(Installment #6) “Catholic Hymnals” • Jeff Ostrowski
How to avoid that sickening feeling when you realize nobody—and I mean nobody—in the congregation knows the hymn you picked!
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“Homily for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost” (EF) • Father Valentine Young, OFM
“If worry did any good, I would advise you to do it—but it is wasted time and energy.”
Sir Richard Terry: Hymns, Congregational Singing, and Avoiding “Violence” to the Elders
Terry was forced to resign from the Cathedral in 1924, partially due to his “inconsistent approach to congregational singing at the Cathedral.”
3 September 2020 • Tausig, Liszt’s student
When Polish virtuoso Carl Tausig died in 1871 at the age of thirty, Franz Liszt said to Anton Rubinstein: “Now there are only two of us left in the world.” Liszt had sent Tausig to Richard Wagner, who wrote as follows: You have given me great pleasure with little Tausig. […] He is a terrible […]
“That Image” from World War II • Further Questions
When I look more closely, I notice some very tiny (“itsy bitsy”) hand missals held by the soldiers…
WW2 post at 3:30am = 10k views?
The internet is a very strange thing. I have spent hundreds of hours on certain articles—usually about hymn voice leading—and they get virtually no attention. But last night at 3:30AM I posted an image from WW2 from 9 April 1944 (showing a priest saying Mass with soldiers) and it was viewed 10,000 times on the […]
Holy Mass During World War II • (9 April 1944)
German troops included in American Easter Sunday Mass via loud-speaker.
PDF Download • “Communion Antiphon” (with organ accompaniment)
An exciting new project gives me great hope for the “musical future” of the Catholic Church!
“Homily — 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A” • Father Valentine Young, OFM
“Examining the life of Jesus, we discover that He acted differently in different circumstances.”
“Resplendent Beyond Reckoning” • Sherborne Missal (1399AD)
As the Isaac Jogues Missal would do 650 years later, this Missal provides pictures of the priest during the Canon!
Video Excerpt • “Fastest Organ Pedals I’ve Ever Seen!”
I’m jealous of anyone who can play the organ pedals so fast!
Josef Hofmann • “Pianist Par Excellence”
Anton Rubinstein, who hated child prodigies, called Josef Hofmann “the greatest musical genius the world has ever known.”
25 August 2020 • A 20-minute Mass?
Some erroneously attack the Extraordinary Form by claiming that before Vatican II “priests rushed through Low Mass in less than 20 minutes.” Well, during the pandemic, we have had Mass without the reception of Communion by the Faithful—and it makes duration of Mass surprisingly shorter. On feasts with no GLORIA, no CREED, and no HOMILY, […]
“Homily — 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A” • Father Valentine Young, OFM
“Catholic teaching says we should pray for people who die. If we were sure they were in heaven, that wouldn’t be necessary—so let’s be consistent in our teaching.”
Huge Discovery! (Not a Joke) • Re: “Gradual Antiphons vs. Missal Antiphons”
Last night I discovered something I never knew—so I immediately telephoned a priest to verify this.
“Secret Book of Happiness” • Official English Translations of the Roman Gradual
Overkill: “ too much of something; the amount by which destruction exceeds what is necessary.”
Clarity! • Missal vs. Gradual Text (Ordinary Form)
If this problem is to be solved, we must first understand it.
JP2 said in June of 1980…
Pope Saint John Paul II said in June of 1980: “To the extent that the new sacred music is to serve the liturgical celebrations of the various churches, it can and must draw from earlier forms—especially from Gregorian chant—a higher inspiration, a uniquely sacred quality, a genuine sense of what is religious.”
18 August 2020 • Fr. Fortescue wins!
The index for the Brébeuf hymnal has beautiful capital letters, and I had previously believed our creation to be unique. However, it seems Fr. Adrian Fortescue beat us. (Deep sigh.) You can see that the index for his book, Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described, is quite beautiful, and uses the capital letters I spoke […]
“Homily for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost” (EF) • Father Valentine Young, OFM
“I considered myself privileged to be Pastor at one of the places in Houck, Arizona, where Saint Katherine Drexel built a church and grade school.”