Views from the Choir Loft

Fr. Peter Gee • My First Chant Teacher

Jeff Ostrowski · December 16, 2019

ATHER PETER GEE was my first chant teacher. I knew him as a Deacon for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. Later, he was ordained and became our Pastor. He had a really beautiful voice. He ended up leaving the Fraternity—I believe he became a diocesan priest in England. I remember that Fr. Gee did not like the United States very much…at least compared to England. I was so blessed to serve (often) as his M.C. for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and he said Mass extremely carefully—and extremely well. ¹

I have not heard from him in more than 20 years, but I stumbled across this image:

89652-Father-Peter-Gee-FSSP-Photograph

It’s easy to determine which one is Fr. Gee—the other two are reading from a card, but Fr. Gee (needless to say) has the prayers memorized. What a beautiful image; I love the colors. Is it just me, or does England have extremely beautiful churches?

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 I would like to meet him again some day, but I don’t know if that will ever happen. That is in the Hands of God.

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).

22 October 2021 • “Sad & Unnecessary”

The USCCB has completely deleted a section of their website which (before they deleted it) contained helpful resources for the classical Roman Rite. Something cool they had included (before they deleted it) was a link to the new prefaces, approved by Pope Francis on 25 March 2020. Will this madness never end?

—Jeff Ostrowski

11 October 2021 • “Sing All Verses?”

Some claim Catholics deserve condemnation because (unlike Protestants) Catholics often omit verses when singing hymns at Mass. Is that true? The wonderful Sophia Institute Press—as part of a series on authentic sacred music—has provided an answer (PDF) to this question.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Where do Catholics find hymns?

The wonderful Sophia Institute Press has begun a “Q+A” section which tackles common liturgical questions, and here’s a sample: “At a conference I recently attended, the speaker said hymns don’t belong at Mass; was he telling the truth?” And you can read the answer. To access the complete set (which is a work in progress), scroll towards the bottom of this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Tournemire could be charming or he could bite your head off. One day I could not replace him at St. Clotilde because I had a wedding to play at another church. Tournemire played on Sunday, period—that was all. He did not play weddings and so forth. (He put all that on my back.) So I went to Tournemire’s house to tell him, “Master, I am sorry but, for once, I cannot replace you. I have another obligation to fulfill.” He said, “Get out of here!” I left for good.

— Testimony of Maurice Duruflé