T CAN BE DISCOURAGING to encounter priests who don’t care about the sacred liturgy. They are wholly indifferent towards it. The mere mention of it makes them yawn. In the face of such indifference, what’s our response? I would argue we must renew our good resolution and stand firm. Our “patron saint” in this area is ABBAT JOSEPH POTHIER. In spite of countless hardships,1 Dom Pothier did not give up. The persecution of clerics by the French government forced the Solesmes monks into exile for fifteen years: from 1880-1895. During that time, Dom Pothier and his fellow monks were “scattered in various houses throughout the village” (COMBE, pg 101) in the small town of Solesmes. Some of them stayed the attic of the Presbytery.
What Pothier Produced • While in exile (!!!) Dom Pothier single-handedly produced the following: 1880 Les Mélodies Grégoriennes [288 pages]; 1883 Liber Gradualis [960 pages]; 1885 Hymni de Tempore et de Sanctis [240 pages]; 1895 Liber Responsorialis [482 pages]; 1891 Chants Ordinaires De La Messe [77 pages]; 1889 Variae Preces [281 pages]; 1891 Liber Antiphonarius [1,034 pages]; 1888 Processionale Monasticum [384 pages]; and the spectacular 1891 Vesperale [771 pages]. So let’s remember Dom Pothier’s perseverance when we get discouraged. He went above and beyond the call of duty!
Perseverance • In my own small way, I’m trying to promote the sacred liturgy. I’ve been spending hours creating organ accompaniments for the Proprium Missae settings by the CHAUMONOT COMPOSERS GROUP. Below is the “Entrance Chant” for this coming Sunday, which is the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C).
* PDF Download • Singer’s Score (Treble Clef)
* PDF Download • ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT (2 Pages)
Pedal Tone • In 1958, Monsignor Francis P. Schmitt wrote the following statement with regard to the Nóva órgani harmónia ad graduále júxta editiónem vaticánam:
“The entire work is the joint effort of the rector and professors of the Interdiocesan Institute of Sacred Music at Mechelen (LEMMENSINSTITUUT). The writers include Monsignor Julius Van Nuffel, Marius de Jong, Henri Durieux, Flor Peeters, Gustaaf Nees, Monsignor Julius Vyverman, and Father Edgar De Laet. The accompaniments are modal and easily the best we have seen.”
Flor Peeters published a METHOD BOOK explaining the principles his team followed in creating that wonderful collection. He mentioned the “frequent use of pedal-tones in Alto and Tenor.” Perhaps you noticed that my accompaniment for today makes use of a tremendously lengthy pedal-tone in the TENOR VOICE on G-Natural.
Final Thoughts • Every morning, Father Valentine Young (d. 2020) prayed the Veni Sancte Spiritus, asking the Holy Ghost what he was supposed to accomplish on that particular day. Father Valentine always tried to follow God’s Will. For many years, he was a missionary to the Navajo, and became fully fluent in the Navajo language. I believe Father Valentine gives us an example of what we must do. We must try to follow God’s Will—even if doing so puts us in places that surprise us!
1 These included the loss of his amazing assistant, Dom Paul Jausions, who died suddenly at age 36, and the physical expulsion of his entire monastery from their abbey on 8 November 1880.
