Overheard in the Sacristy

By Lucille A. Flynn

Lucille A. Flynn, who writes from Clinton, Massachusetts, is a former member of the American Guild of Organists and the current organist at the St. Benedict Center in Harvard, a post she has held for 10 years.

From the beginning of recorded time, it has been man’s instinct to raise his voice in praise and supplication to a higher power. We know from the Old Testament that Psalm tones were used in Jewish synagogues. These chants were probably influenced by the cadence of Greek poetry, and may have been the model for the chant sung in the early Christian Church.

History tells us that six rhythmic modes formed the substance and basis for the vocalized verses of the Mass Ordinary. The impetus to use the chant in Mass was supported and encouraged by Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604). With the exception of the Greek Kyrie, the Ordinary of the Mass was sung in Latin.

The development of Gregorian chant reached its peak in the latter part of the medieval period. It was at this time that one of the most beautiful pieces in our Gregorian repertoire was written. In the middle of the 13th century, Thomas of Celano composed the hauntingly beautiful Dies Irae, which is still chanted in funeral high Masses.

During the Middle Ages, some composers began to disdain the single-line chant and added another melodic line to be sung as melody against melody, or voice against voice. This is called counterpoint and was widely employed by such early composers as Pale­strina and Bach, et al. The demand for music of a harmonic nature spurred the development of an instrument that could deliver multiple sounds. Craftsmen worked on combining wind instruments (e.g., pan-pipes) with stringed instruments (e.g., lutes). They produced a keyboard to bind these dual sounds into one voice, and thus was born the primitive organ.

The organ had been known in England since the seventh century, but it was simple in tonal quality, elaborate in structure, and cumbersome in size. France, Germany, and the Netherlands were also engaged in organ building, but each was using a different approach and developing different aspects of the instrument. To bring all these advancements together, national schools of organ building developed. Thus began the “golden age” of the organ. This polyphonic instrument, with its great variety of sound and large tonal capacity, became the ideal instrument for choral offerings and the service music of the Mass.

The golden age of the organ was also the golden age of art, architecture, poetry, music, and science. The Catholic Church encouraged and commissioned many of the great artists and composers whose works are admired and used to this day. Bach, Haydn, and Handel are but a few of the Renaissance composers who have enriched our lives with the beauty of their Masses, chorales, cantatas, and sacred hymns.

There is a dearth of information about the use of Gregorian chant during the 17th to 19th centuries, but it is highly probable that in Sunday high Masses and on regular feast days it was the norm of the service, and that the elaborate Masses that were being written were sung not only in cathedrals but also in concert halls.

It should be noted that the present style of chant was developed by the Benedictine Abbey of Solemnes, France. A monk named Dom Andre Mocquereau (1849-1930) provided us with a freer and more flowing movement of the Latin words. This new interpretation won acceptance by the Vatican and wide recognition throughout the Roman Catholic Church.

The Renaissance period reached its apex during the middle of the 17th century. For all its accomplishments, a period of unrest ensued, culminating in the French Revolution in 1789. The sad legacy of this cruel upheaval resulted in the “Age of Enlightenment” — man’s new orientation toward science and reason cut adrift from Faith.

Pope St. Pius X foresaw the results of this so-called Age of Enlightenment, and warned of the errors and effects on society of this new way of thinking in his encyclical Pascendi Dominus Gregis (”On the Doctrines of the Modernists,” 1907). We know all too well the results of this man-centered philosophy. For Catholics, it has been the degradation of the Traditional Mass, a new interpretation of the written word, and the loss of our universal Church language. Two generations of Catholics have been subjected on a weekly basis to love-your-neighbor and in-praise-of-nature tunes accompanied by guitars, xylophones, drums, piano, trumpets, body-swaying, and hand-clapping.

Will Catholics again seek the serenity, solace, and unity of body and soul found in the celebration of the Tridentine Mass and the peaceful tonality of Gregorian chant?

The end of our 40-year liturgical wilderness wandering appears to be in sight. In July 2007 Pope Benedict XVI issued a motu proprio, titled Summorum Pontificum, restoring the “Mass of All Ages,” and along with it the unique, priceless patrimony of the Roman Catholic Church — the melodic, uplifting, soul-stirringly beautiful Gregorian chant.

Laudate Dominum!

Yesterday I received, among other goodies and surprises, a very meaningful birthday gift; a beautifully framed photo of a shepherd leading a flock of lambs and sheep along a tree sheltered path to a bright light emminating from the vanishing point at the horizon. The words, “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock..leading them home” appear just above the light. The sheep are happily grazing behind their leader.

This is exactly how I perceive my ministry as pastor. We are all headed to the same place, our eternal home. My ad Deum posture at the Sacred Synaxis speaks volumes as does this photo.

Yesterday was, according to the usus antiquor, Good Shepherd Sunday. The Gospel of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite for the Second Sunday after Easter is John 10. 11-16:

At that time Jesus said to the Pharisees: I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and flieth: and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep: and the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling, and he hath no care for the sheep. I am the good Shepherd: and I know Mine, and Mine know Me, as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father: and I lay down My life for My sheep. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

The wolf, Satan, by his deception and falsehoods, has led many to their deaths. The flock entrusted to me will be safely tended; for only the Truth is proclaimed in our pasture.

The Requiem Mass will be said by me for Bertha Padilla, Tuesday, April 8 at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Glendale, AZ. Burial will follow immediately at Resthaven Memorial Park, Glendale, AZ. Please pray for the eternal rest of her soul, and comfort for her family.

V.: Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord.
R.: And let perpetual light shine upon her.
V.: May she rest in peace.
R.: Amen.
V.: May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
R.: Amen.

