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Views from the Choir Loft

St. Cecilia, Pray for Us

Richard J. Clark · January 17, 2013

WENTY-THREE YEARS AGO, down a hidden side street behind the Berklee College of Music in Boston, I walked into a church named for Saint Cecilia. Nearly all of Boston’s downtown Catholic churches are well-hidden on side streets. This one was no different. Built by the sweat of poor working class Irish immigrants, this beautiful nineteenth century edifice was well crafted to be kept secret from Boston’s upper class residents despite its enormity. Plain on the outside (yet opulent on the inside of the upper church), it is easily missed to this day.

Upon entering the dimly lit lower church, I knelt in a pew near the tired, dusty Hammond organ. Crumbling tile under my feet and drab paint peeling from the walls, I peered around at what was no small chapel. The lower church was lined with ample side altars for a rectory full of priests’ private masses. There were row upon row of cheap electric votive candles. Six hundred overflow worshipers fit easily when the upper church was already full with twelve hundred worshipers. It was replete with an assortment of statuary including a kitschy rosy-cheeked St. Cecilia and a life-sized copy of Stefano Maderno’s The Martyrdom of St. Cecilia under the high altar. It was 1989 and I was twenty years old.

Yet, I was home. Now at the age of forty-three with so many changes in my life, it seems quite improbable that I would still be the Director of Music and Organist at St. Cecilia Parish in Boston. I like to say that I have hardly gone anywhere in my career; the choir loft is a mere fifty yards away from my old dorm room at Berklee. That I am still here is improbable, but perhaps inevitable.

Saint Cecilia, the patroness of sacred music, certainly holds a deeply special place in the hearts of musicians. But her reach extends far beyond musicians, for music has a unique way of finding its way into hearts and spirits and dwelling there. St. Augustine said that “Singing belongs to the one who loves.” It is love that drives musicians to create music. But it is love of God (not just love of music) that drives sacred musicians to so intensely and completely hand over their lives to the Church (usually without fully realizing it until it is much too late) so that they might praise Him, bless Him, adore Him, and glorify Him. To some this seems irresponsible and ill-advised, but perhaps for the sacred musician it is inevitable. God’s love will find us and draw us near. “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (John 15: 16)

However, music also gives expression to our fears, our desires, our longings, and especially our sufferings. Not only to our personal sufferings, but of those all around us. This is why we hand over our lives and our music to God’s glory alone: When we enter the doors of our churches to sing our praises to God, one never knows what pain, suffering, grief or burdens those among us carry. If music helps carry the crosses of our brothers and sisters, then music we must make, passionately, intensely, reverently, and devotedly.

This is the beauty and the gift of community that prays together, for the Mass – a sung prayer – is our greatest prayer. Our voices raised in prayer each week can provide comfort and solace to our brothers and sisters in need. Our very presence at liturgy, along with our spoken and sung prayer, have untold effects on others and can act as a lifeline in ways which we will never know.

Saint Cecilia, guide us and inspire us.
Sancta Cæcilia ora pro nobis!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Although the Mass contains much instruction for the faithful, it has nevertheless not seemed expedient to the fathers that it be celebrated everywhere in the vernacular. The holy synod commands pastors and everyone who has the care of souls to explain frequently during the celebration of the Masses, either themselves or through others, some of the things that are read in the Mass, and among other things to expound some mystery of this most Holy Sacrifice, especially on Sundays and feastdays.”

— ‘Council of Trent, XII:8 (1562)’

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