Views from the Choir Loft

(Ecuador) • Archbishop Poisoned on Good Friday

Jeff Ostrowski · December 2, 2020

HIS PHOTOGRAPH shows the (dead) Archbishop José Ignacio Checa y Barba, on his throne wearing full pontifical vestments:

We have mentioned abstruse rubrics in the past:

* Revealed! • A Fascinating Mass Rubric Very Few Know
—Published on 7 September 2019.

…but there is another ceremony involving wine.

For pontifical Masses in the Extraordinary Form, there’s a rubric allowing an altar server to “taste” the wine to make sure it’s not poisoned. The archbishop of Quito’s murder was the last (documented) case of poisoning a bishop during the liturgy. He was 47 years old.

UITO IS THE CAPITAL of Ecuador. José Ignacio Checa y Barba was the Archbishop of Quito. Together with the president of Ecuador, they were the first in the world to devote their country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Archbishop Checa y Barba—in the past—had tended to remain aloof from all quarrels with the government, but things changed in 1877. On March 10, the archbishop issued a pastoral warning the faithful against heretical publications, and this angered the government, which protested on 12 March. Checa y Barba answered in a note of March 17, in which he “refused to give to Caesar what did not belong to Caesar.” A visit from Veintemilla on March 24 failed to change the archbishop’s mind.

On Good Friday (March 30) after consuming the SACRED HOST during the Mass of the Presanctified, the archbishop took some wine to purify the chalice. At the time, he remarked to the deacon on its bitter taste. He completed the services, but died amid horrible convulsions as soon as he returned to his palace. The autopsy revealed that he had been poisoned by strychnine. No one was ever punished for the crime.

Source: Polish Website

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

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

‘Bogey’ of the Half-Educated: Paraphrase

Father Adrian Porter, using the cracher dans la soupe example, did a praiseworthy job explaining the difference between ‘dynamic’ and ‘formal’ translation. This is something Monsignor Ronald Knox explained time and again—yet even now certain parties feign ignorance. I suppose there will always be people who pretend the only ‘valid’ translation of Mitigásti omnem iram tuam; avertísti ab ira indignatiónis tuæ… would be “You mitigated all ire of you; you have averted from your indignation’s ire.” Those who would defend such a translation suffer from an unfortunate malady. One of my professors called it “cognate on the brain.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Father Cuthbert Lattey • “The Hebrew MSS”

Father Cuthbert Lattey (d. 1954) wrote: “In a large number of cases the ancient Christian versions and some other ancient sources seem to have been based upon a better Hebrew text than that adopted by the rabbis for official use and alone suffered to survive. Sometimes, too, the cognate languages suggest a suitable meaning for which there is little or no support in the comparatively small amount of ancient Hebrew that has survived. The evidence of the metre is also at times so clear as of itself to furnish a strong argument; often it is confirmed by some other considerations. […] The Jewish copyists and their directors, however, seem to have lost the tradition of the metre at an early date, and the meticulous care of the rabbis in preserving their own official and traditional text (the ‘massoretic’ text) came too late, when the mischief had already been done.” • Msgr. Knox adds: “It seems the safest principle to follow the Latin—after all, St. Jerome will sometimes have had a better text than the Massoretes—except on the rare occasions when there is no sense to be extracted from the Vulgate at all.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 9 Nov. (Dedic. Lateran)

Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 9 November 2025, which is the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the sensational feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of November (2025)

On a daily basis, I speak to people who don’t realize we publish a free newsletter (although they’ve followed our blog for years). We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Gospel Options for 2 November (“All Souls”)

We’ve been told some bishops are suppressing the TLM because of “unity.” But is unity truly found in the MISSALE RECENS? For instance, on All Souls (2 November), any of these Gospel readings may be chosen, for any reason (or for no reason at all). The same is true of the Propria Missæ and other readings—there are countless options in the ORDINARY FORM. In other words, no matter which OF parish you attend on 2 November, you’ll almost certainly hear different propers and readings, to say nothing of different ‘styles’ of music. Where is the “unity” in all this? Indeed, the Second Vatican Council solemnly declared: “Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community.”

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Our Father” • Musical Setting?

Looking through a Roman Catholic Hymnal published in 1859 by Father Guido Maria Dreves (d. 1909), I stumbled upon this very beautiful tune (PDF file). I feel it would be absolutely perfect to set the “Our Father” in German to music. Thoughts?

—Jeff Ostrowski