A visit to the Met, a matter of great joy, and music so beautiful it hurt

Posted on 4 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Yesterday I followed some inclinations and did some spontaneous things.  Am I glad I did.  Thursday 3 February was a memorable day.

I mentioned in another post that yesterday I felt compelled by a Strong Inner Voice to visit the Met Museum of Art.

I finished my weekly article for the The Wanderer and sent it in (it was about the short doxology during the Novus Ordo which is known as the end of the Lord’s Prayer as Protestants pray it… I drilled into the history of that little prayer and commented on what I thought about it being in a Catholic Mass).

After lunch and getting my office done for the day, I went.

Rejoice with me, for I have tidings of great joy.

I now have the coveted yellow Met button.

You know these buttons.  The button nazis check them before you enter museum galleries which have obligatory voluntary donations.

“But Father! But Father!”, you may be saying.  “Might I just observe… ‘big deal!’?

Big for me.  In my last visits I was always getting reds or greens.  Yellow was the only color Met button I didn’t yet have.

It’s the little things in life sometimes.

In any event, there was A Big Thing at the Met.

The Strong Inner Voice drove me there also to see some works that have returned to the Met.  The Vermeers are back, and some new/old rooms are re/opened!

Among the new/old things on display is a newly restored Madonna and Child by Filippino Lippi.

Oh my.

The startling ultramarine – a pigment made from lapis lazuli and more than gold – sucks the oxygen from your lungs as the painting comes into view.

Baby Jesus is crinkling the page of a book, much as babies will.

The pomegranate is a common symbol in Italian renaissance painting and in other art forms as well.  Inspired by Greek mythology and the story of Proserpina, the pomegranate became a Christian symbol of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection.

The Virgin.   What can one say about this?

Filippino Lippi was the son of Fra Filippo Lippi. You can see in Filippino’s painting some influence of Botticelli, whose student he was.

Lippi is from Latin lippus.  Lippus is an adjective meaning “runny-eyed”.  In ancient Rome it seems as if everyone and his brother had eye-infections and their eyes ran all the time.  As a matter of fact the only place I have ever had eye infections is in Rome.  In classical Latin you will find the equivalent of the English adage that something is known “to every Tom, Dick and Harry”, that is everyone.  In Latin something known to everyone is know lippis et tonsoribus… runny-eyed people and barbers.  If memory serves Horace quotes that.

These afternoon pleasures would have made this a wonderful day on their own.

Then I had the privilege of saying Mass and blessing throats for St. Blaise.

But wait!  There’s more!

After Mass on a spur of the moment decision, I went with a friend to Trinity Church downtown at Wall and Broadway to look for treasure. It was once done in the talkies, I believe.

The program.

There was a concert to be had of music of the “Sarum Use”, that is, English composers who wrote music for use in that fascinating Latin Rite use that effectively died out.

I walked away from this concert with my head on fire and chest in pain.  The music was so beautiful that at times it simply hurt.

One of my thoughts as I sat there – overwhelmed – was that this was the perfect argument anyone would need for why a musical instrument would never be needed in a church.

The video of the this concert of Sarum music, I find, is on the website of Trinity Church!  Here.

Listen to one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard, a Salve Regina by Robert Wylkinson (+1515), that I had never heard before.   It is from the Eton Choirbook.  The beginning Salve was amazing. (Minute 19:30 in the embedded video, below.)  It is about 15 minutes long.  The O clemens and O Pia … if you don’t choke up, you are not human.  Some extra text is added.

Salve regina, mater misericordiae,
Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.
Ad te clamamus, exules filii Evae.
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
In hac lacrimarum valle. Eia ergo,
advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes
oculos ad nos converte; Et Jesum,
benedictum fructum ventris tui,
Nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.

Virgo mater ecclesiae,
Aeterna porta gloriae,
Esto nobis refugium
Apud Patrem et Filium.

O Clemens!

Virgo clemens, virgo pia,
Virgo dulcis o Maria,
Exaudi preces omnium
Ad te pie clamantium.

O pia!

Funde preces tuo nato,
Cruxifixo, vulnerato,
Et pro nobis flagellato,
Spinis puncto, felle potato.

O dulcis Maria, salve!

It is scored for 9 voices… for the 9 angelic choirs.

Can some readers take a shot at the Latin that was integrated into this common prayer?  It isn’t hard, but it is beautiful.

