Today is the feast of Saint Cunibert, who served as bishop of Cologne in Germany for roughly four decades in the 7th century. Very little is known for certain of his life; he is said to have been educated at Metz in the court of the Frankish king Chlothar II (584-629), and to have been archdeacon of Trier before he was raised to the episcopacy in about 623. During his time as bishop of Cologne, he founded a church dedicated to Pope St Clement I, and was buried there when he died ca. 663; this church is now named for him, but still honors St Clement as a copatron. It was completely rebuilt in the 13th century, the last of the twelve great Romanesque basilicas which grace the city. We continue our ongoing series on these churches with the seventh post. (All images from this page of Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)
Kudos to FAfromK for this particularly beautiful photograph of the Paschal moon of 2020 hanging over the basilica!
The choir was completed in 1226, one year before construction of the city’s great cathedral began; the church was consecrated in 1247. Like all the major churches of Cologne, Sankt Kunibert was badly damaged during the Second World War; it was not completely restored until 1993, and much of the earlier interior decoration was lost in the process. Miraculously, a good part of the original stained-glass windows in the apse have managed to survived the church’s many vicissitudes, enough to merit a post of their own later on; these are some of the most important examples of that medium in all of the Rhineland.
Behind the main altar stands a triptych by the anonymous Master of the Legend of St George (1465-80), with the Transfiguration, Crucifixion and Resurrection. To either side of it are two 19th-century portable reliquary shrines. The one on the right contains the relics of St Cunibert, and the other, those of two British priests, both named Ewald, who were martyred at a place now called Aplerbeck, roughly 50 miles to the northeast of Cologne, while serving as missionaries to the Saxons in Westphalia. Their bodies were brought to the original church of St Clement shortly after their death in 692 AD. Their feast was kept on October 3rd in several parts of Europe, and is still to this day on the Premonstratensian calendar, since St Norbert obtained some of their relics from the church in 1121, and brought them either to Prémontré itself, or Floreffe, the second house of his order to be founded.
Students Getting an Authentic Traditional On-the-Job Apprentice Training
The excellent Stabat Mater Studio—an art school I recommend for a soup-to-nuts training in naturalistic art styles—opened its doors this September, and a mixture of full-time core students and part-timers began their intensive instruction in the fundamentals of drawing with executive director Robert Puschautz, and art fellow AnneMarie Johnson.
One key factor distinguishing the Stabat Mater Studio from other classical art programs is that it is a working studio with an openly Catholic ethos, which offers students on-the-job training by participating in actual commissions given to master artists.
A recent project was for St. Joseph’s church in Mason, Texas. Stabat Mater Foundation was in charge of the stenciling portion of this historic church's renovation under the guidance of Studio Io. After the stenciling was finished on-site, the whole studio, teachers and students, came together to complete the Tree of Life mural behind the crucifix, which was then attached to a board behind the altar.
“One of our goals is to share an integrated approach to art with students. We are not just making pretty pictures for walls but trying to create work that reflects the cosmological order of the universe. That means creating a harmony between the architecture, the artwork and objects that go into the church and the mission and function of that liturgical space.” - Robert Puschautz.
You can read about their intensive integrated training program here. It is a uniquely well-rounded program rooted in rigorous academic method training but certainly not limited to it.
A couple of features particularly caught my eye:
First, they include training in sacred geometry, harmony, and proportion, which is unique to this school.
Second, they shepherd the students from being able to draw and paint accurately what they see - which is hard enough - to creating original paintings that draw on the imagination of the artists, and the memory of what they have observed in the past. This final stage is so often missing in the ateliers that have sprung up around the country, leaving artists at a disadvantage, because they can only reproduce scenes they create in the studio. This is why so many naturalistic paintings being commissioned look like static Victorian tableaus in which the girl next door is dressed up as the Virgin Mary.
Also, Pontifex University is proud to partner with Stabat Mater atelier. Through our online courses in art theory, created for the Master of Sacred Arts program, we offer intellectual formation and deep inculturation that accompanies the training in artistic skills that the Stabat Mater atelier offers.
For the feast of St Martin, we continue our series on the twelve Romanesque basilicas of Cologne, Germany, with the church dedicated to him. It is traditionally known as “Great St Martin” to distinguish it from a smaller church also under his patronage, of which there now remains only the belltower. The part of Cologne where it stands, less than 300 feet from the Rhine, was originally an island, separated from the city by a narrow channel which silted up around 200 AD. Modern excavations under the church have brought to light some remains of very ancient Roman buildings, which are thought to have been some kind of exercise facility, or possibly a swimming pool. (All images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.)
The great central tower over the crossing, with two of the three apses that project from it. (by W. Bulach)
The oldest attestation of a church on the site dates to around the year 960, when it was founded as a house of secular canons. Within a few decades, an archbishop named Everger (985-99) turned it over to a congregation of Irish Benedictines, one of the many such houses on the continent, but over the course of the following century, it was gradually taken over by locals. After a fire destroyed the neighborhood around the church in 1150, a complete rebuilding was begun, and completed roughly a century later. It remained a Benedictine monastery until the “secularization” of 1802, as it is called, the state-organized general suppression of religious houses, and the theft of their properties, throughout the former Holy Roman Empire. At this point, it became a parish, which led to the neglect of the former abbatial buildings, and their eventual demolition.
