page_title: Cletus Madsen
section_title: Diocese of Davenport
hierarchical_section_title: Cletus Madsen / Biography / Diocese of Davenport
caption_attribution_description: English: Christ the King Chapel at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. It was designed by Cincinnati architect Edward J. Schulte. In the architectural design of the Chapel, Edward Schulte.
context_page_description: Cletus Madsen was a 20th-century Catholic priest of the Diocese of Davenport in the US state of Iowa. He was involved the Liturgical Movement in the Catholic Church in the mid-20th century.
context_section_description: Father Madsen's first assignment in the diocese was as an assistant pastor at Sacred Heart Cathedral.  In 1932 he was assigned to the Fine Arts Department at St. Ambrose College.  He would eventually become chairman of the department.  He served as chaplain at Immaculate Conception Academy in Davenport, in addition to his teaching, starting in 1934.  In 1935 he began, with other music educators in the diocese, diocesan music festivals.  They included 15 to 22 schools, and they continued until 1970.
  By 1944 he was the director of the college’s choir as well as the adult and boy’s choirs at Sacred Heart Cathedral.  When Bishop Henry Rohlman was transferred to the Archdiocese of Dubuque in 1944, the Sacred Heart choir, composed of men and women, as well as trumpets was a part of the farewell liturgy in the cathedral.  Several months later they performed a similar program at the installation of Bishop Ralph Hayes.  Father Madsen was called into the bishop’s office and asked why women were in the choir and why trumpets were played in church?  The next time either performed in a liturgy at the cathedral was the installation of Bishop Gerald O’Keefe 23 years later.
  In 1950 Madsen began to write a column on liturgical renewal in The Catholic Messenger, the diocesan newspaper which had a national edition.  He reminded his readers a rule of Pope Leo XIII, “It is absolutely forbidden that any music should be performed in church which has themes from theatrical works, from dance music or profane pieces, such as popular songs, love songs, etc.”  He encouraged Gregorian Chant and singing other hymns in both Latin and English.  He encouraged the establishment of boy’s choirs, teaching chant to the students in Catholic schools and colleges, teachers and religious.  Simple Mass Propers were offered for use in parishes.  The idea was to involve the congregation in singing the Mass and full participation in the liturgy.
  Change, however, did not come about easily.  Madsen sent out a questionnaire to 148 pastors in the diocese, based on materials prepared by the National Catholic Music Education Association (NCMEA—now known as the National Association of Pastoral Musicians).  Of the 88 responses, only 19 pastors reported they had a program promoting active lay participation in the liturgy.  Ten of these parishes had a Dialogue Mass and seven said they had a sung High Mass.  Forty-six parishes with schools, however, had the children chanting the Ordinary and Propers of the Mass.  Full liturgical participation was also the goal of Madsen’s in organizing the Davenport Diocesan Priests’ Choir.
caption: Christ the King Chapel on the campus of St. Ambrose University where Madsen served as chaplain in the 1960s.
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