Blog by-the-Sea

Ego Sum Panis Vivus

Here is a video of Palestrina's Ego Sum Panis Vivus, from the Church Music Association of America's ("CMAA") Colloquium in June 2007.   The CMAA's next Colloquium will be held June 16-22, 2008 in Chicago, with training especially in Gregorian chant and Renaissance musical tradition.  The words Ego Sum Panis Vivus mean "I am the bread of life."  I chose this chant to honor the traditional observance of the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is tomorrow.  In the U.S., it will be observed this coming Sunday.

 

Music from the Pope's Journey to America

Kathleen Battle at the White House:

Salvatore Licitra at St. Patrick's Cathedral:

Placido Domingo at Nationals Park:

Tozer Proven Right: Worship More Important than "the Program"

In 1948, Evangelical Protestant pastor A.W. Tozer wrote a short book called The Pursuit of God, in which he sought to bring to Evangelical Protestants the concepts of meditation and contemplative prayer found in the writings of the great contemplative writers.  In the course of the short book, Tozer quotes St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa, and Frederick Faber, and he mentions St. Francis and Thomas a Kempis.  A "preacher" with the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, ordained without a high school education, Tozer's favorite sources were the Catholic mystics.  He was known for lying prostrate on his office floor in silent prayer.  Broadcasting on a Moody Bible Institute radio station, he brought his message to thousands of Protestants in the early 20th century.

In his Preface, dated June 16, 1948, Tozer expressed regret that, in many places "the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the 'program.'"  A word from the theatrical world, he complained, had carried into  the type of service that "passes for worship." 

While Tozer's books continued to be read and continue to teach the concepts of contemplation to Evangelical Protestants, the "program-driven church" has become increasingly prevalent among Evangelical Protestants over the past 30 years.

Interestingly, Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church -- one of the ecclesial communities that has led the way toward the program-driven movement -- recently acknowledged that the latest research shows that the program-driven church has not achieved its objective of helping people develop spiritually.  Out of Ur (the blog at the Christianity Today website) reported October 18 that Hybels acknowledged, at a recent leadership summit:

"We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."

Explaining Hybel's comments, the Christianity Today blog author states, "In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships."

It thus appears that the latest research has proven Tozer's preface correct, nearly 60 years after it was written.  Hopefully, those few Catholic churches who have adopted some of the Protestant program-driven principles will take note.

Hat tip TitusOneNine.

Like a child at home

My Shepherd will supply my need, Jehovah is His name,
In pastures fresh He makes me feed beside the living stream;
He brings my wandering spirit back when I forsake His way,
And leads me for His mercy's sake in paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death
    His presence is my stay,
One word of His supporting grace drives all my fears away;
His hand in site of all my foes doth still my table spread,
My cup with blessings overflows, His oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God attend me all my days;
Oh, may Thy house be my abode and all my work be praise;
There would I find a settled rest, while others come and go;
No more a stranger nor a guest, but like a child at home.

- Isaac Watts, hymn: "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need," 1719.  Photo of children on the beach by me.

"The unity for which Christ lived and died is not an abstract ideal.  It is the result of hard work: suspending judgment, choosing others before self, forgiving, seeking reconciliation rather than nursing hurt pride.  In other words, it requires that we die to self in Christ.  The fruit?  The blessing of God's peace!"

- Magnificat, from evening prayer for September 25, 2007.

God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him.  The soul only enters freely into the communion of love.  God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man.  He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy.  The promises of 'eternal life' respond, beyond all hope, to this desire:

If at the end of your very good works . . . , you rested on the seventh day, it was to foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed 'very good' since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life.

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 2002, quoting St. Augustine, De gratia et libero arbitrio, 17; PL 44, 901.

October Musical Training for Priests

Musica Sacra has information about an upcoming program in Chicago this October for priests who want to improve their knowledge of music for the liturgy.  The program is sponsored by the Church Music Association of America in conjunction with St. John Cantius Catholic Church in Chicago.  It is called Missa in Cantu: A Seminar in the Sung Mass for Celebrants.  Offered on October 17 to 19, 2007, the program will include music suited for both the old and new forms of the Roman Rite.

