Articles in English – Pagina 18

Il card. Hume sulla Comunione nella mano

Avrei voluto dividere con altri un’inquietudine concernente la fede del nostro popolo nella Presenza reale del Cristo nell’Eucaristia. La Comunione nella mano, lo spostamento del Santissimo Sacramento dall’altar maggiore, l’assenza di genuflessione hanno, secondo la mia esperienza, indebolito il rispetto e la devozione dovuta a un così grande sacramento. I gesti esterni esprimono una disposizione interiore e, allo stesso tempo, contribuiscono a favorire l’atteggiamento adeguato.

Card. Basil Hume, in La Documentation Catholique n. 2211 del 3/10/1999.

Communion in the hand, moving the Blessed Sacrament from the high altar, failure to genuflect, have in my experience weakened the respect and devotion due to so great a sacrament.

(Catholic Herald 3rd September 1999)

In Epiphania Domini – 6 Ian 2019

Sollemnitas

Ubi sollemnitas Epiphaniæ non est de præcepto servanda, assignatur, tamquam diei proprio, dominicæ a die 2 ad diem 8 ianuarii occurrenti.

Ad Missam in Vigilia

Hæc Missa adhibetur vespere pridie sollemnitatis sive ante sive post I Vesperas Epiphaniæ.

Ant. ad introitum Cf. Bar 5, 5
Surge, Ierúsalem, et circúmspice ad oriéntem et vide
congregátos fílios tuos a solis ortu usque ad occásum.

Dicitur Glória in excélsis.

Collecta
Corda nostra, quǽsumus, Dómine,
tuae maiestátis splendor illústret,
quo mundi huius ténebras transíre valeámus,
et perveniámus ad pátriam claritátis ætérnæ.
Per Dóminum.

Dicitur Credo.

Super oblata
Súscipe, quǽsumus, Dómine, múnera nostra
pro apparitióne Unigéniti Fílii tui
et primítiis géntium dicáta,
ut et tibi celebrétur laudátio
et nobis fiat ætérna salvátio.
Per Christum.

Præfatio de Epiphania.

Ant. ad communionem Cf. Ap 21, 23
Cláritas Dei illuminávit civitátem sanctam Ierúsalem
et ambulábant gentes in lúmine eius.

Post communionem
Sacra alimónia renováti,
tuam, Dómine, misericórdiam deprecámur,
ut semper in méntibus nostris tuæ appáreat stella iustítiæ
et noster in tua sit confessióne thesáurus.
Per Christum.

Adhiberi potest formula benedictionis sollemnis.

Ad Missam in die

Ant. ad introitum Cf. Mal 3, 1; 1 Chr 29, 12
Ecce advénit Dominátor Dóminus;
et regnum in manu eius et potéstas et impérium.

Dicitur Glória in excélsis.

Collecta
Deus, qui hodiérna die Unigénitum tuum
géntibus stella duce revelásti,
concéde propítius, ut, qui iam te ex fide cognóvimus,
usque ad contemplándam spéciem tuæ celsitúdinis
perducámur.
Per Dóminum.

Ubi mos est, pro opportunitate, publicari possunt post Evangelium festa mobilia anni currentis iuxta formulam positam.

Dicitur Credo.

Super oblata
Ecclésiæ tuæ, quǽsumus, Dómine, dona propítius intuére,
quibus non iam aurum, thus et myrrha profértur,
sed quod eísdem munéribus
declarátur, immolátur et súmitur, Iesus Christus.
Qui vivit et regnat in sǽcula sæculórum.

Præfatio de Epiphania Domini.

Quando adhibetur Canon romanus, dicitur Communicántes proprium.

Ant. ad communionem Cf. Mt 2, 2
Vídimus stellam eius in Oriénte,
et vénimus cum munéribus adoráre Dóminum.

Post communionem
Cælésti lúmine, quǽsumus, Dómine,
semper et ubíque nos prǽveni,
ut mystérium, cuius nos partícipes esse voluísti,
et puro cernámus intúitu, et digno percipiámus afféctu.
Per Christum.

Adhiberi potest formula benedictionis sollemnis.

Messalino in PDF con letture in lingua italiana (da stampare su fogli A3 fronte/retro)

Missalette in PDF with readings in English (to be printed on A3 sheets, front/back)

Twelve Things I Like About the Novus Ordo Mass

Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Like many, I’m critical of the abuses of the new Mass–the dreadful architecture, banal art, saccharine and heterodox music, poor preaching etc etc that too often has gone along with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, but my point has always been that these are abuses and when you take the Ordinary Form of the Mass–simply what’s in the book–just the words and rubrics–there’s not much wrong with it. Can there be some improvements? Sure, but I’ve asked traditionalists if they can tell me what is so terribly wrong with it–just the words in the book–not all the other abuses and things they don’t like that are associated with Vatican II.

