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Views from the Choir Loft

A Most Magnificent Monogram

Jeff Ostrowski · June 1, 2013

O YOU KNOW what is represented by the symbol on the right? I did not, so I had to ask. It turns out it’s a monogram containing the following letters:

U E R E D I G N U M

Anyone familiar with the Catholic Mass knows the beginning of the Preface: “Vere dignum et justum est” (“It is truly meet and just”). The word “meet” means “suitable, fit, or proper.” Some English translations have, “It is truly right and just, our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks.”

Can you find all the letters? If not, scroll down. I describe how each letter can be “found” below, but first I will show a few more examples:

842 1250AD 843 cent 11 843 CENT 12

O YOU SEE how the Preface begins with the words Et iustum est, aequum et salutare, etc.? That’s because the first two words “Uere dignum” are not required, since the monogram contains them. The FSSP priest who explained all this to me sent me another monogram which contains all the words of “MARIA.” I have posted this symbol on the right. Click here to see how the Preface looks in the CAMPION MISSAL. As I was researching, I was saddened to learn that many ancient liturgical manuscripts did not survive the Reformation.

So, did you find all the letters? If not, please open the following PDF:

      * *  Explanation of the UEREDIGNUM [pdf]

What about the “R”: did I find it correctly? That’s the only way I could make “R” fit. Do you know a better way? Let me know in the combox.

EMEMBER that “u” and “v” can be interchanged in Latin. Here’s what Fr. Aidan Nichols has to say, in his book on Fortescue:

In 1913, Fr. Adrian Fortescue published his translation of a number of the hymns of the Latin Lirurgy, and this prompted a sharp little exchange in The Tablet with the sculptor and type-designer Eric Gill (1882-1940) on the topic of Latin letters. Fortescue held that that the vernacular Romance distinction between “u” and “v” should not be carried over into present-day Latin inscriptions, and in his translations, originally privately printed, he put this conviction into typographical practice. Gill wrote in to dissent in characteristically pugnacious vein. “Pedantry is deservedly discredited as a kind of intellectual priggishness. A usage based on common practice is in this latter, as in all human things, a better thing than one resting on the authority of an individual, however learned.” Fortescue replied that the letter “u” printed with a rounded bottom was an ugly letter, and he ascribed Gill’s negative reaction to unfamiliarity with historic inscriptions. This was why Gill found a return to sound practice “queer and artistic.” Gill retorted that he certainly found Fortescue “queer and artistic in thinking the round U ugly.”
The remark seems to have rankled. Some years later he would recount the story for a figure who bears comparison with Gill in the history of print, Stanley Morison.

So, it seems Fortescue would have loved the following manuscript, which was created around 983AD:


He would have loved this one, too, from the 2nd half of the 10th century:

111 Ms D 3 5218

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 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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
    I wish to thank everyone for the nice comments I received vis-à-vis my Glory To God setting for Choir & Congregation. A gentleman with a musical doctorate from Indiana University wrote: “Love this setting so much. And I will pray, as you asked, for your return to composition more fully. You are very very good.” A female choir director wrote: “I love your harmonizations, your musicality, and the wonderful interplay you have with dissonance and consonance in your music. So fun to listen to, and great for intellect, heart, and soul!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    William Byrd • “Mass for Five Voices”
    Our volunteer choir is learning the “Sanctus” from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. You can hear a short excerpt (recorded last Sunday) but please ignore the sound of babies crying: Mp3 recording. We still have work to do—but we’re on the right track. Once we have some of the tuning issues fixed, I desire to use it as an example proving volunteers can sing complicated polyphony.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Baptism” • A Unique Hymn
    Father Christopher Phillips is the founding Pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church. One of his hymns is unique and (in my humble opinion) quite beautiful. His hymn is basically a prayer to the Holy Trinity but also speaks of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. It would be an ideal Communion hymn on Trinity Sunday or the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. You can hear live recording from last Sunday by clicking here.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“In case of urgent danger of life anyone may baptize, even a heretic or pagan. It is sufficient that he administer the essential matter and form and have the implicit intention of doing what Christ instituted. Naturally a Catholic must be preferred, if possible. A man is preferred to a woman; but anyone else to the parents.”

— Father Adrian Fortescue (1917)

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