CD Review: 1: Mass and Vespers of the Assumption from Fontgombault

One of the discs I received over Christmas was this recording by the monks of Fontgombault. I`m glad to say that I`ve been there once when I went for a retreat with a group of English priests in the 1990`s. This disc is a re-issue of recordings originally issued in 1973 with five pieces added from the 1990`s which include the opening and closing organ pieces.

I`m no expert on chant. I have been to a number of `chant for beginners` days which only left me more confused and increased my admiration for those who can sing it. Being used to a five line stave I never really understood why it`s easier to sing chant from a four line stave but I`ve no doubt it is. The last introduction I went to said it was simply a matter of remembering the tonic sol-fa but that didn`t help very much either. 

The Fongombault monks sing with a meditative mellifluous style. All the chant both the propers and ordinary are accompanied by the organ. I like this as it gives warmth but I have had differences of opinion with  others who believe chant should be sung unaccompanied. However for me the discreet organ accompaniment is a plus. The highlight of the Mass for me was the gradual Audi Filia. I love hearing the full setting of the gradual at Mass and value the opportunity for reflection between the epistle and the Gospel but I have met people who don`t think it`s suitable in a parish setting. I`m not sure why. The soaring notes of this gradual moved me. 

There is a technical problem in that although the track listings on the cover are in the right order something has gone wrong with the disc so that the gradual is followed by the Creed and then comes the Alleluia verse. Strangely there is no recording of the offertory antiphon. I know it`s not in the missal for the Ordinary Form although I understand it is in the new chant books but I thought it would be here given that the conventual Mass at Fontgombault is not Novus Ordo but  a 1965/67.

 variant.

Second Vespers begins with track 11. Here again the running order gets confused as the second psalm (Laudate pueri) precedes the first (Dixit Dominus) on the disc. Similarly after the Magnificat the track listing gives 21 Salve Regina, 22 Organ recessional and 23 Angelus bells (followed by general bell-ringing) but on the disc the bells come immediately after the Magnificat after which there is the Salve Regina and closing organ music.

I`ve listened to the disc twice now and am very pleased to have a reminder of Fongombault and hope one day to visit again.

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

I`m nearly ready to post about the first of the CD`s I received at Christmas but in the meantime thought I`d mention the music for this Sunday.

Sunday 5th.
Mass of St.Brigit.  Seymour.(Gloria and Sanctus)
O esca viatorum..Isaac.
Missa 'orbis factor'
Hymn... All ye who seek a comfort sure.

Candlemas

A reminder that there will be an Extraordinary Form Sung Mass at St Joseph`s for Candlemas on Thursday 2nd February at 7pm.

Music:

Lumen ad revelationem...Chant
Procession... Adorna thalmum...sung by all to the tune 'Hereford'.and
Obtulerunt...chant with metrical response.
Missa martyrum..Bonfitto.
Ave Maria...Cesar Franck.
Hymn...Sweet Saviour bless us ere we go. (verses 1-3)

2017

Our year here at Gateshead is getting off to a good start. After Chris, our organist and choirmaster, decided to step down, the position has been filled by Paul Dewhurst. Many thanks to Chris for all his work in 2016. Paul brings enthusiasm and experience to the job. Sung Mass is normally on the first and third Sundays.

This Sunday we are joined by some of the Westland Singers too. The music this Sunday is:

Proper of the Mass: sung to psalm tone 3

Kyrie..Gruber. 

Gloria.. Mass in RE.Bevenot.
Offertory.. Jesu Rex admirabilis. Palestrina

Credo 3

Sanctus.. Orbis factor.
Agnus.Dei.Gruber.
Communion..  O sacrum convivium Plainchant

Final Hymn.. Let all mortal flesh keep silence.

Franz Xaver Gruber was new to me but apparently wrote 60 Mass settings but is mainly remembered for Silent Night.