This photograph gives a good sense of the building as a whole; note that the nave is quite short in proportion to the central tower. (By Raimond Spekking)
Great St Martin is the third tallest historical building in Cologne, but is dwarfed in both length and height by the cathedral; its central tower reaches 246 feet, while those of the cathedral reach 516. (This photo was taken from a hot air balloon. Photo: Eckhard Henkel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 DE”)
In the 1840s, as the great project to finally complete the long-neglected cathedral of Cologne was getting up and running, Great St Martin was also given a major renovation, including the addition of a new sacristy in the Romanesque style, and the reconstruction of one of its towers. An ambitious new pictorial program for the decoration of the interior was planned, which would illustrate the whole of salvation history, from the terrestrial paradise of Genesis in the narthex to the heavenly Jerusalem of the Apocalypse in the apse. Most of this program was in fact realized by 1868, the work of a local painter named Alexius Kleinertz.
Two photos of the church’s interior taken at the very end of the 19th century. (Public domain.)
In the Missal used at Tours before the Tridentine reform, the Sequence of the feast of St Martin begins as follows.
Gaude Sion, quae diem recolis / Qua Martinus, compar Apostolis, / Mundum vincens, junctus caelicolis / Coronatur.
Rejoice, o Sion, who recall the day when Martin, equal to the Apostles, overcoming the world, is crowned among those that dwell in heaven.
The full text of the sequence, here called “Prosa”, is given from the Paris Missal of 1602. (Click to enlarge)
The first Responsory of his Office also compares Martin to the Apostles, although somewhat more obliquely.
R. Hic est Martínus, electus Dei Póntifex, cui Dóminus post Apóstolos tantam gratiam conferre dignátus est, * Ut in virtúte Trinitátis Deíficae mererétur fíeri trium mortuórum suscitátor magníficus. V. Sanctae Trinitátis fidem Martinus confessus est. Ut.
R. This is Martin, God’s chosen Priest, upon whom, after the Apostles, the Lord deigned to bestow such great grace, * that in the power of the divine Trinity, three times he merited gloriously to raise the dead to life. V. Martin confessed the faith of the Holy Trinity. That.
The medieval liturgical commentator William Durandus explains why the liturgy refers to him in this fashion.
He is called “equal to the Apostles” not, as some people think, because he raised people from the dead, since many other martyrs and confessors have done the same; nor because of the multitude of his miracles, but especially because of one particular miracle... (while he was celebrating Mass) a globe of fire appeared over his head, by which it was shown that the Holy Spirit had descended upon him… as He came upon the Apostles at Pentecost. Whence he is rightly called “equal to the Apostles,” and is indeed equal to them in the liturgy. (VII, 37)
Durandus also notes that among the feasts of Confessors, only Martin’s was considered important enough to be kept with an octave, as was the general custom in the Middle Ages, and in many places well beyond that. It was also the only feast of a Confessor kept with a proper Office in the medieval use of the Papal chapel at Rome, which formed the basis of the Tridentine liturgical books; not even the four great Doctors or Saint Benedict have their own Offices in the Roman Use.
The hymns of this Office, however, are taken from the Common of Confessor Bishops, in part because the Church has always been very conservative about new hymns, but also because the Vesper hymn Iste confessor was originally composed for St Martin. The original version of the third stanza (later changed under Pope Urban VIII) reads as follows:
Ad sacrum cujus túmulum frequenter / Membra languentum modo sanitáti, / Quólibet morbo fúerint graváti, / Restituuntur.
At whose sacred tomb the members of the sick are now often restored to health from whatsoever ailment weighed them down.
The basilica of St Martin at Tours was one of the most important pilgrimage shrines of the Middle Ages, and as the hymn notes, particularly renowned for miracles of healing. Not by coincidence does the Mass of St Martin share some of its parts with that of another famous wonder-worker, St Nicholas, who is named right after him in the Litany of the Saints. A great many medieval Uses also kept a second feast of the Saint on July 4, which commemorated two events: his episcopal ordination in 371, and the translation of his relics on the same day about a century later, roughly 70 years after his death, from his original burial place to a large basilica built over it. This church was rebuilt twice, in 1014, and again in 1230 after a fire, each time on a larger scale.
It was not, however, the cathedral of Tours, which is dedicated to St Gatian, Martin’s predecessor-but-one as bishop; his own church, while very important, was at first a monastery, and later a collegiate church. For much of the Middle Ages, the area around it was known as “Martinopolis,” later “Chateauneuf” (New Castle), and legally a separate city from Tours. An indication of its importance is the fact that the abbey had the right to mint its own coinage, known as the “livre tournois” (the “pound of Tours”, like the English pound-sterling), which became the coin of the realm in France, and remained so until the Revolution. Sadly, both the tomb and the relics of St Martin were mostly destroyed when the church was sacked by Protestants in 1562; the basilica itself was then razed during the French Revolution. A modern church was built to replace it in the later 19th-century; of the original there remains only the towers built on either side of it.
