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Views from the Choir Loft

Lord, Deliver Me From My Persecutors

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · January 23, 2014

852 St. Denis Saint Denis, Bishop of Paris HIS PAST YEAR, I have been reading aloud each evening, with my family, the traditional Roman Martyrology. It has been astonishing to learn about such a host of saints, particularly the ancient martyrs who suffered incredible, unspeakable torments for love of Jesus Christ. Here are some examples, taken almost at random from the Martyrology:

October 28. … At Rome, St Anastasia the Elder, Virgin, and Cyril, Martyrs. The former was bound with chains in Valerian’s persecution under the prefect Probus, smitten with blows and tortured with fire and scourges, but since she remained immovable in her confession of Christ, her breasts were cut off, her nails torn out, her teeth broken, her hands and feet cut off, and being beheaded, adored with the jewels of so many sufferings, she passed to her Spouse; but Cyril, who merely offered her water when she begged for it, received martyrdom as his reward.

December 14. … In Cyprus, the birthday of blessed Spiridion, Bishop, who was one of those confessors whom Galerius Maximian condemned to the mines, after tearing out his right eye and severing the tendons of his left knee. …

December 30. … Marcellus and Exuperantius were first of all stretched on the rack, then grievously beaten with scourges, afterwards torn with hooks and roasted by the burning of their sides and so fulfilled martyrdom. …

Reading accounts like this has challenged me again and again: Do I love the Lord so much that I would be willing to do and to suffer what they did and suffered? Yes, martyrdom is truly a grace from God, a gift that utterly surpasses the boundaries of human possibility; but we also have to be prepared for receiving that grace, and we can live our daily lives in such a way as to make it harder for ourselves to be courageous when the time comes.

THEN, I GOT TO THINKING about the daily hardships of life to which nearly everyone was accustomed only a hundred years ago, such as the lack of running water, the lack of electricity, the scarcity of comforts, and the need to work hard on the land, day after day, just to stay clothed and fed. When our family reads aloud the Little House on the Prairie books, or medieval historical novels, the toughness and vigor of these people come across loud and clear. They are more ready to labor, more able to suffer; they are stronger characters, all around, than we moderns tend to be.

This got me thinking about what a future persecution might look like, and whether Catholics in America (or any Western country) would be ready to face it, or whether our apostasy would come quick and cheap. In spite of the Obama administration’s anti-Catholicism, few in government have simply thrown out or directly attacked the language and policy of religious liberty. Those who want to destroy the Catholic Church have to find devious and indirect ways of doing it; they cannot simply go out and burn down churches and shoot Catholics in the street, the way the Islamic militants in Syria go around beheading Christians and selling their blood. (That kind of thing may come to us someday, but we’re not there quite yet.) But our government is well practiced in the most subtle and “legal” way to weaken the Church—namely, to draw away her members by seducing them with worldly goods or motivating them by social pressures and financial penalties.

So, what would happen if the next administration announced: “All American citizens must pay an abortion tax that will be used directly and exclusively for funding abortion services. Citizens who refuse to pay this tax will have the electricity, gas, and water cut off from their properties.” No other penalty, no further persecution; just those serious inconveniences, a lack of creature comforts we all take for granted.

What would Catholics do? Would we choose privation, discomfort, inconvenience, hardship, in order to uphold the law of God—or would we cave in without a second thought, send our checks to the IRS, and keep those fruits of the free market pulsing and pumping, while our money funds the murder of innocents in secret?

Are we ready for the coming privations and persecutions? Be assured, they are coming; some are already here. Whole career paths have already been cut off or have begun to be impossible to navigate for Catholics who still have a conscience. Obamacare has shown that the government is quite prepared to force everyone to sponsor immorality. How far will it go? Soon the clergy will be challenged for refusing to witness so-called gay marriages. Even the Church will not be given freedom regarding whom is hired as an employee. Employees will not be able to ask for time off on Sundays and Holy Days. It is only a matter of time before being a Catholic at all will involve renouncing much that the world considers important and necessary.

Are we ready?

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 Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (B.A. in Liberal Arts) and The Catholic University of America (M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy), Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is currently Professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also a published and performed composer, especially of sacred music.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“Oh, the happy choir director who is hired to start work on a brand new choir, or who walks into his first rehearsal a total stranger to the existing group—what a fortunate man he is! The new choir director who is a former member of the choir, or a member of the congregation, or the nephew of the alto soloist, or a former altar boy, or otherwise well acquainted with the choir, is in for a few headaches.”

— Paul Hume (1956)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

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