Dominican Liturgy

Domincian Rite Misssa Cantata of St. Thomas Aquinas at St. Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula CA

2012-02-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to make available this video of the Dominican Rite Missa Cantata sung at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula CA by the college chaplain, Fr. Paul Raftery, O.P. It was a First-Class Votive Mass sung on the occasion of the College's Patronal Feast (New Calendar) on January 28, 2012.

The servers are to be complemented on their mastery of complex rubrics and movements of the rite. Fr. Paul is a member of the Western Dominican Province House of Studies. The video was filmed by Mr. Joe Haggard and shows the entire Mass.

Candlemas in the Dominican Rite

2012-01-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

As Thursday is Candlemas, called in the traditional Dominican Rite the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I though that it might be a suitable time to post something about the rituals attached to this feast in the Dominican Rite. These rites are the same in both the 1933 and 1965 Dominican Rite Missals and seem to go back virtually unchanged to the thirteenth century.

After Terce on the feast, the prior, in cope, accompanied by the deacon and subdeacon in dalmatics, who carry the missal and the processional, enter the choir preceded by the acolytes in albs carrying lighted processional candles. If the feast falls on Sunday, the priest performs the Asperges, if not he proceeds directly to the blessing. Standing before the step to the sanctuary, where the sacristan has placed the candles to be blessed slightly to the prior's right as he faces the altar, he sings the blessing in a moderate voice, using the tone for collects at the Hours:

The Blessing

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who on this day presented your Only-Begotten Son to be received into the arms of the Blessed Simeon in your holy Temple; we humbly entreat your clemency that you would be pleased to + bless, to + sanctify and enkindle with the light of your heavenly blessing these candles, which your servants wish to receive and carry lighted to the honor of your name; that by offering them to you, our Lord and God, we being worthy and inflamed with the holy fire of your sweet charity, might deserve to be presented ourselves in the holy temple of your Glory. Through the same Christ Our Lord. R/. Amen.

The Distribution and Nunc Dimittis

The prior then sprinkles the candles with holy water from the stoop held by the acolyte. The cantor then comes forward and offers a lighted candle to the prior and intones the Antiphon Lumen ad Revelation Gentium. It is sung by the community and followed by the chanting of the Nunc Dimittis, during which the antiphon is sung again after each verse of the canticle. This chant is repeated as many times as necessary for lighted candles to be distributed to the whole community.

The Procession

When all have their candles, the community then moves in procession fashion into the main cloister. The procession has this order, 1. a friar in surplice with the holy water, who sprinkles as he goes, 2. the acolytes with processional candles, 3. the crucifer, 4. the friars, two by two, in order of religion, youngest first, 5. the prior, flanked by the deacon and subdeacon (who carries the book). The procession moves counter clockwise around the cloister, stopping for the four stations, at each of which the acolytes and crucifer turn to the friars so that they can gaze on the cross for a moment. The cantor then intones the antiphon that accompanies the move to the next station. These antiphons are:

At Station 1: Ave Gratia, which celebrates Mary's role the birth of Christ who is light of the world.

At Station 2: Adorna, which calls on all to prepare their hearts, as Simeon did, to be a bridal chamber for Christ, the world's savior.

At Station 3: Responsum, which recalls how Simeon had been promised that he would not see death until he took the Light of the Gentiles in his arms.

At Station 4: Hodie, which recalls how Joseph and Mary brought the Christ Child into the temple. It is fittingly sung as the friars, carrying their candles, reenter the chapel and take their places in their stalls.

The ministers, meanwhile, return to the sacristy and the prior puts on the chasuble for Mass. When the ministers are ready, the friars begin the Officium of the Mass, Suscepimus. Friars hold their lighted candles in their hands until the Offertory. I might add that in the Dominican Rite the famous sequence Laetabundus is sung at this Mass.

The Candle Offering

When he has finished the Offertory Prayers, the prior receives his lighted candle and comes with the deacon and subdeacon, holding their candles, to before the altar. The sacristan comes up with a basket to receive the ministers' candles, which he snuffs and places in it. The friars of the community then come forward in procession, in order of seniority, enter the sanctuary, and offer their lighted candles, handing them to the sacristan and kissing the prior's hand. When all have offered their candles, the prior returns to the altar, receives the censer, and does the incensing and the lavabo. The Preface of Mass is that of the Nativity.

The Proprium Missarum Ordinis Praedicatorum of 1983 provides that these ceremonies may be incorporated into the Mass of the Presentation in the new Roman liturgy. And this includes the Laetabundus, even if the candle rituals are not done.

Dominican Gradual of 1950 Reprinted

2012-01-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce another new offering from Dominican Liturgy Publications. We have just reprinted the Graduale iuxta Ritum Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum, originally published by the Order in 1950. This was the last edition of the Dominican Gradual. It contains the Mass Propers for the Entire Year, as well as those of Votive and Ritual Masses. In addition it includes the Dominican Kyriale, with all the authentic medieval Dominican Ordinaries and the music for the responses at Mass. The on-line publication page limit (800 pages) required that we omit the supplement with extra Roman chant Mass Ordinaries, but as these are widely available both in published and electronic forms, this seemed a small price to pay for making this book available.

The volume is hardback, lies open easily, and has 800 pages, including the general index. The price is $35.25. When a used copy of the original edition can be found on the market, the price runs between $50 and $125, so this a very economical alternative. Although this is a scanned reprint, the quality is quite good. You can see what the printing looks like using the "preview" on the order page.

If you would like to purchase over 20 copies for your choir, I can offer a discount price of $33.00. Please write me directly (my email link is on the left sidebar) about this and other discounts for larger bulk purchases. (This discount is not available when ordering direct).

May this book make this music better known in our Dominican Houses and among choirs who perform Dominican chant. More information and ordering for this book is at this link.

Gospel Canticles in Dominican Chant

2012-01-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce the first new book from Dominican Liturgy Publications for the year 2012. We have just published, in paper, the booklet Cantica Evangelica, which contains fully noted texts for the Gospel Canticles of the Divine Office (Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis) in Dominican Gregorian Chant.

The more complex mediationes for the Benedictus and Magnificat make these difficult to site sing. Now the entire texts are supplied with music. Along with these canticles this booklet also contains the Invitatory Psalm "Venite" (Ps 94/95) set to the special Dominican tones. Several of these melodies were previously only available only in the rare 1863 Antiphonarium, where there were deviations from the medieval music. The tones are now corrected and set in traditional style neumes for the first time.

May this book make this music better know in our Dominican Houses and among choirs who perform Dominican chant. The order page for this book may be found here.

On Deacons and Subdeacons at Dominican Rite Masses

2011-12-29T21:12:00.000-08:00

A comment on a very old post and some discussion of Dominican traditions with brothers in our Western Dominican Province House of Studies as to vesting of the deacon, have prompted this overview of deacons and subdeacons and their vesture in the traditional Dominican Rite.