Engraving showing the basilica of St Martin above. and the ruins of it after the first wave of destruction in the Revolution.
A huge number of other churches throughout the world are dedicated to St Martin; Dom Guéranger states that there were 3660 in France alone. He shares a basilica in Rome with Pope St Sylvester I, traditionally said to be the first Pope who did not die as a martyr; they are the first Saints to be honored as “Confessors” in the traditional sense of the term, and their church was the first in Rome not titled to a Biblical personage or a martyr. The feast of Pope St Martin I, the last Pope to be martyred, is kept the day after Martin of Tours, even though he died on September 16, because his relics were placed in the church of his holy namesake. St Bede states that a church dedicated to St Martin of Tours in Canterbury was the very first ever built in England, dating back to Roman times (and of course, if this is so, originally under a different dedication.) It was from there that St Augustine of Canterbury began the evangelization of that country.
Although St Martin lived to be about eighty, and was famous for many miracles both in life and after death, he is most commonly represented in an episode that took place when he was a young soldier, even before he was baptized, the famous story of the cloak. As told by his biographer Sulpicius Severus,
Once, when he had nothing but his weapons and the simple cloak of a soldier, in the midst of a colder-than-usual winter, such that many had already died, he met at the gates of Amiens a naked beggar. And since this man prayed the passers-by to have mercy on him, and they all just passed him by, the man of God understood that that man was reserved for him, since others showed him no mercy. But what could he do? He had nothing but the cloak with which he was clothed. … Therefore, taking his sword, … he cut it in half, gave part to the beggar, and clothed himself with the rest. … On the following night, when he had gone to sleep, he saw Christ clothed with the part of his cloak in which he had clothed the beggar. … Then he heard Jesus clearly say to the multitude of Angels that stood about Him: Martin, though yet a catechumen, covered me with this garment. (Vita Beati Martini, cap. 3. These words spoken by Christ are sung as the first antiphon of Matins of St Martin: “Martinus adhuc catechumenus hac me veste contexit.”)
St Martin Divides His Cloak with a Beggar, by Simone Martini, in the lower basilica of St Francis of Assisi, 1320-25.
Although it may seem like a folk-etymology, it is actually true that the word “chapel” derives from the Latin word for cloak, “cappa”, in reference to the relic of St Martin’s cloak. As explained by the Catholic Encyclopedia, “This cape, or its representative, was afterwards preserved as a relic and accompanied the Frankish kings in their wars, and the tent which sheltered it became known also as cappella or capella. In this tent Mass was celebrated by the military chaplains (capellani). When at rest in the palace the relic likewise gave its name to the oratory where it was kept, and subsequently any oratory where Mass and Divine service were celebrated was called capella (in Latin), chapelle (in French), chapel.”
The liturgical calendar also served the Middle Ages as an almanac for weather and agriculture, with many rules, customs and proverbs bound to certain feasts. One French tradition says that if there is a full moon on St Martin’s day, the winter will be very snowy. In Italy, his feast is connected with the opening of the “vino novello – the young wine”, which is to say, wine made earlier in the same year, generally very light in alcohol content. An Indian summer may also be called “St Martin’s summer” in England, and this is the standard term in Portugal and Italy. In Milan and Toledo, his feast is the key to the beginning of the liturgical year, since the six-week long Advent of the Ambrosian and Mozarabic liturgies starts on the Sunday after his feast.
In the Middle Ages, it was a very common custom to embellish the original texts of the liturgy with additions known as tropes. The most popular of these were the ones added to the Kyrie; the Mass Ordinaries in the Liber Usualis are still to this day named after them, as for example Kyrie fons bonitatis. When the tropes were used, the choir would sing the first Kyrie as follows: “Kyrie, fons bonitatis, Pater ingenite, a quo bona cuncta procedunt, eleison.” (Lord, fount of goodness, Father unbegotten, from whom all good things proceed, have mercy.) There was a troped Gloria which was written specifically for feasts and votive Masses of the Virgin Mary, which is found in a very large number of medieval Missals, and many others for the rest of the Ordinary.
A page of the Missal according to the Use of Cologne printed in 1494, with the troped Gloria for Masses of the Virgin in the left column, introduced by the rubric “Another (version of the) angelic hymn, of Our Lady on Saturdays and her feasts.”
One also occasionally finds tropes added to the Scriptural readings of the Mass; the Sarum Missal, for example, has a reading from Isaiah at the Midnight Mass of Christmas before the Epistle, which is actually more trope than scripture. In honor of today’s feast, the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, here is a particularly splendid example, the epistle for the Dedication of a Church, Apocalypse 21, 2-5. This comes from a very important late-medieval chant manuscript known as Codex Engelberg 314, which was copied out by several hands at the Abbey of Engelberg in Canton Obwalden, Switzerland. Below is the text in Latin and English, with the tropes in italics. Note that the tropes are sung by one voice, and the Biblical text by another, but they sing the conclusion together. (The German pronunciation of Latin is used, so that C sounds like TS.)
