Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”
Perhaps the most significant item we’ve yet had the honor of producing is an English translation of an extremely rare document from 1970. A member of the Consilium—Father Adalbert Franquesa Garrós—explains why the reformers felt it necessary to destroy most of the ancient Mass propers. In particular, this reformer priest claims that unless verses of […]
Knowledge is having the facts. Wisdom is knowing what to do with them.
Mr. Albert Bloomfield kindly sent me “Vespers for the Dead”—which does not fulfill a priest’s obligation to pray the Divine Office, yet is often prayed when a loved one dies. Here is formatting A, and here it is again with formatting B.
My mother told me that my father used to stop at the rectory every Saturday afternoon to go to confession to the priest. He died when I was eight, leaving my mother with six children…
When a catafalque is used—instead of a dead body—the priest does not say the “Non Intres” prayer.
“Every diocese, almost every church, had its own customs. Our present rule dates from the revived missal of 1570.”
This travesty has been called “extensive restoration.”
I bet you never noticed this, but here’s the proof! • Believe it or not, the Nicene Creed never says Our Lord “died,” and this article provides full documentation; also included are beautiful manuscript images from the greatest Dutch illuminated manuscript in the world: Catherine of Cleves Hours (15th century MS.)+
In many of His parables and teachings, Christ let us know that His Kingdom on earth was always what I am going to call “an unfinished product.”
These rehearsal videos were recorded by one person, and he apologizes for the poor singing quality…
Almighty God has given to us the example of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America, whose feast day we celebrated yesterday. Of course, along with those eight martyrs we honor their associates, e.g Father François Bressani. I can’t share with you the torments Father Bressani underwent at the hands of Iroquois: it is too brutal. […]
When the young priest saw the burnt and bleeding body of his superior, aghast and trembling he spoke the words of St. Paul: “We are made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.”
For years, I couldn’t understand this business about “the eyes and the ears.” What did Pothier mean? Then it hit me. • Topics include Dom Joseph Pothier, the mora vocis, Abbot Pothier’s brother (Dom Alphonse Pothier), Dom Lucien David, Dom Paul Jausions, and a truly magnificent story about Pope Pius X and Abbot Pothier, which is essential reading+
The “Pre-NOH” editions have quite an idiosyncratic way of lengthening the neumes. • Fulsome illustrations are included examining and explaining the mora vocis of the Vatican edition; also mentioned is Dom André Mocquereau, Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val, and Pothier’s Liber Gradualis (1883)+
My “pianist pedigree” goes from my teacher through Wiktor Łabuński through Felix Blumenfeld, who studied with Anton Rubinstein. I always considered myself part of the “Bach-Mozart-Chopin school” as opposed to the “Handel-Beethoven-Liszt school.” (Needless to say, there’s great overlap between these schools.) Before giving a concert, Frédéric Chopin would always shut himself up in a […]
