A Proper Hymn of St Francis of Assisi

This year the Church marks the 8th centenary of the death of St Francis of Assisi, which took place later on the evening of October 3rd, 1226. Following the ancient (and indeed pre-Christian) principle that feasts begin on the preceding evening, his feast is assigned to today, October 4th. Here is a very nice recording of the hymn for 2nd Vespers of the proper Office composed for him shortly after his canonization, and used ever since then by the Franciscan Order.

Decus morum, dux Minorum, Franciscus tenens bravium, In te vite datur vitae, Christe, redemptor omnium.	The glory of our way, the leader of the Friars Minor, / Francis, holding his prize, is given to life in Thee, the Vine, O Christ, Redeemer of all.
Plaudat frater, regnat pater Concivis caeli civibus; Cedat fletus, psallat coetus, Exsultet caelum laudibus.	Our brother hails, our father reigns a fellow with heaven’s citizens; Let weeping end, let the chorus sing, Let heaven exult in praise.
Demptum solo, datum polo Signorum probant opera; Ergo vivit, nam adivit Aeterna Christi munera.	His works of wonder prove that he is Taken from earth, given to heaven; Therefore he lives, for he entered The eternal gifts of Christ.
Pro terrenis votis plenis Reportat dona gloriae; Quem decoras, quem honoras, Summae Deus clementiae.	For the fullness of his prayers on earth He receives the gifts of glory, Whom Thou grace and honor, O God greatest mercy.
Hunc sequantur, huic iungantur Qui ex Aegypto exeunt, In quo duce, clara luce, Vexilla Regis prodeunt.	Let them follow him, and be joined to him / Who march out of Egypt; With him as leader, in bright light The standards of the King go forth.
Regis signum ducem dignum Insignit manu, latere; Lux accedit, nox recedit, Iam lucis orto sidere.	The sign of the king marks him on his Side and hand as a worthy guide; The light comes, the night departs, When the star of day has risen.
Est dux fidus, clarum sidus, Ducit, relucet, devia Devitando, demonstrando Beata nobis gaudia.	He is a trusty guide, a bright star He leads, he shines, avoiding The wrong path, showing Blessed joys to us.
Mina gregem dux ad regem Collisor hostis callidi, Nos conducas et inducas, Ad cœnam Agni providi. Amen.	Bring the flock to the king, our leader, Who dash down the clever enemy; May thou lead and bring us To the banquet of the Lamb. Amen.

The Franciscan Office of their Holy Founder was composed by a German member of the order, Julian of Speyer, roughly ten years after the Saint’s death, and is one of the best known examples of a later type of Office known as a “rhymed office.” This particular hymn, however, was apparently added to it by Cardinal Thomas of Capua (1185-1239), Archbishop of Naples and a notary in the Papal court at the time St Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX. (The highly compressed rhyme scheme puts an accurate and poetic translation far beyond my literary skills.)

Rhyme itself was not used by the ancient Greeks or Romans, and where it occurred it was considered a blemish on poetry. Verse was formed by the alternation of long and short syllables in regular patterns; the iambic pentameter used so much by Shakespeare is broadly similar. (His type of English poetry is however much freer than Latin verse.) An example of this type of poetry in the liturgy is an antiphon found in the Office of St Peter in Chains on August 1st.

Aña Solve, jubente Deo, terrarum, Petre, catenas,
Qui facis ut pateant caelestia regna beatis.

Release at God’s order, o Peter, the earthly chains
Who make the kingdom of heaven open to the blessed.

These two lines are written in dactylic hexameters, the same metrical form used in the epic poetry of Homer and Virgil; they were composed by Pope St Leo I, (440-61) and inscribed on a wall of the ancient church of St Peter.

As the Latin language evolved into the modern Romance languages, the vowel quantities on which ancient poetry was based came to be less and less perceptible, leading over the centuries to the emergence of rhyme as we understand it today. (The older forms, on the hand, never ceased to be used.) By the High Middle Ages, this new type of poetry had become extremely popular in the liturgy. Four of the five sequences in the Roman Missal (Lauda Sion on Corpus Christi, Veni Sancte Spiritus on Pentecost, Stabat Mater on the feast of the Seven Sorrows, and the Dies irae of the Requiem Mass) are in rhyme. Likewise, whole Offices were routinely composed in which all of the proper musical parts, (antiphons, hymns and responsories), are rhymed.

