Consider the following:

"The place of chant is the Roman liturgy is being reassessed in recent years, particularly among parishes that may have lost touch with the prayerful quality of chant forms. More music collections are including some of the most venerable hymn and sequence texts set to chant modes, often with additional descants."

This is the opening paragraph to "Chants from Lent through Easter" by Don Saliers of Emory University, where he is director of the Master of Sacred Music program. What is notable is the public source: Today's Liturgy as published by the Oregon Catholic Press (March 1, 2006-June 10, 2006). As long as I've followed this publication, which is distributed to perhaps sixty percent of American parishes, and which exercises a huge if inauspicious influence over US Catholic liturgical life, this is the first article I've seen that embraces and discusses chant as a living option.

Also, Alice Parker writes an article on "Hymnody: Why They Last" which says:

"Latin chant texts and tunes are the oldest of course. They are the bedrock of Roman Catholic sung liturgy, with texts that proclaim our faith and tunes forged by constant quiet iteration of those words. When we allow ourselves to fall into their ancient rhythms, we add our voices to those of hundreds of millions of people who have sung before us. The chants are burnished by this consant use and are a royal highway to holy contemplation."

No, neither article mentions that chant is specifically called for in the GIRM, nor do they discuss how the chant is integral to the rite itself and not just another option, nor do they take on the topic of the propers or ordinary. But the popular chant hymns are a wonderful starting place, and it is good to note progress where it appears.

Alas, neither Dr. Parker nor Professor Saliers are not listed among the "20 musicians" who are developing a "common repertoire" (results 1 and 2) for all parishes.

Jason Pennington, CAGO offers some excellent insights on acting in a truly pastoral manner.

The CRCCM is meeting in Koeln for its annual conference in January.

That speech by Msgr Valentino Miserachs Grau is having quite the impact. Here is a ZENIT interview with him.

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations, and their Salvation: Come and save us, O Lord our God.

O King of the Nations, and their Desire; the Cornerstone, who makest both one: Come and save mankind, whom thou formedst of clay.

The Pope spoke extemporaneously at the Sistine Chapel on the beauty of chant.

Here is a translation:

Remarks of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
To the Choir of the Pontifical Chapel, the “Sistine” Chapel

Sistine Chapel
Tuesday, December 21, 2005

Dear Maestro, Mr. Liberto,
Dear boys of the Sistine Chapel Choir,
Dear singers, teachers, colleagues, and assistants,

I did not find the time to prepare a statement, but my thoughts are very simple to say. In these days before Christmas, it is the time to give thanks for gifts. Thank you for how much you give all year, for this great contribution to the glory of God and for the joy of men on the earth.

On the night of the birth of our Savior, the angels announced to the shepherds the birth of Christ with the words “Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus.” The story says that the angles did not simply speak to the men, but that they sang so that there would be a song of divine beauty, which revealed the beauty of heaven. The choirs of pristine voices have made an angelic and resonant song for us to hear. And it is true that in the chant in the Sistine Chapel, in the great liturgies, we are able to hear the presence of the heavenly liturgy, a little of the beauty inside which the Lord wishes to communicate his joy to us.

In reality, the praise of God demands the chant. That is why in all of the Old Testament, with Moses and with David, in the end of the New Testament, and in the Apocalypse, we have heard chants of the heavenly liturgy, which offer a teaching for our own liturgy in the church. For this, your contribution is essential for the liturgy: not a peripheral ornament, but the liturgy demands this beauty, demands a song to praise God and to give joy to the worshipers.

For this great contribution, I wish to give thanks to you with all my heart. The liturgy of the Papacy, the liturgy in Saint Peter’s, must be an exemplar liturgy for the whole world. We hope that with television and with radio, today in all the parts of the world many may follow this liturgy. They learn from here, or perhaps not learn, what is liturgy, and how they themselves must celebrate the liturgy. Therefore, it is very important, not only that our ceremonies show them how to celebrate the liturgy well, but also that the Sistine Chapel may be an example of how they themselves must give beauty into chant for the praise of God.