ON VESTMENTS OF THE DEACON AND SUBDEACON

1. In the traditional Dominican Rite, what are the proper vestments for a deacon and subdeacon?

Like the priest, the deacon and subdeacon wear the amice, alb, cinture, and maniple. On certain occasions, they also wear the dalmatic. The Dominican Rite does not follow the Roman Rite practice of distinguishing the dalmatic (worn by the deacon) from the tunicle (worn by the subdeacon), in which the dalmatic has two bars between the claves (vertical stripes) and the tunicle one. Although this distinction is sometimes seen at Dominican Masses (vestments with Roman decorations are more commonly available), properly, there is no distinction in style or name between the deacon's and subdeacon’s dalmatics. You can see, to the right, a photo of the deacon and subdeacon at the Gospel during an Easter Mass in the mid-1950s at St. Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA. Both dalmatics are identical (and lacking the traditional claves).

2. On what days do the deacon and subdeacon wear the dalmatic at Mass?

The deacon and subdeacon wear dalmatics, according to the Caeremoniale S.O.P. (1869), n. 548-50:

a. On all Sundays
b. On all Feasts of Three Lessons and above (which after the 1960 calendar Reform means all IIId Class feasts and above).
c. For any Votive Mass when the calendar feast of that day is of IIId Class or above.
d. On weekdays of Octaves when the Mass of the day is proper to the octave (after 1960, these were only the Octaves of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost).
e. At Requiem Masses on the day of death, burial, anniversary, or (pro causa sollemnitatis) when said for a public figure. Otherwise, if the Requiem replaces the Conventual Mass, then the dalmatic is used only if the proper Mass of the Day would have required it. Otherwise not.
e. Before 1923, dalmatics were also worn at the Order’s special Votive Masses that replaced ferials of week. The calendar reforms of St. Pius X abolished these special Votive Masses so as to restore the celebration of ferials.

Otherwise, the deacon and subdeacon wear only the amice, alb, cinture, maniple, and (for the deacon) the stole. Priests, of course, always wear the chasuble at Mass. So, the dalmatic is not worn on: ferials not part of an octave, true vigils (i.e., NOT the anticipated Mass of a Sunday or Feastday--rather, the at the Mass of the day before the Ascension, Pentecost, St. John the Baptist, Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Lawrence, Assumption, and Christmas), and Ember Days. Nor do our deacons and subdeacons wear dalmatics or folded chasubles on Good Friday: on that day they wear only the amice, alb, cinture, maniple, and (for the deacon) the stole, even though the prior (or priest) celebrating the service wears a cope (Caermon. (1869), n. 1483).

3. At what other times is the dalmatic worn?

According to the Caeremoniale (1869), n. 551:

a. At processions when the priest wears a cope.
b. When singing the Genealogy and the Last Discourse of Jesus.
c. When assisting a priest wearing a cope at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

One should note that, in the Dominican Rite, the priest does NOT wear the cope for the Asperges unless a procession of the brethren precedes (the entrance of the ministers at Mass is NOT such a procession). At the Asperges, all three ministers do, however, wear the maniple. Note that this is different from Roman practice. I have included a photo of the Dominican major minsters at the Asperges (sorry about the quality) to illustrate our practice. Note also that these ministers are wearing apparelled albs, another Dominican tradition. It might also be added that the Dominican practice is to wear the maniple when preaching. Although it was very common in the Western Province for the priest to remove the chasuble and place it on the altar before preaching. I suspect that this was because Dominicans usually pin the maniple on the sleeve of the alb and this makes it hard to remove; thus the chasuble was removed instead. Current practice, however, in the Western Province is to remove neither when preaching at Dominican Rite Masses.

4. What would this mean for Dominicans who celebrate the modern Roman Rite?

Strictly speaking, nothing is required by these older norms. But the new Roman liturgical books leave a lot of leeway for the vesting of the deacon. Although the proper vestments of the deacon in the new rite include the dalmatic, it is not required (unlike the chasuble for priest celebrants). So it is possible to adopt some of the older Dominican practice.

Using the principle of progressive solemnity, it would be possible, or even preferable, for Dominican deacons to leave aside the dalmatic on ferials. This was, in fact, the practice when I was a student in the 1970s and 1980s at our House of Studies in Oakland CA. But if, in clear violation of the rubrics, deacons do not wear an amice, alb, and cinture but only their white habit (a practice that seems to be dying out in the Western Province but is often seen elsewhere), then, by all means, they should wear the dalmatic on ferials to make their infraction less visible to the congregation.

ON SUBDEACONS

The revival of the traditional Dominican Rite in some provinces since Summorum Pontificum, along with its long-continued, and now expanding use, in our Western Dominican Province, raises some new questions on the office and function of the subdeacon. I will attempt to answer these.

1. Who was able to serve as subdeacon in the Traditional Dominican Rite before Vatican II?

Obviously, before reform of the ordination rites, any friars having been ordained to the subdeaconate could serve; as well as priests and deacons, who were always previously ordained subdeacons. Now, the Caeremoniale S.O.P. (1869), n. 864, is very explicit, and quotes the General Chapter of Bologna (1564), on this: “No one may wear liturgical vestments and solemnly chant the Epistle if he has not, at least, been promoted the rank of subdeacon.” As, at a Missa Cantata, the Epistle could always have been sung "by any cleric” (Bonniwell, Ceremonial, p. 141) — which today would mean any clerical brother, as the tonsure is no longer given, this legislation refers only to the Epistle at the Solemn Mass. So what was and is commonly called a “straw subdeacon” (i.e., a man, normally a cleric, who vested as a subdeacon and performed that role) was clearly forbidden. Although the Caeremoniale calls the practice an "abuse," it was not uncommon, in the Order before Vatican II, for lay brothers to serve as "subdeacons" at Solemn Masses. In fact, an elderly cooperator (lay) brother told me that he regularly functioned as a subdeacon in the missions and in parishes when no priest was available. Since, in the Pre-Vatican-II church, “straw subdeacons” were tolerated in the Roman Rite, this use seems to have been generally adopted by Dominicans too.

2. Who may serve as a subdeacon today in the traditional Dominican Rite?

When the Dominican Rite Solemn Mass is celebrated today, a deacon or priest would be able to function as a subdeacon as they are both clerics (from their deacon ordination) and have been ordained to a rank above subdeacon (see above General Chapter norm). This is the common practice in our Western Province. What is to be done, if no priest or deacon is available, or those priests and deacons present cannot, for one reason or another, perform the duties of the subdeacon? Today, the only ministries given to Dominican priests before ordination to the deaconate are those of lector and the acolyte (which may be called a “subdeacon,” if the bishop’s conference wishes). Neither are canonically “clerics” because the clerical state now begins with the deaconate (even if one has received tonsure in a religious institute for whom the rites are performed using the old books).

