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Views from the Choir Loft

A Catholic Nun Challenged Reagan As Vice-President … For The Communist Party!

Jeff Ostrowski · September 15, 2014

868 Sung vs Spoken Propers IANE DRUFENBROCK, also known as Sister Madeleine Sophie, was a Franciscan Sister who challenged Ronald Reagan in 1980 as VP candidate for the Socialist Party. She taught mathematics at Alverno College (Wisconsin), which had published the famous Alverno Hymnal during the 1940s. For the record, Sister Drufenbrock also wrote a hymn text called “Going out to spread the light,” which GIA published in their Worship hymnal.

Is Sister Drufenbrock relevant to discussions of Sacred music? Certainly, because her bizarre actions 1 remind us that the 1970s were A VERY STRANGE TIME for the Catholic Church.

We’ve discussed many times the 1970s mystery of “Sung Propers” vs. “Spoken Propers.” Yet, many people still demand to know why this confusion was introduced. I repeat: The 1970s were a very strange era!

WE’VE PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED how the Jogues Missal is the safest & best way to help your congregation fall in love with authentic liturgy, because it lays out ATTRACTIVELY each Mass Proper & Reading using gorgeous letters. At the same time, we’ve never failed to point out that priests who desire to improve their parish music programs will often face obstacles. These obstacles can seem insurmountable at times, but we have an advantage over the 1970s era: novelty !

Over the years, every possible style of music has been tried at Mass: mariachi, jazz, broadway, rap, and so on. After such rampant experimentation, the introduction of styles mandated by the Second Vatican Council—Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, dignified organ interludes, etc.—seem novel and fresh, because our congregations lack any experience with them. It reminds me of a Protestant girl I dated in college. Once, she explained to me a new fad certain Protestant ministers were introducing. The fad was called “courting,” and basically meant that fornication was not allowed. Needless to say, “courting” was identical to the Roman Catholic way to date … but Protestants had “repackaged it” as a novelty.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Cf. Pope Pius XI: “No one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.” (Quadragesimo Anno, §120).

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Sung Vs Spoken Propers Novus Ordo Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

The Sacrifice is celebrated with many solemn rites, none of which should be deemed useless or superfluous. On the contrary, all of them tend to display the majesty of this august sacrifice, and to excite the faithful, when beholding these saving mysteries, to contemplate the divine things which lie concealed in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

— Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566)

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