The following article was released on 13 January 2013 by several blogs which promote the Traditional Latin Mass. It is reproduced here for ease of reference.
EADERS MIGHT ENJOY this special “first look” at the St. Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal for the Traditional Latin Mass.
In celebration of the fact that our Missal began shipping on Tuesday, we are releasing for free and instant download the complete Mp3 recording of a special polyphonic Motet written by the great English composer, William Byrd (†1623), in honor of St. Edmund Campion:
* “Why do I use my paper, ink and pen” [mp3]
Why doe I use my paper inck and pen,
and call my wits to counsel what to say,
such memories were made for mortal men,
I speak of Saints, whose names cannot decay,
an Angels trump, were fitter for to sound,
their glorious death, if such on earth were found.
The recording serves as the “soundtrack” (for lack of a better word) as viewers watch the Campion Missal Explanation Video. The Mp3 recording is the work of Matthew J. Curtis, a truly gifted singer. Regarding the text itself, an Edmund Campion scholar sent the following via Email:
“The words are moving because Catholics were forced to use manuscript to disseminate works (printing presses being difficult to buy, conceal and feed; paper being bulky and expensive). This poem, written by Henry Walpole within a month of Campion’s death, was printed in the Alfield, A true reporte of the death & martyrdome of M. Campion Iesuite and preiste; the press of Richard Verstegan was seized. The manuscript version was disseminated widely, and set to music by William Byrd, probably with a few months, although the printed version of Byrd’s setting was not published till 1588, without Campion’s name being included (for obvious reasons, in Protestant England). The poem itself is remarkable, since it is in the same form as Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis: six-line stanzas of rhyming iambic pentameters (unstress/stress). There are thirty of them, divided into clear groups of ten. In other words, it is much more than a popular ballad, and has (unlike many modern Catholic hymns) a very clear concordance between words and metre.”
The picture at the beginning of this article is a snap shot of one of the spreads from the Campion Missal. The reader will notice that, for the first time in history, ancient manuscripts (several going back to the 7th century) were included alongside the Mass Ordinary.
Here are a few more snapshots of the Campion Missal:
* Solemn Mass Spread – Sample 1
* Solemn Mass Spread – Sample 2A
* Solemn Mass Spread – Sample 2B
* Solemn Mass Spread – Sample 2C
* Smyth Sewn Binding of the absolute highest quality
The size of this 992-page book is a perfect fit for Catholic pews:
You can also read the Editor’s Preface.