Views from the Choir Loft

Archives for December 2013

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · December 5, 2013

Recovering the Greatness of the Roman Rite

Why did we suppress the most precious, most beautiful gift the Lord had given to us? What were we thinking? A child’s perspective brings out the importance of the solemn sung liturgy.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 4, 2013

1934 “Antiphonale Monasticum” (Solesmes Abbey) • Free PDF Download!

Feel free to download all 1,296 pages!

Andrew R. Motyka · December 4, 2013

Text matters

Everyone should be forced to type the words of the pieces they use.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 4, 2013

Dom Gajard on Vernacular Adaptations & Pius XII Psalter

“We request His Eminence the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites the permission to point out the manifest danger of adopting either of these solutions.” — Dom Joseph Gajard, OSB

Corpus Christi Watershed · December 4, 2013

Francis on Benedict’s “Enlightened Conscience”

The Pope Emeritus “prays, reads, listens to music, dedicates himself to his correspondence, which is a lot, and receives visitors. Every day we walk together in the woods behind the monastery, reciting the rosary.” — Archbishop Ganswein (10/22/13)

Jeff Ostrowski · December 3, 2013

The G.I.R.M. Mentions “Hymnus” Only Once …

Ironically, that’s the spot you’re least likely to hear a hymn at Mass!

Cynthia Ostrowski · December 3, 2013

Catholic Line Art, Black and White • Installment #44

I will be releasing hundreds of these B/W religious line art drawings for free and instant download. These beautiful Catholic “woodcuts” were done with magnificent skill. “Download Free Traditional Catholic Clipart”

Gwyneth Holston · December 2, 2013

Enough is Enough!

Why are our Catholic bookstores full of bad art?

Jeff Ostrowski · December 2, 2013

How “Catholic” Is Congregational Singing?

John Paul II asked your forgiveness in 1980 … did you forgive him?

Fr. David Friel · December 1, 2013

Chant Behind Bars

Might Chant Scholas Flourish in Prisons?

“Music List” (4th Sunday of Advent, Year C)

This coming Sunday—22 December 2024—is the 4th Sunday of Advent (Year C). Some have expressed interest in perusing my “ORDER OF MUSIC.” If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The English version of “Roráte Cæli” we’re singing for the ENTRANCE CHANT is magnificent.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Advent

Download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Advent (22 December 2024). Set in the first mode—just like the authentic version—this setting manages to capture the “essence” of the Gregorian setting in quite an admirable way. Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion (4th Sunday of Advent)

The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (PDF) we’re singing for the 4th Sunday of Advent has a particularly gorgeous melody. The text (from the prophet Isaiah) is also quite beautiful and is cited toward the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It certainly seems like most of the Advent antiphons come from the book of Isaiah…

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Lessons and Carols”

Seen online! Dr. Samuel Backman conducted a “Lessons and Carols” service with his choir, and someone produced this lovely vignette.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Epiphany Proclamation 2025

Each year, without fail, someone asks me to typeset the Epiphany Proclamation, an announcement of moveable feasts chanted each year on the feast of the Epiphany. As a result, you may now find an archive of 23 such proclamations in PDF ready to print HERE.

—Veronica Brandt

The Breviary in the Life of the Laity

Recently I have been enjoying looking through the inaugural (1927) edition of a 20th-century liturgical magazine called Orate Fratres. The July 1927 issue included an excellent article by a Chicago laywoman named Ellen Gates Starr entitled “The Delights of the Breviary: From the Point of View of a Lay Woman.” As we in the 21st century have recently undergone a (blessed!) re-translation of the missal into English, and as we await with joyful hope (please God, before Jesus comes back!) a similar re-translation of the breviary, the opening of her article reminded me of that old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Nearly a hundred years ago, she penned words that could just as easily have been written today: “It is indeed a privilege to be allowed any participation, however slight, in the liturgical movement in the Church – the movement to bring back the classics of devotion, the Missal and the Breviary, into general use by the laity. The wonder is that they should ever have fallen into disuse. Nothing can take the place of these great universal prayers of the Church, the prayers of the Mass and the divine Office. One has only to know them to find them indispensable. And alas, how few of the laity know them!” I know that I have been tremendously nourished by regular praying of the breviary as of late, and my wish is that you and I, dear reader, may continue to nourish our interior lives with the official prayer of the Church, which present to us (in the Mass) and extend (in the Office) the fullness of Christ’s greatest gift to us – the gift of Himself – in the Most Holy Eucharist.

—Daniel Tucker