Signs Point Toward Pope’s Celebration of Pre-Vatican II Mass

by Hugh McNichol | Pewsitter.com | March 28, 2008

The permission to celebrate the Mass of Blessed John XXIII without any restrictions is a celebrated reality in the Catholic Church. Since Benedict XVI announced the unfettered permission for the restored celebration of this liturgy as the Extraordinary form for the celebration of the Eucharist there has been no celebration of this form by the Holy Father at Saint Peters in Vatican City.

There are always media reports about how well this permission has been received by Catholics throughout the world. Many consider this movement as one that restores a sense of Catholic identity and unity throughout the world. Well, with that being said: Holy Father celebrate this rite at the Papal Altar in Saint Peters. There can be no better illustration of the continuity of the sacred liturgy than to have the Bishop of Rome celebrate the Mass of Blessed John XXIII within the center of Catholic worship and government.

Celebration of the Extraordinary form of the Holy Eucharist by the Holy Father would clearly indicate his approval for celebrating the liturgy. It would also be a clear message to anyone group that offers opposition to the proper implementation of the axiom, “Lex orandi, lex credendi!”

Papal permission for the Extraordinary seems to be rooted in an attempt by Benedict XVI to provide a liturgical bridge for the entire Church that unites us in a consistent liturgical tradition that developed from the Second Vatican Council. Since the close of the council, there have obviously been components of the liturgical movement that have not always gone very well, nor have they been implemented smoothly. Benedict’s celebration of the Mass of Blessed John XXIII over the tomb of the Apostle Peter would go a long way to indicate a new age of Catholic healing and liturgical consistency.

With all of the thoughts recently devoted to the Papal visit to the United States, things like the secular and the religious press often overlook the celebration of different liturgical rites. By virtue of his office, the Bishop of Rome always reserves the option to himself to celebrate the liturgy in whatever rite he chooses. Papal prerogative to celebrate the Mass of Blessed John XXIII is of course within the legitimate options for the Pope’s liturgies.

Careful observance of papal events and statements over the past few months, provides a number of clues that the Holy See might indeed be leading up to such an observance of the pre-Vatican II liturgy. Over the past year, we have seen the return of Roman style vestments, the usage of the winter and Easter mozzetta, the revival of the ancient pallium, and rochets coming out of liturgical closets all over the world. It seems only logical that Benedict through his new liturgist is staging the return of some sort of papal celebration of the pre-Vatican II rite.

One clear indication of the papal inclination towards the traditional liturgy is the reemergence of the usage of Cardinal-Deacons at papal Masses. In addition to the Deacons of the Word and the Deacons of the Eucharist, Benedict has multiple times recently drafted Cardinal-Deacons to flank him at liturgical celebrations. This is a welcome restoration of papal pomp and ceremony. When one starts to understand the historical nature of various papal ceremonies, the ancient heritage of Catholicism is appreciated by the observation of how we indeed offer solemn prayer.

There is also speculation that the Holy Father has initiated new sets of vestments for papal ceremonies that will include the Roman form of chasubles, dalmatics and tunics. While there should be no expectation that the Papal tiara will come out of retirement, such revival of historical signs and symbols of our Catholic liturgical history are long overdue and very welcome.

One aspect of the Benedictine Renaissance that is critical to understand about the Holy Father is that he is not intent on sending the Church into a retrograde motion towards liturgical antiquity. He is just making the most effective use of all of the ceremonial options available to the world’s Catholic faithful people. Advocates are quick to note that these options towards the usage of Latin and the pre-Vatican II form were never abrogated. Benedict XVI is showing the world that Catholic prayer and ritual indeed has relevance to all Catholic peoples…because it is a legitimate part of our Catholic heritage.

It is most appropriate Benedict XVI make a real gesture of continuity and celebrates the Mass of Blessed John XXIII publicly for the benefit of all Catholics to appreciate and prayerfully worship in the ritual form of our Fathers.

Hugh McNichol is a Catholic author that writes freelance works on topics that involve Catholicism. He writes a daily column, verbumcarofactumest.blogspot.com

The final paragraph of the Holy Father’s Easter Vigil Homily. The entire homily may be found here:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/

documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080322_veglia-pasquale_en.html

In the early Church there was a custom whereby the Bishop or the priest, after the homily, would cry out to the faithful: “Conversi ad Dominum” – turn now towards the Lord. This meant in the first place that they would turn towards the East, towards the rising sun, the sign of Christ returning, whom we go to meet when we celebrate the Eucharist. Where this was not possible, for some reason, they would at least turn towards the image of Christ in the apse, or towards the Cross, so as to orient themselves inwardly towards the Lord. Fundamentally, this involved an interior event; conversion, the turning of our soul towards Jesus Christ and thus towards the living God, towards the true light. Linked with this, then, was the other exclamation that still today, before the Eucharistic Prayer, is addressed to the community of the faithful: “Sursum corda” – “Lift up your hearts”, high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness – “Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!” In both exclamations we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism: Conversi ad Dominum – we must distance ourselves ever anew from taking false paths, onto which we stray so often in our thoughts and actions. We must turn ever anew towards him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down, and inwardly we must raise them high: in truth and love. At this hour, let us thank the Lord, because through the power of his word and of the holy Sacraments, he points us in the right direction and draws our heart upwards. Let us pray to him in these words: Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of your love. Amen.

This photo shows His Holiness this evening wearing the miter of Pius IX and carrying the ferula of Pius XII while wearing a contemporary chasuble, and the ancient style of the pallium. Can you say, “Hermeneutic of Continuity”? (He is also wearing a pontifical dalmatic under his chasuble as seen in the de lotione pedum photo below.)