... our brethren 'neath the Western sky
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
thy wondrous doings heard on high.
It's just before four o'clock here on Tuesday 16 December but at the Australia Incognita blog it is already the 17th and time for a post on the O Antiphons. There are plenty of YouTube videos of these Antiphonae Maiores, together with translations and explanations. If you would like some solid food for meditation and prayer, it is easy enough to google, listen and reflect.
This one of O Sapientia, the Magnificat Antiphon for tomorrow (for us Brits) was sung by the Dominican student brothers in Blackfriars, Oxford (blog Godsdogz) a couple of years ago.
7 comments:
It's interesting that with the revival of the older forms and Rites, I see that there was more diversity in the Church than in our present time when "diversity" is such an ideal. Yet the traditional diversity within the Rites of the Church still had much of the same "backbone" in their structures.
For example, in looking at this music it is just slightly different in some notes than the Benedictine form which I am more familiar with. Yet, overall they are very similar. Our parish also had some Franciscans of the Immaculate visit recently, and their solemn Salve was just slightly different in some of it's notes.
Abbot Boniface Luykx once stated that the liturgical reform will become more diverse than unified (and he meant that in a good way) and I think his prediction is coming true with Summorum Pontificum.
It's even given me more appreciation for the Rites of the East as well, and I have been pleasantly surprised to see there are so many similarities (especially in some of the Mass texts) between the East and the West.
Indeed, the Roman Rite had many variants within the "family". Many of the so-called "rites" in England were only minor variants but they were significant in local details. The solemn Mass of the Roman Rite is very much closer to the Eastern rites than any concocted attempt at meeting the requirements of "modern man".
The various versions of the solemn tone of the Salve Regina makes me warm and happy inside. As long as I never have to "unlearn" the Benedictine one ;)
Golly I thougth for a moment you were being very Sarum Fr. Tim and having O Sapientia on the 16th!
Alas life is full of disappointments. Remembering the ancient English rites it is always important to remember they were variants on the old Roman rite, the rite of the parish churches of Rome and not variants on the liturgy of the papal court.
The Sarum rite was really an 'uncle' to the 1570 missal rather than a 'brother' to use a family analogy.
Many thanks, Rubricarius, that is an interesting point. As I understand it (from Fortescue) the Missal of Pius V was the Franciscan rite as adapted for the papal court and therefore one of the family.
The important point, of course, is that the variants were in minor elements of the rite, not in the canon, or the essential structure of the rite which remained unchanged until it received the attention of Bugnini and his collaborators.
Fr. Tim,
The best, and classic, work on the subject of the Franciscan led reform of the liturgy of the papal court is Van Dijk & Hazelden-Walker, 'The Origins of the Modern Roman Liturgy', London, 1959.
With regard to Mons. Bugnini I do think we need to be focus on those who appointed him rather than on the man himself. Two people I have known met him: one now sadly departed and the other had his ordination retreat preached by Mons Bugnini with the same also celebrating some form of pre-1970 liturgy at Quarr Abbey.
Many thanks for that reference.
On your other point: there is indeed a serious responsibility in making ecclesiastical appointments; but also a serious responsibility to do the work properly.
Then there is original sin, the darkening of the intellect, the sin of pride ... none of us is immune.
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