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Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Finding A Liturgical Context

Jeff Ostrowski · June 3, 2015

680 Columbus Map NE HUNDRED YEARS from now, people looking back might not know what an “Indian Reservation” is. They might be similarly confused by “indian chief” or “indian tribe,” not to mention “West Indies.” Everyone today, of course, knows their meaning, and why Europeans coming here used those terms. We can argue about whether these terms should be retired—but I refuse to enter into such discussions here. The point is that historians in 100 years have an obligation to find out what was meant by “indian.” If they associate these terms with people from the (Asian) country of India, they will be confused.

We have often mentioned professional “liturgists” who refuse to do their homework and make silly errors. In the old CMAA journals, they referred to such errors as PICCOLUOMINI LOGIC, but I’ve come to believe that label is inflammatory and shouldn’t be used. Perhaps “false logic” would work. “Superficial logic” might be even more appropriate.

Using this “superficial logic” in another context, we might deduce thusly:

“It goes without saying his father’s name was Jack. After all, his name is Robert Jackson, right? Use common sense.”

The problem is that forcing Jack-Son to refer to a parent/child relationship is not “common sense.” This type of logic became fashionable immediately before the Second Vatican Council and many still cling to the “common sense” conclusions. 1

WHEN I STUDIED LATIN in college, the students often asked, “Why is Latin like that? It seems illogical to us.” The teacher often replied: “Sorry; usage rules.” In other words, our opinions don’t matter. How they spoke the language is all that matters. Whether we might have chosen a different solution doesn’t matter. (And don’t get me started on French!)

I recall that several students didn’t like how an accent could change the meaning of a Latin word. For example, the following words mean different things:

ÁDVENIT

ADVÉNIT

The only difference is an accent, which is why several of us insisted that the accents must be included in the Jogues Pew Lectionary and Campion Hymnal.

SUSAN BENOFY HAS PUBLISHED an article in the most recent ADOREMUS BULLETIN of which everyone should be aware. We mentioned in January 2014 that Sacrosanctum Concilium eliminated many footnotes in the final version, but Susan’s article challenges the reason we gave. We had cited what Monsignor Francis P. Schmitt said about the missing footnotes—and Schmitt was a church music consultant for Vatican II. Susan cites Fr. Pierre-Marie Gy regarding why the footnotes were eliminated. It’s not a case where only one reason must be accepted; both could be correct. Susan’s article is on pages 8-9 here:

    * *  PDF Download • ADOREMUS BULLETIN (Spring 2015)

Understanding the context of Sacrosanctum Concilium will help us avoid making absurd statements about the liturgical changes called for by the Second Vatican Council. Susan has done an excellent job.

Speaking of absurdities, I detest daylight savings. I don’t know whether this is an authentic quote, but I strongly agree with the message:

714 daylight savings



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   I’m not going to repeat all the instances we’ve discussed over the years. I feel our blog has done a pretty good job covering the major ones, which were usually an attempt to “recover” an alleged “pristine” tradition. There are also LESSER EXAMPLES of liturgical “superficial logic” you might not expect, such as: The KYRIE ELEISON is a remnant of when Mass was first offered in Rome since the liturgy was originally said in Greek; The COMMUNION at the Requiem Mass still has its ancient verse from the time when all such chants had their psalm verses; the GOOD FRIDAY COLLECTS are the original Prayer of the Faithful; When there were numerous Epistles in the early centuries, the chants were interspersed between each, like they are in the New Rite; the VENI SANCTIFICATOR is the ancient Epiclesis of the Roman Rite. On a superficial level, these seem to be “common sense,” but the true history is much more complicated and occasionally shrouded in mystery. Without question, the most common flaw in liturgical scholarship is to locate one liturgical book or fragment and automatically assume that all Christendom did it that way. If we look backwards at history, we pay the price. In the year 2015, we have ample documentation of everything, paper is cheap, and a large percentage of our people are literate, but this was not always so…

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 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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 5th Sunday of Easter (18 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The Communion Antiphon was ‘restored’ the 1970 Missale Romanum (a.k.a. MISSALE RECENS) from an obscure martyr’s feast. Our choir is on break this Sunday, so the selections are relatively simple in nature.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)
    This coming Sunday—18 May 2025—is the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C (MISSALE RECENS). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON “Ego Sum Vitis Vera” assigned by the Church is rather interesting, because it comes from a rare martyr’s feast: viz. Saint Vitalis of Milan. It was never part of the EDITIO VATICANA, which is the still the Church’s official edition. As a result, the musical notation had to be printed in the Ordo Cantus Missae, which appeared in 1970.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.
    —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

“The argument moves from the existence of the thing to the correctness of the thing: what is, ought to be. Or, a popular variant: if a thing is, it doesn’t make any difference whether it ought to be—the correct response is to adjust, to learn to live with the thing.”

— ‘L. Brent Bozell, Jr.’

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