Ad decus ecclesiae recitatur hodie lectio libri Apocalypsis Johannis Apostoli, cui revelata sunt secreta caelestia. In diebus illis: talis divinitus ostensa est visio: Vidi civitatem sanctam Jerusalem novam, quae constituitur in caelis, honos ex lapidibus, descendentem de caelo nuptiali thalamo a Deo, paratam sicut sponsam ornatam viro suo super solem splendidum. Et audivi vocem magnam nuntiantem nova gaudia de throno dicentem: Veni, ostendam tibi, ecce tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus, et ad eum venient omnes gentes et dicent: Gloria tibi, Domine, et habitabit cum eis, nunc et in aevum. Et ipsi populus eius erunt, omnes Dei gratia, quos a morte redemit perpetua, et ipse Deus cum eis erit eorum Deus, qui moderatur cuncta creata: et absterget Deus omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum, quorum non sol, luna, sed Christus vera est lucerna: et mors ultra non erit, sed caeli praemia perpetua, neque luctus, neque clamor, ubi cum beatis gloriantur, nova canunt Deo carmina, neque dolor erit ultra, gaudia permanent sempiterna, quia prima abierunt, justi florebunt. Et dixit, qui sedebat in throno in supernae majestatis arce: Ecce nova facio omnia. Sancti Spiritus gratia, Divina Providentia, Per sacra mysteria
Renovatur ecclesia.
For the glory of the Church is recited today a reading from the book of the Revelation of the Apostle John, to whom heavenly secrets were revealed. [1] In those days, a vision of this sort was divinely shown: I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, which is built in the heavens, honor from the stones, [2] coming down out of heaven, the bridal chamber, by God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, more splendid than the sun. And I heard a great voice, proclaiming new joys, saying from the throne: Come, I will show thee: [3] Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and all the nations will come to it, and say, “Glory to Thee, o Lord.” [4] And he will dwell with them now and forever. And they shall be his people, all by God’s grace, those whom He hath redeemed from everlasting death; and God himself with them shall be their God, who ruleth over all created things. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, whose true light is not the sun or moon, but Christ [5]: and death shall be no more, but the rewards of heaven, everlasting, nor mourning, nor crying, where they glory with the blessed, and sing new songs to God, nor sorrow shall be any more, everlasting joys abide, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne in the height of supreme majesty, said: Behold, I make all things new.
By divine Providence,
And the Holy Spirit’s grace
Through the holy mysteries
The Church is renewed.
The right wing of the St John Altarpiece, by Hans Memling, 1474-79.
[1] A quote from the antiphon at the Benedictus in the Office of St John the Evangelist. “Iste est Joannes, qui supra pectus Domini in coena recubuit; beatus Apostolus, cui revelata sunt secreta caelestia. - This is John, who rested upon the breast of the Lord at the supper; blessed is the Apostle, to who heavenly secrets were revealed.”
[2] A citation of the Vesper hymn for the Dedication of a Church, Urbs Jerusalem Beata.
[3] Apocalypse 21, 19
[4] A citation of the second responsory in the Office of a Dedication. “Fundáta est domus Dómini supra vérticem móntium, et exaltáta est super omnes colles: Et venient ad eam omnes gentes, et dicent: Gloria tibi, Dómine. - The house of the Lord is founded upon the height of the mountains, and exalted above all the hills, and all the nations will come to it, and say, ‘Glory to Thee, o Lord.’ ”
From the Roman Breviary of 1529, the conclusion of the sermon for the feast of All Saints.
We believe that this day’s festivity is also made renowned by the priests, doctors, and confessors of Christ, who spiritually nourish the hearts of the faithful, like heavenly waters, so that they may be able to bring forth in abundance the incorruptible fruit of good works. They have taken care not only to give back the talents entrusted to them, but also to increase them with interest, … ; for the good which they learned and understood through the grace of the Holy Spirit, they strove to impart not only to themselves, but to the minds of those subject to them. … Celebrating the sacred and holy mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ upon the altar, in the depths of their heart they cease not to offer a living sacrifice, and pleasing to God, that is, themselves, without blemish or admixture of any evil deed. And although they did not feel the sword of the persecutors, yet through the merit of their lives, they are worthy of God and not deprived of martyrdom. For martyrdom is accomplished not only by the shedding of blood, but also by abstaining from sins, and the practice of God’s commandments. … Very many have shone forth with signs and wonders, restoring sight to the blind, strengthening the steps of the lame, giving hearing to the deaf, conquering demons, and raising the dead.
All Saints in Glory, by Giovanni da San Giovanni, 1630, in the apse of the church of the Four Crowned Martyrs in Rome.
