the text of the letter sent my the Under-Secretary of the CDWDS to the questioner, a layman in the UK asking about a diocese where Communion on the tongue had been restricted because of H1N1:

Prot. N. 655/09/L

Rome, 24 July 2009

Dear ___

This Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments wishes to acknowldge receipt of your letter dated 22 June 2009 regarding the right of the faithful to receive Holy Communion on the tongue.

This Dicastery observes that its Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (25 March 2004) clearly stipulates that "each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue" (n. 92, nor is it licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful who are not impeded by law from receiving the Holy Eucharist (cf. n. 91).

The Congregation thanks you for bringing this important matter to its attention. Be assured that the appropriate contacts will be made.

May you persevere in faith and love for Our Lord and his Holy Church, and in continued devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament.

With every good wish and kind regard, I am,

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

(Fr. Anthony Ward, S.M.)
Under-Secretary

This pretty much clears up that point.

Diocese or parishes or any other institution/community cannot… may not… forbid Communion on the tongue, even in time of contagion.

In your particular circumstances you might hear suggestions and arguments that Communion on the tongue should be curtailed for a time, but it cannot be forbidden or denied.

Clear enough, I think.

Posted in "But Father! But Father!", "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged CDWDS, Communion in the hand, H1N1
20 Comments

A “first TLM” note… brick by brick in Georgia

Posted on 25 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is a nice note from a reader:

Tonight, I attended my first TLM in approximately 46 years (I am 49).

It was a beautiful Mass and I was filled with God’s love to the point of tears. The Mass was celebrated at 5pm at Most Holy Trinity Church, just across the river in Augusta, GA and the church was packed…about 500 people. There was such joy after the Mass….everyone was smiling and asking when Father would be back.

As a "victim of VII", I am thankful that I have your blog to point me in the right direction and to help me finally begin to understand what it really means to be Catholic.

Posted in Brick by Brick | Tagged Augusta, Georgia
6 Comments

QUAERITUR: use of the zucchetto at Mass, etc.

Posted on 25 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I need to enlist the help of readers. I am on the road and away from my books.

I need your expert assistance on the clerical use of the zucchetto. As a premise I’m aware that it is not to be worn by a cleric/religious who is a ‘minister’ (major or minor) at Mass. However, I’m wondering about its use for those authorized to wear it who are attending Mass either in Choir or in the Nave. I can’t seem to find any instructions concerning this point. If it can be worn by those attending Mass (in either way) would the removal and wear follow that provided for Bishops? What about the Gospel Canticle at the major hours and Compline? I’ve posed this question to others but I haven’t received an answer as of yet.

The context for this question is that a few of us in our community wear the black zucchetto at my Priory and its proper liturgical use has come up for discussion by our liturgy committee tonight, on which I sit – but I have no concrete sources (save: The Church Visible) to help answer this question.

My understanding is that those who have the right to wear the zucchetto may wear it during Mass except at the time when a bishop or abbot would remove it, as during the Canon or when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. I believe that applies also to religious who would use one.

Perhaps some of you with experience of such things would chime in.

Posted in ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged zucchetto
8 Comments

Brick by brick… big bricks… in Lyon

Posted on 25 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is a nice brick by brick story picked up from NLM:

Recently there was a meeting of French faithful attached to the usus antiquior, the rencontre pour l’Unité Catholique (Meeting for Catholic Unity), in Versailles, France. In the course of the meeting, Fr. Laurent Spriet of the Association Totus Tuus made an important announcement.

[…]

Fr. Spriet announced, that Cardinal Barbarin will open next year in Lyon a "bi-formalist" seminary, i.e. a seminary dedicated to both forms of the Roman Rite, which will be both taught and celebrated there. This is the first diocese in France after that of Toulon which offers this possibility to its seminarians. Cardinal Barbarin’s project will even go further than that of Toulon: not only will the seminarians have the opportunity to be formed according to the extraordinary form, Mass according to the usus antiquior will be celebrated every day in the seminary, open to all seminarians, including those of the ordinary form.

What I think we have to call into question is the reference to speaking about "ordinary or extraordinary form seminarians".

I don’t think priests should be ordained for books.

I praise, laud and applaud the initiative to bring all the men together for integrated formation. That is very important. However, I think that all men should be trained equally in both forms so that, in their ministry, they have all the tools they will need for the future as Roman Catholic priests.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Just Too Cool, SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM | Tagged Card. Barbarin, Lyon
9 Comments

The Manhattan Declaration

Posted on 25 November 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

REPOSTED from 20 Nov:

Have you heard about the Manhattan Declaration?

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

the sanctity of human life

the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife

the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

There is a long article in First Things which goes into depth.