Must watch

What's the Beef with Latin?

The Spirituality of Gregorian Chant

Part 2

By Ben

In principio erat Verbum. In the beginning was the Word.

Gregorian chant is different from almost all other types of vocal music in that its texts are not fit to music. Most of the words in chant are prose. They are taken from scripture and since they are sacred they aren’t paraphrased to fit the music. Rather the shape of the music is determined by the text.

The simplest form of chant is when a text of scripture is chanted to a ‘tone’ or even 'rectotono’. (single reciting pitch.) Here is an example:
Listening you can see how the music is an expression of prayer, an expression of the sacred text, it flows out from, rather than being imposed upon the words. This idea is pretty basic but also very important. This is different than almost all other types of music.

‘Contemporary’ and other types of religious/devotional music are also divorced from this idea. Other types of music take a sentiment, an emotion, or an idea and create some form of poetry that is regular (prose is irregular) for the purpose of music, this is okay in the right context, but it isn’t sung prayer or at least not in the same sense that chant is.

One might try an experiment to better understand this concept. Take some prayer, perhaps the ‘Glory be to the Father’, and pray it with sincerity by reciting it, then pray it by singing it on a single comfortable pitch. The idea that prayer has burst into music should then become clear.

In conclusion I would like to quote from the book, ‘An Introduction to the Interpretation of Gregorian Chant” by Luigi Agustoni and Johannes Goschl, page two.

“The text is not something that just happens to be attached to a particular melody but rather the text is a sounded word that has flowered into a musical work. The line does not run from the melody to the text that has been set, but on the contrary the exact opposite. The direction is from the word to its realization in musical sound. The source, from which the Gregorian melodies originate and are nourished, is the word. In fact, it is the word of the liturgy, a word that possesses a sacramental character according to the statements of the Second Vatican Council, (*) for Christ is present in it, and in it Christ is received. This word of the liturgy, which in the final analysis is always God speaking to us, that is to say, the encounter of the human being with God, finds its highest expression when it can blossom forth in music. This happens in Gregorian chant to an eminent degree.”

* They reference Art. 51 of the Constitution on the sacred liturgy, “The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God’s word.”

On chant

The spirituality of Gregorian Chant

Part One, definitions

By Ben

While I am not an expert on the subject of Gregorian Chant, I do know something about it and think that at least a general understanding of the chant would be beneficial for all Catholics. Gregorian chant belongs to and is for, everyone, even those who “cannot sing”.

Before we can talk about the chant, though, we must define it. Musicologists have their own definitions of course (‘Frankish/Roman monophonic liturgical music prior to the tenth century’….etc.) but they are viewing the chant as a musical artifact to be studied like any other fossil. They have a role to play, but we must look at things differently.

Gregorian chant is ancient, its origins/composers are lost in time, it belongs to no one and so it is everyone’s. No single culture can claim it as their own. Like the liturgy itself it has absorbed and surpassed cultures and emerged as purely Christian and universal. For us the chant is alive. It is just as much part of the liturgy now as ever. So, on to some definitions.

For our purposes, Gregorian chant is the native music of the Roman liturgy (other Catholic liturgies, the Ambrosian for example, have their own chant); it is not music that accompanies the liturgy, it is the liturgy, sung. It is in the Latin language. It takes its name from Pope St. Gregory the Great who was very important in the development of the Roman Liturgy (similarly St. Ambrose is important to the Ambrosian Liturgy, to follow my previous example). It is prayer burst into music.

I would like to include some other reasons why we should care about Gregorian chant.

It is the foundation of all western music; musical notation was invented because of it; modern music theory, scales, ABC, Do Re Me--all of it developed as a result of chant. Even types of music that at first glance seem very removed from chant can be traced back to it.

For Christians chant is sacred. Almost all of its texts are from scripture. For Catholics in particular the church has declared, most recently in the Second Vatican Council that chant “has pride of place”.

I hope this sets an adequate foundation for an explanation of the spirituality of the Chant.

From Father Calvin Goodwin...

The Battle for the Ancient Mass

Do listen.

Music....