Therefore, dearest brethren, with the full intention of our minds let us ask for the protection of the mighty intercessors of whom we have spoken, so that through the temporal feast which we keep, by their merits interceding, we may be able to come to eternal joy. All things pass away that are celebrated in time. Take care, all that take part in these solemnities, lest you be cut off from the eternal solemnity. For what profiteth it to take part in the feasts of men, if it befall you to miss the feasts of the Angels? (The words from “All things pass away...” to the end are added from a homily of Saint Gregory of Great for the Octave Day of Easter.)
From the Breviary of St. Pius V, 1568, the end of the treatise on mortality by St. Cyprian of Carthage, bishop and martyr, read on the Octave Day of All Saints.
We must consider, most beloved brethren, and continually reflect upon the fact that we have renounced the world, and in the meanwhile live here as guests and pilgrims. Let us embrace the day which assigns each of us to his own home, which restores us to paradise and the heavenly kingdom, delivered hence and freed from the snares of the world. What man that has been placed in foreign lands would not hasten to return to his own country? What man that is hastening to sail back to his friends desireth not the more eagerly a prosperous wind, that he might the sooner be able to embrace those dear to him?
We regard paradise as our country, already we begin to deem the patriarchs as our parents: why do we not hasten and run, that we may see our country, that we may greet our parents? There a great number of our dear ones awaits us, and a dense crowd of parents, brothers, children, longs for us, already assured of their own immortality, and still solicitous for our salvation. To attain to their sight and their embrace, what gladness both for them and for us in common! What delight there is in the heavenly kingdom, without fear of death; and how lofty and perpetual the happiness with eternity of living!
There the glorious choir of the apostles, there the host of the prophets rejoicing, there the innumerable multitude of the martyrs, crowned for the victory of their struggle and passion; there the triumphant virgins, who subdued the desire of the flesh and of the body by the strength of their continency. There are the merciful rewarded, who by feeding and helping the poor have done the works of justice, they who, in keeping precepts of the Lord, have transformed their earthly patrimonies into the heavenly treasures. To these, beloved brethren, let us hasten with eager desire; let us long quickly to be with them, that quickly we may come to Christ.
November 8th is also the feast of the Four Crowned Martyrs, the titular Saints of a very ancient but much-rebuilt church on the Caelian Hill in Rome. Every year on the feast, the altar is covered with a very beautiful frontal, and silver reliquary busts of the martyrs are displayed in the sanctuary.
Among the many inscriptions preserved in the church, this one records that Pope Leo IV (847-55) placed under the church’s altar the relics of the Four Crowned Martyrs, and a great many others; in addition to those listed by name here, he placed “many other bodies of Saints whose names are known to God.”
Earlier this year, on the feast of the Assumption, I had the great pleasure of giving an interview to an old friend, Dr Jan Bentz, who studied in Rome for many years. He is now teaching at Oxford University, and hosting an interview series called Reality Check on the YouTube channel of The European Conservative magazine. Our conversation ranged over a wide variety of topics related to the liturgy: a little bit about the station Masses; the current status of the traditional Roman Rite; the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI, and how it applies to the whole life of the Church; the non-reception of Vatican II; the lectionary; continuity and rupture in the post-Conciliar reform; prospects for future liturgical reform, etc. I hope you find it interesting.
From the Roman Breviary of 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the feast of All Saints.
After the Apostles) is added the triumphal title of the Martyrs, who through diverse sorts of torments imitated the passion of Christ, offering no provocation in their minds or hearts. Some were killed with the sword, some burnt, some beaten, some pierced with bolts, some crucified, … it is they that celebrate the triumph, and are the friends of God, who, defying the orders of criminal rulers, are now crowned, and receive the reward of their labors, because they were founded upon the firm rock, that is, Christ. … The blessed Gregory says of the warriors of this sort, in his explanation of one of the Gospels, “Behold, the elect of God subdue the flesh, strengthen the spirit, gain mastery over the devils, shine brightly with virtues, despise the present world, and speak of the eternal fatherland in their words and in their manners. And even as they die, they love, and so they come there through their torments. They can be killed, but they cannot be bent, “and though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them.” Now therefore, we have heard of the contests and victories of the martyrs of Christ. To them, certainly, we hold this day to be sanctified, insomuch as they did not cease to labor within themselves, that they might be sanctified through their sufferings.
The Ten Thousand Martyrs on Mt Ararat, by Vittore Carpaccio, 1515
We are happy to share this article by Mr Joseph Bremer, a PhD student at the London-based King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, studying western iconography, and specializing in the art and architecture of the Romanesque period. He also currently teaches theology and history at Holy Family Cathedral School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
There seems to be no artistic spirit of our age. Future generations of Church historians will have a profoundly unenviable task ahead; for we can examine a 6th century mosaic covered domed cross church and definitively call it ‘Byzantine,’ a 12th century thick walled stone basilica and recognize it as ‘Romanesque,’ or identify a 17th century sprawling marble-clad church as definitively ‘Baroque.’ One could even travel back 30 years and identify our large monochrome iconoclastic churches as definitively modern, but that simply doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Many Catholic churches currently in use were constructed in the now-outdated styles that dominated the late 20th and early 21st centuries; and it is no secret that most practicing Catholics now find this commitment to post-modern art and architecture deeply problematic. We still inhabit the bones of these modern spaces, but the Church’s architectural turn in the late 20th century is now considered by many priests and parishioners to be a mistake. Our future church historians will have to make sense of a well-meaning, albeit disparate traditional patchwork independent of any overarching style or meaning as we try to patch modern churches with what bits of tradition we can.
