EVER. Traditional Catholic music will never be completely lost. No matter how many “progressive” liturgists attempt to hide these treasures, such efforts will ultimately fail. Consider the case of England, where Catholics who refused to deny Transubstantiation were brutally murdered. In the end, that attempt failed; currently more Catholics go to Church in Britain than do Anglicans. Even if “progressive” liturgists get rid of traditional music, Catholics discover it when they attend college. After all, no serious university teaches the music of Marty Haugen, David Haas, or Dan Schutte. At the university, students are taught high quality music: Guerrero, Palestrina, Machaut, Fauré, Liszt, Haydn, Manchicourt, De Rore, Scarlatti, Victoria, Gabrieli, Mozart, Rheinberger, and so forth.
The following video demonstrates Vespers in a very clear way:
What You Hear: That’s a live recording from yesterday. Those are not professional singers; it’s our congregation singing. Vespers had been forbidden for more than a year—due to Covid—but we are back. More than half the congregation had never attended Vespers before. We received wonderful messages from them, saying how marvelous it was in their opinion. One wrote to us as follows: “I am a new parishioner and attended for the first time. It was an amazing experience. I will continue to participate as often as possible.”
Hidden Treasure: How many Catholics know what Vespers is? The simplest definition would be: “Five Psalms, a Hymn, and the Magnificat.” But how many Catholics today can give that answer?
Want to hear the Sacred Music Symposium singing Vespers? Click on this article by Dr. Calabrese.
