Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Godspeed!” (9 Oct 2023)
“It is all too easy to be lured away from a common-sense interpretation of the oldest sources by the siren song of beautiful, polished performances according to some other style.” —Patrick Williams
“If we do not love those whom we see, how can we love God, Whom we do not see?” Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
Patrick Williams serves as organist and choirmaster at Mater Misericordiae Parish and Saint Edward the Confessor Catholic Church. These are churches of the diocese of Phoenix, served by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) with exclusive use of the pre-conciliar rites in Latin.—Read full biography (with photographs).
“It is all too easy to be lured away from a common-sense interpretation of the oldest sources by the siren song of beautiful, polished performances according to some other style.” —Patrick Williams
“The time is ripe to reconsider the contributions of Fr. Jan Vollaerts to Gregorian musicology.” —Patrick Williams
“Reading deliberate ‘nuances’ into normal variations in handwriting is a solution in search of a problem.” —Patrick Williams
“Somehow, an amplified soloist drowning out everyone else is deemed ‘active participation,’ but a choir of thirty voices singing polyphony is not.” —Patrick Williams
“I cannot imagine any justification for making such an alteration and still claiming that one’s edition corresponds to the Vaticana.” —Patrick Williams
“The burden of proof is on the one who persists in ignoring the evidence.” —Patrick Williams
“I would characterize the sound as heavy and visceral in contrast to the soaring and ethereal aesthetic of the Solesmes style of chant.” —Patrick Williams
“The oldest rhythmic sources are reliable. Study them for yourself and don’t take my word for anything!” —Patrick Williams
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Ash Wednesday
“Now all you have to do is connect the dots for yourself.” —Patrick Williams
“How delightful it would be to hear chants sung beautifully in a style that hasn’t been recorded hundreds of times already!” —Patrick Williams
“What is to be gained from outdated scholarship and an anachronistic aesthetic that cannot be better accomplished by a return to the oldest sources?” —Patrick Williams
“It is disingenuous and ludicrous to inject the notion of hallucination and magic into the historical narrative.” —Patrick Williams
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video has to be worth at least 1.8 million words.” —Dr. James McQuivey
“The older responsorial method is more in accord with a right understanding of this text.” —Patrick Williams
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We’re under tremendous pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”
We don’t want to do this. We believe our website should remain free to all. It’s annoying to have to search for login credentials (e.g. if you’re away from your desk).
Our president has written the following letter:
* Thirteen Men & Coins (Holy Thursday Appeal)
Traditionally on Holy Thursday, the priest washed the feet of thirteen men. Theologians held various opinions regarding whom the “13th man” represented. Before the liturgical changes of Pope Pius XII (which changed the number from thirteen to twelve), the priest washed each man’s feet, kissed his foot, and gave him a coin.
This “coin” business seems providential—inasmuch as our appeal begins on Holy Thursday this year.
Time's up