Tuesday, December 7, 2010

St. Cecilia: Dominican Rite Solemn Mass, Portland OR

I am pleased to present to our readers images of the Dominican Rite Solemn Mass, celebrated at Holy Rosary Church on the Feast of St. Cecilia, November 22, 2010, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the dedication of the church's Baroque Tracker Pipe Organ built by Richard Bond Organ Builders. The celebrant was the pastor, Rev. Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P., and the preacher was V. Rev. Gerald Albert Buckley, O.P., prior of Holy Rosary.

The Mass was the Missa Brevis of Zoltan Kodaly, sung by Cantores in Ecclesia. James O'Donnell, Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey, was at the organ.
The deacon was Father Eric Michael Andersen, Parish Administrator of St. Francis' Parish in Roy, Oregon, the subdeacon (as you know) was Mr. Jesson Mata, installed acolyte and lector. The crucifer was Mr. Thomas Setz; thurifer, Mr. Christopher Schmidgall; senior acolyte, Mr. Erin Staub; and junior acolyte, Mr. Harvey Fletcher.

Holy Rosary Parish is in the care of the Dominican Friars of the Western Dominican Province and the traditional Dominican Rite is celebrated regularly there both in the Sung and Low Mass forms. The next celebration will be tomorrow, December 7, at 7:30 p.m. a Dominican Rite Missa Cantata for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. For more information, visit the parish website.

In this first picture we see the three ministers and the acolytes have arrived in the sanctuary, the prior is visible in choro. The ministers wear apparalled amices over their capuces (hoods) that match the apparalled albs. These will be more visible later.


The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar: the candle-bearing acolytes have turned inward for the recitation of the Confiteor.


The priest and deacon have here ascended to the altar. The priest is reciting quietly the prayer Actiones nostras, while the deacon places the Missal on the stand.



The subdeacon here sings the Epistle, facing the altar.


The deacon sings the Gospel facing liturgical north. He is assisted by the subdeacon and the thurifer. According to Dominican practice on high feasts the Crucifer has preceded the candle-bears in the Gospel Procession and now stands behind the lectern. The painting in the Baptismal Font alcove shows the baptism of St. Dominic in Calaruega, Spain.


The Very Reverend Prior Fr. Gerald Albert Buckley, O.P. in the pulpit, about to begin his homily.

The ministers have returned from their positions on the Gospel side, where the priest has quietly read the Creed. They just about to genuflect for the Homo factus est, as you can see from the priest's posture. You can also see the veiled chalice on top of the humeral veil on the Epistle side.


The deacon and subdeacon have lined up behind the priest at the end of the Offertory.

Finally, a last photo from the side. Fr. Anthony has just blessed himself with the paten during the silent Embolism after the Pater Noster, and he is placing it aside.


My thanks to the parishioners who supplied these photos. I wish everyone a joyful feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

2011 Calendar for Dominican Rite Available

I am happy to announce that the Dominica Rite Liturgical Calendar for 2011 is now available on the left side bar or at this link. This calendar reflects the norms and feasts assigned in 1962 and is thus compatible with the usage of the Extraordinary Form Rome Rite according to the provisions of Summorum Pontificum.

To this calendar, I have also added the feasts of all Dominican saints canonized since 1962, on their original days, if they were blessed in 1962, or, if they were beatified and canonized after 1962, on the day assigned in the new calendar. Rank is assigned on the principle that a new saint is normally celebrated with as a third class feast. Feasts particular to the United States in 1962 are included in brackets; an appendix lists local feasts as they were in 1962 for those dioceses where the Western Dominican Province currently has houses.

I ask readers who find any errors in this calendar to note them in the comment box or to send me an email.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Use of the Capuce at Office in Light of Dominican Tradition

I have recently been asked about what the Dominican tradition is for raising and lowering the capuce (hood) at the Divine Office. I previously posted on this but I think that it would be more convenient to represent my conclusions. Especially note-worthy is the traditional rule on not lowering the capuce when one makes the "bow to the knees" (incinatio ad genua).

Those interested in the rules for raising and lowering the capuce in the traditional Dominican Rite may find them in nn. 730-740 of the Caeremoniale iuxta Ritum S. Ordinis Praedicatorum of 1869 (the last ceremonial of the order); an English version of these rubrics was published by the Eastern Province as Rubric Pamplet I: Choir in 1907. Both books are available at Dominican Liturgy on the left sidebar in PDF format for download. To your right you can see friars with their capuces raised during a vestition with the habit in the Western Dominican Province

I have already done a post on the pre-Vatican-II reform rubrics. In 1963 those traditional rubrics were suppressed, and the capuce was raised only when friars were seated listening to readings. Even this practice fell out of use by the time the Order adopted the new Roman Liturgy of the Hours in 1972. Although occasionally, especially in cold weather, or when meditating, individual friars occasionally put up their hoods in choir even today.

Assuming there might be a desire to revive use of the capuce in choir, here are my suggestions as to how this would be done in continuity with the older practice.

1) The capuce would be raised and kept up at Office following the Gloria Patri and alleluia at the beginning of each hour. In the traditional rubrics, the bow at this Gloria Patri was profound, which meant the capuce was down until it was over. The following would be exceptions to this rule:

a) The capuce would be raised after the verse "Lord, open my lips" and its response before the Invitatory of the first Office of the day. This verse and response used to be followed by a Gloria Patri, and the capuce was not raised until it was over. As the Invitatory Antiphon now follows immediately, one would raise the capuce after the response to the verse.

b) At Compline, the capuce would be down until the hymn. The verse, response, and Gloria Patri at Compline are today followed by the Examination of Conscience, which the Dominican Proper of 1983 directs to be said kneeling (not bowed as in the old rite) or even prostrate on the forms. As the old rubrics required that those kneeling or prostrate lower the capuce, it would be left down for the Examination of Conscience. The older rubrics required that the capuce be lowered for the Nunc Dimittis antiphon, the Collect, and then remain down for the Salve Regina and O Lumen processions, so the capuce remain down for the rest of Compline after the short reading.