And you don’t want to miss the fascinating Apostles’ Creed by Wylkinson at the beginning of the second half of the concert.   (Go to minute 54:00).  There is an introduction explaining the 13 part canon.  (You catch a glimpse of the undersigned at about minute 56:19 and again – completely delighted – at about 58:50.  The camera pans around the church because the choir is stretched up the side and center aisles around the church.)

NOTE: Some of the singers from this group should be singing at Holy Innocents on Sunday for the church’s dedication feast.

I will try to embed this:

For a special treat listen to Robert Parson’s Magnificat beginning at 68:50.   The trebles are… astonishing.

What a day.  I learned so much and my views shifted enormously on a whole range of issues.

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The Feeder Feed: caged in the museum edition

Posted on 4 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Yesterday I felt compelled by a Strong Inner Voice to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Some old/news stuff is back, btw.  More on that elsewhere.

In any event, I enjoyed this little moment.

Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga painted by Goya, in turn being painted by this young lady.

The painting itself.

Manuelito is splendid in his little red suit.

I thank my lucky stars everyday that I didn’t grow up in an age when kids were dressed like that.

The ominous cats are very interested in the pet magpie, which is walking about with Goya’s calling card in its beak.

There is a cage full of finches.  These are the usual European finches which don their “Christological” guise in some paintings, usually of Madonna and Child.  Here they are in a less than Christological setting.

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A first fruit of the provisions of Anglicanorum coetibus

Posted on 4 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

For your Brick by Brick and Pope of Christian Unity files.

A first fruit of the provisions of Anglicanorum coetibus.

Do you remember the story about the number of people coming into communion with Rome in the Diocese of Brentwood (in England)?

I picked this up from the UK’s best Catholic weekly, the Catholic Herald:

Bishop defers plans to cut number of Masses thanks to ordinariate

By Mark Greaves

Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood is putting on hold plans to cut the number of Masses in his diocese because of an influx of Anglican priests entering the ordinariate.

The bishop said he expected around seven new priests and up to 300 parishioners to join the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in his diocese.

He told BBC Radio Essex that out of all the Catholic dioceses Brentwood would have the largest number of parishes entering the ordinariate – three in Essex and three in east London.

Bishop McMahon said today: “Rationalisation of Masses for a number of parishes has been put on hold for the time being, as we wait to see what effect the priests coming into the ordinariate will have in the diocese in the months to come.”

Anglican priests and laity are to be received into the Catholic Church in Holy Week. Priests will then be ordained into the ordinariate at Pentecost, on Sunday, June 12.

Posted in Brick by Brick, Just Too Cool, New Evangelization, Pope of Christian Unity | Tagged , ,
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Birettiquette revisited

Posted on 4 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A priest friend lately asked me about how to handle a biretta while in choir.  This only the first time I have been asked about birettas in the last days.  Therefore, I will repost some information I have shared before.

Religious have other customs if they don’t use the biretta.

Some notes about the proper use of the biretta in choro.

I am looking for the proper use of the Biretta by a priest at Mass.  I know the general rule is that it is worn while seated and usually off while standing.  I have seen some priests lift their Biretta slightly at the Name of God, or of Jesus while they are seated. Thank you for your help.

Once upon a time I actually had made a little pamphlet on this… but I can’t find it.  I will have to redo it in my copious free time.

In the military people need to know what to do with their hats, when to cover and uncover.  This varies with the services.  The Navy handles their covers differently than the Army, for example, when it comes to indoors and outdoors.

The same goes for clergy in choir dress.

I haven’t a lot of time today, so here are some rapid notes I sent to a priest friend who was going to be attending a TLM in choro for the first time and wanted to know what to do.

  • Carry the biretta in procession.
  • Only the sacred ministers wear it when walking.
  • Wear it when seated.
  • Remove it BEFORE standing and recover only when seated again.
  • Do not wear it kneeling.
  • In general, unless you are in vestments as a sacred minister, do not wear it while standing.  An exception would be when a priest is preaching.
  • Uncover at the Holy Name by removing the biretta and lowering it to your right knee.
  • NEVER wear it when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed.
  • Tip it in return if ministers bow to your direction as they pass before you or if they are heading to point X across the sanctuary and make the usual honorific bows.
  • Put it on correctly!  If it is a three-horned biretta, what Italians call a “tricorno”, the middle “horn” goes to the right side of your head so you remove and cover using your right hand.
  • Servers should always offer the biretta so that the priest can grasp that middle “horn”.
  • When standing, hold the biretta with hands before your chest, using both hands, holding the bottom edge so that the biretta is above your hands.
  • If in procession you are carrying a book, hold the book upright with the pages to the left and hook the top of the biretta in your lower fingers below the book.
  • Hold the biretta before your chest as described above when standing when orations are sung, the Gospel is sung, you are being incensed, the blessing at the end, etc.
  • Do not…not… sit on it!

