When B16 became Pope, I hoped that he would help popularize Latin hymns and chants in the Liturgy. What he did was divide the Church with the Extraordinary Form.
Leo who can sing, may be doing what I hoped that B16 would do. Be inviting the people to sing the Regina Coeli rather than saying it or the Lord's prayer he has quietly begun to welcome Latin hymns and chants into the mainstream of the Church. They have always been there even under Francis, but they were mostly sung by the Sistine Choir. Leo is saying that these are for everyone, not simply elite singers.
The Pontifical Institute has put out a series "Singing with the Pope" which helps people to understand the Latin responses at a papal mass. This is Vatican II, full and active participation in the Liturgy, in this case in Latin. Here is the beginning of Mass
This is absolutely brilliant. It both brings Latin chant into the mainstream of church life, and quite possibly those who might be attracted to the Extraordinary Form of the Liturgy.
The National Catholic Reporter has republished a great article on the scientific benefits of singing.
As a performing artist and scientist of human movement, I spent the past decade developing therapeutic techniques involving singing and dancing to help people with neurological disorders. Much like the pope's initiative, these arts-based therapies require active participation, promote connection, and are accessible to anyone. Indeed, not only is singing a deeply ingrained human cultural activity, research increasingly shows how good it is for us.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Elinor Harrison is a lecturer in the Performing Arts Department and faculty affiliate in philosophy-neuroscience-psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. She received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Grammy Museum Foundation. She is affiliated with the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science and the Society for Music Perception and Cognition.
My late friend Dan, another Welsh Catholic, and I used to enjoy attending the St David's Day hymn sing at the Methodist Church. He had a beautiful voice and was cantor at his Melkite church. I could still sing without coughing then. Those days are gone.
ReplyDeleteMost people in the local parish seem to be embarrassed by singing. For good reason. Terrible.
This is great! I didn't know the Pope chanted. Honestly, he's not that awesome - which is perfectly fine. I think a lot of priests (and deacons) believe they can't sing, and so rarely try to chant. And then the only ones who do the chanting are the ones with really fine voices - and as often as not, it sounds like they're showing off.
ReplyDeleteJack, you probably know, this idea of chanting brief dialogue passages of the mass ("The Lord be with you / And with your spirit") is on the agenda of the "reform the reform" groups. But it really is in line with Vatican II. I support it. And that short video can help teach people how to do it in a non-political way.
The brief dialogues of the Mass along with the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei provide a common framework for the Mass that help to keep it from becoming a service dominated by the priest's personal style, or by the chosen hymns.
DeleteI don't think this framework prevents a priest expressing his own personal style, one can easily integrate both. A priest can say good morning, make some beginning comments, and then say "let us begin" sing the beginning of the Mass.
I will watch the video. I'm all about doing things in a non-political way. I think most parishes already are doing some chanting, maybe not in Latin. For instance, the Pater Noster. That is a familiar chant melody, though done in English a lot.
ReplyDeleteOur parish musicians sing more subdued and penitential Mass parts during Advent and Lent. This year the middle schoolers and teens that make up one of the groups are doing a chant Mass in Latin. I think most of us have heard it, it is very familiar, Mass XVI, mode III. The lady who leads them did a good job of teaching the pronunciation.
Our funeral choir is a separate group from the other groups. My friend who leads the choir I am in talked me into singing with the funeral choir last Saturday, because they have lost some members. Turns out we were among the younger members, LOL. I know one of the ladies there is pushing 90. They did well, though.