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Views from the Choir Loft

WLP Vice President Mentions The Jogues Missal (Without Realizing It)

Jeff Ostrowski · July 14, 2014

285 Jerry Galipeau S FAR AS I can tell, Dr. Jerry Galipeau is a sincere and caring person. However, I’m not a huge fan of his blog. You see, each Thursday, Dr. Galipeau attempts to prove that the new Roman Missal is too difficult for average Catholics to understand. I’ve never had any trouble understanding the new prayers (which are more accurate translations), so I don’t frequent his blog.

Some time ago, a CMAA forum member posted an article by Dr. Galipeau, who described his first time attending the Traditional Latin Mass. Here are some excerpts from his article:

I LEFT THAT MASS quite perplexed. It left me empty and full of questions. […] As I looked around that church yesterday, I wondered how the pre-conciliar rite had “become dear” to these people.

I have a Catholic voice; I have a Catholic heart; I have Catholic vocal chords ready to sing God’s praise. Unfortunately, yesterday’s experience of the extraordinary form of the Mass never engaged this Catholic. […] I am desperately trying to understand how what I experienced yesterday is not a separate rite, but instead, as Pope Benedict said, another version of the same rite.

I have fantastic news for Dr. Galipeau!

His questions will be answered if he obtains a copy of the Jogues Illuminated Missal. This book has full-color reproductions of ancient Catholic manuscripts, going all the way back to the 7th century, placed alongside the Ordinary Form of the Mass. 1 In other words, it clearly and powerfully demonstrates that the core of the Novus Ordo Missal goes back more than 1,000 years. As an added bonus, the various manuscripts—Agnus Dei, Canon of the Mass, and so forth—are fascinating to behold!

I WOULD ALSO LIKE to share with Dr. Galipeau something my father taught me: Don’t judge something after having experienced it for a brief period of time only.

The most wonderful things in life take years to begin to appreciate. Would it not be a tragedy for a young person to listen to 5 seconds of Chopin and declare his music boring? For that matter, what would we think of a man who walked into the Church and departed after 15 seconds, declaring that Christianity has little to offer?

The most magnificent composers—J.S. Bach, Morales, Victoria, and the rest—require years of careful listening before they begin to reveal their depth and greatness. The same is true of the Traditional Latin Mass, except that the sacred liturgy is infinitely more important than great music.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   The Jogues Missal is also the first postconciliar book to contain the complete Propers in English and Latin for the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Dr Jerry Galipeau WLP, Traditional Latin Mass Tridentine Rite 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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23 May 2022 • FEEDBACK

From a reader: “I wasn’t looking for it. But, I stumbled across your hand-dandy arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon. Jeff, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread! I had to play a wedding on Saturday. The bride requested the Canon. There were 11 bridesmaids! The organ loft is a football field away from the communion rail. It’s so difficult to play and keep checking the mirror. Your arrangement is absolutely genius. One can skip and choose which variations to use. The chord names are handy so that when my eyes are off the music, I always know where I am at. A thousand times thank you for sharing this arrangement!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

The claim that the bishop or the priest originally celebrated “versus populum” is a legend, which Otto Nussbaum (d. 1999) originally did a great deal to spread.

— Dr. Helmut Hoping (University of Freiburg)

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