“Is it not true that prohibiting or suspecting the extraordinary form can only be inspired by the demon who desires our suffocation and spiritual death?” —The Vatican’s chief liturgist from 2014-2021; interview with Edw. Pentin (23-Sep-2019)
In a 14th century manuscript, I found some alternate melodies for the “Dóminus vobíscum” and “Et cum spíritu tuo.” I’m not sure we could ever use these at Mass; most priests have a hard enough time with the Editio Vaticana melodies!
Archbishop Roche, current head of the CDW, stated during his video interview as follows: “The Church has given us the celebration of the Mass in two forms. The Ordinary Form is the Mass that was developed under blessed Pope Paul VI in the 1960s. […] The Extraordinary Form is another expression, which is older than […]
If people only knew about this this website, they would be amazed. It is called the “snippets” index, and I could not live without it. We’ve tried everything we can think of to let people know about it—and we’ll keep trying—but even some of our most faithful readers don’t realize that hidden treasure!
The brief little SATB piece, O Pater Sancte (PDF), has been requested by many. The full title is O Pater Sancte, Mitis Atque Pie (“Father most holy, gracious and forgiving”). The melody occurs many times in the The Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal—including on page 724 with a fabulous translation by Monsignor Knox. The tune […]
Mr. Daniel Craig, an accountant, comes from a musical family. His sister is a nun, and his brother is currently a seminarian. He has put together a detailed comparison of fifteen traditional Catholic hymnals. Many PDF files are included. Click here to view the article.
The USCCB has completely deleted a section of their website which (before they deleted it) contained helpful resources for the classical Roman Rite. Something cool they had included (before they deleted it) was a link to the new prefaces, approved by Pope Francis on 25 March 2020. Will this madness never end?
Some claim Catholics deserve condemnation because (unlike Protestants) Catholics often omit verses when singing hymns at Mass. Is that true? The wonderful Sophia Institute Press—as part of a series on authentic sacred music—has provided an answer (PDF) to this question.
The wonderful Sophia Institute Press has begun a “Q+A” section which tackles common liturgical questions, and here’s a sample: “At a conference I recently attended, the speaker said hymns don’t belong at Mass; was he telling the truth?” And you can read the answer. To access the complete set (which is a work in progress), […]
From a reader: “I have read the pages explaining the Blessed Sacrament in the Brébeuf hymnal and plan on continuing to contemplate them. Moreover, the Christ the King Hymn is beautifully sung on the recording you posted (to the Watershed blog), and I wish my church would sing these hymns instead of modern ones from […]
Readers already realize that seventeen (17) splendid organ accompaniments for the simple “Salve Regina” can be freely and conveniently downloaded here. But what about the solemn tone for the “Salve Regina”—has anyone composed an organ accompaniment for that? Yes, Canon Jules Van Nuffel has composed one for the solemn version.
Sometimes words are superfluous. Sometimes no commentary is needed. If you look at this Tale of Two Missals (PDF)—which compares the Canon from the “Modern” ICEL Missal with a “Dark Ages” Missal, I think you will understand exactly what I’m getting at.
From a reader: “Corpus Christi Watershed is the greatest musical organization ever created in the Church!”
Do you know what the church narthex is? It’s kind of like a separate room, blocked off by a wall. A buddy of mine (sitting in the narthex) took some iPhone recordings of our congregation singing Vespers. Here’s how they sound sans organ. [Note: Whenever I play for Vespers, I make sure to have some […]
Here is a photo of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen celebrating Mass in Jerusalem. That image was included in the “Fulton J. Sheen Sunday Missal” (1961), which was edited by Father Caramen and has an IMPRIMATUR by William Cardinal Godfrey, who served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1956 until his death in 1963. The Fulton Sheen […]
I submit to you that nothing is gained by these slight variations in the repeats for the Epipany Offertory. The edition is by Carl Ott, a musicologist. Almost nothing is about Carl Ott—as far as I can tell, nobody even knows when Carl Ott was born or when Carl Ott died.
