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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Quote Video • “Legislation on Sacred Music”

Jeff Ostrowski · March 17, 2017

E HAVE OFTEN EMPHASIZED the dangers of “legal positivism.” We have also reluctantly pointed out that there is “no salvation from decrees.” This is not very hard to understand. Consider how singing the Pater Noster with the priest was absolutely forbidden (in a High Mass) in 1962, but five years later, Musicam Sacram declared: “The Lord’s Prayer is best performed by the people together with the priest.” What had changed in those five years? And thousands more examples could cited. Please note that I would never deny the pope had the authority to enact liturgical changes. I’m merely pointing out that our Lord never promised every liturgical change would be prudent. A book of liturgical post-conciliar legislation is 1,496 pages long, and no sane person would contend that all those rules are helpful—especially the contradictory ones!

In any event, I stumbled onto this video with church music quotes—produced by Six Candle Studios—which some will find thought-provoking:


Not every reader will agree with every statement made in this video. But that just makes life more fun, right?

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Pope Gelasius in his 9th Letter to the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the Bishop of Tusculum: “Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.” We too have forbidden this practice in the same words in Our oft-repeated constitution “Etsi Pastoralis” (§6, #21)

— Pope Benedict XIV • Encyclical “Allatae Sunt” (26 July 1755)

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