Where Language Ceases

William Mahrt, President of the Church Music Association of America, posted a message on Musica Sacra this past Monday speaking of the traditional Gregorian chants of Advent and Christmas, which will not be sung in most U.S. parishes this year, and seeking support for the Church Music Association of America and the training and support it provides for church music.  He wrote:

"It is no secret that Catholic music is not what it should or could be, so I'll not continue with a litany of loss. What we need now is a clear path forward. More precisely, we need to walk the path that the Church has laid before us. Our generation must continue the restoration of sacred song."

The New Liturgical Movement has the full text of Cardinal Arinze's keynote address at the Gateway Liturgical Conference, November 11, in St. Louis, Missouri.  That is the recent address in which he spoke of the advantages of liturgy in the Latin, and encouraged parishes to have at least one Mass each week in Latin.  From that address comes this expression of reverence:

"The liturgy does not exhaust the entire life activity of the Church (cf Sacrosanctum Concilium, 9). There is also need for theology, catechetics and preaching. And even when a good catechesis has been delivered, a mystery of our faith remains a mystery.

"Indeed, we can say that the most important thing in divine worship is not that we understand every word or concept. No. The most important consideration is that we stand in reverence and awe before God, that we adore, praise and thank him. The sacred, the things of God, are best approached with sandals off.

"In prayer, language is primarily for contact with God. No doubt, language is also for intelligible communication between us humans. But contact with God has priority. In the mystic, such contact with God approaches and sometimes reaches the ineffable, the mystical silence where language ceases.

"There is therefore no surprise if liturgical language differs somewhat from our every-day language. Liturgical language strives to express Christian prayer where the mysteries of Christ are celebrated."

Ignatius Insight recently  posted online portions of Pope Benedict XVI's book, written as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (The Spirit of the Liturgy) on the subject of Music and the Liturgy, including these:

"The singing of the Church comes ultimately out of love. It is the utter depth of love that produces the singing. "Cantare amantis est", says St. Augustine, singing is a lover's thing. In so saying, we come again to the trinitarian interpretation of Church music. The Holy Spirit is love, and it is he who produces the singing. He is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit who draws us into love for Christ and so leads to the Father. . . . Whether it is Bach or Mozart that we hear in church, we have a sense in either case of what gloria Dei, the glory of God, means. The mystery of infinite beauty is there and enables us to experience the presence of God more truly and vividly than in many sermons." (The Spirit of the Liturgy, p 142, 146). 

The Way of Beauty in the Liturgy

Last March, I posted several items about the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, which met for two days on the theme of "Pathway to Evangelisation and Dialogue."  The topics included such things as "The Mysterious Beauty of God Shining in the Liturgy" and "The Beauty of the Christian Life: Holiness."  Earlier posts are: The Way of Beauty, Calendar for the Plenary Assembly: Beauty as a Pathway to Evangelisation and Dialogue, and The Gospel Message in All Its Beauty.

The Concluding Document of the Plenary Assembly is now available online in English.  I am not quite sure how long it has been there, but I only recently realized it was there.  Here is the section on Beauty in the Liturgy (footnotes omitted):

"Beauty in the Liturgy.  The beauty of the love of Christ comes to meet us each day not only through the example of the saints but more so through the holy liturgy, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist where the Mystery becomes present and illuminates with meaning and beauty all our existence.  This is the extraordinary means by which our Saviour, once dead and resurrected, shares His life with us, making us part of His Body as living members and making us participate in His beauty.

"Florenskij described beauty in the liturgy, symbol of the symbols of the world as that which permits the transformation of time and space "in the holy, mysterious temple that shines with celestial beauty."

"During a conference at the 23rd National Italian Eucharistic Congress, Cardinal Ratzinger cited in his introduction the old legend about the origins of the Christian faith in Russia.  According to this legend, Prince Vladimir of Kiev decided to adhere to the Orthodox Church of Constantinople after having heard his ambassadors who had been sent to Constantinople where they had been present at a solemn liturgy in the basilica of Saint Sophia. They said to the prince, "We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth… We are witnesses: God has made His dwelling place there among men."  And the Cardinal theologian took from this legend the basis of truth: "it is in effect certain that the internal force of the liturgy played an essential role in the diffusion of Christianity…That which convinced the ambassadors of the Russian prince, that the faith celebrated in the Orthodox liturgy was true, was not a missionary style argument whose elements appeared more convincing to those disposed to listen than those of any other religion. No, that which struck home was the mystery in itself, a mystery that, precisely because it is found beyond all discussion, imposes on reason the force of truth."  How can we fail to underline the importance of icons, the marvellous heritage of the Christian East, which still today gives something of the liturgy of the undivided Church: its rich and deep language thrives on its roots in the experience of the undivided Church, the Roman catacombs, the mosaics of Rome and Ravenna as well as Byzantium?