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles
This is especially true in America, where the Church eagerly married itself to the spirit of the age, but the last few decades has seen her, at least aesthetically, widowed. Our artistic inheritance is the fruit of jaded and betrayed post-modern optimism, and now these modern churches have been all but rejected by the very youth they were designed to appease. A new generation of young, eminently conservative, and overwhelmingly well-meaning priests have been assigned to these modern churches, with a strong will to traditionalize them, but the walls and artwork of our churches preach a theology altogether rejected by many of her parishioners and most of her priests. The pulpit is at war with the building it inhabits, and we are all left wondering ‘what now?’
It is an all too familiar question in our day and age: What is a traditionally minded parish, or at the very least a parish that rejects the maxims of artistic postmodernism, able to do if they inherited the all too familiar 70’s square?
Many parishes understandably see the need to construct an entirely new space. One such example is St. Philip the Apostle Church in Lewisville, Texas; a congregation not known for being exceptionally traditional.
The Old St. Philip the Apostle Sanctuary, construction completed in 1977
The parish, over the course of many years, was able to raise the money for a brand new neo-Gothic church in Flower-Mound, the interior of which is currently incomplete and pictured below.
As beautiful and preferable as the building of a new church is for most parishes, this is rarely an option. The recent agglomeration of small local parishes into larger urban ones makes this very difficult. The late 20th century shortage of priests coupled with a declining percentage of mass attendance meant dioceses in the 1970s and 1980s shut down many small local parishes, and built very large, very central and very modern churches in their place. Building a new large church is a monumental expense most parishes simply can’t afford; and it doesn’t help that construction, labor, and land costs are at an all time high with no sign of decline in the near future.
So can a parish traditionalize a space designed to be antithetical to tradition? This question must be necessarily answered on a church by church basis, but let's first examine what is currently being done. An example I am intimately familiar with is the Church of the Incarnation, a parish located at the University of Dallas which serves as a stark archetype for the difficulties and pitfalls of traditionalizing modern spaces. The University of Dallas teaches us three important lessons in the traditionalization of modern churches: the importance of continuity, of artistic telos, and of recognizing the realities of your space.
The church was designed and built by architects Duane and Jane Landry in 1985 in the spirit of most modern churches, with an express emphasis on the community rather than the liturgy. Its circular form was derived from Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome, but the processional aisle was deliberately placed so that it wasn’t the focal point of the very large narthex. (A cheeky former chaplain reserved the URL www.bigbrowncircle.com for the church’s website) The altar is pushed forward to the center to emphasize communal participation. It is also situated on a North-South axis, and there is no entrance to the church except for from the East. Its paneled walls prevent any other liturgical art but a crucifix. The sanctuary naturally feeds into the narthex, but the narthex rather awkwardly blocks entry into the sanctuary. The sanctuary simply doesn’t feel like the focal point of the church. It is awkward to enter and almost entirely barren.
From the Roman Breviary of 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the feast of All Saints.
From among all those whom the world contains, divine providence chose the twelve Apostles… to lay down the foundation of the new faith, and to raise up the state of the Church while it was still young, so that the sound of their preaching might go out unto all the world, and their words go forth unto the ends of the earth. They clung to the true vine, that is to Christ, like branches, whose fruit, abiding forever, corrupts not; to whom the Lord Himself spoke, saying, “You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” And again: “I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.” And whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.” And again He foretold that when He should come to judge the world, that they would sit on twelve thrones, and with Him judge the world. To such patrons, as we believe, this day is declared to be exalted.
The Last Judgment by Giotto, in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, 1306
The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer write in from their monastery on the Scottish island of Papa Stronsay to let us know that their 2025 liturgical calendar is now available for purchase. As always, it has a wealth of information, including the liturgical calendar of 1962, particular and local feasts that are of special note to their order, traditional days of abstinence, and the anniversaries of the births and deaths of many Saints. This year, they have also introduced the virtues for each month, a part of the traditional Redemptorist spirituality, going back to the very foundation of our Order. Their purpose is to make it easier for us to imitate the holy life of Our Blessed Redeemer, by concentrating on the practice of one virtue at a time. They calendar also has plenty of photos that give an overview of life in their various houses.
This is the second part of a guest article by Mr Thomas Neal on the chants of the ongoing feast of All Saints; the first part was published on Friday. Mr Neal is a teacher, musicologist, and church musician based in Oxford (UK), where inter alia he serves as the Director of Music at New College School. Our thanks to him once again for sharing with us the interesting results of his research.