As before Vatican II, when a problem presents itself on which our books are silent, one must turn to the practice of the Roman Rite as the mother rite. For the Roman Rite in the extraordinary form, a letter from the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (Prot. No. 24/92, 7 June, 1993) provided that an installed acolyte (that is, an acolyte installed using the new Roman Roman Rite) may serve as subdeacon, but he is not to wear the maniple. The justification given for this decision is that, previously, one who had received the minor order of acolyte was permitted to serve, without the maniple, as in the liturgical role of subdeacon when that was needed. I myself am not sure that this restriction on using the maniple was correct, but that is another matter. This letter represents the current liturgical law for the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.

There were, in the old days, two other restrictions on what such men serving as subdeacons could not do, beyond not wearing the maniple. They could not put water in the chalice and they could not dry the vessels. The deacon had to do those things. Ecclesia Dei omitted those restrictions. Was it an oversight? Probably not. Since a modern installed acolyte can purify the vessels (GIRM #279), he certainly can dry them. And today, when there are many extra chalices for concelebrants, they may be prepared with water and wine even by a sacristan before Mass — the current practice at St. Peters in Rome (“On Multiple Calices,” Zenit.org, Oct. 9, 2007). In addition, the legal dictum “silence gives consent” leads to the conclusion that when Ecclesia Dei choose to list only one restriction on an acolyte acting as subdeacon, it implied that any other older restrictions were no longer binding. With good reason!

Can a friar who has not received either the ministries of acolyte and lector, or has only received the ministry of lector, or, for that matter, can a simple layman, function as a subdeacon at Dominican Rite Solemn Mass? I would say no, even if lay brothers did this before Vatican II. The responsum from Ecclesia Dei cited above allows to function as subdeacon, only to those men who have, for one reason or another, been formally installed in the modern ministry of acolyte. I do not think I have to tell our readers that this does not mean installation as an Extraordinary Minister of Communion or being commissioned as an altar boy in a parish. I would add that the formal installation of lectors and acolytes in the new rite is permanent: it does not “go away” if the seminarian or friar who received it leaves the seminary or the order before making final vows.

Let us hope that along with the Missae Cantatae sung weekly, monthly, or annually, in our Western Dominican Parishes, that the full Solemn Mass become a more regular event.

Genealogy of Christ According to Matthew in Dominican Chant

2011-12-22T12:44:00.001-08:00

In time for Christmas, we are making available the Dominican Chant for the Genealogy of Jesus Christ According to Matthew, found in the appendix to the Missale Ordinis Praedicatorum. Traditionally part of the Office of Matins for Christmas, when it is sung after the last Responsory, the Genealogy may also be used with the modern Liturgy of the Hours. According to the Proprium Officii Ordinis Praedicatorum (1982), p. 692, it may be sung after the second Responsory of Office of Readings, especially when this Office is sung just before Midnight Mass, or it may be transferred and sung in place of the Short Reading at First Vespers of Christmas.

The chant may be downloaded here, or from the left sidebar.

The Tears of Brother Thomas

2011-12-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Winter 2011 issue of Dominicana, a publication of the student brothers of Washington, DC (of which I am presently the editor), includes an article that should be of interest to readers of this site: a translation of Fr. André Duval's article "The Tears of Brother Thomas," which appeared in French in La Vie Spirituelle in 1993. This article reflects on the story that St. Thomas Aquinas would cry during the chanting of the Media vita in Lent, and after giving an evocative description of the way a medieval friar would have experienced the office of Compline reflects on the meaning of St. Thomas's tears.

An excerpt of the article is available on the Dominicana website. It is possible to register for full access for a modest fee, or to subscribe to the journal and receive a printed copy of this issue.

Special thanks are due to Br. Cassian Derbes, O.P., for translating this article.

Dominican Altar Boys' Manual

2011-11-29T21:39:00.000-08:00

I am delighted to announce that, thanks to the work of my Dominican Brother Corwin Low, O.P., of our Western Dominican Province House of Studies, Dominican Liturgy Publications can now make available paperback copies of The Dominican Altar Boys’ Manual. This booklet was first published in 1945, and has been in the public domain since 1964. Those interested in a copy may order here.

This booklet contains all that is necessary for training young men to serve the simple (Low Mass) and sung (Missa Cantata and Solemn) forms of the traditional Dominican Rite Mass. There are also many other pointers and aids for servers generally.

I am sure that many of our readers who are not training servers for Dominican Rite Masses will also be interested in the wealth of information on the Rite available in this booklet.

I also ask our readers to offer a prayer for Brother Raymond Bertheaux, O.P., professed as lay (cooperator) brother for 56 years, with decades of service in the missions and nine years at the Dominican Curia in Rome, who will be buried tomorrow in our Province Cemetery in Benicia CA. He was one of the most exacting teachers for me when learning to celebrate the traditional Dominican Rite Mass and was my server many, many times. R.I.P.

Concede nobis: Responsory for All Saints Day

2011-11-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Each year on the Vigil of All Saints a special event is held at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC with readings from the lives of the saints, a ferverino, the office of Compline, and a procession around the cloister to our reliquary. This year, the schola sang a long responsory from the Dominican chant tradition, Concede nobis, following one of the readings. The text of this chant is curiously similar in form to that of a Collect.

Concede nobis, Domine, quæsumus, veniam delictorum, et intercedentibus Sanctis quorum hodie solemnia celebramus, talem nobis tribue devotionem, * Ut ad eorum pervenire mereamur societatem. V. Adjuvent nos eorum merita, quos propria impediunt scelera: excuset intercessio, accusat quos actio, et qui eis tribuisti cœlestis palmam triumphi, nobis veniam non deneges peccati. * Ut ad. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui sancto. * Ut ad.

Here is an English translation:
Grant us, Lord, we implore you, forgiveness of sins; and through the intercession of the saints whose feast we celebrate today, grant us such devotion * that we may merit to share their company. V. May we, who are hampered by our own wickedness, be aided by their merits; may we, who stand accused by our actions, be excused by their intercession, and may he, who granted them the palm of heavenly triumph, not deny us forgiveness of sins. That we may (&c). Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. That we may (&c). (Dominican Breviary (1967) 2:901).

A recording of this chant as sung at the 2011 All Saints Vigil may be listened to here.

Concede nobis is assigned in the Proprium Officiorum Ordinis Praedicatorum (1982) as the responsory following the second reading at the Office of Readings (cf. p. 458). In the medieval Dominican rite, it is sung as the first vespers responsory and as the ninth matins responsory.

