Views from the Choir Loft

New Document on Christian Burial and Cremation

Andrew Leung · October 27, 2016 ·

HE CONGREGATION FOR DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH (CDF) just issued a new document on Christian burial and cremation. The instruction, “Ad resurgendum cum Christo”, was published by the Vatican yesterday. Gerhard Cardinal Müller, the prefect of the CDF, attended the press conference and introduced the document. The English translation of the document can be found on the website of the Vatican Radio. This video below, from the Rome Reports, gives a pretty good summary of the new document:

N THE PAST FEW YEARS, I have experienced a few awkward funerals where the cremated remains of the deceased person was brought to the church. I have always had doubts about this practice since the funeral rite was meant to perform over the casket with the body of the faithful departed. And I was right:

In the absence of motives contrary to Christian doctrine, the Church, after the celebration of the funeral rite, accompanies the choice of cremation, providing the relevant liturgical and pastoral directives, and taking particular care to avoid every form of scandal or the appearance of religious indifferentism.

Please correct me if I am wrong. It seems to me that the above paragraph (no. 4) clearly stated that the funeral rite is to be held prior to the cremation. Therefore, a Mass for the Dead (Memorial Mass) should be celebrated in place of the Funeral Mass when the body of the deceased had already been cremated.

Requiem aeternam, dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace. Amen.

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. He is also an artist and vocal coach at the Paul Phoenix Academy.

Could Pope St. Pius X Sing?

“On 12 March 1908, the complete publication of the Roman Gradual was issued by the Vatican Press. On that very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. A witness of the audience says that Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement pro aliquibus locis—it was the Introit of the new Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.” (Catholic Choirmaster, February 1915)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Julius Bas Accompaniment

A very prolific harmonizer of Gregorian chant in the early 20th century was Mr. Julius Bas. He often uses a very strange technique, wherein he employs rests to eliminate the Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Consider what he did with “Lumen ad revelationem” here:

* JPEG • Lumen ad revelationem

It seems quite lazy, and I’ve never seen anyone else use such a technique, although Dr. Peter Wagner often switched to parallel octaves when he ran out of ideas… (Yuck!)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Hitting wrong notes

Fr. Valentine Young, OFM, used to say: “The organist can play 1,000 correct notes and one wrong note—and the only thing people will care about is the wrong note.” Last Sunday I hit some wrong notes, and felt bad. Then I remembered a story about Rudolf Serkin and started to chuckle. Charles Rosen (or was it Leon Fleisher?) told the story of Serkin playing a Beethoven Sonata in front of a large audience. The theme is all in octaves; but Serkin hit some wrong notes, and played parallel 7ths instead. This so unnerved him that every time the theme returned, he played the entire thing in parallel 7ths! We must remember that even the greatest hit wrong notes. Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer, Sviatoslav Richter, Egon Petri—they all hit wrong notes, which we can hear on recordings. (Josef Hofmann was an exception, but he was super-human so he doesn’t count!)

—Jeff Ostrowski