Sonnen: “I’ve never seen such a fine work of art.”

Corpus Christi Watershed · November 9, 2016

HEN YOU ARE cruising the Roman Catholic blogosphere, if you come across an ancient chasuble, colorful Cappa Magna, rare photo of Pope St. John Paul II, vibrant ferraiolo, or impromptu gathering of clerics, odds are it originally came from the website of Mr. John Paul Sonnen, who runs a travel company with his wife.

We were so pleased when a reader shared a link where Mr. Sonnen says:

“Photo taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I strongly encourage every pastor of English-language parish communities across the world to purchase this missal and hymnal for their pews. I have never seen such a fine work of art. This is by far the best pew missal yet available in any language at any time.”

The first edition of the CAMPION HYMNAL was produced by Corpus Christi Watershed. (To learn about the Second Edition, click here.)

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

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

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List