Can you tell the difference?? from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

The past is our future

It's been quite some time since my last post. As you probably already know, a TLM was celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 24, in honor of Pope Benedict's fifth anniversary.

I was otherwise engaged in Stockbridge, MA, and hope I can find a video of the Mass, which was a project of PontificalMass.org. EWTN carried it live.

Here is an interesting forum post that discusses the ramifications of the Mass, as far as bringing back the TLM. Some of the comments are provocative, but many good points are raised.

Celebrate!

Our beloved Pope's anniversary is being celebrated in a special way this year -- with a Traditional Latin Mass at the National Shrine's high altar. Via The Anchoress.

The Sacred Liturgy and a Culture of Life

While this article does not explicitly mention the TLM, its major points certainly speak to the need for sacred liturgy. Do read it all. From the article:

In Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II taught that the root cause of the culture of death is a loss of the sense of God and, in the same vein, one will note that Pope Benedict XVI has been working quite intently to bring back the sense of transcendence and God-centredness within our liturgies; in short, to bring back a sense of God. So it is that a consistent theme emerges and also a consistent recognition of a problem within our churches today. The Holy Father knows well that if God is obscured within the sacred liturgy – the very place that is not only the source and summit of the Church, but also the heart, soul and primary point of contact for the faithful -- then it is likely to follow that God will be absent or obscured in the lives of the faithful as well. Consequently, this lack of sense of the Divine can lead to living a humanistic or self-centred existence which further leads to a lost sense of the sacredness of man; without a Creator, man becomes a mere organism in the vast universe of organisms that can be manipulated and used for any kind of fantasy by anyone who is stronger or more powerful.


It is well known that many parishes today have become more centred upon themselves as a community than being clearly centred upon God – what Ratzinger has called the “self-enclosed circle”. Many parishes are not following the authorized liturgical texts and rubrics -- often out of a misguided sense of "pastoral" creativity, or even simply out of ignorance. Nor do they sufficiently consider (let alone express) those elements which lend a sense of transcendence to the worship of God, particularly as expressed through the medium of beauty. To some these might seem rather unimportant surface considerations, but they are not. The sacred liturgy and doctrine are intertwined and the experiential dimension of the liturgy is a profound moment for catechesis and conversion. Accordingly, when there is problematic approach to the liturgy, and when unauthorized innovations are introduced, there can be a deficiency as well as a coinciding distortion of Catholic belief passed on to the faithful, and further a loss in the power of the liturgy to move the human heart and mind towards God.


By contrast, the sacred liturgy, when celebrated well and focused on God, is where the building of the culture of life begins for within the liturgy one experiences and encounters the perfection of the culture of life from the giver of life Himself, God our Creator.

Sacred Music

Jeffrey Tucker from Dappled Things posts about the state of Catholic music today. Not pretty. From the article:

If I were to pick one word to describe the present state of music in the Catholic world, I would choose tedium. Nothing new ever happens. The repertoire is mostly from the 1970s, with some 1980s elaborations, but in a style that is dreadfully dated by popular standards. It is particularly pathetic that much of this music depends heavily on the sound and feel of people who want to be inspired by the “groove”—yet the music demonstrates a chilling lack of inspiration. Most of this material does not play itself; it sounds unusually boring in the hands of bored musicians.

The hymns are chosen before Mass from the usual standbys, as if there were nothing more to Catholic music than flipping pages and pointing.

Do read it all. He has suggestions that would go a long way to remedying the situation. I am very grateful to the small band of chanters in our parish who are bringing back the sacredness to Sacred Music.

Losing the Key

An article on Bringing Back Latin, by Mark J. Clark. A snippet:

I have put off until now answering an obvious question, namely, why does all this matter? Just as the academy and the educated world outgrew Latin, why not allow the Church to do the same? I respond that, even if, Deo gratias, the Church should encompass the globe and become literally catholic in language and culture, and even if, Deus vetet, the Catholic Church in Europe should wither on the vine, it would still be true that the vast majority of Roman Catholic culture and tradition grew up and was formed speaking Latin. It is, as it were, the native language of the Roman Catholic Church, and were we to let it die we would in fact suffer the loss of our mother tongue. We would have access to our patrimony, that wonder-filled treasury that now lays unseen in the Church’s attic, only in bits and pieces and then only in translation. We would become foreigners to our own tradition, to our own thoughts. This is a potentially grievous loss for a Church that holds Tradition sacred. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have recently reminded us that the Church needs Latin for this very reason.

