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Monteverdi’s ‘Nisi Dominus’: Arrows in the Hand of a Warrior

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was probably the most important composer in the transition from Renaissance Polyphony to Baroque.  This beautiful piece from his Vespers composition, Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610), is a musical setting for Psalm 127 (sometimes listed as Psalm 126).  

This particular psalm (printed in full below the music video) has always resonated with me. It is fairly short (four stanzas), but beautifully reminds us of our dependence on God and his providential care.  The psalm opens with the image of house construction: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”  (Ps 127:1)  The psalmist then presents a series of images illustrating how useless our efforts are without God’s help:

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Ps 127:1-2)

What an eloquent reminder that it is only through Grace that our efforts bear fruit!

     We see a shift of focus in the last half of Psalm 127: instead of building a house, here we are building our “house”, that is, our family, again only through the Grace of God: “Lo, sons are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.” (Ps 127:3)  Here, too, God is the real author; and our children are His Providence in tangible form: both gift and blessing, which is to say their source is God, and that’s a good thing. And not good in only a spiritual sense:

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the sons of one’s youth.

Happy is the man

who has his quiver full of them!

He shall not be put to shame

when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Ps 127:5)

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth. -Psalm 127:4

You can’t ask for images more down-to-earth than these: our sons are like weapons, they’ll back us up when we face our enemies . . . and all through the generosity of the Lord.

     It will come as no surprise that the idea of our progeny as gift and blessing is not as common as it once was.  More than forty years ago, in his introduction to Pope John Paul I’s Illustrissimi, John Cardinal Wright wrote:

     The present almost pathological lack of joy shows up in every vocation and in every area of life.  There already exist among us people who rejoice as little in the coming of children as once used to do only some of our neo-pagan neighbors.  Among descendents of people who, only yesterday, spoke of the coming of a baby as a “blessed event,” maternity  is no longer thought joyful.

That train has gone much further down the track since 1979, so that now even a recent President of the United States is on record as having remarked disapprovingly on young women being “punished with a baby”.

     We need to speak out, of course, against this anti-child attitude, the anti-family ethos and what Pope John Paul II called the Culture of Death. But we also need to remember, as Cardinal Wright points out, that our message is at root a message of Joy. Our children, and children in general (sadly, not all who wish to  have their quivers filled in this way are granted that grace) are “a heritage from the LORD,the fruit of the womb a reward.”.  We need to say it often, and live it publicly, and always give thanks to God for building up our house.

The clip below features a perfomance by The Green Mountain Project on January 3, 2013 at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, New York City.

Featured image top of page: “The Tower of Babel” by Pieter Breugel the Elder, 1563

PSALM 127

Unless the LORD builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Lo, sons are a heritage from the LORD,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the sons of one’s youth.

Happy is the man

who has his quiver full of them!

He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

iacobusm Saints

Panis Angelicus: Friar Alessandro Sings St. Thomas Aquinas’ Eucharistic Hymn

“The Temptation of St. Thomas” by Diego Velazquez, 1632

St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican, one of the greatest of all philosophers, and arguably the greatest of Catholic theologians; we tend to think of him as a pretty cerebral fellow.  And so he was.  At the same time, he did have his poetic side, which we can see in a number of hymns we still sing today. The Euchariastic hymn Panis Angelicus, for instance, which is familiar even to secular audiences today, especially in 19th century composer Cesar Franck’s lovely musical setting.  In the clip below Franck’s version is beautifully sung by a young Franciscan known as Friar Alessandro, upon whom God has apparently bestowed the gift of song, just as he did on Alessandro’s spiritual father St. Francis. .

  St. Thomas wrote Panis Angelicus as part of an entire liturgical cycle (both Mass and Divine Office) for the feast of Corpus Christi, literally, “Body of Christ”. The formal name for the feast today is The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and the more alert among you will have noticed that we celebrated it this past Sunday. The hymn Pange Lingua was part of this same cycle. 