Julian of Speyer is considered one of the great masters of this type of liturgical composition, and the rhymed offices which he wrote for St Francis and St Anthony of Padua were widely imitated from his own time (he died in about 1250) until the Tridentine liturgical reform, when rhymed offices fell out of favor. Many continued to be used by the older religious orders, and churches which maintained their own proper Offices, but the newer orders, in the spirit of the Tridentine reform, preferred to base their proper Offices on Scriptural quotations. Thus, for example, the five antiphons used by the Oratorians at Lauds of St Philip Neri are all quotations from the Bible, while the proper hymns are all written in thoroughly classical meter. (The Jesuits, unsurprisingly, do not even have a proper Office for St Ignatius.)

The disfavor into which rhymed offices fell is also a by-product of the increasingly common habit in the Tridentine period of reciting the Office in choir recto tono, i.e. singing everything on a single note, rather than with its longer, proper notation. This manner of saying the Office makes the sing-song quality of the medieval rhyme schemes far more obvious; most people would agree that the Dies irae, for example, sounds much better when sung then when read. The recording of the hymn above shows very nicely how the proper musical notation transcends the rhyme scheme.

Medieval hymnographers also loved the trick used in this hymn, in which the last line of each stanza is the title (i.e. first line) of another hymn. (A similarly constructed piece is sung in the Cistercian Office of St Bernard.) The hymns thus quoted are all from the repertoire generally found in all medieval Uses of the Office.

Christe redemptor omnium - from Vespers of Christmas, pre-Urban VIII
Exultet caelum laudibus - from the Common of Apostles
Aeterna Christi munera - from the Common of Apostles
Summae Deus clementiae - from ferial Matins of Saturday, pre-Urban VIII
Vexilla Regis - from Vespers of Passiontide
Iam lucis orto sidere - the hymn of Prime
Beata nobis gaudia - from Lauds of Pentecost
Ad cœnam Agni providi - from Vespers of Eastertide, pre-Urban VIII

The difficulty of this trick is to integrate the titles into the words of a new composition in a new sense, and the results here are quite good. Some of the expressions in the vocative case, such as “Lucis creator optime,” could be interchanged with any of the others, but I do not say this as a critique of the author; medievals valued originality far less than we do. “Aeterna Christi munera,” however, works very cleverly with the third stanza, as do “Vexilla Regis prodeunt” with the fifth and “Beata nobis gaudia” with the seventh.

The citation of the Easter hymn in its original text, “Ad coenam Agni providi,” is the only real flaw, since in the original, the word “providi” does not modify “Agni”, but the main subject of the stanza, which appears in the fourth line. (“Ad coenam Agni providi, et stolis albis candidi, post transitum maris Rubri Christo canamus principi. - Looking forward to the banquet of the Lamb, and shining in white stoles, after the passing of the Red Sea, let us sing to Christ the prince.”) Here, “providi” is left marooned to modify “the Lamb”, who is now “looking forward” to no stated object; I have left it untranslated above. The exact same flaw occurs in a hymn to St Anthony the Abbot constructed in the same way, which I have written about previously.

The Book of Hours of Marguerite of Orléans (Part 2)

This is the second set of images from one of the finest Books of Hours in the vast collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Département des Manuscrits, Latin 1156B), made around 1430 for a noblewoman named Marguerite of Orleans (1406-66).  The first set was published on Thursday, and contained an example of the calendar pages, the images accompanying the Little Office of the Virgin Mary, and the Hours of the Cross. Here we resume with the Hours of the Holy Spirit, a devotional office in which each Hour consists solely of a brief hymn, an antiphon, a versicle and a prayer. This particular group of images is especially beautiful; the one before Matins and Lauds is lost, and so it starts with Prime, with an image of the Lord’s Ascension.

At Terce, most appropriately, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

At Sext, St Peter preaching on the first Pentecost, as described in Acts 2.

At None, the baptism of 3,000 people, also from Acts 2.

