Corpus Christi in Valencia
Dominican Priesthood Ordinations Live on EWTN this Saturday
Tomorrow morning the Dominican Province of St. Joseph (Eastern Province) is scheduled to ordain 11 of their brothers priests of Jesus Christ.
The Ordination Mass will be broadcast live, at 9:30 Eastern time, on the Eternal Word Television Network. The venue is the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Our readers may be interested in viewing for any number of reasons liturgical and otherwise, including the consolation of the beautiful witness of so many excellent young men dedicating themselves to priestly service for the salvation of souls.
A Hymn for the Morning
St. Robert Bellarmine’s office hymn Orbis Patrator optime, in honor of the Guardian angels
Trans c. 2013
O best Perfector of all things,
who out of nothing being brings
through your almighty strong right hand;
who rules by provident command,
Come here to sinners, Lord, we pray,
assembled at the dawning day.
As day breaks through the dark of night,
Lord, give our minds a newborn light.
And may the angel guard you give
be with us all the days we live.
May he be ever close to win
protection from the plague of sin.
May he exterminate that claim—
the dragon’s envy and his blame—
and keep our hearts, caught unawares,
from walking into lying snares.
To exile let our foes be sent;
let illness share their banishment.
Let people prosper and increase
in realms of health and lasting peace.
To God the Father glory be,
who cares, by angel ministry,
for all those ransomed by the Son
and whom the Spirit’s unction won.
who cares, by angel ministry,
for all those ransomed by the Son
and whom the Spirit’s unction won.
The Spirit of Truth
The Death of the Proper Religious Funeral
Excellent piece in the Spectator of the value of liturgical rites for the dead, from an Anglican POV.
Today’s emphasis is more on celebrating a life past than honouring the future of a soul. While I am not averse to a celebratory element, the funeral is morphing into a spiritually weightless bless-fest.
Having “done” or attended my share of Masses of Christian Burial where there was a need for me to explain why Little Drummer Boy, Somewhere Over the Rainbow or Toora-loora-loora might not be the best choice for the Offertory procession; or where Mardi Gras beads were distributed, (not with the usual quid pro quo from the ladies, at least); or where the eulogist told a slightly bawdy story or toasted the deceased by popping open a malt beverage, may I salute those of you, priests and musicians, still in the trenches, and thank you for “proper religious funerals,” where the “ancient formulae” offer,
liturgical material which reassures us that the man with the scythe will not have the last word.
(All the above examples of dysliturgy, by the way, taken from life.)
Colloquium 2016!
For those who haven’t yet attended a Colloquium, it is often a life-changing experience. The sheer joy of singing beautiful music with hundreds of other like-minded musicians builds up an energy capacity that can carry a parish musician through all of the challenges of the coming year.
The Colloquium is a learning opportunity as well, with serious breakout sessions on the necessary “tricks of the trade,” including conducting and organ.
Come join the movement of sacred music! Attend the 2016 Church Music Association Colloquium.
Making a School Musical
I’ve spent the past year working at a wonderful independent Catholic K-12 school in southern California. I thought I would write about some of my experiences there, for those who are hoping to build a musical culture in a similar situation.
The students have a history of singing the simplest Gregorian Mass ordinary, and I decided to leave that alone for the time being while we focused on some other elements of sacred music.
I teach K-8 music once a week per class. In K-5 we’ve focused on repertoire in preparation for Mass.
- The 4 seasonal Marian antiphons, sung at the end of Communion time.
- Chant hymns including the Adoro Te, Ave Verum Corpus, Attende Domine, Veni Creator Spiritus, and Rorate Caeli
- Communion proper chants, seasonal responsorial Psalms
- A very limited repertoire of English hymns, with outstanding text and music. Tunes include Duke Street, Jesu dulcis memoria, Salzburg, Hyfrydol, Old Hundredth, Passion Chorale, and Land of Rest.
The students have also learned some theory, using ideas from the Ward Method.
The middle schoolers have learned all of the above, plus some modern theory. They can identify all of the notes using both chant and modern notation. The eighth graders can sight sing chant notation.
For the usual Christmas pageant we used excellent Christmas carols, including Resonet in laudibus, the Carol of the Bells, and In dulci iubilo.
The high school choir has focused on SATB harmony. In addition to harmonizing the non-chant hymn tunes, which is itself a musical education because of the musicality of the arrangements (several by Bach), we’ve learned several classic motets: Sicut Cervus, If Ye Love Me, Mozart’s Ave Verum, and O Sacrum Convivium.
Although we’ve had some good luck, and I’ve had some practice at this sort of thing, the main strength of our program has simply been the vision that school music can and should aim at a high level of quality.
I’d certainly be happy to advise anyone who is interested in implementing a similar program. It’s not as hard as you might think–and it is definitely worth trying!