A Tribute to Pope Pius X

Peter A. Kwasniewski offers this interesting tribute to Pius X, and here is what he says about sacred music:

Pius X’s teaching decisively shaped the subsequent Magisterium of the Church, from Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium down to John Paul II’s 2003 chirograph for the centenary of Tra le Sollecitudine and the extensive writings of our present Pope on sacred music and the liturgy. Although there are many hopeful signs that Catholic liturgical music, after decades of lucrative secularization and horizontal banality, is finally beginning to experience a true renewal in continuity with the Church’s tradition, the way the music is done at most parishes sadly indicates that we are still very far from a universal implementation of the sound principles of St. Pius X. (And while we are speaking of sacred music ad mentem ecclesiae, I cannot pass up the opportunity to recommend a newly-published hymnal, or more accurately a missal-hymnal, called The Parish Book of Chant, which is quite simply the best resource ever produced for the dignified celebration, in Latin, of both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite.