REGRET TO INFORM you, dear reader, that I still didn’t find the answer to the Chant Wars. I am sure they are in these books somewhere. The famous Solesmes-edition blue chant books surely are part of the life of many “veteran” singers. Unlike our visit to Fontenelle Abbey, I actually did know a lot more about the Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes before our trip. This is where it all began. This is the important Congregation and a place at the very heart of all of the Chant Wars! It was here that Gregorian Chant was given “pride of place” and set into those blue-bound books.
For this one, we start in the Solesmes-edition of a gift shop!
This is the epicenter of where the “Politics of Plainchant” was fought! I mentioned in another post that Solesmes here (Novus Ordo), and Fontgombault in the next post (Vetus Ordo), remain important to today’s liturgy discussions. Alas, once again, I didn’t bring back all of the answers.
In my heart of hearts, this place is with me every Sunday. This is a time in my life when I am not in a choir. Our choir sings from the Brébeuf Hymnal. The readings are in the Campion Missal. Both are in the pews. But I bring my Liber Usualis from home every single week to follow the Propers. Mine is No. 801. It says printed in the very first page: “Edited by the Benedictines of Solesmes.” Sometimes my daughter follows along as well.
This article linked here echoes the cry from my homeschooling mother’s heart: “I am in the business of cultural renewal,” like Solesmes.
This image below is my Liber Usualis No. 801 last Sunday. Maybe one day, when I’m long gone, one of my grandkids will hold this very old book and sing these chants. It is battered, but unbowed.
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Before showing you Solesmes, you have to understand a little bit about my pilgrimage dreams. Dear Reader, all of my life I wanted to visit Mont Saint-Michel. If you recognize the name, you’ll understand why. This island was in my heart in special way, probably because of pictures I saw growing up. Then it showed up in the Halliburton Book of Marvels. Halliburton is a travel book that is quite popular in many homeschools. The travel writer has one entire chapter devoted to the island fortress. Take a look at the pictures, can you blame me for dreaming of this?
Ever since I read it with my children, it was a done deal: we had to see it with our own eyes. We were in Normandy in June!
This just to explain part why we were in that part of France to begin with. Our visit to Solesmes was on the drive south starting from Avranches and ending up in the Loire Valley near Tours and Poitiers.1
This was my homeschool mom’s dream come true.
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Like many monasteries, Solesmes Abbey rests near a river. This one is called the River Sarthe and it flows into the Loire. It was mid-day, so there was very little activity in the local town. But this plant was busy being beautiful in early June.
If you’ve ever used Dom Guéranger’s books for prayer or reflection, it’s a bit of a shock to see the street name sign outside: “Place Dom Gueranger 1er abbe de Solesmes 1805-1875”. Just this week, our parish priest read from Guéranger during the homily! Of course, there was an immediate flash back to this exact ivy. Someone trims the ivy on the wall below so it doesn’t overgrow the street placard. He has pride of place on these stones.
Going inside, there is an exhibit with his portrait. He was twenty-years old in that portrait! The picture includes a reflection of my hand holding my phone. This is why you should visit in person, to see all of this clearly.
He was twenty-years old in that portrait! The picture includes a reflection of my hand holding my phone. This is why you should visit in person, to see all of this clearly. There is too much already written about this holy man. Are these (future) relics? I take this little bit from the Solesmes website. It is so inspiring.
When in 1831 he heard that the priory of Solesmes was about to be demolished, he thought of buying it himself to live Benedictine life there. Helped by some friends and encouraged by his bishop, he scraped together enough money to rent the monastery and moved in with three companions on 11 July 1833. The small community was penniless, lacked prestige to attract vocations and, above all, had no experience of monastic life. Guéranger was its superior for twenty-eight years even though he had never received a monastic formation. Had the undertaking not been an act of faith, it would have been utter madness. But the young Prior Guéranger had a very sound sense for all things Benedictine, for the liturgy, and for the spiritual life. He was therefore a living example for his monks.
Guéranger was also “in the business of cultural renewal.” Most importantly for us here, he cared about sacred music.
At Dom Guéranger’s initiative from 1862 onwards, some of his disciples were sent out to look for the sources of the Church’s liturgical chant, thus setting Solesmes on a path that would lead to the restoration of Gregorian chant and the publication of its repertoire.
This is “the business of liturgical and sacred music renewal”. I am proud to be a small part of this organization, Corpus Christi Watershed which strives to continue the work of leading forward.
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Like Fontenelle, there is a bridge to cross. It was a cloudy day with a little bit of summer rain. We arrived in the late morning for a short visit. We didn’t make it in time for Mass, but we were very happy to be here. And this time, no one got sick!
