Author: Jim De Piante

According to the Liturgical Calendar, this Sunday was the Sunday after the Ascension. However, we sang the Mass of the Ascension. This is because we did not have Mass on the Feast of the Ascension and so we transferred the feast to the Sunday immediately following, which is referred to as solemnizing the feast, and the Mass is then referred to as an external solemnity.

The Sunday itself falls within Paschaltide, and that influenced several of our musical choices. Mass I (Lux et Origo), though not obligatory, is always fitting. The Vidi Aquam is sung rather than the Asperges. And there are two Alleluias rather than a Gradual and Alleluia. The Prefacewas proper to the Season, For Easter and Eastertide. We sang Credo I because it works well musically with Mass I.

For the Processional, in view of the coming feast of the Queenship of Mary, we sang Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above.

At the Offertory, we once again sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit. This could well be the last time we sing it, given the evolving situation with the pandemic.

The hymn we sang at the Communion, Salve Festa Dies, is particularly interesting. It is a beautiful hymn, written in 609 by Saint Venantius Fortunatus especially for the Easter season (Paschaltide). But it was also a good choice because his feast day was earlier this month, falling on May 18th. We also sang the Easter Sequence, Victimae Paschali Laudes.

The recessional, Rejoice O Mary Heavenly Queen, was likewise chosen for two reasons: First, because it is a most fitting hymn during Paschaltide, but also because it refers to Our Lady’s Queenship, which we honor throughout this month.

There are many things to consider in making decisions about the music at Holy Mass. Some of them are liturgical, and some of them are very practical. We are still in Paschaltide, and that will continue to influence our choices. Pentecost is the second most important feast in the liturgical year, and so, it will dictate much of what we sing. Liturgically speaking, Pentecost calls for glorious music. Why, then, was the organ silent on Pentecost? For purely practical reasons. Both gentlemen who play the organ were away and so we had to do without! It is a strange coincidence that the very same thing happened last year! Apart from that little anomaly, Pentecost is very interesting, musically speaking.

We began with the vespers hymn, Veni Creator as the processional. The fact of the coming of the Holy Ghost is of such profound importance that we kneel at these words in the first stanza of the hymn:

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator, come, from Thy bright heavenly throne!

Similarly, we also genuflect during the following Alleluiatic Verse:

Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful: and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

This is, of course, analogous to genuflecting during the Last Gospel when we hear:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us.

A couple of principles intersected as we sang the Veni Creator. The first principle is that, in general, the ceremony of the Mass must not be delayed by the singing of hymns, which are not actually a part of the Mass.

The second principle concerns the singing of a doxology. Hymns will often end with a doxology, a verse of praise, often, to the Trinity. Veni Creator ends with this doxology:

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.

The interesting principle is that when singing such a hymn, the doxology should not be omitted. Thus, in order to adhere to both principles, we started the Processional earlier than usual, and it worked out rather nicely as we were finishing just as Father reached the foot of the altar.

Pentecost is the last Sunday of Paschaltide, and so it is the last Sunday on which the Vidi Aquam will be sung. It is also the last Sunday on which we will sing two Alleluias. Next Sunday, Trinity Sunday, we will resume singing the Gradual and Alleluia, and will do so until Septuagesima, at which time the Alleluia will be replaced by the Tract.

Pentecost is one of only five masses at which a Sequence is sung. These are the five:

1. Pentecost Veni Sancte Spiritus
2. Corpus Christi Lauda Sion
3. Our Lady of Sorrows Stabat Mater
4. Easter Victimae Paschali Laudes
5. Requiem Dies Irae

As we had anticipated, the Stella Coeli Extirpavit was conspicuously missing at the Offertory. It is over two years that we have been singing it. Please God, the pestilence has abated. At our next opportunity, we will sing the Te Deum in gratitude. We instead sang the solemn version of the Marian Anthem for Paschaltide, Regina Coeli Laetare. So, we went from Stella Coeli (Star of Heaven) to Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven).

At the Communion, we sang the Easter Sequence, Victimae Paschali Laudes, followed by Regina Coeli Jubila. The evening before, 22 men were received into the Holy Name Society as Novices, and in honor of the Holy Name, we sang, Jesu Dulcis Memoria.

This will be the last time we sing an Easter hymn until next year! It is time now to move to the long season consisting of the Sundays after Pentecost. Note that we had five Sundays after Epiphany and so there will be 24 Sundays after Pentecost this year.