All Souls in Anchorage AK

2011-10-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P., Pastor of the Cathedral of the Holy Family, the Dominican Parish in Anchorage AK, has asked me to post that:

A Dominican Rite Requiem Missa Cantata
(with absolution at the catafalque)
will be celebrated at
Holy Family Cathedral, Anchorage, Alaska
All Souls Day at 5:30 P.M.

Dominican Rite Masses on All Saints and All Souls in Portland, Oregon

2011-10-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

I would like to advise readers of two up-coming events at Holy Rosary Church in Portland, Oregon. The Church will observe the Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed with two Masses according the Dominican Rite.

All Saints

Holy Day of Obligation

Tuesday, November 1

7:30 P.M.

MISSA CANTATA

according to the Dominican Rite

Missa O Quam Gloriosum

by Tómas Luis Victoria

sung by Cantores in Ecclesia

--------------------

All Souls

Wednesday, November 2

7:30 P.M.

MISSA CANTATA

REQUIEM MASS

according to the Dominican Rite

The Gregorian Propers

sung by the Holy Rosary Schola

--------------------

Fr. Vincent M. Kelber, O.P., subprior of Holy Rosary Priory and celebrant of the Masses, invites any readers in the Portland area to attend either or both days and introduce themselves.

(The above images are taken from the 1933 Dominican Rite Missal.)

Dominican Rite Solemn Mass at Blackfriars, Oxford

2011-10-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Thought the kindness of Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P., and the editor of New Liturgical Movement, Mr. Shawn Tribe, the following photographs of the recent Dominican Rite Solemn Mass, taken by Dr. Joseph Shaw, more of whose photos may be seen by clicking on his name. These republished here for our readers.

The Mass was celebrated at the Dominican House of Studies of the English Province, Blackfriars, Oxford, as part of the annual Latin Mass Society pilgrimage in honor of Oxford's Catholic martyrs. The celebrant was Fr. Richard Conrad, O.P., the deacon Fr. Thomas Crean O.P., and subdeacon Br. Gregory Pearson O.P.

The first photo shows the prayers at the foot of the altar. As this Mass was a 1st class solemnity, you will notice that the servers are wearing albs, not surplices.

The ministers swing to the side for the Kyrie and Gloria:

The server washes the deacon's hands in preparation of his unfolding of the corporal (during the singing of the Epistle):

The subdeacon takes the chalice, covered by the humeral veil, to the sedilla for preparation of the wine and water (during the chanting of the Gradual):

Preparation of the chalice:

The ministers are in the cross formation before the altar, waiting for the deacon to retrieve the Book of Gospels from the altar for the procession to the lectern. The presence of the processional cross at the Gospel shows that this Mass was of a 1st class feast. The deacon is getting his blessing from the priest at the sedilla:

Proclamation of the Gospel:

The beginning of the Roman Canon:

The Elevation; note the deacon incensing:

The Dominican cruciform of the priest's arms after the consecration:

The subdeacon presents the pax instrument to the crucifer to kiss. He will then take it to the assembled friars in their stalls.

My thanks to all those involved in this Mass for making this post possible.

Dominican Rite Instruction in Washington DC

2011-10-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

As readers know, the Western Dominican Province provides a for-credit course, Dominican Rite Practicum each year for friar students at our house of studies, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Now, through the kindness of our co-author, Bro. Innocent Smith, O.P., I can happily report on a recent Dominican Rite training project in the Eastern Province! I am often asked when there will be public celebrations of the traditional Dominican Rite here. We now can be certain that plans are under way in that direction. Here is the report:

INSTRUCTION ON DOMINICAN RITE MASS

IN THE PROVINCE OF ST. JOSEPH

by Fr. Benedict Croell, O.P.

On October 19th and 20th, Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P., offered several training sessions for the celebration of the Dominican rite at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. The training sessions included demonstrations of the words and gestures of the priest and server for the private form of the Dominican rite, known as the Low Mass. During the presentations, Fr. Pius emphasized the pastoral dimension of learning to say the Dominican rite in order to respond to the legitimate requests of the faithful for the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. In addition to the formal training sessions, the friars had the opportunity to participate in the Low Mass.

To learn more about the Dominican rite, you may view a Dominican Rite Online Tutorial, which presents videos and texts which explain the celebration of the Dominican Rite, or read a Q&A on Universae Ecclesiae and the Dominican Rite, or sample the other postings at Dominican Liturgy.

For those interested here are links to two slide shows from this instruction session:

GESTURES OF THE DOMINICAN RITE SLIDE SHOW

Watch the whole slide show by clicking on the title or here.

DOMINICAN RITE LOW MASS SLIDE SHOW

Watch the Dominican Rite Slide Show by clicking on the title or here.

Dominican Rite Calendar for 2012

2011-10-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that the Dominican Rite Liturgical Calendar for A.D. 2012 is now available for consultation or download on the left sidebar or here directly. As regularly scheduled Dominican Rite Masses are now being celebrated in four locations in the province (Anchorage, Portland, Santa Paula, and Berkeley), with occasional celebrations elsewhere, this calendar includes as an addendum all the local feasts for dioceses of the Western Dominican Province.

If any of our eagle-eyed readers notice any errors or omissions, please let me know so that they can be corrected before the calendar comes into use on January 1, 2012.

The corrected version of the calendar for 2011 is also available on the left sidebar.

Psalterium-Hymnarium Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum (Southern Germany · ca. 1500)

2011-10-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/bcuf/L0090/39r
A Dominican liturgical manuscript from c. 1500 was recently made available online by the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire / Kantons- und Universitätsbibliothek at Fribourg, Switzerland. According to the e-codices website, this manuscript is "A psalter-hymnal produced for use by Dominicans. The saints that are recorded in the calendar point to the codex’s origin in a Dominican convent in Southern Germany. The rather conservative script is still that of the 15th century, while the decoration comes from around 1500 or even the beginning of the sixteenth century." Each page of the manuscript can be examined in great detail. To read a more detailed description with a listing of the contents, click here, or browse through the manuscript.

Liturgy of the Hours in Roman Gregorian Chant

2011-09-22T08:53:00.001-07:00

It has been brought to my attention that Steven van Roode has typeset and posted on the web Roman Gregorian music for Lauds, Vespers, and Compline of the Liturgia Horarum for Sundays and major feasts of the Lord. He has compiled his chants following the Ordo Cantus Officii (1983), just as I did when compiling the Antiphonarium pro Liturgia Horarum iuxta usum Ordinis Praedicatorum, which includes the chants of the whole year for all the Hours. His downloadable files are linked on the left side bar or my be found directly here at his site.

In my project, I substituted, of course, Dominican chants for the Roman ones, except in the rare cases where there was no parallel chant. We have both done the best we could finding suitable replacement chants when the OCO either specified a chant from an unpublished manuscript unavailable in digital form or where (for reasons beyond me) the OCO gave a newly composed antiphon text that (obviously) had no Gregorian melody.

