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Views from the Choir Loft

The Spirit of All Souls’ Day

Fr. David Friel · October 22, 2017

LL SOULS’ DAY lies just around the corner. November 2nd is typically a day filled with Masses—the result of the Church’s longing for the salvation of the departed and her confidence in the merits of the Lord’s sacrifice to obtain that salvation.

It has been the Church’s longstanding practice to permit priests to offer Mass not once, not twice, but even three times on this day. The same permission is granted for only one other observance of the liturgical year: Christmas Day. For a discussion of this permission and whether it constitutes an encouragement, take a look at two posts from a couple of years ago (here and here).

The ethos of All Souls’ Day stands in stark contradistinction to the universalism of our age. When attending a Catholic funeral or a Mass on All Souls’ Day, one does not encounter the spirit of “life celebration.” This idea is, indeed, foreign to the funeral and All Souls’ Day liturgies.

What these liturgies do clearly convey is a spirit of profound grief and mourning, salved by the hope of resurrected life. On the fittingness of this liturgical spirit, Dietrich von Hildebrand writes:

It is a regrettable sophism to say (as it was sometimes said in sermons) that the death of a father or mother, husband or wife, or of a child, is no reason for sadness as long as they have died well, after receiving the last Sacraments, as long as we can hope that they are with God. Of course the eternal happiness of one whom we truly love is the most important thing, but separation from the beloved, even if only for a time, remains a terrible cross.

Whoever does not feel this cross, whoever just happily goes his way with the consolation that the beloved has found eternal happiness, is not directed to eternity in a special way—he is simply insensitive and does not want to be disturbed in the normal rhythm of his daily life. He is simply making a comfortable excuse when he emphasizes that the eternal salvation of the other is the most important thing. He has forgotten that even Jesus Christ, the God-Man, prayed in Gethsemane: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” He does not understand that a cross which has been imposed on us should be suffered under as a cross. Only then can we attain to the true consolation which lies in the perspective of eternity, to the true hope of eternal blessedness.” [Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Devastated Vineyard (1973), pg. 130]

Again this year, many parishes will offer special commemorations of the faithful departed on or near November 2nd. I would like to draw your attention to just two.

First, the National Shrine of St. John Paul II here in Washington, DC has announced that they will host a Missa Cantata at 7 PM on November 2nd in their main church (3900 Harewood Road NE, Washington, DC). Faure’s Requiem in D minor (Op. 48) will be sung, adhering closely to the original instrumentation for strings, choir, and soloists. Of this Mass, the composer once wrote: “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”

Second, the Catholic Artists Society will host their 15th annual solemn Requiem Mass on November 13th at 7 PM in the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (869 Lexington Avenue, NYC). The music for this Mass will be Mozart’s Requiem in D minor (K. 626). This society is the same group that sponsors the Art of the Beautiful lecture series, featured before on these pages.

Requiescant in pace!

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: All Souls, Requiem Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Ambrose and Prudentius took something classical and made it Christian; the revisers and their imitators took something Christian and tried to make it classical. The result may be pedantry, and sometimes perhaps poetry; but it is not piety. “Accessit Latinitas, discessit pietas.”

— Fr. Joseph Connelly (1954)

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