"For the believer, beauty transcends the aesthetic. It permits the passage from "for self" to "more than self."  The liturgy which is disinterested and does not seek to celebrate God for Him, through Him and in Him, is not beautiful, and therefore not true. It should be "disinterested" in "putting oneself before God and placing one's eyes on Him who shines with the divine light on the things that pass."  It is in this austere simplicity that it becomes missionary, that is, capable of witnessing to observers who let themselves be taken over by the invisible reality that it offers.

"The French writer Paul Claudel allured to the internal force of the liturgy in witnessing to his conversion during the singing of the Magnificat during Vespers on Christmas Eve at Notre-Dame de Paris: "It was then that the event happened that has dominated all my life.  In an instant, my heart was touched and I believed.  I believed with such force, with such relief of all my being, a conviction so powerful, so certain and without any room for doubt, that ever since, all the books, all the arguments, all the hazards of my agitated life have never shaken my faith, nor to tell the truth have they even touched it."

"The beauty of the liturgy, an essential moment in the experience of faith and the pathway towards an adult faith, is unable to reduce itself to mere formal beauty.  It is first of all the deep beauty of the meeting with the mystery of God, present among men through the intermediary work of the Son, "the fairest of the children of men" (Ps 45, 2) who renews without end His sacrifice of love for us. It expresses the beauty of the communion with Him and with our brothers, the beauty of a harmony which translates into gestures, symbols, words, images and melodies that touch the heart and the spirit and raise marvel and the desire to meet the resurrected Lord, He who is the Door of Beauty.

"Superficiality, banality and negligence have no place in the liturgy.  They not only do not help the believer progress on his path of faith but above all damage those who attend Christian celebrations, and in particular, the Sunday Eucharist.  In the last few decades, some people have given too much importance to the pedagogical dimension of the liturgy and the desire to make the liturgy more accessible even for outsiders, and have undermined its primary function: the liturgy lets us immerse ourselves completely in the salvific action of God in His son Jesus, which makes it missionary. Essentially turned towards God, it is beautiful when it permits all the beauty of the mystery of love and communion to manifest itself.  The liturgy is beautiful when it is "acceptable to God" and immerses us in divine joy."

Two Interviews on Music: "A Liturgy that Gives Music Its Proper Place"

"The great repertoire of sacred music that has been handed down to us from the past is made up of Masses, offertories, responsories: formerly there was no such thing as a liturgy without music. Today there is no place for this repertoire in the new liturgy, which is a discordant commotion – and it’s useless to pretend that it’s not. It is as if Michelangelo had been asked to paint the general judgment on a postage stamp!"

So said Maestro Domenico Bartolucci in an interview with the expert in classical music for the weekly "L'espresso", Ricardo Lenzi, and posted today by  Sandro Magister.  Maestro Bartolucci is outspoken in his analysis of the changes in church music over the last several decades and about the difficulty of restoring music to its proper place in the liturgy today.

Meanwhile, I just became aware this past Sunday of an interview on French language Zenit with Père Jacques-Marie Guilmard of the Abbey of St. Pierre in Solesmes, France, about the origins of Gregorian chant.  The interview posted while the Pope was in Poland, and I could not find it in English.  Perhaps it was  overlooked because of more immediately important articles about the Pope's travels in Poland.  I have e-mailed Zenit asking for permission to translate and post the whole article, if they do not plan to translate it, and I have not yet received a response. 

Update July 24:  I have received Zenit's permission to post an English translation of the interview, and I will translate and post it this week-end if not sooner (by July 30).

Meanwhile, here is a link to the interview with Père Guilmard in French.

