Haydn's Mariazeller Messe was chosen. Magister points out that the last time a polyphonic setting was used for the papal Mass was in 1985 (Mozart's Krönungsmesse); The one before that was 1963 (Palestrina).
In the afternoon, the Holy Father spoke to the Cistercian community of Heiligenkreutz:
"In the beauty of the liturgy, [...] wherever we join in singing, praising, exalting and worshipping God, a little bit of heaven will become present on earth. Truly it would not be presumptuous to say that, in a liturgy completely centred on God, we can see, in its rituals and chant, an image of eternity. [...] In all our efforts on behalf of the liturgy, the determining factor must always be our looking to God. We stand before God – he speaks to us and we speak to him. Whenever in our thinking we are only concerned about making the liturgy attractive, interesting and beautiful, the battle is already lost. Either it is Opus Dei, with God as its specific subject, or it is not. In the light of this, I ask you to celebrate the sacred liturgy with your gaze fixed on God within the communion of saints, the living Church of every time and place, so that it will truly be an expression of the sublime beauty of the God who has called men and women to be his friends."It is not, I think, far-fetched to see an allusion to Fr Lang's book "Turning Towards the Lord" - after all, the Holy Father did write the foreword to it.
With a typical Italian journalistic flourish, Magister informs us at the tail end of the article:
In the Vatican, the liturgical event of Vienna will soon be followed by the replacement of the master of the pontifical liturgical celebrations. Taking the place of Piero Marini – who will go to preside over the pontifical committee for international Eucharistic congresses – will be the current master of ceremonies for the archdiocese of Genoa, Guido Marini. He's close to his predecessor in name, but to pope Ratzinger in substance.Reports have it that the Austrians wanted the Holy Father to wear some fine Roman vestments for his Mass at Mariazell. The yellow and blue bedspreads were insisted on by Archbishop Marini. Perhaps that is how he wishes to be remembered.
10 comments:
Many thanks, Father, for another fascinating post.
Haydn's Mass settings are some of my favourites.
And isn't Stift Heiligenkreuz a marvellous place.
Yes, the community there do celebrate "ad orientem", don't they ?
New Liturgical Movement posted some photos of the Abbey church a while back of the papal Nuncio celebrating at the high altar.
Turning toward the Lord indeed.
That's fascinating news about the papal M.C.
And I love your final sentence !
Upon the whole I am not interested in vestments but I have to say that I was horrified by the hideous blue vestments worn by the Holy Father at this Mass. Surely he can overrule his master of ceremonies, if indeed it was he who chose them?
Father - I wonder if you saw this week's Catholic Herald article (page 2) about the iPod sent to the pope with 'jazzed-up' versions of some old Catholic hymns, including a "Caribbean calypso disco version of 'Sweet Heart of Jesus'!!" The mind boggles.
The intention is apparently to enable the pope to "hear how some more traditional songs [sic] can be interpreted in a contemporary way without doing an injustice to the truth they contain".
Presumably the type of music employed by the group (heavy rock might be a good description of some of it, even when the lyrics themselves are often sound), is perceived as being under threat by the Pope's insistance on Church music being suitable for Church use. This gift may be thought of as a way of influencing him and persuading him away from encouraging truly Sacred Music.
I hope the Holy Father is as unimpressed as the Herald's music critic was. Any thoughts?
I agree with you - I doubt whether the Holy Father would be impressed by this idea which is not only daft but now obviously passé.
I have heard the entire album, "Age to Age" and some of it is quite beautiful, particularly the Salve Regina. It was composed in response to The Holy Fathers plea for a return to more traditional liturgy. I don`t know who`s been putting it around that it was sent to the Pope to try and "persuade" him to like it, but my understanding is that is not true. I don`t think the composers would be quite that arrogant, even if their music is not to everyone's taste. The "re-working" of the hymns are not heavy rock either. "O Bread of Heaven" is done with a simple small Brass group and is very prayerful. Soul of My Saviour is as well. I have enjoyed hearing my children sing "Sweet Heart of Jesus" around the house and in the car. They aren`t taught those hymns in school anymore. I think the Pope might be quite pleased as well.
Thanks to Thomasso for referring to the Catholic Herald, 14 September 2007.
I must have had something else on my mind on that date, because I completely missed out reading page 2.
And, o Lord, it was worth reading.
Having now read the Herald's critique, there seems little doubt that the "Age to Age" album will not win the papal seal of approval.
Personally, I don't think I want to hear the Salve Regina in the setting of Boyce and Stanley, described by the Herald's music critic as a "sonic haze, with electronic panpipe accompaniment.. best forgotten".
Oh dear. Let us move on.
Yes, but what did YOU think of it Dr Peter ? Did it lead you into prayer, as it did me ? Never mind what The Herald writes.. they aren`t an authority on everything. Sometimes we have to read/listen to things for ourselves.
I have heard their music and, in my humble opinion, I cannot see how it fits the criteria required by the Magisterium for Sacred Music.
Liking it or not liking it is not the issue.
It's high time that the true mind of the Church is reflected in Her Liturgy. That means that those responsible for Liturgy should see to it that the mind of the Church is followed, not the personal preferences of individuals.
The Holy Father is making it clear, with the fullness of his teaching authority which way this should go. We should, in all humility, follow his lead.
Bernadette :
All right.
I did listen to some of it.
What did I think of it ?
I thought the music critic of the Catholic Herald put it far more charitably than I could.
If it's got you and the children singing the old hymns, that is delightful, of course.
I'm sorry to hear the schools no longer teach them.
I'm sure the people invovled are good, sincere Catholics, doing what they think is best. I wish them well.
However, I've listened to 'Salve Regina', Soul of my Saviour' and 'Sweet Heart of Jesus' and I have to say I don't like them. They make me want to cringe, not pray; the voices on their own may be OK, but the backings are jarring and inappropriate for the genre.
I'm sorry to say that 'Sweet Heart of Jesus' was particularly awful. 'Salve Regina', while it was close to the melody, was not close to the plainchant timing - so why do it?
Each to his own, I suppose. But, Bernadette, this didn't do it for me. I think the Herald columnist got it right.
I doubt the Holy Father will wish to see this stuff used as Sacred Music, but who knows. I suspect he will be polite enough to get someone to thank for their gift to him.
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