2. Once it is raised the capuce is not lowered for the Gloria to the Father after the psalms or during the Short Responsory. That bow was traditionally a bow to the knees, not a profound bow (to the toes) as at the beginning of the Office. There may have been a Roman practice of uncovering for the Gloria Patri, but this was not the Dominican use.

3. At Lauds and Vespers, the capuce would be lowered at the antiphon of the Gospel Canticle. This was the traditional rubric. The capuce would remain down for the rest of those Offices. This follows the old rubrics, which required that it be lowered for the Preces when these were said, as well as for collects; so the capuce would remain down during the modern Intercessions and Our Father, and for the Collect and dismissal.

4. At the Little or Day Hours, the capuce would be lowered for the Collect and Benedicamus Domino. The same practice would be followed at Office of Readings, should it be separated from Laudes.

5. Readers at Office would, as was traditional, lower the capuce while reading. Should, for some reason (e.g. a "Protracted Vigil") the Gospel is read at Office, all would uncover their heads along with the reader.

6. It was the practice in the old rubrics not to cover the head during devotions and traditional prayers after or before the Office. So if the Sacra Convivium is said before or the Angelus after, the capuce would be left down.

7. Finally, although it was the Dominican practice to make a profound bow in Office at the names of Jesus, Mary, and Dominic, the capuce was not lowered for those bows at Office. I mention this because of the secular practice of tipping the biretta at the Holy Names. I see no reason that we should adopt this Roman rubric, which gets messy with a capuce. Something might be said for restoring the profound bow at the Holy Names, especially during the Salve Regina and O Lumen processions--custom still preserved those bows when I was at the Western Dominican House of Studies in Oakland CA during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

These are, of course, merely suggestions. As no rubrics on the capuce exist in the modern (1982 and 1996) editions of the Dominican Propers, houses are, of course, free to establish their own customs.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

All Souls Dominican Requiem at Holy Rosary Chruch, Portland OR

We have the pleasure of presenting a series of excellent images of the Missa Cantata Dominican Rite Requiem Mass celebrated at Holy Rosary Church, Portland, Oregon, on the occasion of this last All Souls day. The celebrant was the pastor, Fr. Anthony Patalano, O.P., a priest of the Western Dominican Province. The music was provided by Cantores in Ecclesia, who regularly sing at Masses in the parish.

The first image shows the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar. Father has bowed to make his Confiteor and the two servers (holding their candles) have turned inward to face him. Notice the unbleached candles on the altar, in the processional candlesticks, and around the catafalque.


In this next image we see the priest and servers, who have swung out to the Epistle side of the altar for the reading of the Officium (called the Introit in the Roman Rite) and the Kyrie. This swing would include the deacon and subdeacon if this were a Solemn Mass. This movement of the ministers is among the most famous elements of our Dominican Rite. After this, the priest will return to the center, turn and greet the people with Dominus vobiscum and then return to the book to sing the Collect. He will then read the Epistle, which may be sung by a cleric if one is available.


Here Fr. Patalano has come to the Gospel side to sing the Gospel, the servers having brought their candles in the brief procession. There is no censer-bearer as incense is not used at the Requiem Mass.


The servers wash father's hands during the Offertory. The verse "Qui retribuam Domino pro omnibus quod tribuat mihi." is omitted during Requiem Masses, otherwise the Dominican Offertory with a single oblation of the elements is unchanged.


Father has just finished the Preface and is reading the Sanctus quietly. As you can see the servers are lighting (or on the left have lighted) the Sanctus Candles. These will burn until the Communion.


The Mass completed, father has come down to perform the "Absolution of the Dead" at the catafalque, while the choir sings the chant of the Libera. You will notice that father has exchanged his chasuble for the cope.

Here incense is being prepared for use during the singing of the Libera, when it is traditional to incense the catafalque and then sprinkle it with holy water.


Incensing the catafalque:


The Libera and its prayers completed, the ministers depart to the sacristy.


May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

13th-Century Stabat: Text and Music

Through the kindness of one of our readers who converted the PDFs of this music into JPGs I can now post this newly discovered 13th-Century Sequence version of the Stabat Mater for viewing by readers. The PDFs may still be downloaded here.

I am aware that these images are a bit blurry; if you click on them or download them, you will get a clearer image. I had hoped to have an audio file of this ready today, but this was not humanly possible. In any case, may God grant you all a blessed feastday.



Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Dominican Stabat Mater (XIII century)


As the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is approaching on September 15, I thought it would be suitable to present to our readers a transcription of the text and music of the thirteenth-century version of the Stabat Mater, recently discovered by Cesarini Ruini in a manuscript that once belonged to a convent of Dominican Nuns in Bologna, Italy, and on which I have recently posted. A miniature of the Bologna nuns, from their manuscript, decorates this post.

I have transcribed the manuscript version of this music and made it available here. Unfortunately I cannot post it as an image on the blog because I have been unable to create a jpeg from the pdf file. Those interested can download a copy. I have taken the liberty of transposing the music to match the do-clef which would be more common today. The manuscript used a fa-clef in unusual positions to avoid the use of the b-flat, the usual Dominican medieval practice. It seemed better to avoid this oddity, which has not been used in Dominican music books since 1890.