Before Vespers, the general resurrection at the end of the world.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Vespers Hymn for the Feast of the Guardian Angels

A very nice alternation of chant and polyphony, by the Ensemble Venance Fortunat. The English translation is that of Alan Gordon McDougall (1896-1965).

1. Custodes hominum psallimus angelos,
Naturae fragili quos Pater addidit
Coelestis comites, insidiantibus
Ne succumberet hostibus.

Angel-guardians of men, spirits and powers we sing,
Whom our Father hath sent, aids to our weakly frame,
Heavenly friends and guides, help from on high to bring,
Lest we fail through the foeman's wile.

2. Nam quod corruerit proditor angelus,
Concessis merito pulsus honoribus,
Ardens invidia pellere nititur
Quos coelo Deus advocat.

He, the spoiler of souls, angel-traitor of old,
Cast in merited wrath out of his honoured place,
Burns with envy and hate, seeking their souls to gain
Whom God's mercy invites to heaven.

3. Huc custos igitur pervigil advola,
Avertens patria de tibi credita
Tam morbos animi, quam requiescere
Quidquid non sinit incolas.

Therefore come to our help, watchful ward of our lives:
Turn aside from the land God to thy care confides
Sickness and woe of soul, yea, and what else of ill
Peace of heart to its folk denies.

4. Sanctae sit Triadi laus pia jugiter,
Cujus perpetuo numine machina
Triplex haec regitur, cujus in omnia
Regnat gloria saecula. Amen.

Now to the Holy Three praise evermore resound:
Under whose hand divine resteth the triple world
Governed in wondrous wise: glory be theirs and might
While the ages unending run. Amen.

The Priest’s Second Prayer for Holy Communion

Lost in Translation #170

After praying the Domine Jesu Christe, the priest prays:

Perceptio Corporis tui, Domine Jesu Christe, quod ego indignus sumere praesumo, non mihi proveniat in judicium et condemnationem: sed pro tua pietate prosit mihi ad tutamentum mentis et corporis, et ad medelam percipiendam: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Which I translate as:

May the reception of Thy Body, O Lord, Jesus Christ, which I, who am unworthy, presume to consume, turn out not to be a judgement and condemnation of me; but on account of Thy mercy may it be profitable to me as a protection for soul and body and as a cure to be applied; Who with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, livest and reignest, God forever and ever. Amen.

Like the prayer that precedes it, the Perceptio Corporis is a product of the Carolingian renaissance but a century later (tenth). Its structure is almost chiastic and its wordplay virtually untranslatable. The first and last words (prior to the adjuration Qui vivis) are both from percipio (perceptio and percipiendam); the verbs proveniat and prosit (translated here as “turn out” and “be profitable,” respectively) are similar insofar as both can also mean “to prosper”; and the two frightful things in the first half of the petition, judgment and condemnation, are juxtaposed with the two desirable things in the second half, protection and cure. Just as judgment can lead to condemnation, protection leads to healing.

As for the wordplay: Perceptio (per+capio) simply means “reception,” but it has a strong etymology. Capio already means “to take wholly, to seize entirely,” and per as a prefix makes it even more intense. It is difficult to imagine a more thorough way of receiving something than by consuming it entirely. The priest’s physical consumption of the Eucharist is expanded upon with its intended spiritual effect, as a cure to be taken in (ad medelam percipiendam). I do not blame the 2011 ICEL translation for rendering this phrase “healing remedy,” since it is so strange.

There is also a word-play with sumere praesumo, which I have translated as “presume to consume.”

Prosit, to be beneficial or useful, is a fine choice since it is often used with respect to medicines. The prayer, which is inspired by St. Paul’s dire warning about receiving the Eucharist unworthily, (1 Cor. 11, 29) recognizes that the Sacrament is like the Greek pharmakon, which can mean both poison and cure (much depends on the condition of the recipient). The use of this word also recalls the custom of the priest saying to the servers in the sacristy after Mass: Prosit or “May [the sacrifice of the Mass] be beneficial.” To which they reply: Pro omnibus et singulis or “In each and every way.”