Experiencing the Presence of God in Music

This past Sunday, June 25, spoke about the future of sacred music after attending a concert in his honor by the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation.   ZENIT had an article about it.  (Added July 23, 2006: The entire text of the Pope's address is now available at the Vatican website and ZENIT)

He spoke of the importance of conserving and teaching the Roman school of sacred polyphony, and also spoke of the importance of updating it "in line with the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian Chant, and of sacred polyphony," and of "those who investigate new expressive ways without rejecting the past, the history of the human spirit, which is also the history of its dialogue with God."

Yesterday on Insight Scoop, Mark Brumley posted a round-up of articles on the Pope's comments, particularly noting an article in The Age:

"Pope Benedict wants only 'authentic' sacred music in church services, which includes traditional choirs and Gregorian chant but not guitars or folk/popular-style choruses," reports Australia's The Age."

The Insight Scoop posting prompted some 30 comments (including mine) yesterday and today.  Following that up, Ignatius Insight today posted a collection of excerpts on music and liturgy from Cardinal Ratzinger's book The Spirit of the Liturgy, including:

"Whether it is Bach or Mozart that we hear in church, we have a sense in either case of what gloria Dei, the glory of God, means.  The mystery of infinite beauty is there and enables us to experience the presence of God more truly and vividly than in many sermons." (The Spirit of the Liturgy, page 146)

Part of what I wrote there is this:

Music can reach a deeper part of ourselves than words can reach. Our most primitive, deepest selves, spiritually and psychologically, are not possible to communicate in words. Prayer and worship should reach those places and not only the more cognitive, rational part of ourselves expressed in words. I don't think pop music with guitars and drums belongs in worship because it can actually inhibit and distract people from being able to express the deeper parts of their own souls and from being able to hear what God is saying to the deeper part of themselves.

On the other hand, I don't see anything wrong with having Christian pop music in other contexts, for fun. Even St. Teresa of Avila and her Carmelites used some of that in the sixteenth century -- her own drum is still on display at one of the Carmelite monasteries there. And I don't think the Pope meant to discourage that kind of recreational use of Christian pop music. A distinction needs to be drawn there.

Go read all.

Codex Budensis

It's just hard to find new Gregorian chant these days. 

Of course, that is because it is not supposed to be new.  However, a retired organist/choirmaster in San Diego who had an Anglo-Catholic schola cantorum  for years spent much time making his own arrangements of Church music from Gregorian chant and Anglican chant as well as relatively more recent compositions.  If you have a choir that would like to give it a try, he has compiled a catalog of what he has available.  No promises on copyright issues, as I don't know one way or another about the work he started from and so forth.  However here is Bud's catalog (entitled "Codex Budensis ") for download as a .pdf file for anyone who may have an interest.

Historical Foundations of a Frederick Faber Hymn

Faith of our fathers, living still
In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword,
O how our hearts beat high with joy
When-e'er we hear that glorious word!

Our fathers, chained in prisons dark
Were still in heart and conscience free;
And truly blest would be our fate
If we, like them, should die for thee.

Faith of our fathers! Mary's prayers
Shall win our country back to thee;
And through the truth that comes from God
England shall then indeed be free.

Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife,
And preach thee too as love knows how,
By kindly words and virtuous life.

- Frederick W. Faber, “Faith of Our Fathers” from Jesus and Mary; or Catholic Hymns for Singing and Reading, 1849

About Father Frederick Faber and "Faith of Our Fathers":

Frederick W. Faber was born in England, June 28, 1814.  His father is thought to have been a strictly Calvinist English clergyman.  Faber became an Anglican priest, during a time when many Anglican clergy were involved in the Catholic-leaning Oxford Movement.  Faber converted to Roman Catholicism three years after his ordination.  In so doing, he joined a number of other Oxford Movement Anglicans who either became Catholic (such as Cardinal John Henry Newman) or who pursued a more Anglo-Catholic form of Anglican worship.

The intensity of Father Faber's faith was recognized both within and outside of the Catholic Church. The Evangelical author A.W. Tozer wrote of Faber, "His love for the Person of Christ was so intense that it threatened to consume him.  It burned within him as a sweet and holy madness and flowed from his lips like molten gold." (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God)

As a Catholic priest, Faber became known as "Father Wilfrid."  However, he regretted that the Catholics had no collection of hymns comparable to those he had found to be influential in Anglican churches.  He made it his life's mission to write hymns to promote Roman Catholicism.  He wrote 150 such hymns, including “Faith of our Fathers.”