As is appropriate for a celebration of the Lord’s gift of His own Body, Panis Angelicus (literally, “Bread of Angels”) is a meditation on the Incarnation and the Eucharist.  It is also appropriate for the Feast of the Nativity, in which we celebrate the moment when the Word became Flesh, and for that reason we hear it most often during the Christmas Season. 

In  the video below I have also included images from recent Eucharistic miracles at Legnica and Sokolka in Poland, Tixtla in Mexico, and Chirattakonam in India.

Panis angelicus
Fit panis hominum
Dat panis coelicus
Figuris terminum
O res mirabilis
Manducat dominum
Pauper, pauper
Servus et humilis

May the Bread of Angels
Become bread for mankind;
The Bread of Heaven puts
All foreshadowings to an end;
Oh, thing miraculous!
The body of the Lord will nourish
the poor, the poor,
the servile, and the humble.

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Sacred Music: The Pentecost Sequence (Gregorian Chant)

  Today, in the traditional liturgical calendar, would be Monday in the Octave of Pentecost.  Although the Octave of Pentecost has not been observed in the Ordinary Form of the Mass since 1969 (for more on this liturgical change, with feeling, see HERE and HERE on Fr. Z’s blog), it would be a shame to let so significant a feast pass without a little time for reflection.  In that spirit, our Music Monday selection for today is the Pentecost Sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus, which has been sung during the Mass every year on this Holy Day for the past millennium (give or take a few years).

     Let me also take a brief minute to explain a little bit about the sequences (sequentiae in Latin) that we occasionally hear at Mass. The origins of the sequence can be traced back to the 9th century. The sequence began as an elaboration on the alleluia verse before the Gospel reading; the name comes from the Latin verb sequor, “follow”, because it follows the scripture verse. In sequences the melody usually changes from one stanza to the next, as opposed to ordinary hymns where the same melody repeats.

     Sequences became very popular in the first half of the second millennium of the Church, until there were literally hundreds that you might hear at Mass.  The Church did some drastic trimming in 1570 and limited the number of sequences at Mass to four: Victimae Paschali Laudes on Easter Sunday; Veni, Sancte Spiritus on Pentecost Sunday (at that only at the Mass during the Day); Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem on the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), and Dies Irae  at Requiem Masses. To these four Pope Benedict XIII  in 1727 added the Stabat Mater Dolorosa  for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. A further pruning in 1969 left only two (at least in Ordinary Form Masses), the Easter and Pentecost sequences.

     The video below features The Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos.  The artwork is the second “Pentecost” painting by Fray Juan Bautista Maíno; I used his first painting in last week’s video of Palestrina’s “Veni Creator Spiritus”.

     The words of today’s musical selection, the Pentecost Sequence “Veni  Sancte Spiritus”, can be found underneath the video.

Video: Veni Sancte Spiritus, sung by the Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos

Artwork: “Pentecost” by Juan Bautista Maíno (1615-1620)

VENI, Sancte Spiritus,
et emitte caelitus
lucis tuae radium.
COME, Holy Ghost,
send down those beams,
which sweetly flow in silent streams
from Thy bright throne above.
Veni, pater pauperum,
veni, dator munerum
veni, lumen cordium.
O come, Thou Father of the poor;
O come, Thou source of all our store,
come, fill our hearts with love.
Consolator optime,
dulcis hospes animae,
dulce refrigerium.
O Thou, of comforters the best,
O Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,
the pilgrim’s sweet relief.
In labore requies,
in aestu temperies
in fletu solatium.
Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet
refreshment in the noonday heat;
and solace in our grief.
O lux beatissima,
reple cordis intima
tuorum fidelium.
O blessed Light of life Thou art;
fill with Thy light the inmost heart
of those who hope in Thee.
Sine tuo numine,
nihil est in homine,
nihil est innoxium.
Without Thy Godhead nothing can,
have any price or worth in man,
nothing can harmless be.
Lava quod est sordidum,
riga quod est aridum,
sana quod est saucium.
Lord, wash our sinful stains away,
refresh from heaven our barren clay,
our wounds and bruises heal.
Flecte quod est rigidum,
fove quod est frigidum,
rege quod est devium.
To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow,
warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow,
our wandering feet recall.
Da tuis fidelibus,
in te confidentibus,
sacrum septenarium.
Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord,
whose only hope is Thy sure word,
the sevenfold gifts of grace.
Da virtutis meritum,
da salutis exitum,
da perenne gaudium,
Amen, Alleluia.		Grant us in life Thy grace that we,
in peace may die and ever be,
in joy before Thy face.
Amen. Alleluia.
From the Roman Missal, translation by John Austin (1613-1669).

