Views from the Choir Loft

Papal Liturgies – Day 4 & 5 of the Papal Visit

Andrew Leung · September 26, 2015

The Holy Father celebrated two Masses on his fourth and fifth day of his apostolic visit. A few traditional hymnodies were sung at both Masses.

Holy Mass: 17:10

This Mass was celebrated at the Madison Square Garden in New York City yesterday. It’s still disappointing to see the dependence on the cantor. But we see the use of more Latin in this Mass. The Eucharistic Prayer was in Latin, so as some of the Ordinary. This is also the only Mass, so far, that a Gregorian tone Propers is sung. A schola chanted the Communion Antiphon and verses in Latin.

Reception of the Holy Father: 0:00
Holy Mass: 12:15

The second Mass was celebrated this morning at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. One thing I noticed is that all the concelebrants wore full vestments, including the chasuble. The Roman Canon was said in Latin. Our own Fr. David Friel was one of the Masters of Ceremonies, I guess he was the MC for the altar servers, at this Mass. Maybe he can tell us more about it!

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

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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

The representative Protestant collection, entitled “Hymns, Ancient and Modern”—in substance a compromise between the various sections of conflicting religious thought in the Establishment—is a typical instance. That collection is indebted to Catholic writers for a large fractional part of its contents. If the hymns be estimated which are taken from Catholic sources, directly or imitatively, the greater and more valuable part of its contents owes its origin to the Church.

— Orby Shipley (1884)