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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Hymnal by Fr. John Selner (1954)

Jeff Ostrowski · November 19, 2015

102 Mantelletta Image ODAY, FOR THE FIRST TIME, you can download a rare 1954 hymnal by Fr. John Selner. In the past, I’ve mentioned that some of the old Catholic hymnals were pretty awful, but this one is splendid. Since part of my involvement with a special hymn project requires searching through rare hymn books, I decided to share this one with you:

    * *  PDF • SELNER HYMNAL (1954) — 134 pages

English versions of ancient hymns (e.g. Rerum, Deus, tenax vigor) are included along with a nice mixture for the different seasons. 1

Fr. Selner often stressed that Church music must be sacred. This even extends to the priest’s vestments, which are descendants of ancient Roman clothing.

The desire to dress in a special way for a special event—the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—is only natural, although I suspect women understand this better than men. On a purely practical level, I’m so glad priests and bishops don’t dress in secular clothing. The nicest clothing we Americans have is a suit and tie…how boring! Have you ever watched television from the 1950s? Every single actor is dressed in suit and tie—enough already! 2

The symbolism behind many of the vestments is deep, and hopefully we can continue to explore this topic as time goes on. I know Fr. Friel has already created an eight-part series about the vesting prayers, which our readers appreciated.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   So many hymnals have a billion Advent and Christmas hymns but are extremely deficient when it comes to the other seasons. Fr. Selner avoids this pitfall fairly well.

2   Whenever possible, I wear the Barong Tagalog—from the Philippines—which is made from pineapple fiber.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Roman Catholic Hymnals Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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).

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Quick Thoughts

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski
2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski
31 December 2020 • “COMITES CHRISTI”

The feasts for Saint Stephen Proto-Martyr (26 December), Saint John the Evangelist The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (27 December), and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) seem untouched by any liturgical reforms. These are very powerful feasts—I believe they once possessed octaves—and I believe they could sometimes “overpower” a Sunday feast. The rules for octaves in the olden days are extremely complex. These feasts are sometimes referred to as a single entity as: Comites Christi (“Companions of Christ”). This is just a guess, but there seems to be a triple significance: STEPHEN martyred after Christ lived, JOHN was a martyr who knew Christ personally, and the HOLY INNOCENTS were martyred before Christ’s birth.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Liberalism in religion is the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another… It teaches that all are to be tolerated, for all are matters of opinion. Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective fact, not miraculous; and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy. […] Men may go to Protestant Churches and to Catholic, may get good from both and belong to neither.”

— Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman (May of 1879)

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