Other things in 2017 include the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum on July 7th. We will be having a Solemn High Mass of Thanksgiving and pulling out all the stops we can. It also marks the 75th birthday of our bishop, Seamus Cunningham, so we will be remembering him on the day he qualifies for retirement which we pray is long and happy. Let`s hope we don`t have a long wait before his successor is appointed.  

There will be Mass at Brinkburn in September. it would also be worthwhile trying to get a Mass at Ushaw again. They seem to be more interested in the history of the place now than when I was there so I hope we can do this. 

I received a number of interesting CDs of sacred music over Christmas and hope to write about these soon.

Epiphany

People tell me I should advertise things more so this is just to say there will be an Extraordinary Form Low Mass for Epiphany on Friday 6th January at 10.00 am at St Joseph`s. There may be chalk too.

Merry Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we will place ourselves once again before the Crib to contemplate, astonished, the "Word made flesh." Sentiments of joy and gratitude, like in every year, are renewed in our hearts as we hear the melodies of Christmas carols, which sing of, in so many languages, the same, extraordinary miracle. The Creator of the universe, out of love, came to make his dwelling among men. In the Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul affirms that Christ, "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" (2:6). He appeared in human form, adds the Apostle, humbling himself. At holy Christmas we will relive the realization of this sublime mystery of grace and mercy.

Pope Benedict XVI 21.12.06

Those were the days!

Merry Christmas to anyone out there still reading this!

The Immaculate Conception

Mass as usual at 12 on Thursday and also Extraordinary Form Missa Cantata at 7pm with music by the Westland Singers. Rigidity checks will be available for the young.

Silence (and Manners in Church)

Silence seems to be all the rage at the minute, what with Pope Francis` silence in the face of a request from the four cardinals for clarification. Hitherto he hasn`t been noted for silence. The papal reflection on November 23rd strangely, in discussing the works of mercy, spoke of the importance of resolving doubts! Also there was a premier in the Vatican of the new film Silence based on the novel by Shūsaku Endo ( the `Japanese Graham Greene)` which I have long found thought-provoking in telling the story of Jesuit missionaries in Japan who abandoned their faith rather than accept a martyrdom which would also have meant death for many of their converts.

However,continuing on the theme of silence the liturgy Commission of England and Wales brought out a document on the place of silence in the Mass. They only discuss the Ordinary Form. The problem is that in the OF silence can only happen as a pause which is rather unsatisfactory as no-one knows how long the pause will be and so cannot be entered in to as there is no telling when the celebrant will move on. They talk about the silence of the congregation during the readings, offertory and Eucharistic prayer but there isn`t silence in church at these points as someone is reading aloud. It is one of the great strengths of the EF Mass that it affords time for silent prayer by the congregation especially at a Low Mass during the offertory and canon. Nevertheless I thought it was interesting that the topic was being explored and towards the end there is a useful section on the importance of silence before Mass which is becoming very hard to find. Strangely we`ve not received any notice of this document in the diocese unlike Cardinal Nichol`s opinion on Cardinal Sarah`s call to say Mass ad orientem which we received very quickly.

Just before devotees of the EF Mass start feeling smug about all this I came across this useful film. Embedding is disabled  but do look at this link.

Youth Sunday

I must say I don`t normally make much of a fuss about Youth Sunday aka the Feast of Christ the King. However at the Extraordinary Form Mass this morning I mentioned it to highlight that we have a good number of youth who come each week. They have never struck me as rigid or hiding something. Where I do find an annoying rigidity is among those who are rigid in their refusal to see anything good about the EF. We have to put up with a lot of stick at this end of things such as visiting priests who think it so clever or amusing, when they preach or make an appeal, to say the first couple of sentences of their sermon in Latin. Or are quite happy to make an appeal but then, I hear, actively dissuade people from attending the EF. The arrogance astounds me as well as just the lack of respect and straightforward courtesy. Or those who throw their hands up in horror at the mention of the EF Mass as being completely beyond the pale and not to be taken seriously in the life of the diocese and at best to be tolerated and certainly not encouraged. The letter to the bishops accompanying  Summorum Pontificum said, lest we forget: What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.. 

