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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Retreat with the Trappists

Fr. David Friel · September 1, 2013

RIESTS ARE SUPPOSED to make an annual retreat. This past week, I made my retreat at the Abbey of the Genesee, a monastic community of bread-baking Trappists in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. This was my first trip to this particular Abbey, and it was a terrific place for retreat—serious silence, gorgeous grounds, and ample accommodations.

Retreatants are invited to join the community for the communal praying of the Divine Office, which forms the rhythm of monastic life. The first time I joined them, for evening Vespers, I was impressed by the experience. In the midst of an Abbey building that I found much too dark and structurally unattractive, the sound of the monks chanting together was profoundly beautiful.

Their chant is quite simple. They use simple Psalm tones, and the melodies for their antiphons are all syllabic or neumatic. They used exclusively English texts during my visit, but they have books of the Ordinary chants in Latin in their choir stalls, too. What impressed me, then, was not the complexity of their singing or the technical difficulty of it. It was the simplicity, and most especially their unity. As these monks chant, they do so as with one voice. The use of the organ is subdued, intended only to support the chant. The monks chant rather softly, but the organ never competed with the singing. The collective mora vocis at the ends of phrases were masterful.

When we would have visitors at my seminary, Saint Charles Borromeo in Overbrook, people would often remark how impressed they were by the place, both the structures and the residents. If they joined us for Sunday Vespers, they would undoubtedly remark about the beauty with which the seminarians sang. They would talk about receiving a sense of peace during their visit and being inspired by the sight of all the seminarians processing in and out. I distinctly remember just taking their observations for what they were worth, because surely they would think differently if they actually lived in our community. If they knew the personality conflicts, the rivalries, and the unkindness we sometimes showed to one another, they would have been less edified. But, was I wrong to think that? Were the beauty & unity they observed shallow and phony, or was there something more to it?

After the last week, I am inclined to think it was real. The retreat experience at Genesee was terrific, but I would be naïve to presume that their community is much different than my seminary community was. Religious life is beautiful, I’m sure, but I am just as certain that it is not heaven. There are undoubtedly interpersonal struggles there at the Abbey. But their chant was, nevertheless, beautiful. Even with the interior struggles which it is reasonable to assume are present, when these monks pray, they do so with one voice. You almost cannot make out individual voices. Is it not beautiful to consider that chant can be a vehicle for the expression of such unity—unity that goes beyond petty divisions?

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 Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

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PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
7 June 2022 • FEEDBACK

From Chelan, Washington: “CCWatershed is a God-sent resource that I can’t function without! Such great work by the team to bring beauty back to our liturgy!” From Gainesville, Florida: “I am so appreciative of the work, of my brothers and sisters in music!” From Troutman, North Carolina: “Keep up the excellent work in service of the Liturgy!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“We must remember that the important elements of a rite are not the things that will first be noticed by a casual and ignorant onlooker—the number of candles, colour of the vestments and places where the bell is rung—but just those things he would not notice: the Canon, fraction and so on, the prayers said in a low voice and the characteristic but less obvious rites done by the celebrant at the altar.”

— Fr. Fortescue explaining that Anglicanism does not preserve Sarum

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