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Palestrina’s “Veni Creator Spiritus” and Maíno’s “The Pentecost” from San Pedro Mártir

     We are now in the last week of the Easter Season.  Christ has ascended to Heaven, and we are awaiting the coming the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  In anticipation of that ancient feast, often called the Birthday of the Church, our Music Monday selection is Palestrina’s “Veni Creator Spiritus.”

     The Latin Hymn “Veni Creator Spiritus” itself dates back to the first millennium of the Church, and was and had traditionally been sung in Gregorian Chant.  Palestrina has the tenors sing the traditional Gregorian Chant melody and composes parts for the other voices which he weaves around them to form a shimmering musical tapestry.

     I chose the painting “The Pentecost”, by Fray Juan Bautista Maíno, to complement Palestrina’s beautiful music. This is actually the first of two famous paintings of Pentecost by this artist.  Maíno created this one as part of a series decorating the altarpiece of the monastery Church of San Pedro Mártir in Toledo, Spain, which he worked on between 1612-1614. Fun fact: during the course of the project he became a monk in the monastery.  I like the way the artist isn’t deterred by the problem of fitting a large number of figures into the narrow space dictated by the dimensions of the altarpiece. The Blessed Mother, Mary Magdalene, and the Apostles are densely crowded at the bottom of the composition, but the artist takes pains to make each face distinct: we get a sense of the individual personality of each. The contrast between the mass of people below and the lone dove representing the Holy Spirit above with his light shining on the upturned faces heightens the dramatic feeling of the piece.  In the video I try to capture the vertical space in the piece by slowly panning up the painting.     

Finally, I have posted the Latin text of the traditional hymn, along with an English translation, beneath the clip.

      
1. Veni Creator Spiritus,
Mentes tuorum visita
Imple superna gratia,
Quae tu creasti, pectora.

2. Qui diceris Paraclitus,
Altissimi donum Dei
Fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
Et spiritalis unctio.

3. Tu septiformis munere,
Digitus Paternae dexterae
Tu rite promissum Patris,
Sermone ditans guttura.

4. Accende lumen sensibus,
Infunde amorem cordibus,
Infirma nostri corporis
Virtute firmans perpeti.

5. Hostem repellas longius,
Pacemque dones protinus,
Ductore sic te praevio,
Vitemus omne noxium.

6. Per te sciamus da Patrem,
Noscamus atque Filium,
Te utriusque Spiritum
Credamus omni tempore.

7. Deo Patri sit gloria,
Et Filio qui a mortuis
Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
In saeculorum saecula.
Amen.		 1. Come, O Creator Spirit blest,
And in our minds take up thy rest,
Come with thy grace and heavenly aid
To fill the hearts which thou hast made.

2. Great Paraclete! To Thee we cry,
O highest gift of God most high,
O font of life! O fire of love!
And sweet anointing from above!

3. Thou in thy sevenfold gifts art known,
The finger of God’s hand we own,
The promise of the Father, Thou:
Who dost the tongue with pow’r endow.

4. Kindle our senses from above,
And make our hearts o’erflow with love.
With patience firm and virtue high
The weakness of our flesh supply.

5. Far from us drive the foe we dread,
And grant us thy true peace instead,
So shall we not, with Thee for guide,
Turn from the path of life aside.

