Views from the Choir Loft

Rare Lenten Hymns You’ve Not Sung

Jeff Ostrowski · February 19, 2018

ERVING ON A COMMITTEE to produce the St. Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal has brought to my attention many wonderful Catholic hymns. Fr. Adrian Fortescue once said, speaking of an ancient hymn: “Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.”

I could not find any written out versions of the Gregorian chant hymn Ex more docti mystico (6th century) so I created a clean version. Have you sung this great hymn?

* * PDF Download • “Ex More Docti Mystico” (LENT)

The following is also very nice—but some of you may have sung it before, because it’s printed in many books:

* * PDF Download • “O Sol Salutis” (LENT)

Here is a beautiful page from a book by John David Chambers:

90317 EX MORE DOCTI MYSTICO

A saint once commented on Psalm 50 (Miserere Mei) something to the effect of: “I wish we could all sin like David, if our repentance were to be as great as David’s…” If someone can send the exact quote, thank you in advance!

The book by Chambers is yet another book we came across in our work on the Brébeuf Hymnal.

By the way, there is another melody commonly used for “O Sol Salutis Intimis” (a.k.a. “Jam Christe Sol Justitiae”):

Abbot Pothier knew his stuff! No wonder Father De Santi called him “master of us all.”

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

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).

19 January 2021 • Confusion over feasts

For several months, we have discussed the complicated history of the various Christmas feasts: the Baptism of the Lord, the feast of the Holy Family, the Epiphany, and so forth. During a discussion, someone questioned my assertion that in some places Christmas had been part of the Epiphany. As time went on, of course, the Epiphany came to represent only three “manifestations” (Magi, Cana, Baptism), but this is not something rigid. For example, if you look at this “Capital E” from the feast of the Epiphany circa 1350AD, you can see it portrays not three mysteries but four—including PHAGIPHANIA when Our Lord fed the 5,000. In any event, anyone who wants proof the Epiphany used to include Christmas can read this passage from Dom Prosper Guéranger.

—Jeff Ostrowski

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski