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Views from the Choir Loft

“Outer Space Hymn” (1966) • In A Catholic Hymnal

Jeff Ostrowski · May 16, 2018

ERY SOON, the St. Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal will be sent to print, and this collection is truly unique. Our international committee has examined hundreds of hymnals, taking only that which is excellent—and discarding the rest. Magnificent new texts and melodies have also been commissioned.

It goes without saying we won’t select any of the “goofy” stuff found in too many American churches since Vatican II. For example, we will not be using the following text—printed by the progressive Collegeville Abbey 1—which has an IMPRIMATUR from 1966:

“And as we float along through outer space,
Past galaxies aglow in dark’s embrace,
Toward other worlds where brothers may await,
Do care for us now in our weightless state.”

88989 Roman Catholic “Outer Space Hymn” 1966

The “outer space hymn” reminds me a verse by Marty Haugen (a non-Catholic):

Not in the dark of buildings confining,
Not in some heaven, light-years away,
But here in this place, the new light is shining,
Now is the Kingdom, now is the day.

Those heretical lyrics were included in major Catholic hymnals for decades, such as the Worship Hymnal from GIA Publications. (And here’s a photograph to prove it.)

Our settings, however, are taken from the authentic liturgy, such as the Breviary hymns. (More on this later.) Many “traditional” hymnals consist almost exclusively of protestant hymnody, and we have avoided this pitfall in a marvelous way—after tremendous consultation and research.

BUT CREATING A GOOD HYMNAL involves much more than simply digging through old Catholic hymnals. Indeed, many of these hymnals contained melodies of a extremely low quality. Consider the type of music used in a Roman Catholic hymnal from 1878 (Hymnal and Vesperal for the Seasons and Principal Festivals of the Ecclesiastical Year):

88984 ROMAN CATHOLIC HYMNAL 1878

Here are some pages from a 1906 hymnal that was quite popular in America:

88988 St Basil Hymnal

American bishops saw nothing wrong with this type of music:

* *  PDF • Catholic bishops who supported this 1906 Hymnal

Those who serve on the committee to produce the Brébeuf hymnal do not feel melodies such as those possess the dignity (or artistic excellence) required for use at Holy Mass.

 


NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Whereas some orders have reformed since the 1960s, becoming more orthodox, the monks at Collegeville have gone the opposite direction. Not long ago, a seminary professor at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville publicly described the traditional practice of preventing Eucharistic particles from falling on the floor as a “fetish”—yet he was not censured, and still continues to teach.

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

Filed Under: Articles, Featured Last Updated: November 24, 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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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

“After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West.”

— Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

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