Readers may wish to compare our Dominican hymn, respond, and antiphon melodies with the Roman ones using this resource. It is interesting to see how the two different chant traditions preserve in different forms what is essentially the same melodies. The difference choices in melodies for hymns and the ordinary are also of interest.

I commend Mr. Van Roode for completing this project and for his beautiful typesetting.

The Subdeacon at Dominican Solemn Mass

2011-08-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

This slide show with music was prepared for the New Liturgical Movement by Mr. Jason Mata. It shows images of the Solemn High Dominican Rite Mass of St. Dominic celebrated at Blessed Sacrament Church, Seattle WA, on August 8, 2011. It is reproduced here because I think it will interest many of our readers.

Credit and thanks to Mr. Mata and the Dominican Community at Blessed Sacrament Priory.

Walter Kasper on "legitimate inculturated forms"

2011-08-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

In 2010, the seventh volume of the collected works of Cardinal Walter Kasper was published, focusing on his writings on the liturgy: Die Liturgie der Kirche [The Liturgy of the Church] (Herder, 2010). According to a review of this volume by David Grumett in Reviews in Religion & Theology 18:4 (September 2011) 626–629, in one passage

Kasper acknowledges the variety of beautiful rites still in use (Ambrosian in Milan and Mozarabic in Spain, as well as variations in Dominican and Carthusian friaries and monasteries) as legitimate inculturated forms, suggesting that the trend in recent decades towards a single liturgical blueprint worldwide will not be the final word on a unified liturgy (p. 69).

This insight could be an interesting starting point for further reflections on the relationship between communal identity and a proper liturgical use or rite. It may also be the case that the history of the development of proper liturgies for the regions and religious orders mentioned by Kasper may help shed light on the issue of inculturation in the contemporary church (cf. John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris missio 52-54 (December 7, 1990) and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments's instruction Varietates Legitimae (March 29, 1994)).

Dominican Liturgy Conferences in Hungary, August 2011

2011-08-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

As I had earlier mentioned I was in Budapest with the Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St. Margaret of Hungary from August 4-8, giving them a series of conferences on the history of the Dominican Liturgy and its Spirituality.

I was invited by their Prioress General, Sister Hedvig Deàk Viktória, O.P. The Congregation was founded in 1868 and reached a total of 200 sisters, but then was suppressed by the Communists. A courageous group of sisters, never more than 15, kept the congregation alive in secret, while holding jobs in the secular world as teachers, nurses, and one even as a psychiatrist. They have rebounded since the reestablishment of common life in 1991, and now number just under 40. Today they emphasize education and have sisters teaching all age levels from Kindergarten up, including four professors at Sapientia College in Budapest, the "Sapientia." If readers would like short history of the congregation, they can find it here (in English).

I will prepare a longer post on this eventually, but I wanted to get some photos up now. The first shows the conference room. Sister Hedvig is left in front. The photo also gives some idea of the sisters age distribution.

The next image shows me during one of the conferences with the sister translator. No, I did not learn Hungarian for this event: about a third of the young sisters have some English (German is more common for the older sisters) and four of the sisters rotated translating my talks. We had four 90 minute conferences each day for the three days. We also viewed and discussed two videos of Dominican Rite Solemn Masses (one of these was in the evening and "optional" but as far as I could count, all the sisters came).

On two of the three days, Mass was in the Ordinary Form in Latin, with music from the Antiphonale Hungaricum, which has the Hungarian Propers set to the Gregorian melodies. This worked very well and the singing was beautiful. The last day, Transfiguration, was a Dominican Rite Missa Cantata. Here is a picture of the Mass during the Gloria. You can see one of the Congregation's two novices in the right left. They also have four postulants this year, but they did not attend the conference. The Conference was held in the guest house of a monastery of Cistercian Nuns outside of Budapest, and this was the chapel that was allocated to our use. And, yes, that is a Eucharistic Dove above the altar.

In this last photo, you can see the whole chapel, with the sisters assembled singing the Office. This two was in Hungarian Gregorian Chant. The sisters are working to slowly increase the amount of Latin Dominican Chant in their Office.

I will try to get a more complete post up in a few days. But this should give you an idea of how this Congregation has been thriving since the end of Communism. I thank them all for their invitation and for their kindness, in particular, Sister Hedvig, whose idea this was.

Integrated Dominican Calendar for the Ordinary Form

2011-08-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

One of my confrères, Br. Paul Dominic Marich, O.P., recently prepared an integrated calendar for the Ordinary form of the Roman Rite as observed by the Dominican Order. The purpose of this project is to combine the General Roman Calendar with the Dominican saints that are listed as optional memorials, obligatory memorials, feasts and solemnities on the Calendar of the Order (the most recent edition of which may be consulted here, beginning on p. 29). Feasts proper to the United States of America are also included.

If you happen to notice any typos or other mistakes in this calendar, please mention it in the comment box. Other helpful resources for the Dominican calendar in the Ordinary Form include the Holy Name Province's The Dominican Year website, as well as Causes for Joy, a website about Dominicans in various stages of the canonization process, maintained by Br. Paul Byrd, O.P. In addition, the Province of St. Albert the Great has an 2011 Ordo available online with specific observances of the American and Nigerian provinces, and the English Province also has a 2011 Ordo with observances proper to England.

Dominican Rite Solemn Mass: Feast of St. Dominic, Portland OR 2011

2011-08-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

Here are two videos from the recent celebration of the Feast of St. Dominic at Holy Rosary Church in Portland OR according to the Dominican Rite Solemn Mass. The celebrant is Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P., pastor; deacon, Fr. Vincent Kelber, O.P., the new parochial vicar; subdeacon, Mr. Jesson Mata ("The Urban Monk"). Fr. Anthony will soon be moving to Holy Family Cathedral, Ancorage AK to become the new pastor. Fr. Vincent has just completed his service there.

In this first video, we see the celebration from the Collect to the the singing of the Epistle. Notice the Dominican swing of the ministers to the side for the Collect, the seating of the priest with the spreading of the Mappula over his lap, and the deacon's opening of the corporal during the Epistle.

In this second video, we see Mr. Jesson Mata, who will be subdeacon, introducing the video (with Bro. Simon Kim, O.P.) and talking about the rite on the way to Portland from Seattle. He then interviews the servers for the Mass, and explains the vesting of the ministers. Excepts from the Mass are as follows:

At 5:45: The Aspeges

At 5:50: Prayers at the Foot of the Altar

At 6:08: Officium and Kyrie

at 6:17: Gloria (with procession of Chalice to altar) and Collect

at 7:36: Epistle (with unfolding of Chalice)

at 7:40: Chants between the Readings (with preparation of Chalice)

at 7:50: Gospel

at 7: 58: Creed

at 8:06: The Great Swing to the left for the Offertory

at 8:26: The Preface (with incensing) and Sanctus

at 8:39: The Consecration

at 8:45: The Pater Noster and the Pax

at 8:57: Communion

at 9:15: Postcommunion Collect to the Blessing

at 10:04 Last Gospel and Recessional

Dominican Rite Mass Bulk Discounts

2011-07-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

The sales of Dominican Rite Mass, a pew booklet for congregational use at Dominican Rite Masses, presenting the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin and English in parallel columns, has been so successful that Dominican Liturgy Publications has decided to offer discounts on bulk orders thanks to terms offered by the books-on-demand printing service.

