Views from the Choir Loft

Video • Mass during WW2

Andrew Leung · May 5, 2016

APPY SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION! Today, I would like to share a vintage video of a Mass celebrated by an army chaplain in 1943. This Mass was celebrated in Makin Islands, Kirabati, during World War II. In the video, you can see the soldiers gathering around a jeep that is decorated as an altar.

I just found this video and I watched to whole thing, I am very impressed by the reverent that the priest and soldiers showed during the Mass. The priest wore every single pieces of the vestment. And even though the Mass was celebrated on a jeep, the “altar” was decorated and dressed with linens, altar cards, crucifix and candles. The soldiers also stayed knelt through the Canon and when they receive Communion, even when they are on the battlefield risking their lives. They didn’t miss any little details of the liturgy. It makes me wonder why we can’t show the same reverence nowadays. I think we can all learn from these men!

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