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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

PHOTO: Cardinal Ratzinger Saying The Latin Mass

Jeff Ostrowski · July 22, 2014

234 Summorum AY BACK in 1989, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Tridentine Latin Mass in Weimar (Germany) in a crowded church, which included many priests and seminarians, and again in 1999. In 2001, while at a Fontgombault conference, Cardinal Ratzinger sang the Tridentine Latin Mass.

Cardinal Ratzinger celebrated the Tridentine Mass at Fontgombault Abbey just a few months before being elected Pope. In his homily, he said:

“Let us pray to the Lord to help us to help the Church to celebrate the Liturgy well, to be truly at the feet of the Lord, to receive the gift of true life, the essential and necessary reality, for the salvation of all, the salvation of the world. Amen.”

I’ll never forget the excitement surrounding the release of Summorum Pontificum in 2007. Rumors were flying about it years in advance. Every day I’d check the internet to see if the document had been released yet. Now, that day seems far in the past.

For the record, I’m pretty sure I see Fr. Josef Bisig smiling in one of these pictures. I’m also fairly certain my first chant teacher, Fr. Peter Gee, can be seen in two of these photographs (but he was probably only a seminarian at that time):

228 Ratzinger Traditional Latin Mass 230 B16 Peter Gee 231 Ratzinger Bisig

I’ve never been a huge fan of Bavarian vestments (although they’re talked about here), but each culture has its own style:

233 Ratzinger

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Young Cardinal Ratzinger 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

14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski
Sound Familiar?

1 June 1579: “The chapter passes a rule that anyone ascending to the new organ without official permission shall be fined a month’s pay.”

26 October 1579: “The altar boys remain always separate and distinct from choirboys—the one group learning only plainchant and assisting at the altar, the other living with the chapel-master and studying counterpoint and polyphony as well. Father Francisco Guerrero postpones his departure for Rome and instead spends the entire year in Seville making ready for the trip. In the meantime he neglects his choirboys. On 16 November, after considerable complaint against their unruliness and ignorance, he engages an assistant, Bartolomé Farfán.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

[Speaking about the Silent Canon, with audible “per ómnia”] — “So in all such cases it is usual for the otherwise silent celebrant occasionally to sing a clause aloud, to show how far he has arrived.”

— Father Fortescue (pages 313-314) • “A Study of the Roman Liturgy”

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