As an aside, note that since Easter Sunday, in lieu of the Angelus, you should have been reciting the Regina Coeli. Paschaltide ends prior to Vespers on this coming Saturday, before the Feast of the Holy Trinity. Thus, the last time you will say the Regina Coeli is at Noon on Saturday.

We closed with Come Holy Ghost.

This was another Sunday in which we ran standard fare for Paschaltide: Mass I, Credo I, Vidi Aquam. The Mass was that of the Sunday. The Preface was proper to the Season, For Easter and Eastertide.

For hymns, we had a classic Easter lineup:

For the processional, we did Regina Caeli Jubila.

At the Offertory, once again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit. As the global pandemic situation continues to develop, we might soon be taking this off the docket after well over two years.

For the Communion, we did the many of the VERY many verses of O Filii et Filiae. We followed that with the Easter Sequence, Victimae Paschali Laudes.

We closed with a hymn with essentially the same theme as the Processional, Rejoice O Mary Heavenly Queen.

We are still running standard fare for Paschaltide: Mass I, Credo I, Vidi Aquam. The Mass was that of the Sunday.

Today was the day of our May procession and crowning. In anticipation of that, we sang, in honor of the King to whom Our Lady owns her queenship, To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King, as the processional.

Today was remarkable because this is one of the two Sundays on which the longest Offertory antiphon of the year falls. My notes from past years said there was not enough time for an Offertory hymn. I should have believed myself. We delayed Father more than I like as we sang our customary Stella Coeli Extirpavit.

At the Communion, since it is Paschaltide, we sang the exquisitely beautiful hymn, Salve Festa Dies, by the great poet, bishop, composer and Saint, Venantius Fortunatus, whose feast is this week. He also composed the well-known Vexilla Regis.

Immediately after Mass we began our May procession. We took a simple route to the pavilion where Our Lady was crowned. As we left the church, we did Rejoice O Mary Heavenly Queen. This is fitting on several levels. This is very much a hymn for Paschaltide, which season we are still full in. And it is the month of Our Lady. And, we were on our way to crown her. On the way, we sang, Immaculate Mary, and in honor of her Son, the King, we sang Eternal King of Realms. As the lovely little ladies of the chapel brought flowers of the rarest, well, of course, we sang Bring Flowers of the Rarest. We held off on singing the chorus until the last of the girls presented the crown of roses to Father, at which point, we sang, O Mary, we crown Thee… Our Lady thus crowned, we sang the Marian Anthem of Paschaltide, Regina Coeli. We concluded with Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above.

Adapted from the Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, and other sources.

The so-called Exultet is arguably one of the most glorious and beautiful of hymns of the liturgy. The Roman Missal gives the title simply as Praeconium Paschale, which translates literally as The Pascal Praise. It is sung by the deacon (or priest) in the liturgy of Holy Saturday, in praise of the paschal candle, which is, of course, a type of Our Lord.

The words of the Praeconium Paschale were not always the same, and so it did not always start with the word Exultet, from which we derive the common name for the hymn. There have been numerous versions. It’s probably safe to say that the version in use today has survived where others did not because of its particular beauty. Given its style, it was probably composed as early as the fifth century.

The Exultet is sung immediately after the Procession of the Paschal Candle and the Lumen Christi. Before it is sung, the priest recites the same prayers that he recites during Mass prior to the chanting of the Gospel, and, as at the Gospel, the faithful stand while it is sung.

It consists of two parts. The first part is an invitation for the faithful to join the priest in invoking the blessing of God so that he may worthily sing the praise of the candle. The tones of this first part are exquisitely beautiful, and very different from what we usually hear during the liturgy. Strictly speaking, it is Ambrosian Chant rather than Gregorian. This first part is similar to the Orate Fratres of the Mass, which is, of course, recited immediately prior to the Preface. The second part is very much like a preface and begins with the same invocations (Sursum Corda etc.).

The language of the Exultet is fairly unique in the liturgy in that it is not so much dogmatic as it is mystical and imaginative. The first lines set the mood for the entire hymn:

Let the angelic choirs of heaven now rejoice; let the divine mysteries give praise; and let the trumpet of salvation sound forth the victory of so great a King.

It goes on to recount the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, emphasizing the similarity between the pillar of fire and the Paschal Candle, both of which are types of Our Lord. It speaks of the needful sin of Adam, and the happy fault (felix culpa) that merited to have such and so great a Redeemer. It concludes by asking God’s blessings for those present, for the clergy, for the pope, and for the local bishop.

