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Views from the Choir Loft

Peace and St Francis

Veronica Brandt · October 4, 2014

St Francis and the Sultan by Gozzoli St Francis’ Trial by Fire before the Sultan from a series of frescoes in Montefalco (1450-52) by Benozzo Gozzoli ODAY MANY PEOPLE ARE PRAYING for peace, especially through the intercession of St Francis, who died on Oct 3 1226 and whose feast day we celebrate today.

I bet there will be a lot of people singing Sebastian Temple’s Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. Which is a great song, but I’d like to share a few others which today brings to mind.

But first a little about the illustration there.

The 14th century book, The Flowers of St Francis, relates how he went to visit the Sultan during the 5th Crusade:

Then St Francis standing before him, inspired by the Holy Spirit, preached most divinely the faith of Christ; and to prove the truth of what he said, professed himself ready to enter into the fire. Now the Sultan began to feel a great devotion towards him, both because of the constancy of his faith, and because he despised the things of this world (for he had refused to accept any of the presents which he had offered to him), and also because of his ardent wish to suffer martyrdom. From that moment he listened to him willingly, and begged him to come back often, giving both him and his companions leave to preach wheresoever they pleased; he likewise gave them a token of his protection, which would preserve them from all molestation.

There are a lot of discussions about how accurate that retelling was, but well worth reading.


217 St Francis There is a little known hymn to St Francis beginning “Corda pia inflammantur” which can be translated as Godly hearts are inflamed. The tune is very simple – same for the refrain as for the verses. The text elaborates on St Francis receiving the stigmata. Go listen and share it. It makes a change from the Peace Prayer of St Francis.

      * *  MP3: Corda Pia – one minute audio clip with two verses out of eleven and three repeats of the refrain. The singers are my mother, my son and myself.
      * *  PDF: Corda Pia – pages 50 & 51 from A New Book of Old Hymns

Another alternative to the Peace Prayer of St Francis is the antiphon “Da pacem.” The translation runs thus, “Grant peace, O Lord, in our days, as there is no other who will fight for us, except thee, our God.”

Here is Giovanni Vianini singing the antiphon paired with Psalm 121/122:

The psalm verses are:

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.

This is also in a New Book of Old Hymns. In the book this antiphon is followed by the round setting by Melchior Franck. In the new edition I clarified how the parts fit together – it is a canon in the hypodiatessaron or the second part comes in a fourth below. Here is a pdf copy of the page:

      * *  PDF: Da pacem, Domine p70 of A New Book of Old Hymns

Now, you might have noticed that both those pieces are in Latin. Aren’t there any English hymns you can recommend?

There is a novena to St Francis carried out each year at the Maternal Heart of Mary Church in Sydney. They use the hymn by Shane Leslie which begins:

Francis, thou wast lonely plying
For thy bread from door to door
Till God heard thy bitter sighing
For His Wounds and for His poor.

You can find the whole novena with the hymn (and Corda Pia) here as a pdf taken from the listing of Mass Propers of the Saints

It appears in the Westminster Hymnal of 1958 (unfortunately not in the Old Westminster Hymnal which I wrote about earlier) The meter is 87.87. I will try to find the name of the tune! (In solfege it begins: re do re fa sol fa mi re – do you recognise it?)

Zenit is promoting a new book on St Francis by Fr Cantalamessa In Love with Christ: The Secret of Saint Francis of Assisi. They are selling through Createspace, which also sells A New Book of Old Hymns and The Old Westminster Hymnal. Just letting you know.

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 Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    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

Random Quote

“Père Joseph Gelineau represented everything that had gone wrong with the Church since the new liturgists had gained control.”

— Jean Langlais

Recent Posts

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  • Bishop François Charrière Vs. Hannibal Bugnini
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  • “My First Year with the Latin Mass” • A Music Director’s Perspective
  • Boston Auxiliary Bishop: “In offering the Traditional Mass for the first time, after removing the vestments, I knelt in the back pew and wept.”

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