6. O may Thy grace on us bestow,
The Father and the Son to know,
And thee, through endless times confess’d,
Of both, th’ eternal Spirit blest.

7. All glory, while the ages run,
Be to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death. The same to Thee,
O Holy Ghost, eternally.
Amen

From: http://www.catholicchant.com/venicreatorspiritus.html

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J.S. Bach – Lobet Gott in Seinen Reichen (from the Ascension Oratorio)

     This coming Thursday is the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord  . . . at least in many dioceses (and of course, wherever the traditional liturgical calendar is followed). It may not surprise you, if you are a regular reader of this blog, that I’m not a fan of moving important feasts like Ascension Thursday to the nearest Sunday in the hopes of roping in those who steer clear of The Lord’s House on weekdays.  I’m fortunate in that I live in a diocese where Ascension Thursday still falls on a Thursday.  If only they would move Epiphany back to January 6th . . .

     I may explore that topic in greater length later in the week, but that’s not what today’s post is about: today is Music Monday.  Whether your diocese celebrates the Ascension on Thursday or on the following Sunday, it’s coming up within the next week, so what is more appropriate than J.S. Bach’s magnificent Ascension Oratorio?

     The oratorio itself was first performed in 1735, on May 19th, the date of the Feast of the Ascension that year (and a Thursday; who would have guessed?). The video below contains  the opening chorus, “Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen” (Praise God in His Kingdoms), performed by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir.  The painting of the Ascension of Jesus in the video is by the American artist Benjamin West.  I’ve posted the words (by Christian Friedrich Henrici, who went by the pen name “Picander”) in German and in English translation underneath.

Featured image at top of page: “The Ascension”, by Benjaminm West, 1801

“Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen”, BWV 11
Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
Album: Bach: Ascension Cantatas                                                                                        

Artwork: “The Ascension” by Benjamin West, 1801

Text:

Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen,
Preiset ihn in seinen Ehren,
Rühmet ihn in seiner Pracht;
Sucht sein Lob recht zu vergleichen,
Wenn ihr mit gesamten Chören
Ihm ein Lied zu Ehren macht!

Praise God in his kingdoms,

extol him in his honors

acclaim him in his splendor.

Seek to express his praise rightly

when with assembled choirsyou make a song to his honor!

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“Hallelujah” from Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives

Today’s Music for Easter selection, performed by the Chancel Choir of the Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, is the magnificent concluding “Hallelujah” from Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives. As the title suggests, the work as a whole is a musical dramatization of Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. While that sounds like a composition more suited for the Triduum or Lent, we tend not to associate the word “hallelujah” with those penitential seasons. In Christ on the Mount of Olives it signifies the climactic moment when Christ says “Not my will, but ours, be done” (Luke 22:42), committing himself to the passion and death that will lead to the triumph of Easter. This is the part of the composition that points to the Resurrection.

Christ on the Mount of Olives is Beethoven’s only oratorio. The composer himself never really liked it, and was particularly dissatified witht the libretto by Franz Xaver Huber. Posterity seems to have agreed with Beethoven, for the most part: the oratorio itself is rarely performed, except for the majestice “Hallelujah” passage. On the other hand, Christ on the Mount of Olives was Beethoven’s first popular success in the United States when it premiered here in 1809.

The featured image above is “Christ on the Mount of Olives” (1819) by Goya. An interesting connection between Goya and Beethoven: both went deaf later in life.

March 27, 2016,
Easter Sunday Chancel Choir,
Glenna Metcalfe, Organ;
Jim Rago, Timpani;
Trey Sims and Martin Sauer, Trumpets,
Robert Gammon, Director

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Music for the Easter Season: Regina Caeli, by Gregor Aichinger

The Regina Caeli (“Queen of Heaven”) is a prayer that is closely associated with Easter. We usually recite this prayer instead of the Angelus during the Easter Season, at which time it also serves as the the Marian Antiphon at the end of Compline (Night Prayer). The beautiful musical setting for the Regina Caeli below was composed by Gregor Aichinger (1565-1628), and is performed here by the Zürcher Sing-Akademie.