Pietas is a concept that figures greatly in Latin literature. For Vergil at least, it is the signature virtue of the Romans (as we see in his hero pius Aeneas), where pietas signifies loyalty to one’s gods, one’s family, and one’s country. Similarly in some Christian Latin, pietas is a proper respect or attitude that the believer has towards God; it is both a moral virtue and one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But Christianity also added a new and revolutionary meaning to the word by turning the tables and applying it to God’s attitude to man, namely, an attitude of lovingkindness or mercy. Whereas most Christian literature favors the “human” meaning over the “divine” (the sermons of Pope St. Leo the Great, pietas is used fifty-three times as a human attitude or habit and only seven times as a divine quality), in liturgical Latin it is the opposite; in the Orations of the Mass, pietas is used twenty-seven times in reference to God and three times in reference to man. [Ellebracht, 53] The use of pietas here follows the conventions of liturgical Latin.

As for the concluding adjuration (which both this prayer and the one that comes before it has in common), the most remarkable thing about it is that it is there at all. Even though Christ the living God is present on the altar inches away, the priest is focused on Christ’s living and reigning in Heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit. As Jungmann astutely notes,

The idea of the heavenly Christ and his heavenly existence is so strong that it is not eclipsed even by the sacramental nearness… The mood which prevails in the popular devotion since the late Middle Ages—that mood here was stopped short and not permitted to turn the reception of Communion into a meditative visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Instead, a complete view of the Christian world of faith is maintained and not even in the moment of reception is it forsaken in favor of a partial view. [Jungmann, vol. 2, 349]

The 1970/2002 Missal, incidentally, allows the celebrant to choose between the prayers Domine Jesu Christe and the Perceptio Corporis tui or to say them both. The closing adjurations have been removed from both prayers. Two additional changes were made to the Perceptio Corporis tui: 1) et Sanguinis tui (“and of Thy blood”) was inserted after Perceptio Corporis; and 2) the penitential line quod ego indignus sumere praesumo was removed. The 2011 ICEL translation is :

May the receiving of your Body and Blood,

Lord Jesus Christ,

not bring me to judgment and condemnation,

but through your loving mercy

be for me protection in mind and body

and a healing remedy.

The Book of Hours of Marguerite of Orléans (Part 1)

A good way to start the Marian month of October is by enjoying this particularly glorious Book of Hours, since the principal text in any such book is always the Little Office of the Virgin Mary. This particular example was made around 1430 for Marguerite, a daughter of Louis I, duke of Orleans, born in 1406, who was countess of Vertus and Etampes from 1420 until her death in 1466. The repertoire of sacred images is not especially large, but the ones it does have are very richly detailed, and the floral borders which are found on every page of very intricate and beautiful. (Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Latin 1156B)

It begins, as most Books of Hours do, with a calendar. Every day has an entry, but many of the Saints were not kept liturgically, and in any case, none of them were mentioned in the Little Office itself. The most important feasts are written in gold letter, and here we see the name of St Denys on October 9th, but no other indication of liturgical rank is given.

The second part of the calendar for October.

Many books of Hours included a group of four Gospels, one from each of the Evangelists: John 1, 1-14, the Gospel of Christmas day; Luke 1, 26-38, the Annunciation; Matthew 2, 1-12, the Epiphany; and Mark 16, 14-20, the Ascension. Here we see St John on the island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, with his eagle next to him.

In this particular case, the folios which contained the latter part of this Gospel, the image of St Luke, and the beginning of the Gospel of the Annunciation are now missing. (A few other illustrated pages elsewhere are also missing.) Here we see St Matthew with the angel...

and St Mark with his lion.

Most books of Hours also include two fairly long prayers to the Virgin, known from their incipits as Intemerata and Obsecro te.

At the beginning of the second prayer, Marguerite of Orléans is depicted kneeling in prayer before the Virgin and Child.

The most common arrangement in Books of Hours of this period is for each Hour of the Little Office to be introduced with an image of an episode of the Virgin’s life. The repertoire of these is not absolutely fixed, but the set we see here is the common standard. Before Matins, the Annunciation; the Office is said according to the Use of Rome, in which the invitatory is the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary, “Ave, Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum.”

Continue Reading this Article. . .