Faber did not actually write "Faith of our Fathers" about the Church Fathers of the Early Church, about the "fathers" of Psalm 22:3-5, the "fathers" of Exodus 3, or the cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 12:1-2.  Rather, he wrote it about the Catholics who were killed during the reign of Henry VIII during the early days of the creation of the Church of England.  The verse about Mary's prayer has to do with his hope that England would eventually return to reunite with the Roman Catholic Church.

The refrain to the hymn, as it is now commonly sung, was added by James G. Walton for Watson’s arrangement of it, published in 1874 in Plain Song Music for the Holy Communion Office.  The third verse has been altered in several different texts, and the second verse often omitted.  The Protestant adaptation of the hymn offers the following verse in place of the third verse:

Faith of our fathers, God's great power
Shall win all nations unto thee,
And through the truth that comes from God
Mankind shall then indeed be free.

Not only are Protestants more familiar with an adaptation of the second verse, but there are one or two Irish adaptations sung in Catholic churches and other variations on the lyrics.

Reflections:

This is a hymn to keep in mind now as we may feel the Church under various new kinds of attacks ("Faith of our fathers, living still . . .").  Sometimes the hymn, with the Protestant second verse, is sung in U.S. churches with thoughts of our American "founding fathers", and it might turn up here and there this coming week-end as we celebrate Memorial Day.  Knowing something of the hymn's real history could be a conversation starter!

The poem, as given here, is as close as I could get to the original by drawing from sources online.  However, I have not had access to an actual 1849 edition of Father Faber's book Jesus and Mary, and thus cannot be sure that I have the hymn exactly as it was originally written.  If someone else has access to an actual 1849 edition of "Jesus and Mary", I would appreciate your sending me corrections.

Here are a few websites with information about the hymn:

Truth in History Ministries

Cyberhymnal midi file

Cybrerhymnal Bio

Variations

Adoremus Bulletin: What Happened to My Hymn?

Scriptural Foundations for a Charles Wesley Hymn

A Morning Hymn
by Charles Wesley

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only Light,
Sun of righteousness, arise!
Triumph o'er the shades of night:
Dayspring from on high, be near;
Daystar, in my heart, appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by Thee;
Joyless is the day's return.
Till Thy mercy's beams I see;
Till thy inward light impart,
Glad my eyes and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine!
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief!
Fill me, Radiancy divine!
Scatter all my unbelief!
More and more Thyself display,
Shining to the perfect day!

- Charles Wesley, “A Morning Hymn” (Later known as "Christ, whose glory fills the skies"), first published 1740 in Charles Wesley and John Wesley, Psalms and Hymns

Scriptural Foundations for the Hymn:

Here are a few of the Scriptures incorporated into Charles Wesley's "A Morning Hymn":

"But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings." (Mal. 4:2 RSV)

"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, . . .through the tender mercy of our God, when the day star shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace."  (Luke 1:76, 78-79 RSV)

"And we have the prophetic word made more sure.  You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."  (II Peter 1:19 RSV)

"But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.  The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not now over what they stumble." (Prov. 4:18-19 RSV)

About Charles Wesley and Hymn-writing:

In the course of his life, Charles Wesley wrote over 6,500 hymns, and was one of the most prolific of English poets.  Many of his hymns were originally compiled by both Charles and John Wesley for publication in 1740 in the book "Psalms and Hymns."  During those days, Charles was said to have written many of his hymns while riding a white pony through the streets of London.

Charles Wesley and his brother John Wesley co-founded a small society called the Oxford Methodists at Lincoln College, studying the New Testament in Greek, visiting prisoners and visiting the poor.   Charles was ordained as an Anglican priest and originally traveled the English countryside on horseback, giving open air evangelical sermons similarly to his brother. 

In 1756, Charles Wesley ended his travels through the countryside and settled in Bristol, reportedly because open air preaching was too greatly associated with the societies in conflict with the Church of England.  Although his name is closely linked with that of his brother, Charles Wesley's remaining contribution to the Methodist movement was primarily in their use of his hymns.  It is thought to be partly because of his influence that John Wesley never severed his ties with the Church of England; only after his death did the Methodists separate.  In 1771, Charles relocated to London.  He died there March 29, 1788.   

