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Views from the Choir Loft

Newman on Liturgy

Fr. David Friel · December 1, 2019

ALL HAS been a busy season in the Church, particularly with respect to new saints. October featured the canonization of St. John Henry Newman, and December brings the beatification of Bl. Fulton Sheen. These are wonderful occasions of grace, in which all the people of God rejoice.

Newman is a giant of Catholic thought, and the sacred liturgy was central to his life. The theology of the liturgy, however, does not figure prominently in his writings. Even so, is there anything that can be gleaned on the topic from within Newman’s corpus?

This question has recently been expertly addressed by Oratorian Father Uwe Michael Lang, a liturgical scholar and parish priest at Brompton Oratory in London. In an article in the November 2019 issue of Adoremus Bulletin, Fr. Lang gives an excellent survey of the points of contact existing between Newman and the liturgy. 1 Lang’s article is available in full on the Adoremus website.

Another excellent resource for understanding Newman’s approach to the liturgy is a newly published book, entitled John Henry Newman on Worship, Reverence, and Ritual: A Selection of Texts. Edited by Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, this anthology collects over 500 pages of more than 70 texts that manifest Newman’s understanding of liturgy. Newman on Worship is available here.

Concerning Newman’s liturgical legacy, one thing I would add is that his greatest poem—the Dream of Gerontius, available here—is set in a liturgical framework. The poem quotes generously from the rite for commendation of the dying, including the magnificent Profiscere prayer, which dates at least to the 8th century and remains in use today. One suspects that the scene recounted in the poem reflects, in part, St. John Henry Newman’s own pastoral experience.

Newman’s contributions to the Church are vast. Two small items that have previously been featured here on Views from the Choir Loft include Newman’s prayer before Mass and his thoughts on preaching. Both are worth another look, as our celebration of his canonization continues.




NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Uwe Michael Lang, “‘The Most Joyful Ordinance of the Gospel’: Saint John Henry Newman on the Liturgy,” Adoremus Bulletin 25, no. 3 (November 2019): 1 and 4.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(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

Pope Gelasius in his 9th Letter to the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the Bishop of Tusculum: “Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.” We too have forbidden this practice in the same words in Our oft-repeated constitution “Etsi Pastoralis” (§6, #21)

— Pope Benedict XIV • Encyclical “Allatae Sunt” (26 July 1755)

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