The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-07-22

| one that the priest has at the altar.
They have the English translation of
the Latin Missal; they follow with the
priest word by word; they are linked
with every movement; they stand or
kneel or are seated and they know
why; when the priest turns to them
from time to time, reminding himself
and them that all are one, and says:
"Dominus vobiscum-the Lord be with
you, brethren tney reply: "And with
you too, father" and when he cries
out: ''Sursum corda-lift up your
hearts" they all, and not the little
altar boy alone, are ready to respond:
Indeed, we have them lifted up unto
the Lord" The use of the MissaI
has taught them that the Mass is
theirs as they never knew before.
When people get that far they will
be quick to see the next step. To one
who knows the Missal well the Mass
evidently ought to be high Mass and
not low Mass. The wonderful words
of the Missal stir the reader to ex-
clamation; the thoughts, the emotions
of the Mass literature plead for ut
terance, they beg to be sounded aloud.
Whoever reads the Missal rs not sat
isfed to read it-he wants to sing it.
Now, it will not be enough to send
him to the present day high Mass 10
hear a choir sing. 1t is his own soul
that is stirred and that desires to
sound the praise of God. He wishes
to be doer and not just hearer.
And the Mass itself does not want an
audience; it wants a congregation
united in prayer, in prayer so alive
that it sings-and the only audience
is God on high.
Present Day Music.
There is something amiss with the
music of our present day high Mass
even when it is good music as music,
and even after it has eliminated some
of the operatic extremes that had such
vogue before the reforms of Pope
Plus X. l do not altogether wonder
at the peoples preference for the low
Mass. How rare is the church in
which one may find the music really
fulfilling it's proper function-which |
take to be the expression in song of
the ideas and emotions of the Mass as
the prayer of all the people united in
Christ. And that is why the Chill
dren's Mass at the Gregorian Congress
in New York rings in my ears and
rings again when / hear it sounded
by our own children in st. Paul.
Why does our present day high Mass
music fail to satisfy me-and many
more, dare say? Firstly, think, be-
cause it lacks community character.
Whether sung by a. large or small
choir, it lacks community character.
1t is rendered by select choir and
not by the whole congregation, and it
is such that this must be the case.
1t is the expression of the concepts
and emotions of the composer; he may
be a great musician and a devout
Christian, but he expresses himself
and not the community. In varying
degree all our ordinary modern Mass
music seems to me to be of this in
dividualistic character. And being
made so at the start by the composer,
| it continues so in the work of the
choir.
The Gregorian Chant.
The old Gregorian chant, on the
contrary, is community song, not only
| because it is one voice but because
it comes down to us from an age that
was strong in consciousness of Chris
tian solidarity when men thought as
| individuals indeed but as individuals
| united in one mind and heart in the
one body of the Church, the mystic
| body of Christ. Hence the Gregorian
| chant always carries the feeling of
| the Communion Of Saints. Whether
| the common" parts are sung by the
| whole congregation, or the proper
parts are sung by choir, or the Pre-
| face or Pater Noster by the priest
| alone, everyone feels without effort
| that this song is his own prayer in
which he has part in Christ and in
the Church. 1t is song truly "una
voce," as we say in the words of the
Preface. The lover of the Missal is
satisfied even though he be not yet
able actually to sing; he sings with a
"song of desire" and he sees in the
| distance the day when all will enter
with voice and heart.
Music, Not Prayer.
| And then, secondly, our present day
| high Mass music fails to satisfy be-
cause it is weak in prayer-value. 1t
is music first and prayer second, if you
will. The composer, however good
Christian he may be, is apt to think
first of the music-beauty of his COM
position. The choir, imagine, is apt
to be distracted from prayer in its
strivings for harmonies and shadings.
And to judge from the remarks OF
the audience" it was music that
they~heard and not prayer, prayer in
which they had part.
/ The Gregorian chant is prayer
sung-not merely music rendered in
a house of prayer and during divine
service. 1t is first of all the Missal,
and secondly the Missal sung. You
may hear it sung indifferently we'll
and it is still prayer; you may hear
it sung exquisitely, and then its
beauty is more than human words
can say; you may hear it at its best.
and if you have not the spirit of pray
er, then though you possess most
delicate sense of beauty in music, you