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Views from the Choir Loft

Ratzinger: “How much filth there is in the church!”

Jeff Ostrowski · January 24, 2014

saint lawrence IFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES must have been unthinkably brutal. They had no running water. They had no electricity. They lacked air conditioners and heaters. Think of it: they lacked all the techniques of modern medicine. They had no plumbing. Life expectancy was frightfully short, and childbirth nightmarish. The utter filth — the total lack of sanitation — must have been unimaginable. Worst of all, imagine watching your poor little child suffer, without any way to ease the suffering.

And yet, think of the liturgical art that comes to us from the Middle Ages. Think of the beautiful Gregorian chant, and (later) polyphony. Think of the frescoes by Angelico, Botticelli, and Ghirlandaio. Why on earth would people living in such barbaric, brutal times be concerned with liturgical beauty?

A few days ago, I read a book review on NLM and, thanks to Google, was able to read excerpts from the actual book (until I’d had enough). The book was by Andrea Grillo, who repeated the same old tired ideas of the past 40 years. Without rehashing all that, his school of thought claims that “modern man” is too stupid to appreciate a Lingua Sacra, the liturgy needs to be continuously dumbed down, Church music should be whatever entertains certain people, following a Missal at Mass is unthinkable and impossible, eloquent and hieratic language must never return, and so on ad infinitum.

And yet … consider that every day for medieval Catholics must have been pure misery compared to what we have, but they valued highly liturgical beauty and excellence. I can’t help thinking that Pope Benedict XVI was right: the liturgy must be beautiful. If we’re too lazy to put forth minimal effort, then something is wrong with us!

The 2005 “Stations of the Cross” by Pope Benedict XVI are quite moving. When he spoke of the “filth” of the Church, he was referencing spiritual filth — specifically, Catholic priests who disobeyed God’s holy law. How strange that the medieval Catholics, who lived in (quite frankly) a filthy physical world, in many ways took the liturgy more seriously than we do today, in spite of all the blessings and advantages we’ve been given.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Pope Benedict XVI, Reform of the Reform Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

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

“Then, when the later great Germans arrived, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven—all secular composers—and tried their hands at sacred music, they set Roman Catholic words to music which in form and spirit is Protestant.”

— Sir Richard Runciman Terry (1912)

Recent Posts

  • Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
  • Bishop François Charrière Vs. Hannibal Bugnini
  • 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • “My First Year with the Latin Mass” • A Music Director’s Perspective
  • Boston Auxiliary Bishop: “In offering the Traditional Mass for the first time, after removing the vestments, I knelt in the back pew and wept.”

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