In the current Liturgy of the Hours, the Stabat is prescribed for us, divided into three parts, as the Office hymns of that day. Use as a hymn was the most common medieval use. It is also preserved, in its more common modern liturgical use, as the sequence of the feast.

The discovery of this manuscript, as explained in the article available here (in Italian), shows, by the date that the traditional ascription of authorship to Jacopone of Todi can no longer be sustained. The date, however, leaves open the possibility, often mentioned, that it is the work of Pope Innocent III.

This new version is interesting for a number of reasons. First, this is the earliest use of the text as a sequence. Until the discovery of this version, it was only known as a hymn until the late middle ages. This manuscript shows that the earliest known use of the text as a sequence was among Italian Dominican nuns in the late 1200s.

Next, the text includes not only a number of verbal variants, but also includes two verses absent from the commonly received version. Those who wish to examine these can download my transcription and compare the text to the received version here.

Even more interesting is the music. As pointed out to me by the nuns of Summit NJ, this ancient sequence borrows, with the exception of one stanza melody (cf. verses 19 and 20), the melodies of the Sequence of St. Dominic in the Dominican Rite. There are a number of minor musical variants as well. Those interested might want to compare the music to that found in the Dominican Gradual for the Mass of St. Dominic.

Perhaps some Dominicans (and non-Dominicans) may want to make use of the ancient version on the up-coming celebration of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Mass at the Tomb of St. Dominic

This video has been brought to my attention. It is a nice view of Mass in the Traditional Roman Rite being celebrated at the Tomb of St. Dominic in Bologna. The celebrant is Fr. Vincenzo Nuara, O.P., of the Commission Ecclesia Dei.



The Mass was celebrated on 19 June 2010 and was a Votive Mass of Our Lady on Saturday, in memory of Fr. Thomas Tyn, O.P., of the Lombard Dominican Province, on the 20th anniversary of his death. I knew Fr. Thomas well, as I lived with him in Bologna for almost two years.

Monday, August 30, 2010

St. Albert's Conventual Low Mass, ca. 1954

This classic photograph was supplied by Fr. Hilary John Martin, O.P. It shows him celebrating the Conventual Low Mass during Lent, probably in 1956. Those familiar with the priory chapel of the Western Dominican Province House of Studies, St. Albert the Great Priory, will immediately recognize the high altar.


There are a couple of things worth noting in this photo. First, obviously, it is Passiontide since the crucifix and statues of the reredos are veiled. Next, this is not one of the "Private Masses" said by the priests of the house each day. If it were, the server would have been wearing his cappa. As the server (whose identity is lost) is wearing a surplice (the proper vesting on a lower rank feast or ferial) not a cappa, this is a community Mass. It was the custom, in the Order in those days that, in addition to the private Masses, that there be two conventual Masses a day. A Low Mass after Prime where the brothers would receive Holy Communion, and the sung Solemn Mass, in the later morning, where only the celebrant (and lay people present) received. The rest of the friars, priests and brothers, sang that Mass.

You will also note that no antependium and carpet are used, a common practice in Lent and Passiontide. The lighted candles are the middle ones of the large six. Only two are lighted as it is a ferial; on a 2d-class feast, two would have been lighted; on a 1st-class solemnity, all three. The candles picked for lighting would naturally be those which were longest, and you can notice that the ones lighted are, indeed, the tallest.

On the Epistle side you can see the lighted Sanctus Candle, which shows that the Sanctus is over. And you can see that Fr. Hilary's arms are extended beyond his shoulder (moderately, as the rubrics require) and so this is immediately after the Consecration. He will return to the posture with the hands just visible above his shoulders after bowing for the prayer Supplices te rogamus. You can also see the triple candlestick just visible to the left of the Sanctus Candle. The six candles on the two of these (one on each side of the altar) would all be lighted as Sanctus Candles on solemnities. Four total (two each side) is the rule for 2d class feasts. Finally, you can see one of the twelve dedication candles of the chapel on the wall. These are lighted only on the anniversary of the dedication.

My thanks to Fr. Hilary for passing on this photo.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Summer Sounds at Anchorage Cathedral

Readers may be interested in this marvelous video of the Summer Sounds music camp for kids at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage AK. The cathedral is staffed by friars of the Western Dominican Province (previously featured for their Dominican Rite Mass).



Congratulations to Gary Marks, the music director of the cathedral and to the friars of the Anchorage community!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Thirteenth-Century Dominican Stabat Mater Found

It has been called to my attention that an important article has been published, announcing the discovery of the famous Stabat Mater used as a sequence in the Gradual produced by a convent of Dominican nuns in Bologna in the later thirteenth century. This is by far the earliest known example of this hymn used as a sequence rather than as a devotional hymn. It has been commonly believed that the hymn only became used as a sequence in the late middle ages. It is also interesting that the melody provided matches neither the received Roman one nor that found in the printed Dominican books. This text is found in Bologna: Museo Civico Medievale MS 518, fo. 200v-04r.

The news was published in Cesarino Ruini, "Un antico versione dello Stabat Mater in un graduale delle Domenicane bolognesi," Deo è lo scrivano ch’el canto à ensegnato: Segni e simboli nella musica al tempo di Iacopone, Atti del Convegno internazionale, Collazzone, 7-8 luglio 2006, ed. Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi and Stefania Vitale, Philomusica On-line, 9, no. 3 (2010). Those who would like the full text of the chant may find it at the end of this article.