“The Mystery of the Orthodox Liturgy”: A New Video about the Byzantine Rite

In February, we shared news of the publication of a handbook for the Byzantine Rite, entitled “The Divine Services of the Orthodox Church with Commentary”, from St Symeon of Thessalonica Press, a catechetical resource designed to guide both clergy and laity more deeply into the Orthodox liturgical cycle. St Symeon Press has recently released another very useful catechetical resource, a video which gives a tour through the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, written by the authors of the books, Frs Lucas Christensen, Joshua Genig and Patrick O’Grady, and Dr Emmanuel Melonakos. The authors write, “Our aim is to increase the catechesis of our people, helping the faithful to understand, love, and more deeply enter into the worship of the Church. We also hope for the growth of the liturgical movement in the West, particularly the recovery and flourishing of the ancient rites of the Latin Church.”

The book can be purchased in various formats through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Services-Orthodox-Church-Commentary-Full/dp/B0GCYK7NJF?ref_=ast_author_mpb

St Jerome’s Lion

There are very few episodes of what we might call a legendary character attached to the figure of St Jerome, at least in part because we have so much authentic information about his life from his own incredibly prolific pen. The Golden Legend gives only one such story in its account of him, which explains why a lion became his most distinctive attribute in art.

“One evening, when Jerome was sitting with the brethren to listen a sacred reading, a lion came limping into the monastery; at the sight of it, as the other brothers fled, Jerome went to meet it as a guest. When the lion showed him its wounded foot, he commanded that its feet be washed and its wound carefully examined. This revealed that the sole of its paw was wounded by thorns; therefore, they took good care of it, and the lion recovered, and laying aside all its ferocity, lived among them like a domestic animal. Then Jerome, seeing that the Lord had sent the lion not so much for the healing of its foot as for their use, at the suggestion of the brothers imposed this duty upon it, that it should bring to pasture and watch over a donkey which they had, which carried wood from the forest.”

St Jerome Bringing the Lion into the Monastery, by Lazzaro Bastiani, second half of the 15th century. (Public domain image from Wikipedia.)

The story goes on to say that one day, the lion fell asleep while on duty, and the donkey was stolen by merchants passing by in a camel train. St Jerome therefore imposed the donkey’s job on the lion, which it faithfully did, until one day, it spied at a distance the same merchants, with their camels and the stolen donkey. By roaring and lashing its tail, the lion drove the whole camel train, including the thieves, back to the monastery; St Jerome received them as guests, while exhorting them not steal any more. As a token of their repentance, the merchants gave a certain quantity of oil as a gift to the monastery, and promised they would henceforth bring it every year in perpetuity, laying the same obligation on their heirs.

Right after the episode of the lion, the Golden Legend says that the behest of the Emperor Theodosius and Pope St Damasus I, he arranged the traditional division of the Psalter over the days of the week, prescribing the singing of the doxology at the end of the psalms, and that he also created the Roman Mass lectionary, “which he sent from Bethlehem to the Supreme Pontiff, and it was heartily approved by him and his cardinals, and deemed forever authentic.”

The Funeral of St Jerome, also by Bastiani. The lion attends in the lower left hand corner.

Photos of a Missale Romanum Printed in Antwerp, 1616

As mentioned last week, my visit to Milwaukee gave me the opportunity to view several rare books in a friend's collection. Today I will share some photos of a Missale Romanum printed in Antwerp in 1616; brief commentary will be offered in the captions. Although not in order, let's begin with the Canon page:

The viewer will see wormholes present throughout.

The title page

First Sunday of Advent

The Order of Mass, starting with Psalm 42

The words of consecration.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

St Michael in the Apocrypha

The Archangel Michael is mentioned three times in the book of Daniel, once in the Apocalypse, and once in the Epistle of St Jude, and these are all of his Biblical appearances. Both New Testament authors introduce him quite abruptly, taking it for granted that their readers already know who he is. “And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon…” (Apoc. 12, 7) This would certainly be due to his prominence in pre-Christian Jewish literature, works of the sort which we now call (rather inexactly) apocrypha. And indeed, the mention of him in the Epistle of St Jude is taken from such a work.

