Sacred Music Part I - LMP003

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Sacred Music

Part I: Chant and Instruments

 

Singing the Mass vs. Singing at Mass

Sacred music by its very nature is music that is set apart for the sacred liturgy. It is different from secular (worldly) music. We speak of sacred and profane music. The word profane does not mean wicked, sinful, or evil; rather, it means, literally "outside the temple" (from the Latin fanum, temple).

Music that is admitted into the Mass is considered sacred music, in one way or another.

When most Latin Catholics go to Mass, they hear lots of hymns: an opening hymn, an offertory hymn, a communion hymn, a recessional hymn. Hymns are poetic texts sung to simple melodies by the whole congregation. Although 20th century magisterial texts encouraged hymns (for instance, Pius XII in Musicae Sacrae) for their ability to inspire devotion among the faithful, hymns are not actually part of the Mass.

But there is music that is part of the Mass. In fact, the Mass itself is a song. The most basic sung portion of the Mass are the calls and responses between the priest and the people: "Dominus vobiscum", the Lord be with you; "Et cum spiritu tuo", and with your spirit, and so forth.

But other music belongs to the Mass as well. Chants such as the Gloria or the Gradual are examples of music sung by the choir and sometimes the people that are part of the Mass.

In its 1958 Instruction on Sacred Music, the Congregation for Rites made a list of Sacred music, that is music admissible to the Mass:

1. Gregorian Chant
2. Sacred Polyphony
3. "Modern" Sacred Music (such as Mozart)
4. Sacred instrumental music (mostly organ solos)
5. Hymns

It also speaks of Religious Music, which is music that by its nature isn't appropriate for Mass, but is useful in other circumstances to raise the mind and heart to God.

Among these categories, the first three include music for the texts of the Mass, and among those three, Gregory Chant holds a special place. Sacrosanctum Concilium (116), the constitution of Vatican II on the Sacred Liturgy, summarizes this nicely:

The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as proper to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it is to be given the first place in liturgical services.

The word proper means its own. Gregorian Chant is not separate from the Roman Mass: the two grew up together. It is the Mass's own music. It's not a mere decoration of the Mass: it's part of the Mass. And so, all things being equal, it must be given the first place.

But in the Middle Ages, the chant was decorated and sometimes replaced by music with multiple voices and music accompanied by instruments.

In the High Middle Ages, vocal music reached such perfection in polyphony, that the Church made polyphony her own for the Roman Mass, particularly in the music of Palestrina.

Later on, the music was enriched with orchestral music and other types of music. The Church permitted some of this, but never fully embraced it. Popes attempted to eliminate the operatic and the worldly or profane from this music. Still, it was never entirely forbidden.

Instruments at Mass

The apostolic Christians did not use instruments. Some of the Church Fathers spoke especially negatively about them. Even at the time of Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor considers them to be banned in the Sacred Liturgy. This ban continues to this day in some Eastern Churches, but in the West, they were gradually allowed, but only insofar as the could sustain, imitate, augment, and decorate the human voice.

The organ became the first and only instrument fully embraced by the Church when it had suitably developed so that it had a similar subtlety to the human voice.

There are some historical reasons for this, but the principle reasons why the voice is the liturgical instrument par excellence are theological, namely that the Word become flesh and sent the Holy Spirit who makes nimble the tongue.

Christian worship is logos-centric. It is centered on the word, in honor of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit who spoke through the prophets also loosens the tongues of Christians to proclaim the glories of God, giving to the human voice the power to express even what is beyond words. Thus worship with words is the most spiritual worship. It is our logike latria our word-centered/rational/logical/spiritual worship.

In admitting instruments to the Mass, the Church has never forgotten the word-centeredness of her worship. In fact, Pius XI writes in Divini Cultus:

Voices should be preferred to instruments for no instrument, however perfect, however excellent, can surpass the human voice in expressing human thought, especially when it is used by the mind to offer up prayer and praise to Almighty God.

and Benedict IX in Annus Qui in 1749 permitted certain stringed and wind instruments "only for adding some support to the singing, so that the meaning of the prayers is more clearly brought to the minds of the listeners and the souls of the faithful are moved to a contemplation of spiritual things, and are aroused to a love of God and of things divine."

We can never leave behind Gregorian Chant! Its very rhythms and spirit define Sacred Music for the Roman Mass. We can never leave behind the human voice. And when we introduce new music into the Liturgy, it must be truly sacred.

