Views from the Choir Loft

Feast of Saint John Paul II

Richard J. Clark · October 22, 2014

ODAY, OCTOBER 22, is the first time we celebrate the Feast of Saint John Paul II. Such feasts are usually held on the day of a saint’s death. However, Saint John Paul died on April 2nd which will from time to time will fall during Holy Week. To avoid this, the Vatican decided to celebrate his Feast Day on October 22, the Anniversary of the Mass for his inauguration as pope.

I find today’s Collect to be a fitting meditation on the centrality of Christ even on a saint’s feast day. See here how John Paul’s life and sainthood leads us to Christ:

O God, who are rich in mercy
and who willed that Saint John Paul the Second
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity

of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

THE “MASS IN HONOR OF POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II”, using the 2010 English translation of The Roman Missal, Third Edition, is published with the approval for liturgical use by the Committee on Divine Worship, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

DOWNLOAD Complete Score (2.3 MG):
PDF • Mass in Honor of Pope Saint John Paul II (for SATB, Schola, Organ)

DOWNLOAD Unison/Organist Edition:
PDF • Mass in Honor of Pope Saint John Paul II (for Schola, Organ)

• Recordings by the St. Cecilia Choir, Boston, MA, with the 1999 Smith & Gilbert Organ:

      YouTube:  Penitential Act C | Kyrie
      YouTube:  Gloria
      YouTube:  Sanctus
      YouTube:  Memorial Acclamation A
      YouTube:  Memorial Acclamation B
      YouTube:  Memorial Acclamation C
      YouTube:  Doxology, Amen
      YouTube:  Agnus Dei

• LISTEN and FREE DOWNLOADS of 24 bit audio here

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

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).

“Samaritánæ” (3rd Sunday of Lent)

With regard to the COMMUNION for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (Year A), the Ordo Cantus Missae—which was published in 1969 by the Vatican, bearing Hannibal Bugnini’s signature and approbation in its PREFACE—inexplicably introduced a variant melody and slightly different words, as you can see by this comparison chart. When it comes to such items, they’re always done in secrecy by unnamed people. (Although it is known that Dom Eugène Cardine collaborated in the creation of the GRADUALE SIMPLEX, a book considered by some to be a travesty.)

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF Download • “Ubi Caritas” (SATB)

I remember singing “Ubi Cáritas” by Maurice Duruflé at the conservatory. I was deeply moved by it. However, some feel Duruflé’s version isn’t suitable for small choirs since it’s written for 6 voices and the bass tessitura is quite low. That’s why I was absolutely thrilled to discover this “Ubi cáritas” (SATB) for smaller choirs by Énemond Moreau, who studied with OSCAR DEPUYDT (d. 1925), an orphan who became a towering figure of Catholic music. Depuydt’s students include: Flor Peeters (d. 1986); Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel (d. 1953); Arthur Meulemans (d. 1966); Monsignor Jules Vyverman (d. 1989); and Gustaaf Nees (d. 1965). Rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #19705. When I came across the astonishing English translation for “Ubi Cáritas” by Monsignor Ronald Knox—matching the Latin’s meter—I decided to add those lyrics as an option (for churches which have banned Latin). My wife and I made this recording to give you some idea how it sounds.

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF • “Cantus Mariales” (192 pages)

Andrea Leal has posted an absolutely pristine scan of CANTUS MARIALES (192 pages) which can be downloaded as a PDF file. To access this treasure, navigate to the frabjous article Andrea posted Monday. The file is being offered completely free of charge. The beginning pages of the book have something not to be missed: viz. a letter from Pope Saint Pius X to Dom Pothier, in which the pope calls Abbat Pothier “a man versed above all others in the science of liturgy, and to whom the cause of Gregorian chant is greatly indebted.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Grotesque Pairing • “Passion Chorale”

One of our rarest releases was undoubtably this PDF scan of the complete Pope Pius XII Hymnal (1959) by Father Joseph Roff, a student of Healey Willan. One of the scarcest titles in existence, this book was provided to us by Mr. Peter Meggison. Back in 2018, we scanned each page and uploaded it to our website, making it freely available to everyone. Readers are probably sick of hearing me say this, but just because we upload something that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wonderful or worthy of imitation. We upload many publications precisely because they are ‘grotesque’, interesting, or revealing. Whereas the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal had an editorial board that was careful and sensitive vis-à-vis pairing texts with tunes, the Pope Pius XII Hymnal (1959) seems to have been rather reckless in this regard. Please take a look at what they did with the PASSION CHORALE and see whether you agree.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Extreme Unction

Those who search Google for “CCCC MS 079” will discover high resolution images of a medieval Pontificale (“Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 079”). One of the pages contains this absolutely gorgeous depiction of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

PDF Chart • “Plainsong Rhythm”

I will go to my grave without understanding the lack of curiosity so many people have about the rhythmic modifications made by Dom André Mocquereau. For example, how can someone examine this single sheet comparison chart and at a minimum not be curious about the differences? Dom Mocquereau basically creates a LONG-SHORT LONG-SHORT rhythmic pattern—in spite of enormous and overwhelming manuscript evidence to the contrary. That’s why some scholars referred to his method as “Neo-Mensuralist” or “Neo-Mensuralism.”

—Jeff Ostrowski