St John Cantius Church Chicago

Fr. David Friel · January 27, 2019

Formed in Beauty Lectures

Videos have been posted from the 2017 & 2018 conferences of the Catholic Art Guild

Sonata during the Gradual?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote seventeen Church Sonatas between 1772 and 1780. These are short pieces intended to be played between the Epistle and the Gospel (during Mass). Shortly after Mozart left Salzburg, the Archbishop mandated that an appropriate choral motet or congregational hymn be sung at that point in the liturgy, with the result that the “Epistle Sonata” fell into disuse.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Note from a reader (25 June 2020)

“Just visited your website for the first time 5 minutes ago. Was that struck by the beauty of the chant and the immense gift of such a beautiful collection that can be downloaded with ease…at no charge! In awe of the gift of this extensive content and the amount of labor that has gone into all of it. Please receive our support and encouragement! God bless and keep you all. Praise be to Jesus Christ, now and forever! Thank you truly.” —Signed, The P____ Family

—Jeff Ostrowski

Positive Message from a Catholic Priest

Today, we received this wonderful message from a Catholic Priest: I want to say thank you for everything you have done to bring back the sense of the sacred in The liturgy. We are going through a liturgical renewal here in the parish where I was assigned as a parochial vicar. I’ve only been a priest for 1 year and 8 days! We are beginning to use your psalms for our English Masses.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“The following few hints on the selection of voices may be useful: (1) Reject all boys who speak roughly, or sing coarsely; (2) Choose bright, intelligent-looking boys, provided they have a good ear; they will much more readily respond to the choirmaster’s efforts than boys who possess a voice and nothing more; therefore, (3) Reject dull, sulky, or scatter-brained boys, since it is hard to say which of the three has the most demoralizing effect on his more willing companions.”

— Sir Richard Runciman Terry (1912)