Views from the Choir Loft

Year of the Eucharist • Solemn Vespers with Exposition and Benediction

Richard J. Clark · August 7, 2020

S PART of the “Year of the Eucharist,” in the Archdiocese of Boston the Cathedral of the Holy Cross will offer Solemn Vespers with Exposition and Benediction (online for now) on First Fridays. This takes place in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The organ you will hear (and see) was built in 1881 by E. &. G. G. Hook & Hastings, restored by Watersmith in 1995. It is one manual with seven ranks.

You may watch here live at 7pm on August 7, 2020, and also watch from here after. You may view a worship guide here or follow along in the breviary, Friday of the eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Week II, evening prayer.

You’ll note, soprano Barbara Hill and I sing with masks. This has become standard practice at the Cathedral for now, however inconvenient. As always, we discover improvements we can make in production. Of course, this never replaces being there in the real presence of the Eucharist.

Payer is paramount. Prayer is powerful. We have much to pray for.

Oremus pro invicem

Let us pray for each other.

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

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski

31 December 2020 • “COMITES CHRISTI”

The feasts for Saint Stephen Proto-Martyr (26 December), Saint John the Evangelist The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (27 December), and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) seem untouched by any liturgical reforms. These are very powerful feasts—I believe they once possessed octaves—and I believe they could sometimes “overpower” a Sunday feast. The rules for octaves in the olden days are extremely complex. These feasts are sometimes referred to as a single entity as: Comites Christi (“Companions of Christ”). This is just a guess, but there seems to be a triple significance: STEPHEN martyred after Christ lived, JOHN was a martyr who knew Christ personally, and the HOLY INNOCENTS were martyred before Christ’s birth.

—Jeff Ostrowski