Alleluia
Allelúia, allelúia. Veníte ad me, omnes, qui laborátis et oneráti estis: et ego refíciam vos. Allelúia. (Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.)
The Alleluia verse is a quotation from the Gospel of St. Matthew 11, verse 28. More research is required to determine the sources of this melody. In my (admittedly brief) searches, the earliest chant manuscript I could find with this text is the 11th-century Cantatorium of the Use of St. Martial de Limoges; among the later sources are a 15th-century Graduale from Maastricht; but both transmit other melodies that are markedly different from that in the Liber usualis.
This text was set by composers such as Palestrina, Andrea Gabrieli, Jacobus de Kerle, Orlando di Lasso, and Jacob Regnart. But it is perhaps Felice Anerio’s glorious setting for double choir (Selectae cantiones octonis vocibus concinendae, 1614) that is best known today:
I would also commend the slightly later setting by Heinrich Schütz, which was published in the first volume of his groundbreaking collection Symphoniae sacrae (1629):
However, Venite ad me is not the only text associated with the Alleluia for the feast of All Saints. Many chant manuscripts from the 10th through to the 14th centuries have the verse Vox exsultationis [4], while one 10th-century tropaire has the verse as O quam gloriosum, adapted from the Book of the Apocalypse (7, verse 9). [5] This text is still to be found as the Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers of All Saints, and was set to polyphony by numerous sixteenth-century composers, most famously by Tomás Luis de Victoria (Motecta, 1572):
Offertory
Justórum ánimæ in manu Dei sunt, et non tanget illos torméntum malítiae: visi sunt óculis insipiéntium mori: illi autem sunt in pace, allelúia. (The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead: but they are in peace. Alleluia.)
Several early liturgical manuscripts (such as the twelfth-century Gradual of Bellay Abbey) give Mirabilis Deus as the Offertory for the Mass of All Saints, while manuscripts of Old Roman chant specify the widely used chant Laetamini. [6] It is unclear when it was changed to Justorum animae, although this must have occurred at a comparatively early stage. The text comprises the first three verses of the third chapter of the Book of Wisdom, a passage that had already had a long association with the feast of All Saints, appearing in various forms in the texts of the Office.
The melody for the new Offertory text was adapted from the Offertory chant for the feast of St. Michael, Stetit angelus, the earliest source for which appears to be the Graduel de Laon. (Bibliothèque municipale Ms 0239, f.73v.) This famous manuscript was copied for use at the cathedral of Laon in the final quarter of the ninth century, making it one of the very oldest surviving examples of Western musical notation. Perhaps the earliest copy of the chant adapted to the Justorum animae text is that found in the Graduale Narbonese, a manuscript copied at the cathedral of Arles in the tenth century, using so-called ‘Aquitaine’ notation. [7]
Justorum animae has been set many times by composers. The versions by Palestrina (Offertoria, 1593) and Byrd (Gradualia, 1605) are among the most well-known, but this one by Orlando di Lasso (Sacrae cantiones, 1582) remains my personal favourite:
With a nod to Anglican patrimony, the setting by Charles Villiers Stanford is also extremely attractive and deserves to be better known:
Communion
Beáti mundo corde, quóniam ipsi Deum vidébunt; beáti pacífici, quóniam filii Dei vocabúntur: beáti, qui persecutiónem patiúntur propter iustítiam, quóniam ipsórum est regnum caelórum. (Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.)
The text is taken from the Gospel of the feast, the Beatitudes in the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 5, verses 8-10. The earliest surviving source for this chant appears to be the Laon Graduale (f.71r), where it appears as a proper Communion for the feast of Ss. Felix and Adauctus (30 August).
Among the few polyphonic settings of this text is Byrd’s, from the Gradualia (1605):
Exitus
A vast amount of music has been composed for this important feast. However, one composition frequently omitted from music programmes is Palestrina’s six-voice Missa Ecce ego Johannes. Even among that composer’s incomparable corpus of Masses, this exquisite setting surely ranks near the top. The model for this Mass has yet to be identified, but the title suggests a motet setting the Chapter at First and Second Vespers of All Saints. It survives in only one source: a choirbook copied for use by the Cappella Sistina around the time of the composer’s death in 1594:
NOTES:
[4] Among the earliest sources with this verse are the 10th-century Gradual from St Gallen (St Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod 0342, f.195) and the Gradual copied for the Abbaye Saint-Sauveur de Prüm around 990 (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Lat. 9448, f.76r). [5] Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 1118, f.94v.
[6] Roberto J. Snow, ‘The Old-Roman Chant,’ Gregorian Chant, ed. Willi Apel (London: Burns & Oates, 1958), pp.484-505: at 468.
[7] If I am correct, then Dom. Johner’s statement that the chant was adapted to the new text during the twelfth century, is inaccurate. See: Dom. Johner, The Chants of the Vatican Gradual, p.470.