The prayer Regina Caeli itself is of ancient origin.  Our oldest record of it comes from the twelfth century, but the website ourcatholicprayers.com tells us:

According to The Golden Legend, a famous 13th century work about the saints, Pope St. Gregory the Great heard angels singing the first three verses from the Regina Caeli during a procession in the 6th century and was inspired to add the fourth line “Ora pro nobis deum” (“pray for to us to God” in Latin). Although this story is itself considered to be a legend, it is, as Father Herbert Thurston once put it in his book Familiar Prayers, “inseparably associated with the Regina Caeli.”

I have posted the prayer in both English and Latin below (the clip itself has subtitles in Latin and German).

“Coronation of the Virgin Mary” by Diego Velasquez (c. 1636)

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Palestrina: Exultate Deo (Sacred Music for Easter)

One of my goals with this blog is to promote the incredibly rich store of Catholic art, including sacred music, that we have inherited from our forerunners in the Faith.  Regarding sacred music, a few years back when I was teaching in a (more or less) Catholic school I was talking to one of the music teachers about the music of polyphonic composers, and specifically the compositions of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.  The music teacher, who was not Catholic, said “That’s the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.  It’s a shame they had to do away with it.  I mean, I understand why they had to do it, but what a shame . . .”  I was thinking no, no they didn’t have to do away with it at all.  There are few experiences this side of listening to the choirs of the angels themselves closer to heaven than hearing a trained choir singing sacred polyphony in church. Just imagine if more of us could experience that more often.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

     Polyphony itself (from Greek poly, “many”, and phonos, “sound”), refers to a musical development of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.  Traditional Gregorian Chant had always contained one melodic line: harmony was unknown. Early in the second millennium of the Church composers started writing music containing different melodic lines in the same piece, hence polyphony. While music has grown in technique and complexity since then, even the greatest composers of past 500 years haven’t been able to surpass the sheer musical loveliness of the works of polyphonic composers such as Victoria, Tallis, Byrd, and Palestrina.

     Many commentators consider Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) to be the greatest composer of polyphony.  No less a musical authority than Felix Mendelssohn classed him as one of the four all-time great composers of music, period, with Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.  The clip below features Palestrina’s Exultate Deo, “Rejoice in God”, a song of praise appropriate to the Easter Season.  The piece is performed by the Ascension Voices Chorus, and the image is a detail of the Singing Angels from Jan van Eyck’s “Ghent Altarpiece.”

     I’ve included the words in Latin and in English under the clip.

Exsultate Deo adjutori nostro;
jubilate Deo Jacob.
Sumite psalmum, et date tympanum,

psalterium jucundum cum cithara.
Buccinate in neomenia tuba,
in insigni die solemnitatis vestræ.

Exult in God our helper, Rejoice in the God of Jacob. Take up the psalm, and bring out the tympanum,

The pleasing psalter with the cithara. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, On the day appointed for our solemnity.

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Music for the Easter Season: Pedro Camacho’s Te Deum

“St. Ambrose” by Francisco Goya, 1799

    The Te Deum is an ancient Christian hymn composed in the 3rd or 4th century.  It takes its name from its opening line in Latin, Te Deum laudamus (“We Praise You God”). Throughout the ages it has been sung in thanksgiving or celebration on occasions both religious and secular. Today we pray it (or sing it) in the Liturgy of the Hours at the end of the Office of Readings on Sundays outside of Lent and on solemnities. Its authorship has sometimes been attributed to St. Ambrose and/or St. Augustine, or sometimes St. Nicetas of Remesiana, although it is likely older than any of these suggested authors. I’ve posted the English translation of the hymn and a brief commentary below the clip for those who are interested.

     The Te Deum has been set to music countless times over the centuries.  The clip below features the Classical Madeira orchestra and Madeira Chamber Choir performing what is probably the most recent of these compositions, by the Portuguese composer Pedro Camacho.  Camacho’s setting was first performed in public less than a year and a half ago, in December 2019. Here’s an opportunity to celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord by listening to a beautiful combination of new music and a timeless prayer of praise.