Another picturesque French village. No sick children anywhere to be seen. What choirs have passed these ivy-covered walls?
We couldn’t believe we were actually here! The plaque on this wall is so dignified. What font might it be? The coat of arms surely tells an incredible story: Fiat pax in virtute vua. It’s in the first page of this 1908 Graduale Romanum that Mr. Ostrowski posted in 2020. That article has excellent information about the monks of Solesmes and “Gregorian Semiology”.
Inside is a lovely courtyard. One day, I will pull out this picture and show the children that they walked next to the the Solesmes-edition blue doors. No “Semiology” here, just my loved ones wandering around!
Surely the color of the doors is intentionally and deliberately Solesmes-edition blue?
This fern has been clinging to this wall since forever. It won’t give up. We’ll cling to the chant forever. We won’t give up either.
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The Church is the heart of the Abbey.
The tile here has been changed. All along the Church are tightly laid tiles. There is a metal grate, pews, and kneelers. But the tiles in the middle are laid out differently. The construction over the years sometimes leaves scars when you open floors (or windows). A pipe must run underneath. Maybe heating?
We didn’t arrive early enough for Mass. But we did hear the Liturgy of the Hours. This is my very favorite picture. The font might be familiar. The layout might be familiar. The language is not Latin, but French. Surely this is a true Solesmes-edition inside the very Solesmes Abbey Church!
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Let us return to the gift shop. There was a monk there that attended us and spoke to us about his life. He was from the United States and had moved or was going to move between monasteries of the Solesmes Congregation. Of course, we bought some goodies. They offer Le Rucher de l’Abbaye (The Apiary of the Abbey) which is récolté et mis en pot par l’apiculteur’dans la vallée de la sarthe (recollected and potted by the beekeepers of the valley of the River Sarthe), “Solesmiens” which are biscuits-cookies made of fresh butter and vanilla, and pain d’épices de l’abbaye (honey spice cake from the Abbey).
Please don’t tell Mr. Ostrowski that I was so close to resolving the Chant Wars. Please don’t tell him I didn’t have room in my luggage for these books. Maybe I’ll have to return to do more research?
Most especially, don’t tell Mr. Ostrowski that I bought biscuits instead of chant books. One in particular with the title, Le Rythme du Chant Grégorien looked promising. But the biscuits were delicious.
The Abbey hosts “Session Grégorienne á Solesmes” in French and Spanish. In this instance, there was a virtual option for those who might be interested.
There is something special to know that what we sing has important links to this place. Choirs practice week after week, listening to the Propers year after year. Our books get worn out. The bindings crack. The ribbons fray. The books are shared or passed down. We bought ours on eBay and they were once owned by a church library.
In my post about the Abbey at Fontenelle, I was struck by the ruins. In particular, an empty niche. Here at Solesmes, there is a similar niche. This niche wasn’t in ruins. It wasn’t empty. There was a statue of Mary holding Jesus. There were fresh flowers. The Church is alive.
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Maybe one day I will get to return. My children will be older. Maybe they will have a little more patience to visit quiet places. Maybe they’ll better understand the importance of this place a little bit better. In my dream of the future, I hope they’ll enjoy a picnic in these benches next to the River Sarthe. I can’t think of a more lovely way to spend an afternoon.
In preparing this post, I searched “Solesmes” in the Corpus Christi Watershed search box. I found that for 15 years, Mr. Ostrowski and the other contributors have been referring to this place hundreds of times. There’s too many to mention, so do the search and be amazed at what the monks in this place accomplished for us. In addition to the Gregorian Chant Wars, some highlights include the time William F. Buckley Jr. secretly recorded an ordination, Dr. Weaver exploring Traditionis custodes and the Solesmes Chant Restoration, Kool-Aid?, the time Cardinal Sarah visited, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski on The Spirit of Solesmes, and Matthew Frederes on Tolkien and Guéranger. But there are so many more, including so many PDF documents, including the Novus Ordo’s 1990 Gregorian Missal, just one of many texts that Corpus Christi Watershed has made freely available to the Catholic World!
1 Husband Note: A Catholic – Sacred Music pilgrimage would visit the manuscripts in Avranches, the monastery at the top of Mont-Sant-Michel, visit St. Martin of Tours, visit Hilary of Poitiers, and walk across the street from the cathedral in Poitiers to an ancient Roman-era baptistery. This Baptistère Saint-Jean is said to be the oldest Christian building in all of France! Each site is nearby and of historical importance not only to the faith, but to Sacred Music specifically. Fontgombault Abbey is three hours from Solesmes and one hour from Poitiers.
