Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-10
MUSIC AT ST. PAUL'S
LOCAL CATHOLIC CHURCH DE-
CIDES UPON A CHANGE
Gregorian Chant Supplants the More
Secular Selections-1n Line With
Pope's Desire.

Announcement has been made that De-
ginning with Palm Sunday the Gregorian
chant will supplant the more secular music
at the principal service in ST. Paups Cath
Ollie Church in this city. Shortly after
Pope Plus x was indicted into the chair
Of st. Peters at Rome he issued pro-
nunciamenta, or order. signifying a de-
sire that the music of the Catholic Church
shall conform to the plain chant as intro
duced or perfected under one of his most
illustrious predecessors in the chair Of the
sovereign pontiff, ST. Gregory the Great.
The present pope, is well known, IS a
man of extreme simplicity of taste, and
he did not feel that the modern music of
the mass attuned well to the solemn sig
nificance of the Catholic ceremony. 1t has
been stated that he came to this eonclu-
sion long before he was made pope. In
1885, Bishop Sarto, he expressed him
self as much taken by the violinS and
flutes, which seem to have swept every
thing before them, SO to speak, with their
charm at the pontifical mass.
Gradually, however, the bishop came to
have other views in regard to church
music, and returned to the severity of the
Gregorian Chant He was probably in
fluenced to some extent in this through
Don Lorenzo Perosi, famous musician
and a friend, for whom the present pope
as bishop of Mantua and patriarch CT
Venice, took the first steps that led to the
musicians assuming charge of the Sistlne
Chapel choir.
Appropriate to Proposed Reform.
This pronunciamento as to the Greg 5rian
Chant came at a time regarded as quite
fitting for the proposed reform, as it made
a browning climax to the centenary of
Gregary the Great. Pope Plus x then said:
I'VE are 'overjoyed to be able to give
these regulations at time when we are
- l,s,,x4n ,fat,o tyy
of the glorious and incompatible pontif
st. Gregory the Great, to whom an eccle-
siastical tradition dating back many cen
turtles has attributed the composition or
these sacred melodies, and from whom they
derived their name. Let our dearly beloved
youths exercise themselves in them, Tor II
will be sweet to us to hear them, when
we assemble at the coming centenary cele-
bration around the tomb of the holy pom
tiff in the Vatican basilica during the
sacred liturgy which will be celebrated by
us on that suspicious occasion.
He then promulgated motu proprfo
bull, an instrument signifytng his own per-
sonal wish, that all the Catholic churches
throughout the world take up the plain
chant for the music of the mass. This,
however, Is not obligatory. The pope is
cognizant of the fact that it would be i'm
possible to find sufficient number Of
youths in very parish possessed of vocal
ability equal to the demands of the chant,
which probably accounts for the fact that
Innovation Not Unexpected.
This innovation at st. Pauls Church is
not unexpected to the Catholics of Washing
ton. Rev. James F. Mackin. the pastor of
the church, is a clergyman much after the
mold of which the pope is type. He is
universally credited as being a man of
much devotion and humility, and for quite
a while back he has prepared for this COM
ing change. With the aid OF Mr.. William
Finn, a novitiate of the Paulist College in
this city, and the assistant pastors Of his
church, he has gathered together a choir
OF forty boys, all of whom are said to
possess strong, resonant voices, and on
Palm and Easter Sundays their number
will be augmented by twenty students
from the Paulist College. 1t has been ar
ranged to seat them in the sanctuary, a
circumstance in itself decided innovation
in Catholic worship in this city, instead
of the choir loft.
This same plan will continue indefinitely,
though 1t is, of course, intended that after
the boys Of st. Pauls become more pro-
ficient with the score the services Of the
Paulist students will be DISPENSED with.
The mixed, or big, choir at the church will
and, as stated, the boys will make the
Gregorian chant regular feature of the
high mass at IL o'clock
Holy Trinity Church In Georgetown has
had the Gregorian chant for some time,
and 1t is stated that the parishioners have
been so pleased as to warrant Father Mack
in In the belief that. his congregation viii
look on the change with appreciation.
An extended summary OF the origin and