There are some fast tips for your birettiquette!

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged ,
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Coincidence? I wonder.

Posted on 3 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Some people may not realize that football isn’t over yet.   Football is one of those things people watch when it isn’t baseball season.

That said, Green Bay and Pittsburgh, of all places, are in the Super Bowl.

Another thing people may not realize is that former Bishop of Green Bay, H.E. David Zubick, is now Bishop of Pittsburgh.

From a story in the The Compass, the Green Bay diocesan newspaper:

“Bishops’ challenge

Bishop David Ricken and Bishop Zubik have agreed on a charitable Super Bowl wager. The bishop from the losing team will make a cash donation from his personal funds to Catholic Charities of the winning diocese.

I think the fix was in.

And they are both named David… hmmmm….

There’s something dodgy about this.

Come to think of it, Bp. Ricken was born in Dodge City.   Hmmmm….

Coincidence?  You decide.

[CUE MUSIC]

Mystic Monk CoffeeWhen you’ve had a hard day worrying about how ecclesiastical assignments might be the basis for how teams reach the Super Bowl… or perhaps… how future Super Bowl match-ups might be the reason for some ecclesiastical assignments, why not enjoy a piping hot “To Be Deep In History” mug filled to the brim with Mystic Monk Coffee?

That’s right the aroma of freshly brewed Mystic Monk Coffee emanating fromyour big coffee mug, emblazoned with Card. Newman and that famous quote, is sure to lure the unsuspecting into your orbit.  Then you can hit them with your theories about how the NFL and Masonic bankers in Zurich paid teams to throw games so that the Super Bowl line-up would have Green Bay and … of all places… Pittsburgh.  They will be amazed.

Otherwise, why not check your coffee supply right now and just order some coffee and help those monks in Wyoming?  That’s a good enough reason, isn’t it?

Refresh your coffee supply now!

Try their 4 pack sampler with free shipping.

Mystic Monk Coffee!

It’s swell!

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St. Blaise Day Blessing – WDTPRS POLLS!

Posted on 3 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today is St. Blaise Day in the Latin Church.   It is a day traditionally associated with the special blessing of throats.

Specially blessed candles held in the form of an X or a relic of St. Blaise is placed at the throat and the blessing is spoken by a priest or deacon:

Per intercessionem Sancti Blasii, episcopi et martyris,
liberet te Deus a malo gutturis, et a quolibet alio malo.
In nomine Patris, et Filii +, et Spiritus Sancti.  Amen.

Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr,
may God free you from illness of the throat and from any other sort of ill.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

The blessing for the candles in the older Rituale Romanum is wonderful:

O God most powerful and most kind, Who didst create all the different things in the world by the Word alone, and Whose will it was that this Word by Which all things were made should become incarnate for the remaking of mankind; Thou Who art great and limitless, worthy of reverence and praise, the worker of wonders; for Whose sake the glorious Martyr and Bishop, St. Blaise, joyfully gained the palm of martyrdom, never shrinking from any kind of torture in confessing his faith in Thee; Thou Who didst give to him, amongst other gifts, the prerogative of curing by Thy power every ailment of men’s throats; humbly we beg Thee in Thy majesty not to look upon our guilt, but, pleased by his merits and prayers, in Thine awe-inspiring kindness, to bless+this wax created by Thee and to sanc+tify it, pouring into it Thy grace; so that all who in good faith shall have their throats touched by this wax may be freed from every ailment of their throats through the merit of his suffering, and, in good health and spirits, may give thanks to Thee in Thy holy Church and praise Thy glorious name, which is blessed for ever and ever.  Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who with Thee lives and reigns, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  R. Amen.

Mighty stuff!

This may shock you, but I am against lay people giving the St. Blaise blessing… “blessing”, when they give it, that is.  The ghastly Book of Blessings has a form for lay people doing this, so the Church permits it.  That doesn’t mean I have to like it.  What the ordained do when they bless and what lay people do when they “bless” are different.  There.  I’ve said it.  I am sure you are shocked.

Let’s have a couple WDTPRS POLLS about today and the blessing.

Did you receive the St. Blaise Day blessing?

View Results

And another version of the POLL.

TEST POLL (because it was broken and we're fixing it))

View Results

Posted in POLLS, Saints: Stories & Symbols | Tagged ,
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QUAERITUR: Am I forbidden to kneel after the Agnus Dei?