TE DEUM

You are God: we praise you;

You are the Lord: we acclaim you;

You are the eternal Father:

All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,

Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:

Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.

The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.

The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:

Father, of majesty unbounded,

your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,

and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the King of glory,

the eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free

you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death,

and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.

We believe that you will come, and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,

bought with the price of your own blood,

and bring us with your saints

to glory everlasting.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.

— Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day we bless you.

— We praise your name for ever.

Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.

— Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

Lord, show us your love and mercy,

— for we have put our trust in you.

In you, Lord, is our hope:

— And we shall never hope in vain.

“The Last Judgment”, by Fra Angelico c. 1450

Commentary on Te Deum

The Te Deum is one of those prayers that every Christian should know. In a relatively few lines it combines some of the spirit (and language) of the psalms of ancient Israel with a highly condensed Christian Creed, all in a form that has been in continual use for most of the history of the Church.

         While nowhere near as old as the psalms, some of which were written a thousand years before the time of Christ, the Te Deum is still very ancient, having been composed in the 3rd or 4th century.  And although it’s not one of them, the Te Deum shows a strong spiritual kinship with the psalms.  There are clear echoes of the venerable Hebrew hymns in the first stanza, in fact, which like Psalms 67 and 100 calls us to joyfully praise our Creator, and invites “all creation” to join in our worship.  

         The next three stanzas give us a kind of spiritual cosmology, specifying in descending sequence the three orders of creatures who participate in this praise.  First the Angels, the highest order of created beings, “who always see the face” of the Father in Heaven, as our Lord put it (Matthew 18:10). The last two lines of the stanza come directly from the Prophet Isaiah’s vision of Heaven, where he sees angels before God’s throne and “And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’” (Isaiah 6:3)

         Next we see the Church Triumphant.  These are holy men and women who went before us and are now experiencing the beatific vision: the Apostles, men chosen by Jesus Christ himself to be his companions and successors; the prophets, who were chosen as God’s representatives to his Chosen People; the Christian Martyrs who witnessed to their Lord with their lives.

         The fourth stanza brings us to the Church Militant, believers living today who unite themselves with the angels and saints in praising their Creator.  I’m not sure how many times I sang or recited this prayer before it really struck me that I wasn’t praying on my own, I was joining all the Hosts of Heaven through eternity in their endless Liturgy of Praise.  It’s an exhilarating realization, but humbling at the same time.

         At this point the prayer begins to turn our attention to the God whom we are all worshiping. Lines 13 through 24 bring us through a brief but beautifully comprehensive recap of the main points of Christian doctrine.  It reads something like a concentrated version of the Nicene Creed:

  • Lines 14-16 name the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
  • Lines 17-20 identify Christ as “King” and “Eternal Son of the Father”, but also refer to his mission of salvation and his Incarnation as Man
  • Lines 21-24 succinctly present the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the opening of Heaven, and the Second Coming

Lines 23-28, which seem to have originally closed the prayer, include a call for God’s assistance, a reminder of his sacrifice for our salvation, and a prayerful request that we might join our holy forebears before His throne.

         The final section of the Te Deum consists of a series of petitions that were added at some point over the centuries, and have long since become a permanent part of the prayer. These appear to have been draw from the language of the psalms.  Alternating praise with calls for His help and mercy, they bring the prayer to a fitting close.

         I have always appreciated the way the Te Deum does so much so succinctly. In just a few lines we are reminded of the sweep of Salvation History, the Communion of Saints, the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Mission of Jesus Christ from Bethlehem to the New Jerusalem, and all in the form of a joyful song of praise to our God.

