Liturgical Music
Canticle in Philippians
Posted on August 10, 2019
Recall that a canticle is a little song which includes Scripture other than that of the Book of Psalms. A canticle that has spoken to me over the years is the canticle in St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (2:6-11)....
Te Deum
Posted on July 27, 2019
The Vatican II document Sacrosanctum Concilium says the following about sacred music:
The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The...
Pentecost
Posted on June 8, 2019
Veni Creator Spiritus (“Come Creator Spirit”) is a hymn believed to have been written in the 9th century by Rabanus Maurus (780 - 856 AD), a Benedictine monk who at one time was archbishop of Mainz. In the form of...
Gone is the night
Posted on April 27, 2019
What a Lent it was !
As mentioned here I was quite excited about Lent beginning and looked forward to studying the Exsultet. That happened in a way unexpected, as I discovered another piece of music we sing is...
Anticipation
Posted on March 2, 2019
Ash Wednesday has a little bit of a “new year” feel to it. It’s exciting, to finally start the season that leads us to the biggest week on the Church’s calendar -- Holy Week. I've decided to spend some time this...
M D C
Posted on January 7, 2019
If you've ever spent anytime at the Mount, you would recognize the name of Sister Mary David Callahan, OSB. An accomplished musician and a prolific composer, the music of Sister Mary David is a staple when the...
Handbells
Posted on November 19, 2018
Handbells have been around since ancient times. Originally their relatively small size helped tower bell-ringers to practice; however, small groups soon formed to create music of their own.
There is a long history...
Rest Within Music
Posted on November 5, 2018
It’s probably a little unusual to write about silence in a post about liturgical music.
All the same …
The purpose of sacred music is to glorify God and sanctify the faithful (Sacrosanctum Concilium ¶ 112). That’...