If your congregation or group is interested in ordering more than 50 copies of the Dominican Rite Mass booklets, instructions for placing bulk orders may be found at this link.

Matins Music for the Dominican Rite

2011-07-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

Holgar Peter Sandhofe (Gerolitus Ammosaulicus) was a master typesetter of chant and the producer of many electronic editions once distributed on nocturnale.de, which is now off line. Among his work are an editions of the following:

Matins Ferial Psalms with Antiphons (Pre-Pius X Psalter--1909 Breviary)
Matins Ferial Psalms with Antiphons (Post-Pius X Psalter--1962 Breviary)
Matins of Advent
Matins for the Commons of Saints
Festival Office of St. Martin de Porres
Invitatory Antiphons and Psalms for all Sundays
Gospel Canticles of Lauds and Vespers in the 8 Tones
Prolix Responsory Cycle for Ferial Weekdays
Ordinary of the Dominican Office
Appendix of New Chants for the Graduale (post-1962)

Downloadable files of all this music is now available on the left sidebar.

Dominican Prayers on the iPhone

2011-07-08T06:09:00.001-07:00

iBreviary, a popular tool for cell phones and devices such as the iPhone and iPod which may also be accessed online, provides the texts of the Liturgy of the Hours for each day of the year. Recently, the English version of iBreviary began including specifically Dominican prayers and readings for Dominican feasts such as Bl. Adrian Fortescue, an optional memorial today, or St. John of Cologne, who will be celebrated as an obligatory memorial by Dominicans tomorrow. These elements are taken from the Proprium Ordinis Praedicatorum, a supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours published by the Order and approved by the Church, although currently available in English only in draft forms.

In the web version shown below, click on Office of Readings, Lauds or Vespers to see the Dominican propers.

Dominican Liturgy's Catholic Blog "Rating"

2011-07-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

It was with some interest that I heard that Mr. Eric Sammons, a Catholic blogger himself, does an annual rating of Catholic Blogs by the number of subscribers (which is different from the number of visits because the same person who visits a blog many, many times a day is still only one reader). He tracks the over 2,000 blogs registered in the Catholic Blog Directory.

It was with some surprise that I found Dominican Liturgy to be in his "Top 200" at number 188! I am pleased that there are enough people interested in Dominican liturgy to put us well into the top 10% of Catholic blogs. So I thank our faithful readers for their support and hope, with the expansion of our editorial board to three friars, to serve you ever better.

Dominican Rite Server Camp, Holy Family Cathedral Anchorage

2011-06-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

In response to the interest of a handful of young men and boys interested in serving the Dominican Rite here in Anchorage, we are offering a Dominican Rite Server Camp. To our astonishment twenty-five current and potential acolytes have signed up! Br. Peter Hannah, O.P. will be the main instructor in the rubrics. Each day a Mass in the Dominican Rite will be offered by me (Fr. Vincent Kelber, O.P) While the classes are private, the Masses will be public and in the Cathedral. All are very welcome to attend. Please see the schedule below.

Fr. Augustine also invited me to share on the development and growth of the Dominican Rite here in Anchorage. I will be sharing a few photos and some commentary within the next couple of days.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Dominican Rite

Holy Family Cathedral, Anchorage, Alaska

The Week of June 26, 2011

Monday June 27, 2011, 10:30am

Votive Mass of the Holy Angels

Low Mass (Spoken)

Tuesday June 28, 2011, 10:30am

Vigil of Sts. Peter and Paul

Low Mass (Spoken)

Wednesday June 29, 2011, 10:30am

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

High Mass (Missa Cantata)

Thursday June 30, 2011, 10:30am

Commemoration of St. Paul

(High Mass (Missa Cantata)

Friday July 1, 2011, 10:30am

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

High Mass (Missa Cantata)

Sunday, July 3, 2011, 4:00pm

The 3rd Sunday After Pentecost (Sunday following the Sacred Heart of Jesus)

High Mass (Missa Cantata)

Cistercian Graduale and Antiphonale available online

2011-06-17T06:32:00.001-07:00

It may interest readers of this website to know that photographs of the Antiphonarium Cisterciense (Westmalle: 1947) and the Graduale Cisterciense (Westmalle: 1899) have recently been made available on a website called Splendor Veritatis. According to the research of Dominique Delalande, O.P., the Dominican chant tradition is heavily indebted to the Cistercian chant. Although one should be careful about making generalizations based only on modern editions, the following editions of the Holy Trinity introit/officium chant "Benedicta sit Sancta Trinitas" from the 1899 Graduale Cisterciense, the 1950 Graduale S.O.P. (which is in almost all respects a reproduction of the 1890 edition of the Graduale S.O.P., with the removal of certain barlines), and the 1908 Graduale Romanum (Vatican Edition) is a good example (chosen simply due to the approaching feast) of this phenomenon.

On the third syllable ("di") of the first word, both the Dominican and Cistercian version have the notes a-c-b-c, whereas the Vatican Edition has G-c-b-c; a similar agreement of Dominican and Cistercian versions against the Vatican Edition may be seen on the final syllable of "Trinitas." There are indeed certain differences between the Dominican and Cistercian versions, but the similarities are quite striking. An even better example, although less liturgically relevant at the moment, is the introit of the Second Sunday of Advent, where the Dominican and Cistercian versions hover on "d" at the beginning of the chant, whereas the Vatican Edition is focused on the "c", which creates a radically different sound for the chant.

Graduale Cisterciense, 1899, pp. 399-400

Graduale S.O.P. (1950) p. 264

Graduale Romanum (1908) p. 263

Thanks are due to Dom Alan Hohl, OCSO, Stan Stott, and Christopher Gray for making these rare books available. On a side note, it is interesting to see that Dom Mocquereau's rhythmic markings have been added by hand to the Cistercian books; this same phenomenon can often be found also in individual copies of Dominican chant books, and offers us insight into how these modern editions were or are actually used in various communities.

