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Views from the Choir Loft

Conference Updates

Fr. David Friel · January 29, 2017

EW INFORMATION is available for two upcoming liturgical summits. First is the national Gregorian chant conference being hosted at St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) in March, and second is the Sacra Liturgia conference to be held this June in Milan.

The Dunwoodie gathering is entitled “Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education.” New information has just been posted concerning the sacred liturgies that will form part of this experience. The lists of speakers and topics are very exciting. N.B.: Registration for this conference ends this week, on Wednesday, February 1st. Register here.

My presentation for this conference is entitled, Is Beauty Subjective? Identifying the Criteria of Beauty. Following is the abstract:

It is commonly held that beauty exists in the eye of the beholder and is therefore a subjective quality. True beauty, however, is a transcendental property, touching upon the eternal and reflecting aesthetic criteria. Through an approach that is both philosophical and theological, these criteria will be established and shown to be a necessary part of human experience.

This study will rely on the thought of Jacques Maritain, Dietrich Von Hildebrand, and St. John Paul II. Attention will further be given to identifying the “lost center” lamented by Hans Sedlmayr. The aesthetics of beauty will then be applied to Gregorian chant as sacred music par excellence.

Two weeks ago, Sacra Liturgia Milan released a full list of its speakers and their topics. Among this list, especially notable are Cardinal Sarah, Cardinal Burke, Fr. Michael Lang, Dr. Jennifer Donelson, and Dom Alcuin Reid.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Beauty, Dunwoodie Chant Conference, Gregorian Chant, Raymond Cardinal Leo Burke, Robert Cardinal Sarah, Sacra Liturgia Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“A theologian who does not love art, poetry, music and nature can be dangerous since blindness and deafness toward the beautiful are not incidental: they are necessarily reflected in his theology.”

— Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (Interview, 1985)

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