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Views from the Choir Loft

“Beauty” by Most Rev. James D. Conley (Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska)

Jeff Ostrowski · December 18, 2013

Creek monks Bishop Conley’s KU friends became monks ERE AT WATERSHED we talk an awful lot about “beauty.” There really isn’t another word for “beauty” and perhaps we overuse that word.

“Beautiful” has many definitions. A decent one is “something in which man takes delight.” Another might be, “something which shines forth because of its perfection.” As we’ll see in a minute, many different kinds of things can have “perfection.” Years ago, like James D. Conley, I took courses with Dennis B. Quinn, who founded the 1970s Integrated Humanities Program with John Senior and Franklyn Nelick. If you’ve never heard of it, I encourage you to Google it.

I’m horrible when it comes to poetry, but anybody who studied the “Poetic Method” with these KU professors had to memorize this awesome poem:

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

Pretty amazing … young children understand beauty. And so do adults. So do the elderly.

Anyway, Bishop Conley has written a long article for Crisis Magazine about beauty, the Catholic Faith, and the Integrated Humanities Program. Highly recommended! For a PDF version, click here.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Beauty in the Catholic Liturgy, KU Integrated Humanities Program 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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Quick Thoughts

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

At papal Masses, the regulations against tardiness were more stringent than at Masses celebrated by cardinals or bishops. Giovanni Maria Nanino records that any singer who is not in his place—and in his vestments—by the end of the repetition of the “Introit” will be fined eight vinti. At papal Vespers, the singer who is not present at the “Gloria Patri” of the first psalm pays a fine of fifty balocchi.

— Giovanni M. Nanino (d. 1607), Papal “Maestro di Cappella”

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