14th century Dominican Antiphonal online

2011-06-03T06:39:00.001-07:00

The Library of the Dominican House of Studies in Cracow, Poland has begun a website called Amarium which consists of high quality digital images of various manuscripts and books from their collection. Amongst many interesting volumes, they have a beautiful manuscript antiphonal (antiphonarium) from the 14th century, which the curators suggest is from about 1320. The entire manuscript may be viewed here. The image to the left is the antiphon Ascendens Christus from fol. 29v. It is the antiphon super psalmos for first vespers of the Ascension; that is, all of the five psalms of vespers would be sung with just this single antiphon. The incipit is an interesting example of a scribal error that was detected and corrected: there seems to have been an extra syllable that was added and then scratched out, but the "s" of "Ascendens" was not rewritten in its proper place, but simply left where it had first been written.

Below is the Nunc dimitis antiphon for Ascension-tide which is used at Compline as part of the contemporary Proprium of the Dominican liturgy. Both texts are adaptations of the Vulgate version of a line from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians (4:8): "Propter quod dicit : Ascendens in altum, captivam duxit captivitatem : dedit dona hominibus." This line is itself a quotation from Ps. 67:19: "Ascendisti in altum, cepisti captivitatem, accepisti dona in hominibus". In the first antiphon, the whole of St. Paul's quotation has been incorporated, whereas in the compline chant only the first part has been, with the addition of alleluias according to the form of the seasonal Nunc dimitis antiphons found in the Dominican liturgy.

Finally, it is interesting to note the use that St. Thomas Aquinas makes of this text from Psalm 67:19/Ephesians 4:8 in his question on the Ascension in the Tertia Pars of the Summa Theologiae (III.57.6.R):

First, He prepared the way for our ascent into heaven, according to His own saying (Jn. 14:2): "I go to prepare a place for you," and the words of Micheas (2:13), "He shall go up that shall open the way before them." For since He is our Head the members must follow whither the Head has gone: hence He said (Jn. 14:3): "That where I am, you also may be." In sign whereof He took to heaven the souls of the saints delivered from hell, according to Ps. 67:19 (Cf. Eph. 4:8): "Ascending on high, He led captivity captive," because He took with Him to heaven those who had been held captives by the devil---to heaven, as to a place strange to human nature; captives in deed of a happy taking, since they were acquired by His victory.

Dominican Libellus Precum Reprint

2011-06-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

Dominican Liturgy Publications is happy to announce that a reprint of the Dominican Rite Libellus Precum, published at Rome in 1952, is now available in paperback reprint. This edition is made from PDF scans of the original and is a pocket-size paperback.

The booklet contains the Dominican Rite versions of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, the Office of the Dead, the Penitential Psalms, as well as many other prayers, litanies, devotions, and blessings. All are in the original Latin.

It may be ordered here

Dominican Candle Lighting

2011-05-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, people ask if there is a "proper" order in which to light the candles on the altar. Some insisting that there is only one way to do this. They usually say that the "correct" way to do this is to light the six major candles starting from the middle and moving first toward the right or "Epistle" side, then return to the middle and light from the center to the left or "Gospel" side. In snuffing the candles, the order is reversed. So they tell us, "The Gospel candle never burns alone." In fact, this practice belongs to the Roman Rite, although some Dominican provinces, such as the American Eastern Province adopted it.

But in the traditional Dominican Rite a different order was normally used and continued to be used, even after the adoption of the New Rite of Roman Mass by the Order in 1970. This order for lighting is not specified in any official ritual book of the order, which simply tell the number of candles and when to light them. Fr. Bonniwell, in this Dominican Altar Boys' Manual and his Dominican Ceremonial for Mass and Benediction, both products of the Eastern Province, simply gives the Roman way. But historically there was another way.

In the Dominican way, the candle on the far Gospel side is lighted first, then each candle in order across the altar to the Epistle side. They are snuffed in the opposite order. Thus the "Gospel Candle" burns first and longest, very suitable as the Gospel is the "Light of the World." You can see an acolyte at our Western Dominican Province House of Studies in about 1958 in the photo to the right. He is lighting the candles in the Dominican fashion: starting from the left he has already lighted the first candle and is lighting the second. You can tell that the feast was either a Double or Full Double (in the language of 1962 a First or Second Class Feast) because the acolyte is wearing alb, amice, and cinture: the Dominican Rite practice on major feasts.

The Dominican books do give explicit instructions on the number of candles to be used at Mass. This rubric is a beautiful example of the Dominican love of "progressive solemnity." The rule (Caeremoniale S.O.P. nn. 514-17) is: Six candles for solemn feasts at Mass, Matins, and Vespers, but four candles at Compline; Four Candles for mid-ranked feasts at Mass and Office, but only two at Compline; and finally, two candles at Mass and Office on ferias and lesser feasts, and the same two at Compline. Private Masses always have just two candles, no matter what the level of the feast.

A similar ranking governs the number of "Sanctus Candles" that are lighted from the Sanctus until the Purification of the vessels. These are placed in single, double, or triple branched candlesticks flanking the altar: three candles on each side on major feasts, two on each side on mid-ranked feasts, and one on each side on ferias and minor feasts. One candle, on the Epistle side, is used at Private Mass.

Another interesting practice was not to fill the altar gradines up with multiple candles sticks for different numbers of candles. Rather the six large candle sticks were the only ones used, and only the number of candles needed were lighted. Which ones to light was dependent on which candles had burned the lowest and were shortest. In the flanking photograph you can see Fr. Hilary John Martin, O.P., now professor emeritus at our Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology saying the conventual Low Mass during Passiontide in 1954. You can tell it is Passiontide because of the statue veils and the lack of an antependium. Two altar candles are lighted as is proper for a feria -- and notice that they are the two tallest ones and so need to burn down to match the others. You can see the Epistle side "Sanctus Candle" (lighted, so this is after the Sanctus); the Gospel side "Sanctus Candle" cannot be seen in this photo. The server properly wears the surplice (under his capuce since he is not ordained) since this is a public Mass. Were this a Private Mass, he would be wearing the cappa (the black cape that is part of our habit).

I thank Bro. Raymond Bertheaux, O.P., a cooperator brother of our province with over 50 years of service, for help with this posting.

Dominican Rite Mass Booklet

2011-05-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank all the readers who forwarded or posted suggestions for the final version of the pew booklet "The Dominican Rite Mass," which is now available in final format for ordering at Dominican Liturgy Publications.

This booklet presents the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin and English on facing pages and is suitable for use by people attending Dominican Rite Mass. It also includes music for High Mass and devotional prayers.