Sacramentality & the Cosmic Liturgy -- the Body in Divine Worship - LMP002

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The Drama of the Mass: Written into Church Buildings

Episode one concluded with a brief mention of the role of drama in the Mass. The Mass is that sacramental (or mysterious) sacrifice Jesus that breaks down the divisions between God and man by pleasing the Father so much, through the obedience of His Son on the altar, that it more than makes up for the debt of sin.

Since this is not a bloody, but a sacramental, sacrifice, the death of the Lord is made present not through the blood and glore of the cross, but through the double consecration of the bread and the wine, and through all of the details of the Mass which act as a dramatic representation of that sacrifice.

The symbols and drama of the Mass speak not only of the sacrifice of Christ, but also of the unity that God wants to establish between heaven and earth, between God and all of creation, “in the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, to restore things in heaven and on earth” ( Eph. 1:10).

This Drama is Built Right Into the Church Building

The archetypal church building is positioned as if at the center of all of creation. It faces the East, the rising sun, which points to Christ, and it is often shaped like a cross, for through the cross is the "reconciliation of all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through His blood" (Col. 1:20). On the far eastern wall, which represents Heaven, is placed a cross, for we have access to the Father only through Jesus. Often the reredos or altar piece is built in the fashion of a gate. On it is placed the likenesses of angels and saints. The ceiling is sometimes filled with stars. The walls and pillars often have the likenesses of vegetation, as if this were a garden. It is like the church building is a mini-cosmos, a microcosm.

We, at the crux between heaven and earth, occupy a unique position in the plan of God. We are spiritual beings, persons with free will and understanding. We are bodily beings. Unlike rocks and stars, we must fulfill our nature voluntarily and so give glory to God. Unlike angels, our nature is biological and material. "You made man a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor" (Ps. 8:5).

Taking up our place in the cosmos, we worship God both "in spirit and in truth" (Jn 4.:24) and also with our bodies. Our bodies enter into the divine worship. They serve to "make visible the invisible, the spiritual and the divine" (St. John Paul II) and to help effect mystically the worship of God, the propitiatory sacrifice, and plan of God for union of all things in Christ.

This Is Called “Sacramentality”

When we hear the word "sacrament", we're used to thinking about the seven sacraments. But there is a broader sense of the word too, and we get the word "sacramental" from this. Something is sacramental when it represents and helps to bring about a reality beyond itself. This is also part of what we've been calling the drama of the Mass. By things like water, incense, statues, icons, and so forth, in the Church and the Liturgy we made present the plan of God: our salvation.

The Body Has a Special Role in Sacramentality

We praise God as male and female (cf. 1 Cor. 11), and we praise God by what we do with our bodies. By baptism, we die with Christ, are raised to newness of life, and adopted as His children. In the Mass, it is in the reception of the Most Holy Sacrament that the sacrifice is brought to completion, and so the Blessed Sacrament is received, according to the formula of the East "for the the remission of sins and for life everlasting."

These are big ways that our body participates in the worship of God. There are also smaller, but not unimportant details.

• We kneel to show adoration and beg for mercy.
• We genuflect and bow as a sign of honor or adoration, and of reverence to God and His Saints.
• We stand as a sign of our dignity as children of God and our willingness to march forward as part of the army of God.
• The priest raises his hands in the orans position as a sing of praying, when he is praying on our behalf.
• We fold our hands as a sign of submission to God when we pray.
• We make the sign of the cross as sign of faith, as a prayer for God's blessing, and as a minor exorcism against the devil.
• The priests blesses with the sign of the Cross to set something apart from divine service.
• The priest also makes the sign of the cross to indicate that something is holy.

There are many more gestures, postures, symbols, etc, that we do as part of the Western, Latin tradition of Catholicism. Doing these gestures is a form of prayer. They help to form us. But prayer is also interior. Doing what is exterior helps to form the interior habits, but praying interiorly gives meaning and power to these external actions. In this way, there is an reciprocal relationship between how we pray exteriorly and how pray interiorly. The two together participate in our worship of God and help to sanctify us.

Guests

Michael and Joseph are joined by Aaron for today's podcast. Aaron is a founding board member and official photographer of Juventutem Michigan the first Juventutem group in the United States.  He is a  cantor and organizer of multiple Gregorian chant workshops.