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Views from the Choir Loft

Tantum Ergo Comically Misunderstood in Italian

Veronica Brandt · December 2, 2017

Pierotto Y FAMILY FINALLY WATCHED the movie Saint Philip Neri: I Prefer Heaven. It’s an Italian telemovie based on the life of St Philip Neri. The departures from reality aside, it wasn’t too bad a movie. One bit caught my attention though.

St Philip needs to impress the Pope, so he plans to have his boys sing for the Pope. Apparently anything sung for the Pope must be in Latin. So he begins to teach them the Benediction hymn Tantum ergo Sacramentum (Down in adoration falling).

Tantum ergo Sacramentum, veneremur cernui

He sings it through ten times then asks if anyone can sing it back to him. One little hand shoots up and the charming urchin Pierotto sings:

Canta merlo sul frumento, “Venite a cena qui”

which roughly translates as “The blackbird sings on the wheat, ‘Come to dinner here’”.

From the outside Italian and Latin have so many similarities it’s hard to imagine that Italians could have much difficulty understanding Latin, but there you go. Shows the importance of going through the words before you start singing! A step I often forget.

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 Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

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

Random Quote

The effectiveness of liturgy does not lie in experimenting with rites and altering them over and over, nor in a continuous reductionism, but solely in entering more deeply into the word of God and the mystery being celebrated. It is the presence of these two that authenticates the Church’s rites, not what some priest decides, indulging his own preferences.

— Liturgicae Instaurationes (1970)

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