For those who do not wish to read the article in Italian, here is the English summary:

The discovery of a Stabat Mater version set to music as a sequence in a late 13th-century Gradual from a Bolognese Dominican nunnery, makes it possible to advance new hypotheses about the origins and history of this renowned text. Untilnow there was no evidence that it was used as a sequence before the mid 15th century. The analysis of the piece highlights previously unidentified peculiarities regarding the historical and the liturgico-musical context in which it was used, whilst the comparison with the wealth of textual variants offered by its complex tradition points to concordances with later sources, mainly originating in Veneto and Emilia. As one of the earliest witnesses of this popular composition (there is only one other contemporary version, also from Bologna, but it is unnotated) there can be no doubt about its importance for textual criticism, and, inter alia, it does not favour the disputable paternity of Iacopone da Todi.

Here is the image of the manuscript with the beginning of the chant.



Careful readers will not that there are textual variants in this version as well. The Dominican Rite used by the friars added the Stabat Mater as a sequence on the feast of our Lady of Sorrows only in the 15th Century, conforming the rite to the Roman, which had already added it. But the melody is not that of the thirteenth-century version. Here it is for comparison:



And here for additional comparison is the first verse with the melody as found in the 1961 Roman Gradual:


I would hope that some attempt will be made to use this chant.

I thank Bro. Innocent Smith, O.P., for calling this article to my attention.

Monday, July 12, 2010

100,000 Visits to Dominican Liturgy


Today, at about 6:30 this evening (PDT), the 100,000th visit to Dominican Liturgy was recorded by the site's visit counter. This means we have averaged over 130 visits a day since Dominican Liturgy was founded in 2008.

I am pleased that our selection of downloadable Dominican Rite texts and posts on the Rite have generated this kind of response. Although most of my "blog energy" recently has been dedicated to the compilation and editing of the new Antiphonal for the Liturgy of the Hours in Dominican Chant (see left side bar), I hope to do more historical and photo posts in the near future.

Again, thanks to our readers for your support!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Chant Chant at Thomistic Conference

I t may interest our readers to know that music extracted Vol. 3: Tempus per Annum I of the Antiphonarium pro Liturgia Horarum iuxta Usum Ordinis Praedicatorum available on the left side bar of Dominican Liturgy, is being used for the singing of the entire office during the Thomistic Institute Meeting Dominicans and the Challenge of Thomism in Warsaw Poland, July 1-5, 2010.

Six members of my Western Dominican Province are attending this conference; and Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., our blog editor, was asked to provide the music program. A copy of this music program may be downloaded here. Links to download recordings of the papers are available at the confrernce website.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Sacramental Forms in the Dominican Rite

I. The Sacrament of Penance (Confession)

I recently posted on the left sidebar links to the Post-Vatican-II publications of the Dominican Order allowing adoption of various Dominican elements for use with the Rites of the reformed sacraments. I have been asked by friars for some explanation of forms for the sacraments where the traditional Dominican Rite had its own particular forms. This might be of topical interest in the wake of Summorum Pontificum.

The Dominican Rite is a monastic rite and, as such, does not have forms for Baptism, Confirmation, Orders, or Matrimony. Dominican friars, like other religious, are assumed to be adults, and they are celibates, so there is no need for Baptism, Confirmation, or Matrimony. When they become bishops they canonically cease to be members of the Order, so Dominican bishops use the Roman rituals. If a friar is serving in a parish or other place where baptisms are performed, marriages witnessed, or an emergency Confirmation of an infant must be done, they would use the Roman rituals. We do have a form of the Missa Pro Sponsis in our missals, but its readings and collects are borrowed from the Roman Rite and it is a post-Tridentine addition. It is used with the customary forms for marriage.

Aside from the Mass, two sacraments were, and are, regularly performed in monasteries: Penance (Confession) and Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick). So the Dominican Rite has its own forms for those sacraments and these were also used in pastoral service to non-Dominicans. Both, like the Dominican Mass, represent ritual practice of the thirteenth century rather than the fifteenth- century usages codified in the Roman Rite after the Council of Trent.

Penance According to the Dominican Rite

The major external difference between the Roman and Dominican rites of Penance is in vesture. Roman priests traditionally heard confessions in cassock and surplice wearing a purple stole. Dominicans heard (and may still hear) confessions wearing the habit (which is white) and the cappa (the black cape), without a stole. The traditional explanation of the absence of the stole is that the scapular (a white apron-like part of the habit) is considered a stole. I think this story unlikely. The lack of church vestments in our rite is probably a vestige of the early medieval practice of using vestments only during administration of Public Penance on Holy Thursday. "Private" sacramental penance was not usually administered with external formalities at the time of the foundation of the Order. The black cappa was penitential enough.

The formula of Dominican Rite Penance is different in text and form from that of the traditional Roman Rite. As not all readers may be familiar with the older Roman form, I will describe it. In the modern period, both rites began with the penitent confessing his or her sins and then proceeded to the absolutions.

The Roman "Common Absolution" began with an invocation of God's mercy (Misereatur tui) similar to the priest's prayer in the modern Penitential Rite at Mass. He then raised his right hand and prayed a two-part absolution prayer. The first part invoked God's pardon, absolution, and remission of sins in the third person; the second part, the formal absolution, is in first person and first absolved the penitent from excommunication, suspension (if in orders), and interdict, and then from sins with a single Sign of the Cross. The priest then added the prayer Passio Domini Nostri, which remains an option in the new Rite of Reconciliation.

In the Dominican form, the priest began by absolving the penitent from excommunication, suspension (if a cleric), and interdict, explicitly stating that this restored the penitent to the communion of the faithful. Putting this first reflects the ancient practice that only those in full communion can pray with the faithful or receive ecclesiastical sacraments and rites. So it begins the rite as a whole. The Dominican priest then recited the Misereatur in a form identical to that used during the Dominican Prayers at the Foot of the Altar.