I know, since my brother he has given me a little hint, that the beauty of a choir of pure voices demands much work and also a great sacrifice on your part. You boys must get up early to arrive at school; I know the traffic in Rome, and therefore I imagine how difficult it often is for you to arrive on time. Then, you must work yourselves hard until the end of the day, so that you might realize this perfection, which we now have heard.

For all this, I thank you. Also because during holidays, while your schoolmates take wonderful vacations, you must remain in the Basilica to sing and all the time patiently waiting for a break. And still, you are always eager to give your contribution through singing.

I feel this gratitude every time I hear you, and, on this occasion, I wish to communicate it to you. Christmas is the feast of gifts. God made for us the greatest gift. Christ was made man in the flesh, and he was made an infant. God gave us the true gift, and so he also invites us to give, to give with all our hearts; to give to God, and to promise a little of our ourselves, and also to give a token of our goodness, and to offer wishes of joy unto others.

And so, I have tried to make my gratitude clear. I hope that I have conveyed this well, as my words come short of expressing my gratitude.

Pope Benedict XVI
Tuesday, December 21, 2005
Translated by Daniel G. Fulton

O Day-Spring, Brightness of Light, everlasting and sun of Righteousness: Come and enlighten him that sitteth in darkness, and the shadow of death.

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel; that openest, and no man shutteth, and shuttests, and no man openeth: come and bring the prisoner out of the prison house, and him that sitteth in darkness, and the shadow of death.

O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people, at whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the Gentiles shall seek: Come and deliver us, and tarry not.

O Adonai, and Leader of the house of Israel, who appearedst in the Bush of Moses in a flame of fire, and gavest him the law in Sinai: Come and deliver us with an outstretched arm.

O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.

You can now register online for the CMAA's Sixteenth Annual Summer Music Colloquium, Tuesday, 20 June 2006 - Sunday, 25 June 2006, The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C., as sponsored by the Center for Ward Method Studies of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music in collaboration with the Church Music Association of America.

As announced Sunday by the Vatican, Pope Benedict has appointed Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka the new Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship. There is a short but tantalizing account at Bettnet.com of remarks that Abp. Ranjith allegedly made to Bp. Fellay of the SSPX during a 2001 meeting and again in 2002. If these words be true, one can imagine that conversations around the water cooler between Abp. Ranjith and Card. Arinze will be very interesting indeed.

The relevant article from ZENIT is reproduced below:

Date: 2005-12-11

Sri Lankan Is New Secretary of Congregation for Worship

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 11, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has appointed Sri Lankan Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don as the new secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The 58-year-old prelate has been apostolic nuncio in Indonesia and East Timor.

Born in Polgahawela, in what was then called Ceylon, he was ordained a priest in June 1975. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Colombo, the country's capital, in June 1991.

Four years later, in November 1995, he was appointed bishop of Ratnapura. In October 2001, Pope John Paul II called him to Rome to be an official of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

In April 2004 he was appointed apostolic nuncio in Indonesia and East Timor, being raised to the rank of archbishop.

Archbishop Patabendige Don is replacing Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship. The latter was appointed by Benedict XVI on Nov. 19 as archbishop of Assisi-Nocera.

The Congregation for Divine Worship is headed by Cardinal Francis Arinze.

From Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday: The Catholic Origin to Just About Everything (St. Martins 2005).

A cappella. A cappella, the style of singing without musical instruments, literally means in Italian, "in the chapel," since a cappella music is written for sacred spaces too small for orchestras or a pipe organ. The word chapel has followed more than one historical twist. A cappa in Latin was a large military cloak worn by Roman soldiers. St. Martin of Tours (316—397) was wearing one of these cloaks as a young soldier when he met a half-naked man begging for alms in the name of Christ. Though he was only a catechumen, St. Martin immediately divided his cappa and gave the man half. The following night Christ appeared to St. Martin in a dream wearing the part of the cloak given to the beggar and said, "Martin the catechumen hath clothed me with this garment."

After his death the remaining half of St. Martin’s cape was revered by the Frankish kings as a relic of his holiness, and so a special oratory was built for its safekeeping. This prayerful cloak-room, as it were, became known as the "chapel" (cappella), while the guardians of the cloak were called cappellani, or "chaplains." In an odd way, then, the word chapel went from referring to a piece of clothing to a sacred building before it would one day designate the unadulterated human voice. Meanwhile, St. Martin’s cloak went on to influence the world of haberdashery: the French word for hat, chapeau, is so called because it originally referred to a chapel head-covering.