Nobody’s given me a good answer yet.

In keeping with my own view that one should always give the benefit of the doubt and try to find what’s right rather than always find what’s wrong I thought I’d put together this list of what’s GOOD about the Novus Ordo Mass.

(…)

It’s flexible. We’re supposed to honor Latin as the language of our church and it is easy enough to integrate a little or a lot of Latin into the Novus Ordo Mass. It is also flexible musically. You don’t have to use Haagan Daz, hootenany and soft rock music. Learn Gregorian chant and polyphony. It fits.

(…)

It can be celebrated ad orientem, with altar rails, communion administered to the faithful kneeling and on the tongue, well-trained altar servers, good music, vestments, architecture and art. Yes, bland and banal is possible, but so is grand and glorious.

(…)

It’s simple. The plain words and actions of the Novus Ordo provide for a celebration with noble simplicity. Just saying the black and doing the red has a down to earth dignity–not overly ornate and fancy nor banal and vulgar.
Does this mean I am against traditionalists and disapprove of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass? No. It’s good to have both and each should inform the other. A person is most often right in what he affirms and wrong in what he denies. It is possible therefore to be critical of a thing without rejecting it entirely just as it is possible to see the good in a thing without endorsing it 100%.

Read full article here.

Adoratio Eucharistica ad Orientem

Eucharistic Adoration can and should always be conducted with the priest (or the deacon) and the people facing the monstrance together. The priest (or the deacon) can give the Benediction from the people’s side of the altar rather than moving behind the altar.

L’adorazione eucaristica può e dovrebbe sempre essere fatta con il sacerdote (o il diacono) e il popolo rivolti insieme verso l’ostensorio. Il sacerdote (o il diacono) può impartire la benedizione stando sul lato anteriore dell’altare (verso il popolo), senza girarci intorno per andare dietro.

Msgr. Charles Pope

How to Popularize ‘Ad Orientem’ Without Disorienting People

Here’s how to better acquaint God’s people with the beauty and naturalness of the ad orientem posture at Mass

Msgr. Charles Pope

The fact is, most people see the eastward orientation as a very big change. As such, it is bound to be controversial; simply presenting scholarly arguments isn’t going to be enough to warm many people up to the idea. Those of us who see value in this orientation are going to have to do a lot more to accustom people to the idea.

A further obstacle is that not all priests, even those open to the ad orientem posture, are willing to withstand the ire of their bishop in such a matter—and perhaps that is a good thing. Bishops do moderate the liturgy in their dioceses and priests should instinctively want to maintain unity with their bishop. There may be times when it is best for a priest to accept his bishop’s preference rather than insist upon his rights. This is less a question of law than one of prudence and respect. Upon ordination, every priest promises respect and obedience to his ordinary. Thus, if a bishop indicates that he does not want Mass to be celebrated ad orientem as a general practice, a priest should think long and hard before insisting upon his right to make that consistent change in his parish.

With all this in mind, I wonder if those of us who support the eastward orientation for the Eucharistic Prayer might consider some more subtle ways of acclimating the faithful to it. There are a number of points in the liturgy and in liturgical practice when the celebrant is addressing a prayer to God and can make this more obvious by “facing” God.

Read full article here.

An Idiot’s Guide to Square Notes

By Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffrey Tucker

You can’t get too far into Catholic sacred music without running into “neumes,” those little square notes on four lines that look beautiful if oddly antiquated. Most people have no idea how to read them, and most trained musicians are as much at a loss as anyone else. They don’t teach reading neumes (pronounced “nyoomz”) in graduate school.
What to do?
There are two typical responses. An ambitious person scrambles to find the same chant in modern notation, and usually fails. Modern-note editions of chant are out there but they are difficult to find and the repertoire is limited. A less ambitious person assumes that he or she doesn’t need to know this old notation anyway, since it is too complicated and outmoded in any case.
Either response leads the person out of chant, and back into the status quo. Well, be not afraid. This is your time-saving, ten-minute, clip-n-save intro to chant.

Download PDF here.

