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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

The Book of Kells Online

Fr. David Friel · January 26, 2020

Just two weeks ago, I featured the tremendous digitization project of the Vatican Apostolic Library (VAT), known as DigiVatLib. Since then, two more treasure troves of online resources have come to my attention. I would like to share these with you today.

First, one of the greatest pieces of the world’s cultural inheritance is the Book of Kells. Described by the Annals of Ulster (A.D. 1007) as “the chief relic of the Western world,” the manuscript is a 680-page book of the Gospels, richly decorated in the tradition of Insular illumination. Long attributed to St. Columbkille (d. 597), the manuscript was more likely crafted by later monks of Iona around the year 800. The volume takes its name from the Abbey of Kells (County Meath), where it was housed for centuries, and it is now displayed to the public at Trinity College Library in Dublin. The folios of this manuscript were scanned in 1990, but they were rescanned two decades later with state-of-the-art technology. Since 2013, the entire Book of Kells has been available online. What a gift it is to have this masterpiece so easily accessible.

The second online resource I would like to recommend has only recently become available, courtesy of the Paris Musées, an incorporation of the fourteen city-operated museums of the French capital. Now available on their collections website are 150,000 high-resolution images depicting some of their holdings. Effective January 8, 2020, these digital reproductions are freely available, without charge and without restriction. This decision, according to the museums, “will contribute to enhancing and improving the way our collections are made available and will strengthen the measures taken to ensure better public access to art and culture as well as increasing visibility and understanding of the works in our municipal collections. . . . This policy of free access is part of a programme of development, cultural mediation and opening up of the collections to Internet users.”

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

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 26, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Alabama Assessment!

We received this evaluation of Symposium 2022 from an Alabama participant:

“Oh, how the Symposium echoed the words of Cardinal Merry Del Val: …choosing only what is most conformed to Thy glory, which is my final aim. In one short and fast paced week, the faculty and attendees showed me the hand of God and our Lady working in our lives. The wide range of education—from Gregorian Chant, jazz modes in organ improvisation, to ‘staying sane’ while leading a choir—were certainly first-class knowledge from the best teachers of the art. However, the most powerful lesson was learning how to pray as a choir. The sacrifice of putting songs together, taking time to learn the sacred text, meditating on the church teaching through the chants, and gaining the virtues required to persevere in these duties were not only qualities of a choir but of a saint. The sanctification of the lives of the attendees was a beautiful outcome of this event … and that in itself is worth more than a beautifully-sung Solesmes style chant!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

A hymn verse need not be a complete sentence, but it must have completed sense as a recognisable part of the complete sentence, and at each major pause there would be at least a “sense-pause.” Saint Ambrose and the early writers and centonists always kept to this rule. This indicates one of the differences between a poem and a hymn, and by this standard most of the modern hymns and the revisions of old hymns in the Breviary stand condemned.

— Fr. Joseph Connelly

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