         But that’s not all.  For many centuries Christians would sing the Te Deum as a song of celebration and thanks to God.  This was true not only after events of clearly religious significance, such as the Christian victory over the Muslim Turks in the Battle of Lepanto in 1572, but on the occasion of more worldly triumphs as well, in recognition that all good things are a gift from God.  For instance, the English King Henry V is reputed to have ordered his army to sing the hymn after their victory over the French at Agincourt in 1415, an event William Shakespeare includes in his play Henry V:

KING HENRY V:

Come, go we in procession to the village.

And be it death proclaimed through our host

To boast of this or take the praise from God

Which is his only.

FLUELLEN:

Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, to tell

how many is killed?

KING HENRY V:

Yes, captain; but with this acknowledgement,

That God fought for us.

FLUELLEN:

Yes, my conscience, he did us great good.

KING HENRY V:

Do we all holy rites;

Let there be sung ‘Non nobis’ and ‘Te Deum;’The dead with charity enclosed in clay . . . (Henry V, Act IV, sc. 8)

The Te Deum, then, like the Psalms, is a concrete connection to the experiences of our predecessors, in this case in a specifically Christian context.

From Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 film version of Henry V

iacobusm Lent and Easter

Mascagni’s Easter Hymn and The Regina Coeli (Music for Easter Monday)

(Feature image above: “The Virgin Mary”, detail from the Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan van Eyck c. 1430) 

   We have seen before that some well-known sacred music settings often start life as secular songs.  That was the case with “O Sacred Head Surrounded,” our Music Monday selection last week.  The two most famous musical accompaniments to the Ave Maria, the tune by Schubert and the setting adapted by the composer Gounod from an earlier piece by J.S. Bach (“The Bach/Gounod Ave Maria”) were both also created for secular lyrics.  

     Today’s selection is a little different.  The soaring melody was composed explicitly for these words celebrating the Resurrection of Christ at Easter:

Let us sing
That Our Lord is not dead,
And in glory
Has opened the tomb!
Let sing praise
That our Lord is risen
And today is gone up
Into the glory of Heaven!

Inneggiamo, il Signor non è morto.
Ei fulgente ha dischiuso l’avel,
Inneggiamo al Signore risorto
Oggi asceso alla gloria del Ciel!


     This magnificent piece is a little like the Treasure Hidden in a Field from Jesus’ parable (see Matthew 13:44).  Pietro Mascagni composed it as part of his opera Cavalleria Rusticana,  a turgid account of betrayal, jealousy, and murder.  At one point in the drama, however, the inhabitants of the little Sicilian village where these unsavory events unfold sing this beautiful hymn in the village square while the choir inside the church intones the traditional Catholic prayer, Regina Coeli, Laetare (“Queen of Heaven, Rejoice”).  It’s an unexpected reminder that grace breaks through even in the ugliest of circumstances.

     Regarding the Regina Coeli, a prayer traditionally associated with the Easter season, I have more information below the video clip.

The prayer Regina Coeli, Laetare is of ancient origin.  Our oldest record of it comes from the twelfth century, but the website ourcatholicprayers.com tells us:

According to The Golden Legend, a famous 13th century work about the saints, Pope St. Gregory the Great heard angels singing the first three verses from the Regina Coeli during a procession in the 6th century and was inspired to add the fourth line “Ora pro nobis deum” (“pray for to us to God” in Latin). Although this story is itself considered to be a legend, it is, as Father Herbert Thurston once put it in his book Familiar Prayers, “inseparably associated with the Regina Coeli.”

We pray this prayer in place of the Angelus during the season of Easter, at which time it also serves as the the Marian Antiphon at the end of Compline (Night Prayer). I have posted the prayer it in both English and Latin below:

English:

Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.

The Son whom you merited to bear, alleluia.

Has risen, as He said, alleluia.

Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.

R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray.O God, who through the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ gave rejoicing to the world, grant, we pray, that through his Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joy of everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Latin:

Regina cæli, lætare, alleluia:

Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,

Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,

Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

 Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus.

     Deus, qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
     mundum lætificare dignatus es:
     præsta, quæsumus, ut per eius Genitricem Virginem Mariam,
     perpetuæ capiamus gaudia vitæ.
     Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.