During his last days, Charles Wesley called for the priest at London's St. Marylebone Parish Church.  Charles reportedly said, "Sir, whatever the world may say of me, I have lived, and I die, a member of the Church of England.  I pray you to bury me in your churchyard."  He was buried in a corner of the churchyard, where a marker still identifies his grave.  Charles Wesley’s son was later organist of that church. 

Comments:

About 5 years ago, a Non-denominational Protestant friend I knew from a ski trip invited me to the singles groups at a couple of Non-denominational Protestant churches near here.  I had just moved to north San Diego County and thought it would be a good way to meet people.  He knew that I was, at that time, Anglican, and that I had no interest in becoming Non-denominational Protestant.  The groups were open to people from a wide variety of churches. 

The evening began with a performance by the church's Christian rock band.  At one point, the band's singer made a statement that he used to sing in a church choir that sang traditional hymns, but now he only sang Christian music.  His statement made clear that he did not consider traditional hymns or Christian classical music to be truly Christian, as was his band's rock music.  I looked over at the assistant pastor who was standing nearby, and the assistant pastor nodded approvingly at the young rock musician. 

Around that time, I heard of another Non-denominational Protestant church that would no longer have any songs more than 6 months old in its Sunday worship services.  Another church, I was told, did not want any songs more than 5 years old.  Their idea, as I understand it, was to make sure that they were communicating the Gospel in a manner that would attract the present generation. 

The unfortunate result is that in doing so, they cut off their congregation from their connection with Christians of the past and leave them without an understanding of how Scripture has been read and applied over the centuries.  That was a dangerous situation.  Since then, I have heard that more such churches have alternate worship services that use hymnals and traditional hymns.  Perhaps the incident I saw 5 years ago represented something that the congregation itself has realized was a mistake and has corrected.  I have had no reason to return.

Since then, I have sometimes challenged some of the people I have met from that sort of church to try to find all of the Scriptures that went into this Charles Wesley hymn.  Granted, Charles Wesley was Anglican, not Catholic.  But his reverent hymns are sung in Catholic churches, and we ought to have an answer for Christians who do not recognize the knowledge of Scripture and of God in such traditional church music. 

A lack of knowledge of real church history has been dangerous to the faith, as has been seen recently in public response to The Da Vinci Code and the Gospel of Judas.  The greater the understanding that Christians from past centuries had a real faith in the same Jesus we worship today, the less will likely be the fear of the Catholic Church in earlier centuries, and the better prepared we will collectively be to respond to misunderstandings about Church history when we encounter them in the world around us.

Picture:  Stained glass picture of the Ascension from the Catholic Community of St. Thomas Aquinas, Brooklyn, New York.  That parish is raising funds for the restoration of its 119-year old stained glass windows.  See the linked website if you wish to help them restore this window.

"You with a poor and low voice are singing that on earth which they are singing in Heaven."

"Be still, and imagine to yourself that you saw the heavens open, and the glorious choirs of cherubims and seraphims about the throne of God.  Imagine that you hear the music of those angelic voices, that cease not day and night to sing the glories of Him that is, and was, and is to come.

"Help your imagination with such passages of Scripture as these:--

"I beheld, and, lo in heaven a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.  And they cried with a loud voice, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 

"And all the angels stood round about the throne, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and strength, be unto God, for ever and ever, Amen."  [Rev vii:9-12]

"Think upon this till your imagination has carried you above the clouds; till it has placed you amongst those heavenly beings, and made you long to bear a part in their eternal music.

"If you will but use yourself to this method, and let your imagination dwell upon such representations as these, you will soon find it to be an excellent means of raising the spirit of devotion within you.

"Always therefore begin your psalm, or song of praise, with these imaginations; and at every verse of it imagine yourself amongst those heavenly companions, that your voice is added to theirs, and that angels join with you, and you with them; and that you with a poor and low voice are singing that on earth which they are singing in Heaven.

"Again; sometimes imagine that you had been one of those that joined with our blessed Saviour when He sang an hymn.  Strive to imagine to yourself, with what majesty He looked; fancy that you had stood close by Him surrounded with His glory.  Think how your heart would have been inflamed, what ecstasies of joy you would have then felt, when singing with the Son of God.  Think again and again, with what joy and devotion you would then have sung, had this been really your happy state, and what a punishment you should have thought it, to have been then silent; and let this teach you how to be affected with psalms and hymns of thanksgiving."

