Views from the Choir Loft

Video • The Voice of St. John Paul the Great

Andrew Leung · December 3, 2015

T IS NOT A SECRET that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is a musician. Many people know that he is a pianist. And some even guess that his retirement life probably include practicing the piano everyday. This past Sunday, Pope St. John Paul’s singing was mentioned in the homily and I was surprised that not many people know about this talent of his. So, I am going to share two videos to prove that he could sing very well.

The first video is from a Mass he celebrated at St. Peter Basilica in 1982. His chanting of the Pater Noster can be heard clearly.

If that his voice is not good enough for you in that video, try listen to this next one. This is a recording of him singing the Ave Maria by Bach and Gounod. It was recorded in 1976, two years before he was elected pope, when he was still a cardinal. This Saint can SING! The EWTN also put together some of John Paul II’s pictures in the video. Enjoy!

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).

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

15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

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

15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski