VERY FEW DAYS, it seems more rehearsal videos are added to the Brébeuf website. Each hymn has a “story,” and highlights are included in the Brébeuf footnotes at the bottom of each page. For example, this hymn by Caelius Sedulius (a Christian Poet from the 5th century) was translated into English by Dr. John Wallace, a secular Catholic priest who later became a Benedictine, taking the name “Wilfrid.” Each verse of the hymn begins with a successive letter of the alphabet, and various sections have been “ripped out” for different Breviary hymns: A Solis Ortus Cardine, Hostis Herodes Impie, and so forth.
With beautiful effect, the singers added several pauses:
Rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #007.
As far as I know, the Brébeuf hymnal is the only book which provides a literal English translation of the complete hymn by Sedulius—created by an FSSP priest who knows Latin very well. That’s pretty astonishing when we consider the important Breviary hymns which come from this poem. Here’s a screenshot of the Brébeuf pew edition:
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Every serious Catholic needs a copy of the Brébeuf hymnal. The book contains treasure after treasure.
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
* Several famous hymnals contain is a melody called “SEDULIUS.” For example, number 323 of Dr. Theodore Marier’s hymnal uses that tune for a text by the Venerable Bede: “The Great Forerunner Of The Morn.” Number 156 of the New Westminster Hymnal uses that tune for a text about St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Number 57 of Hymns Ancient and Modern uses that tune for the same text as the Brébeuf hymnal, except the translation they chose was not by a Catholic—which makes sense, since HA&M is a Protestant hymnal, whereas the Brébeuf hymnal is Catholic. Sorting out hymn tune names is sometimes frustrating.