Those who throw a stone at young Latin Mass enthusiasts should think first about themselves and in what matters they may be unacceptably rigid before doing so.

Four Cardinals and a Pope

 

The situation with the four cardinals who sought and failed to get clarification from the pope on Amoris Laetitia is a fascinating one. For those not aware of what has been going on there is a summary here.

What interests me is what kind of canonical procedure the four plan to use for their formal correction of the pope. I don`t have any doubts about Cardinal Burke`s vast canonical expertise but all I can get as far as is canon 1404 Prima sedes a nemine judicetur ( The First See is  judged by no-one). Yet Cardinal Burke says there is a procedure for correcting a pope so I look forward to finding out what it is and how it works. Apart from St Paul challenging St Peter at Antioch all that comes to mind is the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus  (Pope Beautiful!) in 897.I wonder what precedents Cardinal Burke has in mind? Interesting times indeed.

Young People at Una Voce Scotland's Annual Requiem Mass -

In the light of the Holy Father`s recent comments about there being something suspicious about young people who attend the Extraordinary Form, here`s a few of them speaking about it last Saturday at Una Voce Scotland`s annual Requiem.

As You Like It

It would be interesting to ask young Catholics how they respond to these videos.

Education, education, education

I was interested to read that the teaching of Latin and classics is being proposed for state primaries by Professor Dennis Hayes, from the University of Derby. The article is here. Here is a flavour:

“As a minimum Latin and classics should be taught in every primary school and continued into secondary school with the addition of ancient Greek,” said Hayes, adding that the subjects could be offered by state schools through the Classics for All programme or the use of retired Latin teachers.

He (Prof Hayes) said he wants to “start a debate” about his proposals in his home county of Derbyshire. It follows critical comments he made at the Commons education committee’s purpose of education conference last week.
"If you go to Derbyshire schools, the kids are basically not learning anything.
“There’s these lovely kids in Shirebrook for instance. They’re great kids, but they’re not being taught anything. They would love Latin.”

Hayes said the teachers in his teacher training session would “hate” the idea of a move to teach classics in all schools, because they “think the only thing you need is Google. They confuse information with knowledge”.

I have some experience of this in that I helped with a Minimus course at St Mary`s. Forest Hall back in 2008. The children did respond well. The picture is of our main helper who made herself a Minimus costume. (Minimus is a Latin course for primary school children and is based on the life of a mouse (Minimus) on Hadrian`s Wall.)

I imagine this will go down like a lead balloon but I`m glad it`s even being raised

One of the benefits of studying classics is gaining an understanding of the world that Christianity entered and it helps us to appreciate the difference Christianity made to our Western world.Of course Gibbon said that the spread of Christianity had undermined the Roman spirit and led to the empire`s fall, despite the eastern empire lasting in continuity until 1453. More useful have been the recent comments of classical historian Tom Holland in the New Statesman. His article Why I was wrong about Christianity is well worth a read. It recounts his early aversion to Christianity and his gradual realisation that the values we take for granted as the hallmark of a civilised society are not as obvious to good people as we may think. He writes:

The longer I spent immersed in the study of classical antiquity, the more alien and unsettling I came to find it. The values of Leonidas, whose people had practised a peculiarly murderous form of eugenics, and trained their young to kill uppity Untermenschen by night, were nothing that I recognised as my own; nor were those of Caesar, who was reported to have killed a million Gauls and enslaved a million more. It was not just the extremes of callousness that I came to find shocking, but the lack of a sense that the poor or the weak might have any intrinsic value. As such, the founding conviction of the Enlightenment – that it owed nothing to the faith into which most of its greatest figures had been born – increasingly came to seem to me unsustainable.

