Tag: propers

Today’s feast is one of the most important of the year, a first-class feast and a holy day of obligation.

A plenary indulgence is offered for singing (or reciting) the Veni Creator on January 1st, so we sang it as the processional. Father was wearing white, and generally, that will mean Mass II (two) and Credo III.

At the Offertory, we sang the delightful carol, Resonet in Laudibus.

At the Communion, we managed twelve of the fourteen verses of our home-grown harmonization of Puer Natus in Bethlehem, being careful not to omit the doxology.

At the recessional, we sang O Come all ye Faithful, and concluded with a single verse from Corde Natus ex Parentis.

At the stroke of Midnight, in a church lit only by candles and the decorative lighting, the children’s choir began to sing Silent Night. Advent had ended so the singing was accompanied by the organ. Father, wearing gold, carried the figurine of the Infant Jesus in procession and placed Him in the manger.

Even though the Mass started on Sunday, there was no Asperges because this was not the principal Mass of a Sunday morning. Thus, we started immediately with the Introit, Dominus Dixit ad Me, as Father approached the altar.

We sang Mass II, For Solemn Feasts (Kyrie fons Bonitatis) and paired that with Credo III.

At the Offertory, the mixed choir sang a two-part setting of Tota Puchra Es. The piece has a very unique sound, coming, as it does from the repertoire of Corsican chant.

At the Communion, the mixed choir sang O Magnum Mysterium, a 4-part setting by Tomás Luis de Victoria of the responsory that the schola had sung earlier that evening in Matins of Christmas.

The schola followed that with a two-part harmonization of the Gregorian, Puer Natus in Bethlehem.

And finally, we closed with the GLORI-ous Angels we have Heard on High.

Father was wearing violet today. Immediately, you know: no flowers on the altar, no organ, Mass XVII and no Gloria in Excelsis.

We started with the classic, O Come, O Come, Emanuel as the processional.

At the Offertory, we sang the delightful, Advent hymn, Creator Alme Siderum. It is interesting because the melody is very sweet and sing-songy, almost a lullaby, and yet the lyrics speak to the great majesty of Our Lord as Creator of the heavens and Redeemer of the world.

Part of singing the Divine Office is to chant The Magnificat each evening at Vespers. Of course, an antiphon is chanted both before and after. Beginning on December 17th and continuing until December 23rd, seven very particular and very ancient antiphons are used. They are referred to collectively as the Great Antiphons. Each starts with the exclamation, O, and then refers to Our Lord by a particular title (for example, O Wisdom, or O Dawn). For this reason, they are also known as the O Antiphons. (Note that these antiphons form the basis for the popular hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.)

At the Communion, we sang the O Antiphon for this day (O Adonai) both before and after we sang The Magnificat.

O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

And finally, our last gasp for Advent, observing that once again that John the Baptist is mentioned in the Gospel, we sang Hark, a Herald Voice is Calling as the recessional.

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.

We are well into the long stretch of green Sundays, the Sundays after Pentecost. As you know, when the priest wears green, we will likely sing Mass XI, and so we did. And typically, we pair that with Credo I, and so we did.

For the processional we sang Glory be to Jesus, with its several references to the Blood of Our Lord, fitting for this month of the Precious Blood.

At the Offertory, we sang Virgo Dei Genitrix. The offertory antiphon was longish, so we chose a rather brief Marian anthem.

At the Communion, for Our Lord, we sang, which adverts to the Blood of Christ.

Earlier in the week, we had the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and so, somewhat out of the ordinary, we sang a Marian hymn at the Communion, a hymn that comes to us from the Carmelites, the lovely Salve Mater.

In view of the recent anniversary of the release of the Motu Proprio that restricts the use of the Traditional Latin Mass (Traditionis Custodes), we sang Faith of our Fathers at the recessional.

Ah, the green Sundays of Summer. Mass XI and Credo I, of course!

At the Processional, Glory be to Jesus with its references to the Blood of Our Lord, appropriate for this month of the Precious Blood.

At the Offertory, Virgo Dei Genitrix for Our Lady, certainly, but also because I like it so much.

At the Communion, Jesu Dulcis Memoria because this is the second Sunday of the month on which the Holy Name men make their observances.

And because our little chapel is growing, we had time for another hymn so we did Anima Christi because of its reference to the Sanguis Christi – Blood of Christ.

To close, we did Hail Holy Queen. It’s always fitting.

June is always interesting, liturgically. This year is no different. The Feast of the Sacred Heart falls on the third Friday after Pentecost and that almost always puts it in the month of June (it can be as early as May 29th and as late as July 2nd). This year, it fell on Friday of last week, June 24th. Normally, that would be the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, but that got moved to the following Saturday. Normally, we would solemnize the Feast of John the Baptist on the following Sunday, but Sacred Heart is one of those few feasts which gets solemnized by default. That was the Mass Father celebrated – a solemn feast, and so Father wore gold vestments rather than white. Of course, by now, you know the rule of thumb: a feast that calls for gold vestments also calls for Mass II (for Solemn Feasts). The question is asked, “Why not Mass VIII?” Apart from the fact that Mass VIII is like a badly cooked steak (way overdone), it is less fitting than Mass IIas it is designated For Ordinary Feasts. We paired that with Credo III.

For the Processional, we sang To Christ the Prince of Peace, a hymn very much in keeping with the theme of the Sacred Heart. Among other beautiful phrases, it contains the line:

Deep in His heart for us, the wound of love He bore; that love wherewith He still inflames the hearts that Him adore.

As the Offertory, we sang Tota Pulchra Es for Our Lady.

At the Communion, again for the Sacred Heart, we sang the sublimely beautiful Lauds Hymn for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, Cor Arca.

This Sunday also happened to have been the first opportunity we had to celebrate our patron, Saint Anthony of Padua. For the recessional, we sang all four verses of Saint Anthony, We Turn to Thee – twice! We had an overflow crowd join us to celebrate our patron and it took unbelievably long for the procession to form up outside.

In procession, we carried the statue and our prized relic of Saint Anthony. We sang Blessed Francis, Holy Father in honor of Saint Francis, then sang the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus. We concluded the procession with Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above.