The Exultet praises the Candle as Christ. Not surprisingly, this hymn, so clearly about Christ, has a very beautiful and subtle allusion to the Blessed Mother. It is, on the one hand utterly profound, and on the other hand almost quaint.

Therefore, in this sacred night, receive, O holy Father, the evening sacrifice of this incense, which Holy Church renders to Thee by the hands of Thy ministers in the solemn offering of this wax candle, the work of bees.

Now also we know the praises of this column, which the glowing fire enkindles to the honor of God. Which fire, although divided into parts, suffers no loss from its light being borrowed. For it is nourished by the melting wax, which the mother bee produced for the substance of this precious light.

Any candle used in the liturgy serves as a type of Christ. Liturgical candles, and the Paschal Candle in particular, are, of course, made of the wax of bees. Beeswax burns with a particularly sweet scent, which represents the bonus odor Christi (the sweet odor of Christ). The flame represents the Divinity of Christ. The wick symbolizes Christ’s soul, hidden within His body. The wax body of the candle itself, made from the wax produced by the virginal worker bees using the nectar they have gathered from beautiful and sweet-smelling blossoms, symbolizes Our Lord’s pure body. As the candle burns, it gives us light, but sacrifices its body so that we can see. The bees are thus symbols of the Virgin Mary, from whom Christ took His human body.

This unique and very beautiful hymn is certainly a fitting way to introduce the extraordinarily beautiful liturgy of the Paschal Vigil.

In the image: In Italy, in bygone days, the Exultet was sung from scrolls of parchment, which were gradually unrolled during the singing. These “Exultet Rolls” were elaborately and beautifully illuminated. Nearly all such Exultet Rolls contained pictures of bees.

The feast of St. Joseph the Worker is a first-class feast. The Second Sunday after Easter is a second-class feast. Knowing that, you knew to set your Missal for St. Joseph. If you are not one to look at the liturgical calendar, you were caught off balance. (Note that they have calendars for cheap in the bookstore – given that it is May already).

As we were running the propers before Mass, one of the men observed, “This is weird music. It doesn’t sound right.” Well, yes. That is because the feast was instituted in 1955 and the music is “modern”. And not only. This particular singer is new to the game, and still, he picked up on the oddity of the chant, which oddity is actually also criticized by more scholarly types. But never mind. We’re not music critics; we’re just singers in a schola band.

Standard fare for Paschaltide: Mass I, Credo I, Vidi Aquam.

The processional was The Other Version of Jesus Christ is Risen Today. It is the bane of procession-goers all over the English-speaking world because when people see the title, they are expecting the OTHER version.

At the Offertory, Stella Coeli Extirpavit. We are SO over singing that. But we will persist until it is clear that the plague that plagues us is behind us.

At the communion, the mixed choir did Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus. Why isn’t Palestrina canonized?

For the recessional, St. Joseph trumped the typical Easter material with Hail, Holy Joseph, Hail. (For you grammar types, yes, the hymnal does correctly have the comma for direct address.) And again, we sang Sweet Sacrament Divine to get the melody into the ears and heads of the faithful because NEXT WEEK, we are going to call on them to sing it for real.

As an aside, the Greek in scripture refers to St. Joseph and Our Lord as τεκτων – Tekton. That is more correctly understood as a Master Builder, not a fellow making small wooden objects for the ladies of Nazareth. And it is much more fitting of Our Lord as Pantocrator (Greek Παντοκράτωρ) – literally, pretty much able to do everything. I can imagine when someone in Galilee wanted to have a house built, people would say, “Ite ad Joseph. He will fix you up.”

With the Resurrection, in a moment, the history of the world was changed. And in a moment, the character of the music of the liturgy correspondingly changes.

The ceremonies of the Paschal Vigil prepare us for this glorious transition. Our first indication that things are about to change occurs when the priest, after blessing the New Fire and the Paschal Candle, and in preparation for the Solemn Procession into the church, removes the violet vestments and dons white ones. He wears white for the Procession and the Exultet. He changes back to violet for the Lessons and the First Part of the Litany, and then back again to white for the Renewal of the Promises of Baptism, after which he and the servers leave the church while the Second Part of the Litany is chanted.

The priest reenters the church in white vestments for the Mass of the Paschal Vigil. There is no processional hymn because we are moving directly from one liturgical function to the next. The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar and the Introit are omitted and Mass begins as soon as the priest enters the church with the unaccompanied chanting of Kyrie I, Lux et Origo, which is designated for use In Paschal Time.

