• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

1951 Solemn Pontifical Field Mass • With 100-Voice “Palestrina Cathedral Choir”

Jeff Ostrowski · July 14, 2015

By way of a wonderful Polish blog, we discover this interesting photo:

506 Schlarman Indian Chief


Here’s the background:

N OCTOBER 14, 1951, about 6,500 people gathered at the foot of Starved Rock, to commemorate Jesuit missionary Fr. Marquette, near Utica where he offered the first Mass in Illinois in 1675. Also present was the 23-member Menominee Indian brass band of northern Wisconsin. Solemn Pontifical Field Mass was celebrated by all the Bishops of Illinois and numerous monsignori, and sung by the 100-voice Palestrina Cathedral Choir, supported by 500-voice choir from the diocesan Catholic high schools.

Among the attending dignitaries was also Cardinal Stritch of Chicago, US Senator Everett Dirksen, Congressman Noah Mason, Francois Briere, French Consul-General of Chicago, and Adlai Stevenson, Governor of Illinois. Following the field Mass, Payetanimah, a brave of the Menominee tribe in Wisconsin, made Archbishop Joseph H. Schlarman of Peoria an honorary Indian chief. He presented him with an Indian headdress and Indian title Weeskiew Pimmaniwew, which means “good manager and bountiful dispenser of goods.”

From what I can tell by a cursory reading of his biography, Bishop Schlarman seems to have been a solid and holy bishop. Schlarman also seems to have been close to one of my heroes—Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen—who was born in Peoria, Illinois:

508 Sheen Schlarman 507 Schlarman 1

I like where Schlarman says:

Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen has no superior, and perhaps no equal, in character, piety, and virtue at the Catholic University.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Cappa Magna Liturgical Vestment Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

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).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

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
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

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.’

Recent Posts

  • Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2022
  • PDF Download • 2022 “Vespers Booklet” (99 Pages)
  • “Playing the Pipe Organ” • By Richard Nixon
  • 16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?
  • Prayer of Abandonment,  Saint Charles de Foucauld

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.