St Michael Defeating the Devil, by Guido Reni, 1635

“When Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: The Lord command thee.” (verse 9) These words refer to an episode in a Jewish apocryphal work called The Assumption of Moses, which is only partially preserved; it is not in the part that survives, but ancient scholars such as Origen, who had the complete text to hand, say that it is in the work cited by St Jude. One explanation of the story is that the devil sought to claim possession of Moses’ body as that of a murderer, since he had killed the Egyptian, (Exod. 2, 11-12), and it was for this that St Michael said, “May God rebuke thee.” (In this context, it should be remembered that the Greek word “diabolos” means “slanderer.”) Another explanation is based on a tradition which goes all the way back to Tertullian, that idolatry was taught to mankind by the devil; therefore, in the story cited by St Jude, the devil’s purpose in trying to get the body of Moses would be to have the Jews worship it as an idol.

The story has attracted almost no attention from artists, with one very prominent exception, a fresco of it in the Sistine Chapel. When the chapel was originally constructed, Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) commissioned a group of some of the most prominent painters of the era (Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Perugino among them) to paint eight episodes each from the lives of Moses and Christ; they are paired to show how the Church understands the life of Moses, the lawgiver of the Old Testament, as a prophecy of the life of Christ, the lawgiver of the New Testament. The final two, however, The Dispute over the Body of Moses and The Resurrection of Christ, break the parallelism; Moses, the giver of the old Law, dies and stays dead, but Christ, the giver of the new Law, rises from the dead.

These last two are on the chapel’s back wall, which has a large door in the middle, under part of each of the paintings. On Christmas Day of 1522, the architrave over the door suddenly cracked and fell, just after Pope Hadrian VI had passed under it while processing into the chapel to say Mass. (Two of his guards were killed.) This break would eventually lead to the complete deterioration of the paintings; around 1575, Matteo da Lecce replaced the original Dispute over the Body of Moses with the same subject, but in a very different style, as Hendrick van den Broeck had done about 20 years earlier with the Resurrection.

St Michael also figures very prominently in another apocryphal work, The Testament of Abraham, which exists in two recensions; the longer of these mentions him 24 times, the shorter 44 times. The basic idea of both is that he is sent to Abraham, whose life is extended from the Biblical 175 years (Genesis 25, 7) to 995 in the long recension, to persuade him to accept that his time has come to die. When Abraham’s son Isaac comes to meet the Archangel, the latter says to him, “the Lord God will grant you his promise that he made to your father Abraham and to his seed.” (chapter 3) Later on, Abraham meets Death himself, who appears to him with the heads of various animals, including a “terrible lion.” (chapter 17) Finally, when Abraham dies, “the archangel Michael came with a multitude of angels and took up his precious soul in his hands … and they tended the body of the just Abraham …. but the angels received his precious soul.” (chapter 20) These passage were clearly the inspiration for the first part of the Offertory chant of the Requiem Mass.

“O Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit; deliver them out of the lion’s mouth, lest hell should swallow them up, lest they fall into darkness; but let Thy standard-bearer, Saint Michael, bring them into Thy holy light, which Thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed.”

Musica Domestica, by Andrew Goldstein & David Clayton, Available for Pre-order

A two-volume songbook for Catholic families, with a pointed psalter, sacred songs and chants, and folk songs following the liturgical year, published by Word on Fire Publications

Two years ago I gave a talk to a gathering of parents and faculty of a classical academy in South Bend, Indiana. I spoke of my vision of families praying the psalms and singing songs together, with their neighbors, before the icon corner in the home. This would be part of how the Domestic Church, as envisaged by Pope Benedict XVI, could be the engine driving an authentic New Evangelization. Afterward, one of the parents, Andrew Goldstein, approached me and, as it turned out, shared the same idea. He asked me if I had a version of chants and psalms for English that used Gregorian chant. He had Volume I prepared but was looking for material for Volume II, psalms and canticles. I immediately sent him a pointed version of the Coverdale Psalter with tones that married text and music in a system I had developed and fine-tuned over 20 years. When he described his full vision to me, I knew immediately that Musica Domestica would be a gold mine for families and homes wanting to pray and sing together. Now, as a result, my hope is that we can all contribute constructively to the evangelization of the culture through song, prayer, and worship in the domestic church.