Via Ecclesia Latina.

Thoughts on Children and the TLM

A Young Father Meets the Old Mass

From the article: What I do know, however, is the power of the older form...

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

A Spirit of the Liturgy Column

Zenit has launched a new Spirit of the Liturgy column, the first of which is The Priesthood and the Mass. From the article: As we see, St. John Mary points to the greatness of the priest with the privileged reference to the power that he exercises in the sacraments in the name of the Person of Christ. Benedict XVI brought this light, citing still other words of the Curé d'Ars, which refer in particular to the office of celebrating the Holy Eucharist. The Pope writes that the saint "was convinced that the fervor of a priest's life depended entirely upon the Mass: 'The reason why a priest is lax is that he does not pay attention to the Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if he were engaged in something routine!'"

Medieval or not?

This is just slightly off topic, but there's a battle going on about Chant. I would love comments from those in the know.

This article Sacred Music, Sacred Time by David P. Goldman sparked this:

Gregorian Chant: General: First Things: chant was the "invention" of Solesmes, and other odd claims on MusicaSacra forum.

Chant

“The Church recognizes Gregorian chant as being specially suited to the Roman Liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.”Gregorian chant is uniquely the Church’s own music. Chant is a living connection with our forebears in the faith, the traditional music of the Roman rite, a sign of communion with the universal Church, a bond of unity across cultures, a means for diverse communities to participate together in song, and a summons to contemplative participation in the Liturgy."
Sing to the Lord (USCCB), 2007 (For more chant by Vianini Giovanni, see here)

VENI CREATOR
Veni, Creator Spiritus
mentes tuorum visita
Imple superna gratia quae
tu creasti pectora.
Qui Paraclitus diceris,
donum Dei Altissimi,
fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
et spiritalis unctio.
Tu septiformis munere,
dexterae paternae digitus,
tu rite promissum Patris,
sermone ditans guttura.
Accende lumen sensibus,
infunde amorem cordibus,
infirma nostri corporis,
virtute firmans perpeti.
Hostem repellas longius,
pacemque dones protinus,
ductore sic te praevio,
vitemus omne noxium.
Per te sciamus da Patrem,
noscamus atque Filium,
teque utriusque Spiritum
credamus omni tempore.
Deo Patri sit gloria,
et Filio qui a mortuis surrexit,
ac Paraclito in saeculorum saecula.
Amen.

COME O CREATORCome, O Creator, Spirit blest,
and in our souls take up Thy rest;
come with Thy grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
O comforter, to Thee we cry,
O heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.
Thou in Thy sevenfold gifts are known;
Thou, finger of God's hand we own;
Thou, promise of the Father, Thou
Who dost the tongue with power imbue.
Kindle our sense from above,
and make our hearts o'erflow with love;
with patience firm and virtue high
the weakness of our flesh supply.
Far from us drive the foe we dread,
and grant us Thy peace instead;
so shall we not, with Thee for guide,
turn from the path of life aside.
Oh, may Thy grace on us bestow
the Father and the Son to know;
and Thee, through endless times confessed,
of both the eternal Spirit blest.
Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven.
Amen.

THE ALTAR

The Altar is the structure on which the sacrifice of the Mass is offered. In unusual circumstances such in mission lands or on the battlefield any usable surface will do, but usually Mass is offered on a proper altar in a church.

“I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God.” (Rev. 6:9.)

In the early centuries of the Church, Mass was sometimes celebrated over the graves of the martyrs, in the Catacombs. When the Church came out of the Catacombs the tradition of placing relics of the saints in or under the altar became universal.


In recent centuries they were often sealed in a removable altar stone rather than the altar itself. When the priest kisses the altar it is this place he kisses, venerating not only the altar itself (which is a representation of both Christ and the Cross) but also the saints whose relics are present.