Posted on 3 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Vote for Fr. Z!From a reader:

Our parish has always knelt for the Second Elevation (after the Agnus Dei). This is a regular Novus Ordo Mass. Our priest retired and now our new temporary priest has instructed us to remain standing. I want to kneel. Are there rubrics on this? I found none. Would I be wrong to disobey the priest? Or do I have a right as a Catholic to kneel before the elevated Blessed Sacrament? (This right for Communion has been affirmed by the Vatican). Or are these practices determined in each diocese? I fully intend to kneel, unless somehow I am wrong to do so.

I don’t think it is ever wrong to kneel in a church where the Blessed Sacrament is present.

On the other hand, there is a great deal to be said about adopting the posture of the whole congregation when that posture is what the Church asks for.  The Church does not, for example, ask people to stand during the consecration.

I strikes me that if you want to kneel at times when everyone else is standing, choose a place in Church where you can do this discreetly.  I would say the same to a person who, for one reason or another needs to stand, perhaps because of a back-problem, etc.  I would suggest to him that the front pew perhaps isn’t the best place for him to stand when everyone else is kneeling.

As far as legislation is concerned, this is the situation in the USA.

The General Instruction on the Roman Missal 43 describes postures for Mass. It says that “the people should stand … from the prayer over the gifts to the end of the Mass, except at the places indicated later in this paragraph.”  Those places are the Consecration, “when they kneel,” and after Communion, when they may “kneel, stand or sit”.

Conferences of bishops can “adapt the actions and postures … to the customs of the people.” In the USA the former practice was continued: people kneel after the Agnus Dei.  The US version of the GIRM says:

43 … The faithful kneel after the Agnus Dei unless the Diocesan Bishop determines otherwise.

Local bishops can make a determination.  A pastor cannot.

However, if someone wants to kneel he can kneel.

This has been made clear by the Holy See.

Cardinal George, as Chairman of the USCCB’s liturgy committee received an answer from the CDW on this point:

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

5 June 2003

Prot. n. 855/03/L

Dubium: In many places, the faithful are accustomed to kneeling or sitting in personal prayer upon returning to their places after having individually received Holy Communion during Mass. Is it the intention of the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, to forbid this practice?

Responsum: Negative, et ad mentem. The mens is that the prescription of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, no. 43, is intended, on one hand, to ensure within broad limits a certain uniformity of posture within the congregation for the various parts of the celebration of the Holy Mass, and on the other, to not regulate posture rigidly in such a way that those who wish to kneel or sit would no longer be free. [That is the key.]

Francis Cardinal Arinze
Prefect

Bp. Bruskewitz of Lincoln received an response also specifically about the Agnus Dei:

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

7 November 2000
Prot. 2372/00/L

Query: Is it the case that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, by no. 43 of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, [the new 2000 GIRM]  intends to prohibit the faithful from kneeling after the Agnus Dei and following reception of Communion?

Response: Negative.

Kneel if and when you wish.  Don’t make a spectacle of yourself.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box | Tagged , ,
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What’s wrong here?

Posted on 3 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

What wrong with this… caption?  The photo is fine!

Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI is helped with his mantle as he leads a vesper mass to mark the presentation of the Lord feast in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican February 2, 2011.… Read more »
REUTERS/Max Rossi (VATICAN – Tags: RELIGION IMAGES OF THE DAY)

C’mon Reuters… enough is enough.  This sort of thing happens all the time and it is not merely a difference in terminology from language to language.

Or…

Pope Benedict XVI, flanked

Pope Benedict XVI, center, flanked by bishops Franco Camaldo, right, and Guido Marini holds the ostensory during a Vespers prayer in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011.… Read more »
(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

NOT BISHOPS!

C’mon, AP!

At least they didn’t say “vespers mass”.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Some food for thought about how to approach priests concerning liturgical aberrations

Posted on 2 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Here is something from a priest reader I think is appropriate right now.  A little food for thought.

My emphases and some editing.

A story came to me in the last week or so which struck me as potentially helpful for your readers.  ….

The first comes from a priest in _____.  His “cluster” covers five parishes in four counties.  On a typical weekend he says Mass seven or eight times, visits the regional hospital, and logs more than 100 miles on his car.  He’s a young hardworking priest who, in spite of the demands being placed upon him takes great care in his celebration of the liturgy, his instruction of the people, and his pastoral care of the poor (who are more plentiful in rural places than one might expect) and the sick.