We created a website, musicadomestica.com, with accompanying resources, including musical scores, instructional videos, and recordings of the music. The arrangements are simple and easy to learn, featuring traditional chants, songs, and hymns that run through the cycle of the liturgical year. This isn’t for musical experts, but for any family that just wants to sing together. If you can sing in the shower or in the car happily when you think no one is listening, then you can sing what these volumes contain too. This is better than good clean fun - it is fun that cleanses us; it helps purify the soul! Word on Fire Publications will publish the book in February 2027 (it is available for pre-order now through the musicadomestica.com website), and I will share more information closer to the release date.

However, if you want a preview, Andrew Goldstein is presenting at the annual conference of the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture on the morning of Friday, October 2nd. The session, entitled Forming the Soul: Music, Liturgy and Contemplation, is chaired by Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P., and the title of Andrew’s presentation is “Musica Domestica: Forming Families to Sing With Angels.”

Later that weekend, on Saturday, October 3rd, I will be speaking at the 2026 Conference of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, entitled The Aesthetic of Ascent. Appearing alongside me will be my old friends and fellow artists Dony McManus and Henry Wingate. I will talk about why the 7th Ecumenical Council mandates that Catholics pray with images, and give directions on how to pray with them in the icon corner of the Domestic Church. I will also give several introductory sessions on how to pray the psalms at home using the method outlined in Musica Domestica.

More to come as we get closer to the release date...but in the meantime:

Here is Andrew’s version of how it happened: One night, I sat with my eldest daughter to read Little House on the Prairie. As we read these words, “Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods”, my daughter turned to me and asked, “Can you play music while I go to sleep?” Truthfully, I had no answer. As a professional musician myself, I should have had every tool needed to bring music into my family’s day-to-day life. Yet I came up short on any resource that empowered me to do that, not only as a musician but as a Catholic father. So, David Clayton and I set to work to create what we ourselves needed.‍ ‍

And here are two endorsements:

“In Musica Domestica, the reader will encounter not merely a handbook of song but an opportunity for restoring memory, culture, and a rightly ordered domestic life. Against the fragmentation and passivity of modern entertainment (and church music that slavishly imitates it), this work restores to practitioners the ancient Christian understanding that music belongs first to the household and the common Christian life. Rooted in the Catholic vision of truth, goodness, and beauty, Musica Domestica unites liturgical tradition, folk inheritance, and practical instruction with unusual clarity and charity. It is both learned and humane: an invitation for families to recover song as a source of joy, formation, fellowship, and ultimately, communion with God.” - Dr. William Fahey, Chancellor, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts

“Music is at the heart of culture. Musica Domestica puts forth a bold program to renew Christian culture through communal singing. Authors Goldstein and Clayton skillfully weave theology, history, and practical instructions for bringing spiritual song into your home and daily rhythm of life. The texts of inspired psalms, hymns, and canticles echo from three thousand years of authentic Western culture right into your living room! These songs resounded in the temple of King Solomon and all the temples of Christian worship. With Musica Domestica, these songs are brought to life again in the temple of our bodies.” - Paul Rose, creator of Sing the Hours

Music for Vespers of St Michael

When Pope Urban VIII had the hymns of the Roman Breviary revised in a more classicizing style, few were altered as completely as the hymn for Vespers of St Michael. The original version, traditionally attributed to Blessed Rabanus Maurus (ca. 780-856) was written in four stanzas of six lines, in a trochaic meter (alternating long and short syllables, with one syllable missing at the end of each even-numbered line); Pope Urban’s version is in the iambic dimeter (eight syllables per line, alternative short and long) popularized by St Ambrose. This rearrangement, the version still used in the Roman Breviary, necessitated a complete recasting of the music as well. (English translation by Fr Edward Caswell C.O., 1814-78.)