In thirteenth-century practice, this Misereatur prayer probably followed a ritual now absent from the rite. It was very common for priests to help penitents make confession by using a Formula Confessionis in question and answer form: "Did you take the Lord's name in vain?" "Did you commit adultery" etc. Priests can still do this today, if the penitent seems to have trouble identifying sins; and it is often used when a penitent makes a general confession. What today is relatively uncommon, seems, from my research, to have been nearly universal in the 1200s. After confessing their sins, penitents said a Confiteor (or some other formula of contrition) to which the priest added the Misereatur prayer, which normally followed it, as at Mass.

The priest then pronounced the Absolution. The Dominican form, in comparison to the Roman, because it lacks the absolution from censures, focuses more directly on sins and judgment. This is a remarkable prayer and incorporates not only the typical thirteenth-century focus on God's mercy, but also an explicitly eschatological dimension. Here is my translation of the Dominican formula:

May Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, through his most gracious mercy, absolve you; and by his authority, through which I act, I absolve you of all your sins, so that you be absolved both here and before the tribunal of Our Lord, the same Jesus Christ, and so that you might have eternal life and live forever. In the name of the Father + and of the Son + and of the Holy + Spirit. Amen.

Here, for comparison, is the parallel prayer in the Roman Ritual:

May Our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you, and by his authority I absolve you from every bond of excommunication, suspension, and interdict, to the extent of my power and your need. Finally I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Note also the triple blessing in the Dominican form, something used in the Roman rite of Penance only by bishops. The Dominican, like the Roman, then concluded with the prayer Passio, which in the Dominican form mentions St. Dominic along with the Virgin, intentions as well as actions, and concludes with a final blessing in the name of the Trinity. Both the Dominican and Roman rituals provided shortened versions for use when penitents were many and a brief absolution for emergencies.

By analogy, in my opinion, as the use by Roman priests of older sacraments is now permitted for pastoral need, this form of absolution might be used by Dominican priests.


Those interested in seeing the whole formula in the original Latin may find it on the sidebar of this blog, "Dominican Liturgy," to the left of this post under "Domincan Rite Resources."


II. Viaticum: Communion of the Dying


As explained earlier, the rituals for the Sacraments in the Dominican Rite, our Rite is a monastic rite and presupposes the context of a religious house (which is commonly referred to by Dominicans as a "convent" even when it is a house of men) for the celebration of the sacraments. In the case of Confession and Mass, there is nothing particularly "monastic" about the rituals that make them more difficult to perform in a parochial or extra-conventual context than their parallels in the Roman Rite. This is not the case for the Dominican rituals for Viaticum and for Extreme Unction, what is called in the new Roman rite the "Anointing of the Sick." These rituals in our Rite properly require the presence of a choir of the friars and a sizable group of ministers. As the rite includes processions and music, it is not surprising that it is found in the Processionarium, which collects music for processions and other rites that are not part of Mass or Office.

In their complexity these rituals reflect those of the Italian/Roman family of liturgical books that I examined in chapter 10 of my Cities of God: the Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325 (University Park PA: Penn State Univ. Press, 2005)--See link on left sidebar. Italian/Roman books of that period envision the presence of a choir and sometimes as many as seven priests. In contrast, however, the Ambrosian books of the period envision no music and could be used by a single priest. This rite also had only two anointings, not seven, just like the modern Roman rite for anointing the sick.

The evidence from saints' lives, chronicles, synodalia, and other sources suggests that in the high middle ages, most lay people did not receive Extreme Unction. The rites of dying focused on Confession and Viaticum. Anointing seems to have been in great part a ritual for religious and for clerics living in community. The development of the Tridentine form of the Roman ritual in the later middle ages, which dropped the music and complex ceremonies so that a single priest could perform it, finally made it available to the laity on a wide basis. The rites I will now explain were pretty much exclusively used with in the monastery. Dominican priests engaged in pastoral work with the laity in the modern period used the Roman Ritual, with its simplified rite, when attending the dying at home or in the hospital.

The term "Last Rites" refers to a complex of three separate rituals, Confession, Communion as Viaticum, and Anointing (or in the modern order: Confession, Anointing, and Viaticum). The old and new Roman rituals include a form for administering all three ceremonies in a single ceremony. This continuous rite was, and is, commonly used. The Dominican "Last Rites," as they are preserved in our Processionale, appear as separate ceremonies. It is not assumed that they will take place in a single event. I have already discussed the Dominican form of Penance, the first rite of the "Last Rites." A sick friar or nun would have confessed, as did the laity, in a private ceremony using the forms I have previously described. When it appeared that the illness was terminal, but while the sick were still well enough to receive Communion, the next rite was final Communion (Viaticum).

When Viaticum was to be administered, the bell for Office was wrung in a special way to indicate that the brothers should assemble in the sacristy for the procession. The friars then went in procession to the tabernacle in this order: two acolytes in surplice carrying lighted processional candles, two friars without surplice holding a lantern and a bell, a friar with the holy water, a friar with cruets and lavabo bowel, friars of the community, friars with candles to escort the sacrament, umbrella or canopy bearer(s), the prior (or, if absent, a senior priest) wearing surplice with stole and humeral veil. All knelt. The prior removed the ciborium or pyx and covered it with his humeral veil. The umbrella or canopy was arranged over him and the candle-bearers around him. The procession then went to the sick room, singing the Gradual Psalms in tono directo.

