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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “Rorate Mass” (13 pages) —Dec 2017

Jeff Ostrowski · December 13, 2017

3637 RORATE MASS O PREPARE for our sunrise Rorate Mass on Saturday morning (here at FSSP.la) I have completely redone the booklet from which we will sing. It’s one of my better booklets, and I think you’ll appreciate how I’ve indicated starting pitches.

    * *  PDF Download • RORATE MASS (13 pages)

The famed Mrs. Veronica Brandt generously helped me create the Offertory Hymn—thanks to the melody found in Hymni de Tempore et de Sanctis—to which we added an “Urbanite” translation by Fr. Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923). We chose Mass X, which is supposedly a more ancient “Blessed Virgin Mass” than Mass IX—although Mass IX is also fantastic.

I do not know a more gorgeous melody or text than Virgo Dei Genitrix, which we selected to sing during Communion. Do you?

Here is the translation for VERBUM SUPERNUM PRODIENS—for Advent, not the one by St. Thomas Aquinas—by Fortescue:

(Advent) Verbum Supernum Prodiens

IGH WORD of God,
coming forth from the eternal Father,
who being born in the fullness of time
dost succour the world;

2. Enlighten now our hearts
and burn them with love of thee,
that leaving earthly things
they be filled with heavenly joy.

3. And when the tribunal of the great judge
condemns the wicked to fire,
when his voice calls
the good to their reward in heaven,

4. Let us not be cast into the darkness
to burn in flames,
but may we share the joy of heaven,
seeing the face of God.

5. To the Father, to the Son,
to the Holy Spirit,
as it was, so always
for all ages be glory.

Somebody has created an alternate version of the same hymn, but the melody is not identical.

Veronica also sent Latin only version, for people who don’t like English translations.

(Of course, I’m not sure how perfect that Fortescue translation is, because Pope Urban VIII messed with some of the hymns pretty bad…)

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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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Corpus Christi Watershed

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

“Vatican II did not say anything about the direction of the celebrant. […] I love both directions of celebrating Mass. Both are full of meaning for me. Both help me to encounter Christ—and that is, after all, the purpose of the liturgy.”

— Christoph Cardinal Schönborn (February 2007)

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