“We beseech You, O Lord, by the merits of Your Saints whose relics lie here, and of all the Saints, deign in your mercy to pardon me all my sins. Amen.” (Said in the traditional mass just before the Kyrie.)


Upon the altar there are three cloths these represent the grave cloths that wrapped the body of our lord. There are also two smaller candles on each side of the altar (or on the altarpiece behind it); these are used at Low Mass. Behind these are six (or four) larger candles used at High Mass. Candles must be at least 51% beeswax.

In the center of the altar there is a crucifix. (There may or may not be a tabernacle in the center of the altar, it is to be covered with a veil.) The altar missal is on its stand; if the book is closed the page edge always is pointed toward the center of the altar. (I don’t know what the significance of this is.)

At the center of the altar and at each side there are altar cards containing often-used parts of the Mass for the priest's use. (Printable altar cards can be found here: Calefactory, or here: Rosary.)

“Almighty God, we pray that your angel may take this sacrifice to your altar in heaven. Then, as we receive from this altar the sacred Body and Blood of your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.” (Said after the consecration at Mass.)

(By Ben)

TLM teaching videos!

A series of teaching videos about the Traditional Latin Mass are now available online. Very helpful! Here's the first one. The link takes you to ten other ones.

Why Latin?

The traditional Mass must be celebrated in the Latin language, while the ordinary form may be celebrated in either Latin or vernacular languages. The reason for using Latin is that it is universal. It belongs to no one, which means it belongs to everyone. By the early Middle Ages with the breakup of the Roman empire it had become the universal language of educated people (mainly clerics and royalty) in the west. This was a time when local languages varied to a great extent, and so over time Latin became the Church’s language.

It is for Roman Catholics what Hebrew is for Jews, Arabic is for Moslems, and Old Church Slavonic is for the Russian Orthodox. These are all examples of ‘sacred languages’, some used almost exclusively for worship. The advantage of this is that it spans the different vernaculars, does not change meaning over time (spans centuries) and becomes sacred as a result of being used for worship.

Here are some common Latin phrases used in the Mass:
Deo Grátias. Thanks be to God.
Dóminus vobíscum. The Lord be with you.
Et cum spíritu tuo. And with thy spirit.
Orémus. Let us pray.
Glória tibi Dómine. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Laus tibi Christe. Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
Per ómina sæcula sæculorum. World without end.

(Written by Ben)

First Latin Mass

My husband and I attended my very first Traditional Latin Mass the Sunday before last. We traveled about an hour-and-a-half from home to a little country church which has not been 'wreck-ovated' (thanks for that, Tom!!).

It was absolutely beautiful. The altar was flanked by statues of St. Patrick and Mary and Jesus. An alabaster Last Supper scene graced the front of the altar. The stained glass windows were heavenly. The stunning beauty of the interior helped to ready one for worship.

Parishioners were quiet and prayerful -- no talking and laughing and whispering going on.

I have to tell you that I went there with the idea that I was going to soak up the atmosphere. I wasn't going to worry too much about what I was supposed to be doing. So we sat in back and followed those who were experienced.

I found that I was MUCH, MUCH more focused on worship. I understood the flow of Mass, even if I didn't understand all that was going on every moment. But it was all so much more reverent. The Mass was truly about worshipping God. Everything, all, was focused on Him. I didn't feel as if the priest was 'ignoring' me when his back was to us. We were all facing God together.

The traditional vestments were like a painting to me. The altar boys knew just what to do, and the beauty of the Mass was enhanced by each movement.

My chant friends were in the choir loft and the chant was so uplifting, so directing, so much closer to heaven than any other type of music.

And, what also meant much to me was the kneeler! We were able to receive kneeling, on the tongue, replete with paten. It was natural and right and I was so very grateful to experience it.

I should say that I brought a scarf to cover my head, though I wasn't sure about wearing it inside. But when I saw three other ladies who were covered, on it went. And it also felt so right.

If anyone else who was there is reading this, please feel free to share your impressions, too.

Great Discoveries...

It looks like there's more to be discovered in the catacombs of Rome and elsewhere.