The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe brings to a close the celebrations of the Immaculate Conception across the Americas; then the Woman of Advent begins to make way for the coming of her Son: the days of the O antiphons and posada pilgrimages are soon upon us.

In many Mexican parishes, the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe begins at midnight, or two or three hours before daybreak, with the serenata to the Virgin. This may be one of the few devotions still popular in which there are several songs that are "always" sung and can be sung by heart, along with many more that are chosen from a wealth of popular material by persons now unknown. Of course, Holy Mass generally follows the serenata. (And hot chocolate or atole generally follows the Mass.)

One of the most common popular styles of music, perhaps the most typical, for the serenata is ranchera music. Vicente Fernandez, famous for singing ranchera music (some extremely profane) for forty years or so, recorded a Cristero song, apparently this year, "El martes me fusilan." (Source: Panorama Catolico Internacional) Now, the connection to devotional music here is the popular musical style and the personal statement of faith; this solo is not going to be sung in any serenatas by groups of the faithful tomorrow.

The following prose translation is in honor of the Cristero cloud of witnesses, many recently canonized, as well as the many positive effects on Catholicism in the American Southwest, especially in Texas, inadvertantly provoked by the atheistic and masonic Mexican government's persecution of its own Catholic people and their priests and religious. Just as this song was recorded this year, so also these effects, and in some cases Cristero children themselves, are with us to this day.

They will shoot me on Tuesday
at six o'clock in the morning
For believing in the eternal God
and in the great Guadalupana.

They found a holy card
of Jesus in my hat;
That is why they sentenced me:
because I am a Cristero.

That is why they will shoot me
on Tuesday in the morning;
They will kill my useless body
but never, never my soul.

I tell my executioners
that I want them to crucify me;
And, once crucified,
that then they use their rifles.

Farewell, highlands of Jalisco,
Michoacan, and Guanajuato,
Where I fought the government
which always fled running.

They caught me on my knees
adoring Jesus Christ;
They knew that there was no defense
in that sacred place.

I am a peasant by inheritance
Jaliscan from birth;
I have no other god but Christ
because He gave me my existence.

Killing me will never end
belief in the eternal God;
Many remain in the strife
and others are yet to be born.

That is why they will shoot me
on Tuesday in the morning.

[Long live Christ the King!]

A friend from Argentina sent a link to this letter with respect to liturgical practice at this cathedral in the province of Buenos Aires:

Fieles de Campana preocupados por Abusos Liturgicos

Following is a quick translation of excerpts relevant to those interested in sacred music.

Campana, October 23, 2005

His Excellency the Most Reverend
BISHOP RAFAEL REY
[No address]

We turn to you as members of the community of the cathedral parish of Saint Florentina to request your attention to a matter that is most worrisome to us: Ten months have passed since the appointment of the presbyter E. Galuppo, and there is a climate of tension between the pastor and a significant part of the parochial community which, in lieu of giving way to harmony and understanding, has grown more and more. This can be verified in the notable reduction in the number of faithful attending, as much on weekdays as on Sundays. Even so, there are people who, having been removed from their usual tasks at the cathedral parish, still take part in the dominical office.

Daily we pray the prayer "for the Fatherland," pleading Jesus for "a commitment to the common good," "to love everyone without excluding anyone," "abhorring hatred and building peace," in conclusion asking, "Grant us the wisdom of dialogue." And dialogue is what is lacking between the pastor and the community, spreading a coldness which leads one to suppose that the same happens at home.

We base these statements on matters referring to the liturgy as well as those material or economic, and also to those affective and human. We understand that some of the situations exposed may turn out to be trivial if they are considered in isolation, but their consideration as a whole requires one to realize that there exists a problem which deserves a prompt resolution. We underline the constant necessity of clarifying that the cathedral church is a parish, but before anything else it is a cathedral: there the cathedra of the bishop is placed, it is the mother church of all the churches of the diocese, and for these reasons, an example to imitate.