On arrival at the sick room, the prior said Pax huic domui, and, after the response, intoned the Asperges, which was sung by the friars as he sprinkled the room. This ended, the verses and collect of this rite were sung. The prior then urged the sick friar to be reconciled to any present whom he had offended and to forgive any who had offended him. This done, the sick friar then recited the Confiteor in the Dominican form, with the prior pronouncing the Misereator and Absolutionem. The formula Ecce Angus Dei and Domine non sum dignus was not used as it was not a Dominican practice, although it was added to our Communion Rite at Mass in 1958, one of a number of Romanizations during the 1950s. It was not added to the Viaticum rite.

The prior then presented the Host to the sick friar and asked him: Credis quod hic sit Christus Salvátor Mundi? He responded: Credo. The prior then gave him Communion using the Dominican Viaticum formula: Corpus Dómini nostri Iesu Christi custódiat te, et perdúcat ad vitam ætérnam. The friar with the cruets washed the prior's fingers and the ablution was given to the sick friar to consume. The prior sang the collect Exaudi nos. The community then returned in procession to the sacristy, with umbrella or canopy folded, escort candles extinguished and no bell-ringing (unless there were additional Hosts to return to the tabernacle first).

The same ceremony was used in houses of nuns, with the priest chaplain as the celebrant. In contrast, ordinary Communion of the Sick, even in the monastery, used a much simpler form of the rite. A single priest came with the host preceded by a one acolyte, reciting (not singing) alternately the psalm Miserere. The question Credis was omitted and the normal Communion formula of our Rite (which omits the phrase et perducat from the Viaticum formula) was used.

Later, when the sickness became critical, it was time for Extreme Unction.

III. Extreme Unction: Anointing of the Dying

Like the Rite of Viaticum, the ritual of Extreme Unction in the Dominican Rite begins with the assembly of the community in the sacristy for the procession to the room where the sick friar is dying. The procession consists of the Holy Water bearer, two candle-bearing acolytes in surplice, a lantern bearer and a friar with a hand-cross, then comes the sacristan with the Oleum Infirmorum and a case containing six wool or cotton balls or six strips of linen. Last comes the celebrant followed by the community in order of seniority.

At the sick room the celebrant gives the greeting and sprinkles Holy Water during the singing of the Asperges, as for Viaticum. This complete, he intones the collect Domine Deus, qui per Apostolum tuum Iacobum. This prayer is also found in the old Roman ritual of Extreme Unction (with minor differences of phrasing), but in that rite it follows the Pater Noster after the anointings. As the prayer summarizes the institution of the rite in the Epistle of James, it serves as a scriptural warrant for the rite about to be preformed. In an interesting parallel the Epistle passage itself is now used at this point in the modern Roman ritual.

As in Viaticum, the dying friar asks and gives pardon for offenses given or received from community members. He then recites the Confiteor to which the celebrant gives the usual absolutions. The celebrant then offers the dying friar the Cross to kiss. This is a ceremony absent from the Tridentine Roman form, although nearly universal in the high middle ages––it was probably also in the Roman ceremony before its simplification. After the veneration of the Cross, the celebrant intones the antiphon: Intret orátio mea in conspéctu tuo: inclína aurem tuam ad preces nostras, Dómine. The friars of the convent chant the Seven Penitential Psalms. The anointing itself is performed during the chanting of these psalms.

The Dominican, like the old Roman, practice, consists of seven anointings: first the five senses, then the hands and feet (which, although requiring a anointing on both extremities, were considered single anointings for formula purposes). As in the Roman ritual, priests are anoninted on the back of the hands, others on the palms. This is so as not to "repeat" the anointing on the palms that priests receive at ordination. As the celebrant finishes each anointing, an appointed friar uses a different one of the cotton balls or linen strips to clean away the Holy Oil. They will be burned after the rite and the ashes put down the sacrarium in the sacristy, practice also part of the old Roman rite.

When the celebrant has finished, the sacristan washes his hands. The formulas used during for the Dominican anointings parallel the Roman ones, differing only in minor vocabulary choices or word order. In only one case is there a significant difference of meaning: the Dominican anointing of the mouth mentions the sin of taste (gustum) but not of that of speech (locutionem). This shorter form is probably the older one and focused, in parallel to the other formulas, on the corporal sense anointed alone. But the both sets of formula are so close that they certainly derive from a common ancestor.

When the community finished chanting the Penitential Psalms, the antiphon was sung again, and the Pater Noster was recited silently. After a series of verses and responses slightly shorter than the Roman use, the celebrant sings seven collects: Quaesumus Omnipotens Deus; Respice Domine; Deus qui facturae; Deus infirmitatis; Deus qui humano; Virtutum caelestium; and Domine sancte Pater. The Roman ritual has here only the three collects: Domine Deus (which opens the Dominican Rite ceremony); Respice Domine, and Domine Sancte Pater; all of which have minor verbal differences from the Dominican forms but clearly go back to a common source. The seventh collect finished, the priest imparts an absolution using a long prayer, absent from the Roman version, beginning Dominus Iesus Christus qui dixit discipulis suis. The community then leaves in procession to return to the sacristy. As with Viaticum, the same forms were used in convents of nuns when the priest chaplain administered Last Rites to a sister.

Those who know the old Roman ritual of Extreme Unction will notice that the Dominican form is shorter because it lacks a number of Roman elements: two of the three long Roman collects after the Asperges; the reading of Matthew 8: 5-10, 13; the Litany before the anointing; and the final blessing. In spite of these differences, both rites are clearly members of the same liturgical family and resemble and share prayers with the high medieval Italian / Roman forms of the rite I have studied. In practice, they differ most conspicuously in the absence of the Dominican chanted psalms and external formalities from the Roman. This difference, however, is late medieval. In the thirteenth century, Italian/Roman versions of the ceremony would still have assumed music and external formalities.

