The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
NO WOMEN IN
| CATHOLIC .CH0IRS
DECREE OF POPE WILL CAUSE
CHANGES IN LOCAL CHURCHES.
Vatican Favors q Return to the Gre
gorian Service-Singers in Church
Have Litrrgical Office Which Wom-
en- Cannot Fill-Decree Not Yet
Received in Minneapolis.

Rome, Jan. 1S.-Contrary to statements
made in the United States that the re-
forms in church music decreed by Plus x.
would affect only France and Italy, it is
learned that one decree is intended for
the world at large.
All churches are authorized to continue
the use of the music at present in vogue
only until it shall become feasible to sub
stitute the Gregorian chant.
& The. soprano and alto parts are to be
sung by little boys. The members of the
choir are to be arrayed in cassock and
surplice and concealed behind a grating
Women are to be excluded.
Withina short time it is probable
that female voices will no longer be
heard in Roman Catholic churches of
the city and that boy choirs WILL un-
aided, furnish all of the music for the
church services. According to dis
patches from Rome the movement,
long strong in Europe and the eastern
states, lok1ng to reform in the
church, has taken the form Of DEGREES
issued by Pope Plus x. which will ex-
clude women from Roman Catholic
church choirs.
Local churchmen most familiar
with existing conditions here and in
Rome are inclined to agree that the
| movement for boy choirs, only, has re-
suited in the DEGREES centioned.
There has been growing objection
to the sO-called theatrical music in
churches for a long time and a marked
tendency toward the rejection of the
| mixed choir and a return to the Greg
| orian chant" said one of the local Ro-
man Catholic clergymen this morning.
| 1.-The pope has issued letter on the
subject Of music in the church, which
touches upon the subject only in a
general way, but makes it plain that
the vatican favors return to the
| Gregorian service.
| $50 far, we of the church in America
| have had no official knowledge of the
decree mentioned in the press dis
patches. It is usual for the apostolic
delegation in Washington to receive
such information to transmit the in
telligence to the various archbishops
and thru them to give it to us. It
would not be at all strange If such a
change were decreed.' '
The pope's letter mentioned by this
priest says, among. other things:
Among the cares Of the pastoral Of
flee a, leading one is without question
that of maintaining and promoting
| the decorum of the house of God
Nothing should have place, therefore
in the temple calculated to disturb or
| even merely diminish the piety and
devotion fthe faithful, nothing that
|
gust or scandal, nothing above all
which directly offends the decorum
and the sanctity Of the sacred func'
tons and is thus unworthy of the
house of prayer - s..,
He refers to the abuse affecting
sacred chant and music" and to "the
fatal influence exercised OH sacred
music by profane and theatrical art. -
Speaking of sacred music, the pope
says: 1T must be holy and must
therefore, exclude an profanity, not
only i nitself, but in the manner in
which it is presented by those who
execute it, -
The letter forbids the use of a piano
in church, "also that Of noisy OF
frivolous instruments, such as drums
cymbals, bells and the like The use
of bands in church is also prohibited
OF women he says: 'Singers ir
church have a real liturgical office
and, there. women, being incapable
of exercising such office, cannot be
admitted to form any part Of the choil
Of the musical chapel" - -
, The issuing Of the promised DEGREES
will relieve from their positions fe.
! male vocalists now employed in nearly
} every Catholic church here. Many Of
them are regarded as being of the
first order.