Welcome To Tradition

We began Mass with the men of the Holy Name in procession as we sang Hark a Herald Voice is Calling, this in view of the Gospel telling of Saint John the Baptist.

Father was wearing rose vestments for Gaudete Sunday. When father is wearing violet or rose, you should expect to hear Mass XVII (which you did) and you should expect to not hear a Gloria (which you did not). When father is wearing rose, you should expect to hear the organ (which you did), notwithstanding that it is Advent (or Lent, as the case may be). We sang Credo I, a rather arbitrary choice.

After the Credo, Father opened the tabernacle and exposed the Blessed Sacrament so that we, the faithful, could make our consecrations to Jesus through Mary after our 33 days of preparation. We preceded the consecration with the Veni Creator, which is customary on such occasions.

At the Offertory, we again sang the great Advent classic, Rorate Caeli Desuper, being sure to include the last verse, which is so evocative of Good Friday:

Be comforted, be comforted, my people: thy salvation cometh quickly: why art thou consumed with grief: for sorrow hath estranged thee: I will save thee: fear not, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

At the Communion, the mixed choir sang Alma Redemptoris Mater. This is one of the four Marian hymns sung during compline, according to the season, and is the one that is proper to the season that goes from Advent through the Purification. The setting began with the men of the Schola singing the simple Gregorian version of the chant, after which, the music blossomed into a four-part harmonization of the same lyrics.

The Schola followed that with Jesu Dulcis Memoria in honor of the Holy Name on this, the second Sunday of the month at which, customarily, the men of the Holy Name Society make their Sunday observances.

We concluded with the anthem of the Holy Name Society, We Stand for God.

On this great feast of the Immaculate Conception, we began by singing the Introit (Gáudens gaudébo), rather than a hymn, as the processional. On a Sunday, we would sing the Asperges, and the Introit is sung after the Asperges. But since today was not a Sunday, the Asperges is not sung, and thus we could start right in with the Introit.

During Advent and Lent, normally, Father would wear violet vestments, we would sing Mass XVII, there would not be a Gloria, and the organ would not be used. But today was a feast. Father wore white; We sang Mass IX in honor of the Blessed Mother; We sang the Gloria,and the singing was accompanied by the organ.

We paired Credo III with Mass IX. After the Credo, Father opened the tabernacle and exposed the Blessed Sacrament so that we, the faithful, could make our consecrations to Jesus through Mary after our 33 days of preparation. We preceded this with the Veni Creator, which is customary on such occasions.

At the Offertory, we sang the ancient hymn, O Quam Glorifica.

At the Communion, the mixed choir sang a very beautiful two-part setting of Tota Puchra Es, which is based on the Song of Songs and begins, Tota pulchra es, Maria. Et macula originalis non est in te (Thou art all fair, O Mary, and there is no original stain in thee). These exact words are the versicle in today’s Alleluia. (You can hear a nicely executed recording of this by Harpa Dei at this link.)

The schola followed that with the solemn version of Alma Redemptoris. This is one of the four Marian hymns sung during compline, according to the season, and is the one that is proper to the season that goes from Advent through the Purification.

For the recessional, we sang the very fitting Immaculate Mary.

The liturgical color on this day is violet. That should immediately call to mind Mass XVII (for the Sundays of Advent and Lent),and indeed, that is what we sang. There are two versions of the Kyrie for Mass XVII. We arbitrarily chose the second version. Those of you present in the congregation will have noticed that it had a rather different sound to it. The schola sang it in an ancient style of harmony referred to as parallel organum in which the same melody is sung in two voices at an interval of one fifth. This gives it a characteristic ring which people often remark gives it a very medieval sound. (It’s not exactly clear how they would know that, but that is what we often hear.)

We paired that with Credo I.

Something else to notice when the priest wears violet: The organ is silent. And so, all the music of the day was sung a cappella – unaccompanied.

Perhaps those present also noticed that the Introit was preceded by a bit of chant that is not in your missal, referred to as a trope. A trope, in liturgical music, is a musical text written for the purpose of amplifying and embellishing an otherwise complete liturgical text. In this instance, the trope was used to introduce the day’s Introit, and, in effect, to introduce the entire liturgical year of Gregorian Chant. Here is a translation of the words:

When the most holy Gregory poured out prayers to the Lord that He might surrender to him from above a musical gift in song, then the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and enlightened his heart to such a degree that at last he began to sing saying thus:

We then continued directly singing the introit: Ad te levavi…

For the processional, we sang O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, rather a staple for the season.

At the Offertory, we sang Rorate Coeli Desuper. This is a very beautiful hymn, the text of which is taken from the Book of Isaias. It is a hymn of sorrow and repentance, sung during Advent to help us keep before our eyes the coming of Christ, not only In the Nativity, but also in his second coming. The words and the melody are evocative of the Improperia (Reproaches) of Good Friday, which are also drawn from Isaias (and Jeremias), and cannot help but remind us that this Child was born unto us to die for us.

But wait! At the Communion – the Dies Irae? But, isn’t that for the Requiem Mass! Why would we sing it during Advent!?

As Father pointed out in his homily, the season of Advent, and thus also the new Liturgical year, begin with the theme of the end times. This is from the Gospel of the day:

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves: men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand. … So you also, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand.

The Dies Irae speaks exactly to those same themes. This is how it begins:

Day of wrath! O day of mourning!

See fulfilled the prophets’ warning,

Heaven and earth in ashes burning!

Oh, what fear man’s bosom rendeth,

When from heaven the Judge descendeth,

On whose sentence all dependeth.

Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;

Through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth;

All before the throne it bringeth.

For the recessional, we sang that other staple of the season, Hark a Herald Voice is Calling.

The liturgical color on this day is violet. That calls to mind several things:

• There will not be flowers on the altar
• We will not hear the organ
• We will sing Mass XVII (for the Sundays of Advent and Lent)
• We will not sing the Gloria

There are two versions of the Kyrie for Mass XVII. We arbitrarily chose the second. We paired the Kyriale with Credo I.

For the processional, we sang O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

At the Offertory, once again, we sang Rorate Coeli Desuper. It’s just so pretty!

At the Communion, the mixed choir sang a polyphonic version of Veni, Veni, Emanuel. The piece starts with the tenor men singing the Gregorian chant first verse in one voice. The second verse then blossoms into a four-part harmony. The third verse is then sung as the first and the fourth verse is sung as the second.

We followed that with Creator Alme Siderum, vespers hymn for Advent.

To conclude, we sang On Jordan’s Bank, which speaks of John the Baptist, in view of the fact that he was the subject in the day’s Gospel.