As I wrote earlier, a number of elements from the old Dominican rite of Extreme Unction, including the kissing of the Cross, were approved in the 1970s for use in the context of the new Roman Rite of Anointing of the Sick. We now have official Latin texts for the approved Dominican forms of the Roman Ritual for Anoiting and for Funerals. They can be downloaded on the left side bar of Dominican Liturgy. Only the Australian Province has produced English translations of the ceremonies. and they may be consulted at the Australian Province Website. They are not yet approved for use, but have been made available "for the sake of study."

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Historical Dominican Liturgical Colors

A discussion the proper color for tabernacle veils and antependia at Requiem Masses, moved me to do some investigation about Dominican practices. The result was something of a surprise, and nothing about it is found in Bonniwell's history of our Rite.

Since the edition of 1687 edition of the Dominican Missal produced under the direction of the Master of the Order Antonin Cloche, O.P., Dominican vestment colors have been identical to those of the Roman use. Before that date, however, the practice was different. Use of white, red, and green basically followed the modern Roman use, but there were interesting exceptions. On simplex feasts of confessors, where the Roman use was white, the celebrant had a choice between using yellow or green. This use of yellow for confessors is a well-known aspect of the Sarum Rite.

The use of green assimilates, at least in the time after Epiphany and Trinity, simplex feasts to the ferial. This is not surprising, as the Dominican Rite of Humbert (1256) and the middle ages resisted the early modern practice of introducing so many saints' days and raising them in so much rank as to erase the ferial office and even that of Sundays (as was generally the case before the Pius X calendar reform). Indeed, the number of feasts above simplex was very limited in the ancient Dominican liturgy, even Apostles were only semidoubles. Although I cannot find any rubric on it, I suspect that the use of the ferial color was also at least an option on feasts of three lessons. In the 1200s and 1300s confessor feasts with yellow vestments included, among others, Gregory the Great, Benedict, Ambrose, Bernard, and Francis. All were only simplex feasts. It is also interesting that the vestment for the "highest feasts" was to be "the best one," but "a violet vestment cannot be used on Easter, nor a white one on Pentecost, nor a red one on Christmas."

Another surprise is the following rubric in the 1868 Ceremonial that does seem to go back to Humbert: "Violet may be used in place of black." This odd phrase speaks to a thirteenth-century development underway in Humbert's time. Innocent III forty years earlier had spoken of the liturgical colors as only "white, red, green, and black." But he mentions that violet has come into use in certain places. This Dominican rubric seems to reflect that older practice of using black not only for Requiems, but also on all other penitential days. So the friars had the option of conforming to the local use of violet during Lent, Advent, and Ember Days, where this had happened, but the assumption was they were still using black on those days as Innocent had considered normal. In 1869, of course, this rubric would also have permitted violet in place of black at Requiems–a practice that seems to have existed even in the Roman Rite in some places up to that time. Lest there be any confusion as to what the current Dominican practice was, the Caeremoniale of 1869 explicitly states that since the promulgation of the Cloche Missal these old rubrics completely abrogated and not to be followed. That they had to say this causes me a bit of suspicion. Were some Dominicans still following them? Perhaps the nineteeth-century French yellow chasuble decorating this post belonged to some French Dominicans?

The question of the interchangeability of black and violet brings up the issue of what color the paraments would be at a Requiem Mass if the Blessed Sacrament were reserved on the altar. Here what the Caermoniale of 1869 says and does not say is very interesting. About the tabernacle veil we read the following: "The exterior of the tabernacle is to be decently covered by a canopy (conopaeum). The canopy is to be of cotton, woolen, or hemp cloth, and to be white in color or, better, matching the color of the office of the day." The form of this rubric (which is not in Humbert) suggests to me, at least, that the specification "cotton, wool, or hemp" (gossypio sive lana sive cannabe), instead of "silk" (serica), is quite ancient and that the use of material matching the vestments, which would have been in silk, is later. Notice there is nothing to exclude use of any color of the day, including black. And I was unable to find any rubric to forbid a black conopaeum.

So, as of 1869, there was no formal rule in the Dominican Order against use of black tabernacle veils or black antependia on an altar with a tabernacle. But I suspect this was not the practice because of a related rubric. This involves an altar on which there is on-going Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. In that case, the altar paraments are all to be white, "even if that does not match the color of the vestments for a Mass being celebrated at it." This, of course, concerns Mass in the Presence of the Sacrament Exposed. Again, however, nothing is said about violet or black when the Sacrament is not exposed. Nevertheless, although the rubrics are silent, the earlier specification that the conopaeum may always be white, and the association of the Blessed Sacrament with white here, suggests that perhaps the practice in 1869 might have been to use a white conopaeum at Masses using black vestments at an altar with a tabernacle. But finding out what was actually done in our priories will require much more work than I am ready to undertake right now.

As it is my understanding that the debate over use of black or violet antependia at altars with tabernacles in the Roman Rite was only resolved in the mid-twentieth century, I am not surprised about the lack of clarity in the 1869 Caeremoniale. In any case, I suspect in the last century at least, many Dominican parishes probably just followed whatever the local Roman practice was. The medieval rubrics for Dominican vestment color options seem to envision this kind of accommodation to local practice. And I can assure you that not doing something the "Roman Way" can generate unpleasant comments from those who attend Dominican Rite Masses and from those who see pictures of them. The pressure on Dominicans to follow the common practice, alien to our traditions as it might be, will always be great.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

New Dominican Liturgical Texts

Readers may now found on the left sidebar links for downloading the following Latin liturgical texts issued by the Liturgical Commission of the Dominican Order in 2006:

Ritus Professionis: the new rite for Dominican professions, vestition with the habit, etc.