La formula EUOUAE

La formula EUOUAE serve per il canto, ma non per ragioni ritmiche quanto piuttosto come aiuto mnemonico alla esecuzione dei toni gregoriani. I toni salmodici gregoriani sono otto (più il tono peregrino, di uso molto particolare e circoscritto, il tono detto in directum e alcuni altri toni di uso molto raro), ciascuno dei quali è caratterizzato da una melodia mediana (da fare all’asterisco del versetto, per chi è pratico della Liturgia delle Ore) che è sempre uguale, mentre la melodia conclusiva, alla fine del versetto, può variare notevolmente, ed è indicata da una lettera dell’alfabeto; per es. l’indicazione 1f significa primo tono, conclusione in fa (il che comporta una specifica melodia della conclusione del versetto); oppure 1g3 significa primo tono, conclusione in sol, con una specifica melodia finale che differisce da quelle g1 e g2, pure terminanti in sol.
Poiché ricordare a memoria i sette toni (ovvero le melodie da fare prima dell’asterisco) è semplice, almeno per chi pratica la salmodia con canto gregoriano, mentre ricordare le numerose melodie finali sarebbe molto complesso, al termine dell’antifona con relativa melodia viene posto il testo EUOUAE, con sopra la melodia della specifica conclusione finale da utilizzare per quel salmo; e così la sua esecuzione è facilitata.

EUOUAE is an abbreviation used in Latin psalters and other liturgical books to show the distribution of syllables in the differentia or variable melodic endings of the standard Psalm tones of Gregorian chant. It derives from the vowels in the words “sæculorum Amen” of the lesser doxology or Gloria Patri, which ends with the phrase In sæcula sæculorum, Amen.

EUOUAE es una regla mnemotécnica que se utilizó en la música de la Edad Media para hacer referencia a la secuencia de tonos en el pasaje “sæculorum Amen” de la doxología menor, Gloria Patri que termina con la frase in sæcula sæculorum, Amen. (por los siglos de los siglos, Amén). En las fuentes de canto llano la differentia, es decir, la fórmula melódica que debe ser cantada al final de cada línea de salmodia, se puede escribir sobre cualquiera de las letras EUOUAE, en representación de la primera y la última vocal de Sæculorum, Amen.

EUOUAE é um mnemônico que era usado em música medieval para denotar a sequência de tons na passagem “sæculorum Amen” da doxologia menor, Gloria Patri, que termina com a frase In sæcula sæculorum, Amen. Em cantochãos, a differentia, isto é, a fórmula melódica a ser cantada no final de cada linha da salmódia cantada, poderia ser escrita com as letras EUOUAE, representando a primeira e a última vogal de “sæculorum Amen“.

EUOUAE est un mnémonique utilisé dans la musique médiévale et le chant grégorien pour représenter la séquence de neumes correspondant au passage «sæculorum, Amen» du Gloria Patri.

Cosiness (Gemütlichkeit) – H. U. von Balthasar

An element lacking in good taste has crept into the liturgy since the (falsely interpreted) Council, namely, the joviality and familiarity of the celebrant with the congregation. People come, however, for prayer and not for a cozy encounter. Oddly enough, because of this misinterpretation, one gets the impression that the post-conciliar liturgy has become more clerical than it was in the days when the priest functioned as mere servant of the mystery being celebrated. Before and after the liturgy, personal contact is entirely in place, but during the celebration everyone’s attention should be directed to the one Lord.
The tendency of a congregation to celebrate itself instead of God will increase, imperceptibly but unfailingly, if its faith in the reality of the eucharistic event wanes. When an almost rudimentary Church, gathered to await her Lord and to let herself be filled by him, considers herself from the outset as a church to which nothing essential can be added, the eucharistic celebration will degenerate into mere symbolism and the congregation will be celebrating nothing but its own piety which existed already and feels corroborated by the community’s repeated gathering.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Worthiness of the Liturgy, in New Elucidations, Ignatius Press.

Dom Hugh Somerville Knapman OSB on the new Mass

Mass as envisaged by the new Missal

As argued in an earlier post, some of the changes introduced in practice are not even required by the modern Missal, such as facing the people during the Eucharistic Prayer. Nor is Communion in the Hand. The modern Missal assumes that the priest is facing East, and that Communion is on the tongue. There was of course permission given for the option to face the people, and a limited indult for Communion in the hand. Both have had dire consequences for the worthy celebration of the modern liturgy, and are foreign even to the new Mass. The failure here is in the pastors not in the Church herself.

This is not actually mandated by the new Mass

Some have a clear idea of the remedy for liturgical abuse and poor attendance at Mass. (…) The first step surely is to celebrate the liturgy according to the rubrics laid down by the Church, to do in fact as the Church intends to do.

Read the full post by Dom Hugh Somerville Knapman OSB here.

PDF Booklet • Christmas Midnight Mass (36 pages)

From http://www.ccwatershed.org:

We can pretend we don’t care about what other choirs are doing—but it’s a lie. Let’s be honest: We music directors always want to see what other groups are singing, and from which scores. Feel free to download our Midnight Mass booklet:

* * PDF Download • Midnight Mass Booklet (36 pages)

It looks so simple when placed in a booklet like that…but it has taken us a while to learn all that music. Rehearsal videos for all the music can be found here—for each individual voice!