Views from the Choir Loft

Evelyn Waugh Requiem Panegyric Preached At Westminster By Fr. Caraman (21 April 1966)

Jeff Ostrowski · August 11, 2015

E HAVE MENTIONED Fr. Philip Caraman before, and will have occasion to do so again, but today focus on Fr. Caraman’s dear friend, Evelyn Waugh. Here is the full text of the panegyric (public speech) preached by Fr Philip Caraman at Waugh’s Latin Requiem Mass in Westminster Cathedral on 21 April 1966:

* * Panegyric (Complete) • Preached By Fr. Philip Caraman

The Tablet article says this was preached by Fr. Caraman, but I thought Requiem Masses traditionally lacked a homily. Moreover, was this a eulogy? Were eulogies forbidden? Are they forbidden now? Didn’t Fr. George Rutler famously deliver a funeral eulogy for William F. Buckley in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral? Anyway, here’s an excerpt:

“He was sad when he read of churches in which the old altar was taken down and a table substituted, or of side altars abolished as private Masses were held to be unliturgical or unnecessary. With all who know something of the pattern of history, he was perturbed. It was a struggle to accept it all, but he did accept it, and with enviable fidelity.”

Remember: this was 1966, so the massive liturgical changes would not arrive for another half decade.

411 Philip Caraman

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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).

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

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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

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—Jeff Ostrowski