He was recently saying Mass at one of the parishes under his care. It was his six Mass of the day, and he fumbled with the embolism after the Lord’s Prayer.  I can’t reconstruct it exactly, but he kept slipping somehow into the prayer before the Sign of Peace.  Anyhow, he caught himself, tried to correct himself, fumbled again, actually corrected himself, but then got to the prayer before the Pax and basically did the same thing in reverse.  This time he was able to land the prayer in a single try but was obviously embarrassed and genuinely dismayed.  He said he contemplated apologizing during the announcements but thought the better of it and went on as usual.

After Mass he was harangued by someone whom he thought was a strong supporter since he’s a young priest (the mother of a traditional Catholic family, six or eight kids, home-schooled, the whole shebang).  She couldn’t believe that he’d fall in in with “those” priests who tinker with the Church’s liturgy willy-nilly and was so disappointed.  He apologized profusely, admitted that he wasn’t being as attentive as he should have been, and asked that she pray that they find some way to have him say fewer Masses, but she was rude and left.

Later that week he got a call from the chancery.  There was a letter, and after speaking to someone (I think the V.G., though I’m not sure) the matter was settled.

Still, it was very discouraging for this young priest who so desperately needs support to be so rudely treated, especially from someone on whom he thought he could count.

[…]

I only mention this because while I think we have helpfully trained people to expect a liturgy in line with the Church’s tradition and in conformity with liturgical norms I do wonder if sometimes we’ve presumed a level of charity that isn’t always there.  At bottom, even the correction of a liturgical abuse needs to be about charity, the charity owed to the people who are due the Church’s liturgy, and the charity due to a priest (or whomever) is in error.  It’s hard enough for priests formed during a confusing period of the Church’s history to make sense of loads of correction from the pews, but it can be very, very demoralizing for young priests who are much more conscientious about these things to get jumped on for every single mistake they make.

Priests are people too, and so are prone not only to sin, but to weakness, forgetfulness, mistakes, and even fatigue (esp. when he is being asked to say an unreasonable number of Masses).

This is a good and timely reminder.

This is why I often quote those last paragraphs of Redemptionis Sacramentum and will urge people to give the priest the benefit of the doubt in many situations where something out of character happens.  Mistakes happen.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Mail from priests | Tagged , ,
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WDTPRS: Presentation

Posted on 2 February 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Forty days (there’s that number again) out from the Feast of the Nativity we come to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, called also the Purification of Mary as well as the Feast of Meeting by some of our Eastern brethren.   Today is also called “Candlemas”, for we bless candles and light them against the darkness.  And today is and even called YPOPANTI AD SANCTAM MARIAM!

Today’s Collect was in the 1962 Missal and is based on one in the ancient Gelasian Sacramentary amidst the prayers “in purificatione sanctae Mariae” on the date iiii Nonas Februarias (read 2 February).

In the Gelasian it goes like this:

Deus, qui in hodierna die unigenitus tuus in nostra carne quam adsumpsit pro nobis in templo est praesentatus, praesta, ut quem redemptorem nostrum laeti suscipimus, uenientem quoque iudicem securi videamus: …

When you go to your church for Candlemas, you might be privileged to hear this:

COLLECT:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
maiestatem tuam supplices exoramus,
ut, sicut unigenitus Filius tuus
hodierna die cum nostrae carnis substantia
in templo est praesentatus,
ita nos facias purificatis tibi mentibus praesentari.

SLAVISHLY LITERAL TRANSLATION:
Almighty and everlasting God,
we humbly beseech Your majesty,
that, just as Your only-begotten Son
was on this day in the substance of our flesh,
presented in the temple,
so too You may cause us, once our minds have been purified,
to be presented unto You.

Here is a great version from the …

1559 Book of Common Prayer
(the first version ever brought to North American by the settlers at Jamestown):
Almyghtye and everlastyng God,
we humbly beseche thy Majestie,
that as thy onelye begotten sonne
was this day presented in the Temple
in the substaunce of our fleshe;
so graunte that we maie bee presented unto thee with pure and cleare myndes;

How does the version in Latin compare with what you usually hear in churches these days?

LAME-DUCK ICEL:
All-powerful Father,
Christ your Son became man for us
and was presented in the temple.
May he free our hearts from sin
and bring us into your presence.

What will we hear eventually?

CORRECTED ICEL VERSION YET TO COME:
Almighty ever-living God,
we humbly implore your majesty
that, just as your Only Begotten Son
was presented on this day in the Temple
in the substance of our flesh,
so, by your grace,
we may be presented to you with minds made pure.

You decide.

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