A follow-up Spectator article (Western values are more Christian than classical) makes the following point:

Agnostics are generally reluctant to admit the debt that Western morality owes to Christianity. Why? Because it makes them dependent on something that they are not comfortable with, that they enjoy disdaining. Since childhood they have confidently assumed that religion is nonsense – it is awkward to admit that one form of this ‘nonsense’ underlies their most basic moral responses. Easier to pretend that universal humanism just comes naturally – evolves maybe? Holland is contributing to an important ‘back to basics’ mood: an urge to reflect on the roots of Western values – even if they’re embarrassingly religious.

  I don`t suppose much will come of this but maybe one day!

Fr Jacques Hamel

Tomorrow the Pope will celebrate Mass for Fr Jacques Hamel. Today I recived a reply from Fr Moanda of St Etienne du Rouvray thanking us for the book or remembrance we sent from St Joseph`s, Gateshead. ( Gateshead being twinned with St Etienne du Rouvray.)

 

UPDATE 14.09.16 Pope says Fr Hamel is a martyr.

Brinkburn 2016: 2

Despite the short notice there were about 50 at Brinkburn for Mass on Saturday. The sun shone for us as it has for the last twnety-two years. Fr Bede spoke about St Nicholas of Tolentino. Thanks to the servers and singers. Next year the priory is booked for Mass on September 9th and the local choir Antiphon have agreed to sing a polyphonic Mass setting. Here are some photos of this year`s Mass.

 A highlight of the day was this sweatshirt!

Brinkburn 2016

Although the priory was booked last year for this year it has proved impossible to secure the services of choir to sing a polyphonic setting of the ordinary of the Mass but I`m making inquiries for next year now to make sure things will be in place in 2017. However the day has been saved by a small group of singers who will sing the propers and a plainchant ordinary. I`m grateful to David Edwards for stepping in! So this year`s Solemn High Mass will take place on Saturday 10th September at 12 noon. All welcome. The sun normally shines for us so do come for Mass in this fantastic setting.

The Mass will be for  the Feast of St NIcholas of Tolentino. Fr Bede Rowe, who will be celebrant,  has written about the Septenarium devotion to this Saint which readers may find interesting.

Brinkburn 2015

Fr. Jacques Hamel

From our diocesan website:

 

 

The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle was saddened to hear of the death in tragic circumstances of Fr. Jacques Hamel in the town of St. Etienne-du-Rouvray in France yesterday. He was 86 years old.

The town is twinned with Gateshead and St. Joseph's Church will have a book of condolence available from 11.00am on Friday and over the weekend.

Please pray for the repose of his soul and keep his family also in your prayers. May he rest in peace.

For more information about Fr. Hamel and other parishes that are celebrating Mass for him, please read here.

Fr Mawdsley at St Joseph`s 2

Some photos from Fr Mawdsley`s Mass at St Joseph`s last week.

Fr James Mawdsley at St Joseph`s

Fr James Mawdsley and his brother on his ordination day

Congratulations to Fr James Mawdsley on his ordination to the priesthood on July 2nd for the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. Father is going around the country on a First Mass tour and is coming to St Joseph`s, Gateshead on Wednesday 13th July for a Solemn High Mass at 7pm. Music by the Westland Singers. All welcome. Refreshments afterwards. Ad Mulos Annos!

What`s happening in East Anglia?

A parishioner came back from a pilgrimage to Walsingham and brought with him a copy of the new Alive in Faith newsletter produced by the diocese of East Anglia. There I read that 12 years ago there were no students in formation for East Anglia. Now we have 10, plus 10 `nibblers` who are considering joining the priesthood. Looking at the Alive in Faith website maybe gives a clue to this success. It lists priorities thus:

Introduction

Alive in Faith supports our vision for the future our Diocese which is to have:
† Seminarians who are well formed, and clergy who are supported when they step down from active ministry
† Strong and vibrant parishes that are addressing local needs
† Programmes of outreach to help those who are most vulnerable in our communities

So good news from East Anglia and I hope they can give useful advice to dioceses not doing so well. It gives the lie to those who foresee  the future as being a Church without priests.