- William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Adapted to the State and Condition of All Orders of Christians, Chapter 15 (first published 1728), from The Anglican Library.  

Christ Is Present When the Church Sings

Vatican Information Service issued this press release today concerning Pope Benedict XVI's message to the International Federation of "Pueri Cantores", an organization that supports church music interpreted by school children:

VATICAN CITY, DEC 30, 2005 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received the participants of the XXXIII International Congress of the International Federation of "Pueri Cantores", gathered during these days in Rome. This association was created in 1965 by a decree of the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, as a moral institution, proposes the spreading of liturgical music interpreted by children in their scholastic years.

  The Pope welcomed the President and manifested his appreciation for the "spirit in which your federation realizes and intends to pursue its mission in the Church, at the service of the liturgy, giving the entire world a message of peace and brotherhood".

  The Holy Father continued: "It is particularly opportune during Christmas time to sing praises to the Lord and to express our joy to him, following the example of the Virgin Mary, who was the first person to give grace to the Lord for the Mystery of the Incarnation, with her 'Magnificat', which the Church repeats from generation to generation. (...) Vatican Council II recalled how greatly the Church appreciates the role of those who, with their singing, contribute to the beauty of the liturgy. Because Christ 'is present when the Church prays and sings' and we are united with the heavenly Church".

  The Holy Father underlined the importance of the mission of the Pueri Cantores today in "helping the People of God to pray with dignity, because sacred music is a 'ministerial function' in the Divine service. (...) When the Church prays, sings or acts, the faith of the participants is nourished, the souls are raised towards God to give Him spiritual homage and to receive grace with greater abundance".

  At the end of the speech, the Pope gave the Apostolic Blessing to all the members of the Federation of Pueri Cantores.
AC/SACRED MUSIC:LITURGY/PUERI CANTORES        VIS 051230 (310)

Another Ancient Chant: O Gladsome Light

O GLADSOME LIGHT

O gladsome light, O grace
of God the Father's face,
the eternal splendor wearing;
celestial, holy, blest,
our Savior Jesus Christ,
joyful in thine appearing.

Now, ere day falleth quite,
we see the evening light,
our wonted hymn outpouring;
Father of might unknown,
thee, his incarnate Son,
and Holy Spirit adoring.

To thee of right belongs
all praise of holy songs,
O Son of God, Life-giver;
thee, therefore, O Most High,
the world doth glorify,
and shall exalt for ever.

- Anonymous, “O Gladsome Light,” Third Century (possibly earlier),
translated from the Greek by  Robert Bridges, 1899

Photo of window in the Parish Church of Solesmes, France

Post originally from October 29, 2005:

About "O Gladsome Light" and Early Christian Chant:

This chant is one of the earliest known Christian hymns whose words are still sung by Christians today, other than those whose words are taken from the Bible.  The author and the time and place of origin are unknown.   

Its roots go back to an ancient Jewish custom of lighting candles at sunset, which is the beginning of the Jewish day.  Exodus 30:8 speaks of Aaron lighting the lamps at even and burning incense upon it before the Lord.  Leviticus 24:1-4 also mentions lamps upon a candlestick burning from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually.

The use of hymns in Christian worship is documented in the New Testament at Col. 3:16 and Eph. 5:19.  This probably followed Jewish practice, described by Philo of Alexandria as including hymns in rhythms and tunes solemn enough for sacred music (Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, pg. 273).  The choirs included men and women, and the chants were sometimes sung in harmony or antiphonally (Chadwick, pp. 273-274). 

In the middle of the second century, Justin Martyr is said to have written a book called Psaltes.  In his notes on the Justin Martyr’s First and Second Apologies (Ancient Christian Writers series by Paulist Press), Leslie William Barnard suggests that this was possibly a collection of hymns that no longer exists (Barnard, Notes to Justin Martyr, pg. 116, note 75).  Barnard mentions, in particular, "The Gloria" (see post below) and "O Gladsome Light" ("Phos Hilaron") as the Greek morning and evening hymns. 