Te, splendor et virtus Patris, Te vita, Jesu, cordium, Ab ore qui pendent tuo, Laudámus inter Angelos.	O Jesus, life-spring of the soul! The Father's Power and Glory bright! Thee with Angels we extol; from Thee they draw their life and light.
Tibi mille densa millium Ducum coróna mílitat; Sed éxplicat victor Crucem Míchaël salútis sígnifer.	Thy thousand, thousand hosts are spread, embattled o’er the azure sky; but Michael bears Thy standard dread, and lifts the mighty Cross on high.
Dracónis hic dirum caput In ima pellit tártara, Ducemque cum rebéllibus Caelesti ab arce fúlminat.	He in that sign the rebel powers did with their dragon prince expel: and hurled them from heaven’s high towers, down like a thunderbolt to hell.
Contra ducem superbiae Sequámur hunc nos príncipem, Ut detur ex Agni throno Nobis coróna gloriae.	Grant us, with Michael, still, O Lord, Against the prince of pride to fight; So may a crown be our reward, Before the Lamb’s pure throne of light.
Deo Patri sit gloria, Qui, quos redémit Filius, Et Sanctus unxit Spíritus, Per Angelos custodiat. Amen.	To God the Father, with the Son And Holy Paraclete, with thee, As evermore hath been before, Be glory through eternity. Amen.

Many churches, including St Peter’s basilica, as well as the various orders of monks, and the religious orders that retained their own liturgical use (Dominicans, Premonstratensians and Old Observance Carmelites) did not accept the revised hymns of Pope Urban, and continued to use the original version. It has also been restored to the post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours, with only two small alterations, which are included in this recording; the words “omnes caeli milites” are changed to “inclytos archangelos”, to reflect the recasting of the feast as that of the three Archangels named in the Bible, and the word “zabulum”, an early medieval version of “diabolum”, is replaced, purely in function of Dom Anselmo Lentini’s literary taste. (English translation by John Mason Neale, 1818-66).

Tibi, Christe, splendor Patris, Vita, virtus cordium, In conspectu Angelórum Votis, voce psállimus: Alternantes concrepando Melos damus vócibus.	Thee, O Christ, the Father’s splendor, Life and virtue of the heart, In the presence of the angels Sing we now with tuneful art, Meetly in alternate chorus, Bearing our responsive part.
Collaudámus venerantes Omnes caeli mílites, Sed praecípue Primátem Caelestis exércitus: Michaélem, in virtúte Conterentem zábulum.	Thus we praise with veneration All the armies of the sky; Chiefly him, the warrior primate, Of celestial chivalry, Michael, who in princely virtue Cast Abaddon from on high.
Quo custóde procul pelle, Rex Christe piíssime, Omne nefas inimíci: Mundo corde et córpore, Paradíso redde tuo Nos sola clementia.	By whose watchful care repelling, King of everlasting grace, Every ghostly adversary, All things evil, all things base, Grant us of Thine only goodness, In Thy paradise a place.
Gloriam Patri melódis Personémus vócibus, Gloriam Christo canámus, Gloriam Paráclito, Qui trinus et unus Deus Exstat ante sáecula. Amen.	Laud and honor to the Father, Laud and honor to the Son, Laud and honor to the Spirit, Ever Three, and ever One, Consubstantial, co-eternal, While unending ages run. Amen.

The earlier version was, of course, the one known to the great composers of the Counter-Reformation; here is a particularly beautiful setting in alternating chant and polyphony by Tomás Luís de Victória (1548-1611.)

The antiphon for the Magnificat at First Vespers: Aña Dum sacrum mysterium cérneret Joannes, Archángelus Míchaël tuba cécinit: Ignosce, Dómine, Deus noster, qui áperis librum, et solvis signácula ejus, allelúja. (While John beheld the sacred mystery, the Archangel Michael sounded his trumpet: Forgive, o Lord our God, Who openest the book, and loosest the seals thereof, alleluia.)

And for Second Vespers: Aña Princeps gloriosíssime, Míchaël Archángele, esto memor nostri: hic et ubíque semper precáre pro nobis Fílium Dei, allelúja, allelúja. (O Prince most glorious, Michael the Archangel, do thou remember us; here, and everywhere, always entreat the Son of God for us, alleluja, alleluja.)

The latter was set as a motet by Palestrina’s contemporary Luca Marenzio (1553-99), who was famous as a composer of madrigals, of which he wrote over 500, but also wrote a large number of sacred works.