From the Roman Breviary of 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the feast of All Saints.
This is also the feast of all the Saints who have been begotten in honor upon the earth from the beginning of the world; of whom the first were the patriarchs, reverent men, the fathers of the prophets and apostles, whose memory shall not be forsaken, and their name shall abide forever, … The descent of their rule ceased not until from their offspring Christ, through the womb of the untouched Virgin, He that is the hope of all nations, being born in the world appeared in glory, and retained to Himself the dominance and sole rule of the entire world. Upon these follow the chosen prophets, with whom God spoke, and showed them His secrets, so that they, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, might be able to know things which were to come as if they were present, and declare them, having become the princes of the people by foretelling the future. Some were known to God and sanctified in the womb, some in their youth, some as young men, some as old. They were found to be full of faith, greatest in devotion, …constant in holy meditation, fearless in the sight of death.
The mosaic over the altar in the Baptistery of Florence, 13th or 14th century. In the middle, the Lamb of God surrounded by the words “Hic Deus est magnus, mitis, quem denotat Agnus. - Here (or ‘This’) is the great God, but gentle, whom the Lamb signifieth.” Around him, clockwise from upper left, the Prophets Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. On the left of the central wheel, St John the Baptist, to whom the Baptistery is dedicated, to the right, the Virgin and Child. (Click to enlarge. Public domain image from Wikipedia.)
The collected papers given at the Fourteenth Fota International Liturgical Conference, held in Cork, Ireland, in 2023, are now available for pre-order from Smenos Publications. The topic of the conference is the centrality of the concept of sacrifice in understanding the Eucharistic liturgy, and is treated from various Biblical, theological, liturgical and historical perspectives, ranging from how the Mass fulfils the sacrifices of the Old Testament, to aspects of Joseph Ratzinger’s theology of the Eucharist, to the reform of the offertory in the Mass, and to the effects of modern liturgical reform on ritual itself. These proceedings are an important contribution to the ongoing post-conciliar recovery of the Church’s perennial teaching on the sacrifice of the Mass, a teaching deeply rooted in both Scripture and tradition. The papers have been edited by our own Matthew Hazell, who is also one of the contributors.
Sacrificium Patriarchae nostri Abrahae: The Aqedah in the Bible and the Canon of the Mass (Dieter Böhler SJ)
Christ’s Death as a Sacrifice of Atonement (Serafino M. Lanzetta)
The Sacrifice of the Mass in the New Testament (Thomas Lane)
The Heart, Sacrifice, and Koinonia in the Eucharistic Theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI (Peter J. McGregor)
The Idea of the Holy Mass as Sacrifice in Joseph Ratzinger and Matthias Joseph Scheeben (Sven Leo Conrad FSSP)
Why does Participation of the Faithful in the Eucharist require their physical Presence (during Mass)? (Michael Stickelbroeck)
The Importance of the offertorium as an Integral Part of Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Offertory as a Challenge to Liturgical Reforms in History (Manfred Hauke)
The Reform of the orationes super oblata in the Proper of Time of the 1970/2008 Missale Romanum (Matthew P. Hazell)
Sacred Liturgy and the Ritual Process (D. Vincent Twomey SVD)
From the Roman Breviary of 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the feast of All Saints.
It is God who placed the supernal kingdoms of the Heavens for the angelic spirits, to the praise and glory and honor of His name and of His majesty, in wondrous order forever. We grow afraid to say too much about them, because it belongs to God alone to know how their nature, which is invisible to us, without contamination or decrease stands firm in its purity. Yet from the witness of the Sacred Scriptures we know that there are nine orders of Angels, to fulfill the judgments and service of God; whose principalities and powers are subtly and marvelously distinguished by the will of God omnipotent. Some of them are sent to us in this world, and come to foretell future events. Others are set for this purpose, that through them signs and wonders may frequently be done. … Other armies of the Angels are so joined to God that between Him and them there are no others; the more plainly they behold the glory of His divinity, the more do they burn with love. To all these ranks of Angels, dearest brethren, so beautiful and beloved of God, we believe this solemnity is also consecrated. But behold, as we pry into the secrets of the citizens of Heaven, we have digressed beyond the measure of our frailty. Let us keep silent in the meanwhile concerning the secrets of Heaven; but before the eyes of our Creator, let us wipe away the stain of sins with our tears, that we may be able to come one day to those of whom we speak.
The Nine Choirs of Angels. In the central circle are God the Father, Christ, and the Virgin Mary in prayer; in the band around them the Sanctus is written three time; in the broader band, six each of the Cherubim, Seraphim, and Thrones. In the middle, three each of the Dominations, Principalities, and Powers, with the beginning of the Gloria above them, repeated three times. At the bottom, three each of the Virtues, Archangels, and Angels, with the words “Salus Deo nostro qui sedet super tronum et Agno” (salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb - Apoc. 7, 10) above their heads, three times. (From the Breviari d’Amour by Matfré Ermengau of Béziers; British Library Yates Thompson 31, folio 40v.)
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