The celebrations have been despoiled of all decorum and solemnity, flattening the rites, perhaps in the name of a misunderstood austerity. The solemnities are officiated as though they were ordinary celebrations, which redounds to a desacralization of the rite. In the daily celebrations just as in the solemn ones, some observable irregularities have been produced, reflecting a lack of understanding or care which brings the dangers of confusing the congregants and of undermining the Magisterium and the living Tradition of the Church. Along these lines, we have observed the execution of Eucharistic Benediction without the corresponding incense and candles (Rituale Romanum, praenotandum no. 70); during Lent, on Fridays the Most Blessed Sacrament remained exposed while the faithful prayed the via crucis (Direttorio su Pieta Popolare e Liturgia); the celebration of a choral tour of profane music in the cathedral temple without the Most Blessed Sacrament having been reserved [in a discreet location]; the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass from the altar while the sanctuary has the appropriate chairs for the presbyterate as well as for the bishop (IGMR no. 50, 124); the removal of chants in Latin (encouraged by the Church) from Holy Week celebrations (as, for example, O Redemptor at the Chrism Mass) and restriction of the participation of the choir and the use of the organ (the traditional musical instrument), both being promoted by the instruction Musicam Sacram, Ch. II no. 19, 21 and Ch. VIII no. 62; the utilization of nonliturgical songs at the Sunday evening Mass (IGMR no. 41 y SC no. 54); cantors (men and women) have been seen receiving Communion in the Body and Body of Christ at the altar before the altar servers, the acolytes; among other situations which would be hazardous to detail.

The diocesan Mass for the eternal rest of His Holiness John Paul II and important celebrations such as patronal feasts lacked the solemnity corresponding to them: ...

The feast of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin deserves its own paragraph ...

The saints are no longer honored with the recounting of their lives and the display of the images which our cathedral possesses ...

Beginning with these situations, which have generated a climate of uncertainty and confusion, there have been desertions in Mass attendance, just as there has been an exodus of congregants to other parishes and chapels which implies, of course, a drop in what is gathered in the collections ...

We are not calling into question the obligation of the pastor to actively involve himself in the economic matters of the parish, but we would consider it appropriate that he change the spirit in which he brings this about, being that he does not address the community in personal terms (weekly bulletins of August 14 and September 11, 2005), avoiding the establishment of channels of dialogue and ignoring those which the community initiates ...

We are in agreement with Your Excellency in that no one is the same as another, and given that our Heavenly Father has made [each one of] us unique, we cannot quit accepting that the pastor has the right to fulfill his functions introducing changes that he may consider pertinent, while they are based on the Magisterium and the living Tradition of the Church. However, as committed faithful, we must protest that the presbyter E. Galuppo received an already-formed parochial community, imperfect but perfectible, brought up in respect and reverence for what is sacred, knowledgeable of its rights and duties, which was governed by a pastor meticulous in his compliance with liturgical norms, who permanently instructed them in the symbolism and the essence of the same, which is none other than love for Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not what is "aesthetic" that motivates this request for attention from Your Excellency, but the necessity of guarding the Tradition and customs that identify us and unify us as a Church, and the necessity of being recognized as members of the Church, with an active role to play within the same. This natural concern is treated of in the CIC, c. 529 par. 2.

We are witnessing the progressive crumbling of a great labor and the fissure of the community. We perceive malaise and confusion, perhaps caused by such abrupt changes. But we believe that with a better disposition towards dialogue, with greater openness to participation by the faithful, it is possible to achieve a flourishing parochial community.

Because of the above, we request that Your Excellency consider calling a meeting in which the bishop, the pastor, Mrs. Liliana Balerio, Mr. Raul Scabini and two persons to be designated as representative of the faithful of this parochial community, whose signatures of support are attached.

In hope of a favorable answer, we greet you very faithfully.

Raul Scabini (other signatures follow)

CC: Apostolic Nunciature

Letter of the parochial community of Saint Florentina to Bishop Rafael Rey - October 2005

Any readers in the New York area (or visitors passing through the Capital of the World) are cordially invited to come sing chant each week with the Midtown Schola. The schola, comprised primarily of layfolk who work in Midtown Manhattan, sings every Thursday afternoon at 1:25 p.m. for Eucharistic Adoration in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick's Cathedral. The group, which sings with the full blessing of the cathedral's rector, regularly attracts between 40 and 75 participants each week. (On major solemnities, such as tomorrow's Feast of the Immaculate Conception, devotions are cancelled at the cathedral for scheduling reasons, but the schola still meets to sing in the Lady Chapel.)