In Justin’s First Apology, he wrote that Christians were taught to give thanks to the Creator “in hymns and speech.” (First Apology, para. 13).  Second century pagan critic Celsus wrote that the Christian chants were so beautiful that he resented their effect (Chadwick, pg. 274).

“O Gladsome Light” is included in the Liturgy of St. Basil, which is substantially an authentic fourth century work.  (Richard Travers Smith, St. Basil the Great, pg. 47, 80-81)  In his Letter No. cvii, Basil disputed accusations that he varied church music from older custom.  In that letter, Basil offered the following description of fourth century chant:

"Among us the people go at night to the house of prayer, and, in distress, affliction, and continual tears, making confession to God, at last rise from their prayers and begin to sing psalms. And now, divided into two parts, they sing antiphonally with one another, thus at once confirming their study of the Gospels, and at the same time producing for themselves a heedful temper and a heart free from distraction. Afterwards they again commit the prelude of the strain to one, and the rest take it up; and so after passing the night in various psalmody, praying at intervals as the day begins to dawn, all together, as with one voice and one heart, raise the psalm of confession to the Lord, each forming for himself his own expressions of penitence."

Basil’s letter suggests that “O Gladsome Light” was sung antiphonally in the fourth century, and that it was already ancient in his day.  It is still sung in Orthodox churches as a regular part of each vespers service.    

The words echo both the creation narrative of Genesis 1 and the Prologue to John's Gospel.  At  the same time, they are indicative of the meaning of evening vespers as passed down through the centuries in the Orthodox Church.  Following Isaiah 60:20 and Rev. 21:25, “Christ is praised as the Light which illumines man's darkness, the Light of the world and of the Kingdom of God which shall have no evening.” (Orthodox Church in America, “Rainbow Serieson the Orthodox Faith,” Orthodox Church in America website ).

The struggle between light and darkness reflected in John's Gospel is seen in the spiritual sense of Paul's struggle between his will to walk in the "light" of God's law and his inability to do so.  The vespers service expresses this internal struggle with disobedience to God, and the hope of Christ's victory over the darkness of sin as He is the light shining in the darkness.

The vespers service of Holy Saturday looks back to the Sabbath of Passover and includes the Divine Vigil of St. Basil the Great with "O Gladsome Light."  Later during the service, the priests change their vestments from the dark vestments of Holy Friday into the bright vestments of the resurrection.  The oldest Easter sermons date back to early Holy Saturday vesper services, and "O Gladsome Light" may have originated there.

In the tenth century, the beauty of the Eastern liturgy overwhelmed Kievan Russia’s Prince Vladimir and was a key reason for his choosing the Byzantine faith. (G.P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind, pg. 51).  “O Gladsome Light” was carried into the Kievan church in the tenth century (Fedotov, pg. 53; Morosan, “Liturgical Singing,” from The Legacy of St. Vladimir, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, pg. 70). The chants were passed down until manuscripts were created in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Morosan, pp. 70-71).  Little change took place until the mid-seventeenth century, when harmonic part-singing was added to the Russian liturgy (Morosan, pg. 72).  The basic four-note Kiev chant is still sung and may, or may not, be quite similar to the original chant of the early church.

The words appear in classical music compositions of the Russian Orthodox vespers service by such composers as Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov.  For example, Rachmaninov based part of his complex twentieth century choral work on the four-note Kiev chant for “O Gladsome Light.”

Solesmes on an Ancient Chant: The Gloria

Photo from the Parish Church of Solesmes, France.

From October 27, 2005:

"This non-scriptural hymn, in prose, arises from the primitive Christian hymnody.  The Latin liturgy preserved only a few relics of this genre, which has always retained a place of honor in the Oriental liturgies.

The Gloria, attested in Greek and Syrian sources of the fourth century, may go back to a Greek origin in the second century.  The Latin text first appears in the West in the seventh century and stablizes by the ninth century.  This hymn, which has been called the "Great Doxology," and which appears in the Milanese liturgy in a longer version, Laus angelorum magna, was not originally a part of the Mass, but a hymn of thanksgiving and of jubilation concluding the Office of Matins." 

- Dom Daniel Saulnier, Gregorian Chant: a Guide, translated by Edward Schaefer, Solesmes, 2003, pg. 91

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