The priest then intones the Gloria(likewise from Mass I), and the glory of it is unmistakable as the organ sings once again after a long silence, the bells ring out, and the statues are unveiled.

After the Epistle, we welcome back the Alleluia in grand fashion. The priest chants it to a beautiful and elaborate melody, and it is then immediately repeated by the schola. The priest sings it again at a higher pitch, and it is again repeated by the schola. The priest sings it a third time at still a higher pitch, and the schola again repeats it. The schola then immediately sings the versicle Confitemini, which is immediately followed by the Laudate, which, interestingly, is referred to as a Tract.

The Credo is not sung because it had previously been recited at the Vigil during the Renewal of the Promises of Baptism. There is no Offertory antiphon. The Agnus Dei is omitted because it had previously been recited during the Litany. There is no Communion antiphon.

This one time during the year, Lauds (which in this instance is very brief) is combined with the Mass and is begun as soon as the priest finishes with the ablutions. It consists simply of an antiphon, Alleluia, sung three times, Psalm 150, and the characteristic Canticle of Zachary, with the antiphon Et Valde Mane.

There is no Last Gospel, and the recessional begins immediately after the Last Blessing.

At the Offertory, the Schola sang the masterpiece of Saint Venantius Fortunatus, written in the year 604, Salve Festa Dies. The words to the simple refrain are quite moving:

Hail, great day, in all time most worthy of veneration, for today God conquered Hell while holding his place among the stars.

At the Communion, the full choir sang Palestrina’s setting for the Sicut Cervus, a canticle from this same liturgy. After our customary recessional, The Strife is O’er, the ladies’ choir sang the hymn from the Eastern Rite liturgy, Christos Anesti.

The rejoicing of Laetare Sunday is done with. The rose vestments from last week give way to violet. We resume and even augment our Lenten austerities. There is no organ. There are no flowers on the altar. The statues are draped and hidden to commemorate our Lord’s having had to hide from those who pursued Him. The Alleluia and the Gloria in Excelsis have long since been banished, but now, we also eliminate the joyful Psalm 42 from the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar.The Gloria Patri is also banished from the Liturgy. You will observe that it is conspicuous in its absence from the Asperges, the Introit, and the Lavaboat this day’s Mass. There is a Tractin lieu of the Alleluia. Father sings the Preface of the Holy Cross. We continue with Mass XVII as the priest is in violet. Thus begins Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent.

The prayer, Adoramus Te, Christe, most closely associated with Good Friday, is commonly recited during Passiontide. The choir sang this prayer at the Offertory after singing what is now our customary Stella Coeli Extirpavit.

At the Communion, we sang the hymn most closely associated with Passiontide, the Vexilla Regis. This hymn was written by a man who was one of the greatest composers, writers and poets of the 6th Century, Venantius Fortunatus. He was also a Bishop and is a Saint. He composed the Pange Lingua of Good Friday, and the incomparably beautiful Easter hymn, Salve Festa Dies, which you will certainly hear after all these austerities are done with!

There were several things that are noteworthy about the music for this, the First Sunday of Lent. Probably the most remarkable is the length of the Tract. Sung briskly, it takes almost 13 minutes to complete. There is a similarly long Tract on Palm Sunday, but today’s edges that one out slightly in terms of overall duration. The Tract itself is drawn entirely from Psalm 90. This is the psalm that the devil speciously quotes from when he tempts Our Lord, as recounted in today’s Gospel (which, of course, immediately follows this Tract).

He hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Another interesting thing about the music today is that all of the propers (Introit, Gradual, Tract, Offertory and Communion) are all drawn from that same Psalm 90. This is one of the very few times throughout the year where all of the propers come from the same psalm. And of course, Psalm 90 also shows up in the Gospel.

Also noteworthy today, we begin singing Mass XVII for Lent, and the organ will be suppressed until it makes a brief appearance on Laetare Sunday, and again on Holy Thursday. We arbitrarily choose Kyrie B during Lent (and A during Advent). We pair Mass XVII with Credo I.

We sang Blessed Lamb at the processional. This is a thoroughly Lenten piece that speaks to Our Lord’s saving Blood.

At the Offertory, again, we sang Stella Coeli Extirpavit.

At the Communion, we again sang Parce Domine, and included the previously omitted 4th verse, which speaks of the forty-day fast.

We concluded Mass with The Glory of these Forty Days before singing Stabat Mater during the distribution of ashes.