For further information, please contact Douglas Dewey or David Hughes.

At the end of wonderful report by Sandro Magister on the Vatican's December 5 conference on sacred music, a speech by Valentino Miserachs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, is reprinted. It is just magnificent!

A few excerpts:

In fact, the almost outright ban on Latin and Gregorian chant seen over the past forty years is incomprehensible, especially in the Latin countries. It is incomprehensible, and deplorable.

Latin and Gregorian chant, which are deeply linked to the biblical, patristic, and liturgical sources, are part of that “lex orandi” which has been forged over a span of almost twenty centuries. Why should such an amputation take place, and so lightheartedly? It is like cutting off roots – now that there is so much talk of roots....

Gregorian chant sung by the assembly not only can be restored – it must be restored, together with the chanting of the “schola” and the celebrants, if a return is desired to the liturgical seriousness, sound form, and universality that should characterize any sort of liturgical music worthy of the name, as Saint Pius X taught and John Paul II repeated, without altering so much as a comma. How could a bunch of insipid tunes stamped out according to the models of the most trivial popular music ever replace the nobility and robustness of the Gregorian melodies, even the most simple ones, which are capable of lifting the hearts of the people up to heaven?

We have undervalued the Christian people’s ability to learn; we have almost forced them to forget the Gregorian melodies that they knew, instead of expanding and deepening their knowledge, including through proper instruction on the meaning of the texts. And instead, we have stuffed them full of banalities.

By cutting the umbilical cord of tradition in this manner, we have deprived the new composers of liturgical music in the living languages – assuming, without conceding, that they have sufficient technical preparation – of the indispensable “humus” for composing in harmony with the spirit of the Church.

We have undervalued – I insist – the people’s ability to learn. It is obvious that not all of the repertoire is suitable for the people: this is a distortion of the rightful participation that is asked of the assembly, as if, in the matter of liturgical chant, the people should be the only protagonist on the stage....

Do we want a revival of Gregorian chant for the assembly? It should begin with the acclamations, the Pater Noster, the ordinary chants of the Mass, especially the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. In many countries, the people were very familiar with the Credo III, and the entire ordinary of the Mass VIII “de Angelis,” and not only that! They knew the Pange Lingua, the Salve Regina, and other antiphons. Experience teaches that the people, following a simple invitation, will also sing the Missa Brevis and other easy Gregorian melodies that they know by ear, even if it’s the first time they have sung them. There is a minimal repertoire that must be learned, contained within the “Jubilate Deo” of Paul VI, or in the “Liber Cantualis.” If the people grow accustomed to singing the Gregorian repertoire suitable for them, they will be in good shape to learn new songs in the living languages – those songs, one understands, worthy of standing beside the Gregorian repertoire, which should always retain its primacy....

I would go so far as to say that without Gregorian chant, the Church is mutilated, and that there cannot be Church music without Gregorian chant.

The great masters of polyphony are even greater when they base themselves upon Gregorian chant, mining it for themes, modes, and rhythmic variations. This spirit imbuing their refined technique and this faithful adherence to the sacred text and the liturgical moment made Palestrina, Lasso, Victoria, Guerrero, Morales, and others great....

Gregorian chant must not remain in the preserve of academia, or the concert hall, or recordings; it must not be mummified like a museum exhibit, but must return as living song, sung also by the assembly, which will find that it satisfies their most profound spiritual tensions, and will feel itself to be truly the people of God.

It’s time to break through the inertia, and the shining example must come from the cathedral churches, the major churches, the monasteries, the convents, the seminaries, and the houses of religious formation. And so the humble parishes, too, will end up being “contaminated” by the supreme beauty of the chant of the Church.

And the persuasive power of Gregorian chant will reverberate, and will consolidate the people in the true sense of Catholicism.

And the spirit of Gregorian chant will inform a new breed of compositions, and will guide with the true “sensus Ecclesiae” the efforts for a proper enculturation. ...