Ordo Unctionis Infirmorum: the new rites for Dominican practice in administering Anointing of the Sick and pastoral care of the sick.

Ordo Exsequiarum: the new rites for Dominican funerals and prayers for the dead.

Draft translations into English may be found at the site of the Australian Dominican Province.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Solemn Requiem Mass for the Dead

Our readers have seen still photos of the Solemn High Dominican Rite Mass for the Dead at Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle last All Souls Day. We now have a very well done video with excerpts from the Mass and the chant of the Dies Irae:



If you liked this video and the Dominican Chant in it, check the new publication of the chants for Compline with the Dominican Rite chants approved for the Liturgy of the Hours, available here.

This Mass was celebrated by priests of the Western Dominican Province.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Medieval Salve Regina

After my posting about the availability of downloadable files for the Antiphonarium for the Liturgy of the Hours in Dominican chant, which I decorated with the page for the Salve Regina from the Poissy Antiphonal, a reader reminded me that the text in that manuscript does not match the version of the Salve Regina in use in the Dominican Order or in the Roman Church today. And I thought some comments on this might be of interest to readers since the Salve Regina is perhaps the most beloved chant of the Dominican Order and much loved by all Catholics.

To the right you can see the folio 935v of the Poissy Antiphonal. This manuscript is accessible on line at Latrobe University in Australia. This manuscript belonged to a convent of Dominican nuns in France. It was transcribed in the period 1335-1345 and is a "certified" Dominican Antiphonal. That means that it was not only written by the medieval Dominican method of painting the neumes using an authorized stencil, but that the music was sung through by two friars or sisters using the "new" book against two other friars or sisters using an older "certified" book. This made sure that all medieval Dominican chant books were absolutely identical. No other medieval chant books of any other musical tradition were so perfectly identical. I have reviewed this so that you can all be sure that this is music is exactly as the medieval Dominicans chanted it.

Even a non-paleographer can see that in the first line of the Salve of this manuscript the modern version's word "Mater" is absent. This is the original form of the Salve Regina, as found in all the medieval chant and manuscript traditions. The word "Mater" was only added in the sixteenth century. Those who know the polyphonic music of Orlande de Lassus (ca, 1532-1594) may have sung his setting of the Salve, where this word is missing. You will notice how smoothly the chant moves from "regina" to "misericordiae." The original form, very medieval in piety, was thus: "Hail Queen of Mercy."

At the right, we see the next page of the manuscript, folio 936r. Here you can see another place were the medieval version differs from both the modern Roman and the Dominican versions. The word "Virgo" is absent, and so the last line of the antiphon reads simply: O dulcis Maria. The immediate focus on the Holy Name is also very medieval. The alleluia, which has exactly the same chant as the version sung by modern Dominicans during Easter Time, follows. This addition of "Virgo" to the original chant of the Salve seems to have appeared in the thirteenth century, but, again, the Dominicans, typically traditional about chant and text, did not add it until much later. In fact, this manuscript, where as you can seen in faint addition on the previous page's left margin has "Mater" and the altered music added in a sixteenth-century hand, does not have any suggestion that "Virgo" should be added at this point. A comprehensive study of the manuscripts and early printed editions of the Dominican Salve would have to be done, but I suspect that the medieval version of the Dominican Salve did not receive these textual and musicial changes until the 1600s. Perhaps during the Romanizing reforms of 1604.

A PDF file with this medieval version of the Salve may be downloaded here. I would wonder if Dominican readers think that we should restore, at least for occasional use, the Salve as it was sung from the time of Humbert's standardization of the liturgy in 1254 until the Post-Reformation period, which was also the way that St. Thomas, St. Catherine, and St. Vincent Ferrer, and probably Our Holy Father Dominic actually sang it?

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Dominican Antiphonal Completed

The Antiphonarium pro Liturgia Horarum iuxta Usum Ordinis Praedicatorum, is now complete for the entire liturgical office of the year. The six PDF files of this music are available gratis for download on the left sidebar. Readers are reminded that these are large files (about 9 megabites, over a 1000 printed pages each). So be patient when downloading.

This antiphonal, created for singing the Divine Office in Gregorian chant according to the Dominican musical tradtion, has all the chants needed for Office of Readings (including the Invitatory Psalm), Lauds, the Midday Office (including Terce, Sext, and None), Vespers, and Compline.

The only chants lacking are the Prolix Responsories for the Office of Readings, although references to where to find these in the Dominican chant books are inserted, and these responsories are included for all days of Holy Week and the Triduum. According to Dominican tradition, preserved for use with the new office in the 1982 Proprium approved for the Order, many other Prolix Respsonsories are inlcuded for optional use at Vespers. The Dominican chants for the Lamentations and the prayer of Jeremiah, as well as the Litanic Prayers, are found in the section for Holy Week. Thus, that music of Tenebrae approved for use with the Liturgy of the Hours is complete. Compline may be downloaded in a separate file.

This project began three years ago. The music was transcribed from Dominican (available for download on the left sidebar) and Roman sources, and, in the case of the Dominican music, corrected from the Poissy Antiphonal, a "certified" fourteenth-century manuscipt. The chants have been sung and corrected by the cloistered Dominican Nuns of Marbury Alabama. As they continue to sing through the music, corrections will certainly be made in these files.

The page of the Poissy Antiphonal with the Salve Regina decorates this post.