Views from the Choir Loft

Cardinal Sarah Visits The Monastery of Solesmes

Corpus Christi Watershed · November 23, 2016

OBERT CARDINAL SARAH currently serves Pope Francis as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. His Eminence visited the monastery of Solesmes toward the beginning of November:

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6782 Cardinal Sarah Visits Solesmes Monks I

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The Monastery of Solesmes has shared the following:

* * PDF Download • Robert Cardinal Sarah (6 November 2016)

* * PDF Download • Robert Cardinal Sarah (13 November 2016)

A few decades ago, the monks of Solesmes moved away from the theories of Dom Mocquereau, experimenting with other theories. Recently, however—under Dom Bruno—the monastery has returned to the “classic Solesmes” approach. Indeed, their most recent major publication, the 2012 Gregorian Missal, preserves 100% of the original ictus markings placed by Dom Mocquereau circa 1908. Many monks praise God at the Abbey of Solesmes, including the son of Leo B. Bozell (a friend of William F. Buckley Jr. and founder of TRIUMPH, a Roman Catholic magazine).

Julia Garcia contributed to this article.

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

‘Bogey’ of the Half-Educated: Paraphrase

Father Adrian Porter, using the cracher dans la soupe example, did a praiseworthy job explaining the difference between ‘dynamic’ and ‘formal’ translation. This is something Monsignor Ronald Knox explained time and again—yet even now certain parties feign ignorance. I suppose there will always be people who pretend the only ‘valid’ translation of Mitigásti omnem iram tuam; avertísti ab ira indignatiónis tuæ… would be “You mitigated all ire of you; you have averted from your indignation’s ire.” Those who would defend such a translation suffer from an unfortunate malady. One of my professors called it “cognate on the brain.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Father Cuthbert Lattey • “The Hebrew MSS”

Father Cuthbert Lattey (d. 1954) wrote: “In a large number of cases the ancient Christian versions and some other ancient sources seem to have been based upon a better Hebrew text than that adopted by the rabbis for official use and alone suffered to survive. Sometimes, too, the cognate languages suggest a suitable meaning for which there is little or no support in the comparatively small amount of ancient Hebrew that has survived. The evidence of the metre is also at times so clear as of itself to furnish a strong argument; often it is confirmed by some other considerations. […] The Jewish copyists and their directors, however, seem to have lost the tradition of the metre at an early date, and the meticulous care of the rabbis in preserving their own official and traditional text (the ‘massoretic’ text) came too late, when the mischief had already been done.” • Msgr. Knox adds: “It seems the safest principle to follow the Latin—after all, St. Jerome will sometimes have had a better text than the Massoretes—except on the rare occasions when there is no sense to be extracted from the Vulgate at all.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 9 Nov. (Dedic. Lateran)

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 9 November 2025, which is the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the sensational feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of November (2025)

On a daily basis, I speak to people who don’t realize we publish a free newsletter (although they’ve followed our blog for years). We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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—Corpus Christi Watershed

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—Jeff Ostrowski