We are waiting for authoritative directives, imparted with authority. And the coordination of all the local initiatives and practices is a service that rightfully belongs to the Church of Rome, to the Holy See. This is the opportune moment, and there is no time to waste.

Duane Galles, our correspondent in St. Paul, has graciously provided the following account of the 60th anniversary celebration of Msgr. Richard J. Schuler's priestly ordination. (See also this notice and this biographical essay of Msgr. Schuler by Fr. John T. Zuhlsdorf, as previously posted at this site by Daniel Muller.)

Readers may also be interested to note, and to take action upon, the following note from Don Capisco: "On the feast of Christ the King, 30 October 2005, the former President of the CMAA, Msgr Richard J. Schuler, celebrated a solemn High Mass in St Agnes Church, Saint Paul, to mark the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination. The Friends of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale are taking the opportunity to solicit donations to the Chorale endowment fund in honour of the Rt Rev'd Jubilarian. If you would like to contribute to this worthy cause on such an auspicious occasion, you can obtain detailed information about the designated fund which has been established for this purpose at the Catholic Aid Association Foundation : email = foundation@catholicaid.com. To our esteemed honourary member Mons. Schuler we offer a hearty salute : Euge, serve bone et fidelis! Intra in gaudium Domini tui!"

---

The solemn Mass to mark the 60th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Msgr Richard J. Schuler, PhD, was celebrated on 31 October 2005 at the Church of Saint Agnes in Saint Paul Minnesota, USA. It was a novus ordo Latin Mass. The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale sang Haydn's Paukenmesse assisted by members of the Minnesota Orchestra. Ad incrementum decoris et divini cultus splendoris, clad in festal gold vestments were the principal celebrant of the Mass, Mgr Schuler's nephew, the Rev. Richard Hogan, PhD, who also preached, and the Rev'd John T. Zuhlsdorf, who served at assistant priest, and the Rev'd Messrs Bernard Peterson and Harold Hughesdon, deacons of the Mass.

Present in the prelate's chair and in choir dress was the Most Rev'd Harry Flynn, Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, who heartily congratulated Mgr Schuler, praised the beauty of the music, but reminded those present that at the heart of it all was the ontological reality of the Sacrament such that the Mass he would celebrate later that day at the local prison without any attendant ceremonies would render Christ as sacra mentally present as at the present very grand liturgy.

Present as well in alb and stole was the Rev'd George Welzbacher, pastor of Saint Agnes Church, who likewise offered hearty congratulations to the jubilarian, and, as concelebrants, perhaps a half dozen of the dozens of young priests whose priestly vocations Mgr Schuler has nursed over the past two and a half decades. Rev. Msgr. Aloysius R. Callaghan, STL, JCD, the new Rector of the Saint Paul Seminary one fifth of the seminarians of which come from Saint Agnes, was likewise in attendance in cassock and surplice. A great number of other priest friends of Mgr schuler were also in attendance and there was a guard of honour supplied by the Knights of Columbus.

The Mass--except for the presence of the Archbishop (and therefore the processional anthem, Ecce sarcerdos magnus) and the concelebrants--differed little in kind from the ordinary novus ordo Latin Mass at Saint Agnes. For example, on the previous Sunday--and marking felicitously as it happened the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar--the Chorale had sung Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. I enclose below the Chorale's schedule for the year. The Mass text is in Latin and follows the Missal of Paul VI. The texts are in Latin except for the lessons, the sermon, and the bidding prayers. The propers--including the Gradual--are sung in Latin and Gregorian chant from the revised Graduale by the Saint Agnes Schola, led by Paul LeVoir. His wife Mary LeVoir, DMA, is the organist.

A dozen altar boys, clad in cassock and surplice and well trained by the Rev'd Mr. Harold Hughesdon who is also Master of Ceremonies at Saint Agnes, assisted at the Mass..

A reception for the Jubilarian followed in the Church Hall.

- Duane L.C.M. Galles, JD, JCD, PhD

---

For more information about St Agnes and the Chorale, see here. The very complete music schedule for the 2005-06 season at St. Agnes may be found here.

This looks interesting: "Sacred Music is Focus for Vatican Seminar" (via CantemusDomino)