XPERTS find themselves in agreement when it comes to the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal, which has been called “the incomparable and indispensable book” for Catholics who attend Mass in the Ordinary Form (as well as the Extraordinary Form). This marvelous book contains all the hymns for the feasts of the liturgical year, going above and beyond every expectation. It also contains by far more Marian hymns than any other Catholic pew book.
The following rehearsal video demonstrates the stunning Brébeuf harmonies:
Rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #783.
Jesuit Martyrs’ Devotion to the Blessed Virgin:
HE FIRST saints in North America to be canonized by the Catholic Church are commonly known as “The Jesuit Martyrs of North America.” Six of the eight were priests: Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, Gabriel Lalemant, Antoine Daniel, Charles Garnier, and Noël Chabanel. Two were lay assistants: René Goupil and Jean de Lalande. These men had a strong devotion to our Lady, and named their primary mission after the Blessed Virgin: “Sainte Marie.”
The Hurons, Brébeuf reported, “acknowledged the Commandments to be very just and very reasonable. They thought these were matters of great importance, worthy of being discussed at the councils.” They admitted the logic of his conclusions about God and His attributes. But, alas, “They know the beauty of the truth,” he commented sadly; “they approve of it, but they do not embrace it… They condemn their wicked customs, but when will they abandon them?” The step from belief to action was a long step, and they hesitated to pass from acknowledgment of God’s existence to conformity with His laws. Among the young, progress was more marked. Three little girls had mastered the catechism so thoroughly and gave such clear evidence of interior piety that Brébeuf and Daniel judged them ready for Baptism. Inviting the whole village to attend the ceremony, which took place on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, they performed the ritual with all possible solemnity. The chapel was thronged with Hurons when the three girls, beautifully appareled and ornamented with strings of wampum and porcelain, renounced Satan and all his works and received the waters of regeneration. The Jesuit community that morning dedicated the Huron mission to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. They promised to offer twelve Masses in the ensuing year toward accomplishing in Huronia the construction of a permanent church named after the Immaculate Conception. “We believe,” wrote Brébeuf, “that the Blessed Virgin has accepted our humble devotions. Before the end of December we baptized twenty-eight.”
From early childhood, Father Charles Garnier had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, whom he called his mother. “It is she,” he once said, “who carried me in her arms through my youth and placed me in the Society of her Son.” He had taken a vow to uphold until his death the belief in her Immaculate Conception (not at that time declared formally a dogma of the Catholic Church). It was on the vigil of this feast that he died—a Martyr of Jesus Christ—at the age of forty-four.
I hope these two excerpts have given you slight indication of the depths of their devotion to the Mother of God.