O God, come to my assistance

2011-05-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

In the contemporary form of the Divine Office, the first verse of Psalm 69 (70), "O God, come to my assistance, O Lord, make haste to help me," is sung at the beginning of each hour that is not preceded by the invitatory. In the medieval Dominican liturgy, where a single text is often sung to simpler or more ornate melodies in relation to the solemnity of the day, the "Deus in adjutorium" by contrast has only one melody that is used at every office, only being varied by the replacement of the "Alleluia" during Septuagesima and Lent, with the words "Laus tibi, Dómine, Rex ætérnæ glóriæ." In the contemporary Liturgia Horarum, the Alleluia is simply omitted during Lent without substitution. (In some other chant traditions, the invocation is sung to a variety of melodies; in the 1912 Antiphonale Romanum (p. 1*), for instance, there are three melodies, labelled "Tonus festivus", "Tonus ferialis", and "Tonus solemnis"; the 1934 Antiphonale Monasticum also gives three melodies.)

Here is a setting of the Latin form of the invocation:

In the some Dominican priories, a setting of the English translation of this text is sung to a variation of this Dominican melody. The doxology of this version may be heard in the video linked to above.

Below is another setting of this text in a version that is closer to the original Dominican version, most notably with the Alleluia ending on the note below the tonic, which gives the chant a less settled feeling, which is fitting for the beginning of an office.

Using the 1933 and 1965 Dominican Rite Missals

2011-05-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

According to the documents Summorum Pontificum (2007) cand Universae Ecclesiae (2011), as well as “State of the Order” address of Master of the Order Carlos Azpiroz Costa, O.P., at the General Chapter of 2010, those celebrating the Dominican Rite Mass should do so “according to the Missal of 1962." In fact, there is no Dominican “Missal of 1962.” Rather, the Missal in use by the order in 1962 was that of 1933, with the changes made up to that date.

In 1960-1961, the Analecta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum published directives modifying Missal. These volumes are hard to find and in Latin, so I have compiled a short summary of the changes needed when celebrating using the Missals of 1933 and 1965, since both are commonly used.

Changes to be made when using the 1933 Missal:

1. Use the 1965 Calendar (this can be downloaded on the left sidebar).

2. Reduce the number of collects at Mass following this format:

Class I Feasts: Only 1 Collect (except Dawn Mass of Christmas)

Class II Feasts: Only 1 collect, unless another Class II feast is overridden, then add a second collect for the overridden feast

Class III Feasts and ferials: Up to three collects: the principal collect; any second required collect and/or the collect of any overridden feast; additional collects ad libitum up to a total of no more than three.

3. Add the Ecce Agnus Dei and its response before the People's Communion.

4. On ferials: replace "Benedicamus Domino" with "Ite missa est."

5. Replace the entire Paschal Triduum Rite with that of 1965 Missal or the Holy Week book of 1959.

Changes to be made when using the 1965 Missal

1, Prepare chalice and say the Actiones nostras before the Prayers at Foot of the Altar.

2. Add missing head bows in Gloria.

3. Kneel, not bow, at the Incarnatus est in the Credo.

4. Recite the Secret Prayer quietly, but say "Per omnia saecula saeculorum" aloud to close it, before the Preface Dialogue.

5. Use the 1933 gestures at the "Per ipsum." The “Per ipsum” itself is said silently except for "Per omnia saecula saeculorum."

6. Recite the Libera nos silently, except for the closing "Per omnia saecula saeculorum."

7. After the Postcommunion follow this order: Dominus vobiscum; Ite missa est; Placeat, Blessing.

8. Restore the Last Gospel. If there is no altar card available, this Gospel may be found as that of the Day Mass of Christmas.

In both Missals:

1. The Communion Confiteor was suppressed in 1960, but a response of the Ecclesia Dei Commission on October 2, 2002, provides that it may be used if "it is the local custom."

2. Since they are not part of Mass, and have not been required since 1963, the Leonine Prayers are omitted. But nothing prevents them being said as a devotion, if that is the local custom.

3. It is permitted to add, as Class III feasts, all Dominican saints canonized since 1965 on their original days as blesseds, or, if beatified after 1965, on their current day. I have added all such celebrations in the calendar available on the left side bar

17th century Dominican music printing

2011-05-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Google books has many volumes of liturgical interest, and continues to add new volumes to their collections that can be of great assistance to historical study of the liturgy. Just several months ago, they added a digitized version of the 1687 edition of the Missale Ordinis Praedicatorum, published under the approbation of Antonin Cloche (Master of the Order from 1686-1720), which can be downloaded as a pdf or read online. (Google books also has Cloche's 1690 edition of the Constitutions, as well as his 1719 edition of the Breviarium O.P. Incidentally, Cloche also published an edition of the Dominican breviary in Armenian in 1714.)

The excerpt included above, from the ferial preface for the Easter season, is an example of the style of printing music used by the order in the 17th century. What is most interesting about this in light of contemporary and historical discussions of Dominican chant notation is that the full bar line is used not to indicate relative lengths of pauses (as in the 19th and 20th c. books) but rather to demarcate each word.

Dominican Music in the Netherlands

2011-05-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

I have been in correspondence with Mr. Theo Menting, a member of the Dominican Laity at the Dominican House in Huissen. The laity there have two excellent choirs, which recently sang at Santa Sabina, S. Maria in Trastevere, and other churches in Rome. Click here for a web posting about them (in Dutch).

The performances of one choir, the "Kloostercantorij," includes compositions by Pere André Gouzes, O.P., Father Henk Jongerius O.P., prior of the convent, and Fr. Huub Oosterhuis. To get an idea of the work of the second choir, "Phos Hilarion," which focuses on the classical tradition, click here for their rendition of Totus tuus.

Phos Hilarion intends shortly to make the performance of Dominican Chant a central part of their repertoire.

We congratulate our Dominican lay brothers and sisters for this "joyful light" now shining in Holland!

Fr. Delalande on Gregorian Chant

2011-05-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

In 1952, as part of the French Dominican theological manual Initiation Théologique, Fr. Dominique Delalande, o.p. (1905-1965) published an article on Gregorian chant that contains marvelous insights into the relationship of chant to Christian life (especially the religious vows) and as a source for theological reflection. This article was included in a 1954 translation of the Initiation Théologique called Introduction to Theology. Both the original version and the translation may be downloaded from the links below.

Fr. Delalande played an important role in the revisions of Dominican chant in the 1940s through the 1960s, and was responsible for the Regulae Cantus of 1965. Fr. Aidan Nichols, o.p. has written an interesting article juxtaposing this essay of Delalande with the theological reflections on music of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI: Aidan Nichols, OP, "A Theological Perspective on Church Music," Usus Antiquior, Vol. 1 No. 1, January, 2010, 26–38.

One peculiarity may be noted in the English translation; on p. 247, Fr. Delalande refers the reader to the bibliography at the end of the chapter, but the English edition of this work includes newly composed bibliographies for each chapter and omits the bibliography that Delalande included in the French edition, which contains certain nuanced suggestions regarding liturgical exegesis.

Dominique Delalande, O.P., "Gregorian Chant," in Introduction to Theology, ed. A.M. Henry, O.P., tr. William Storey (Chicago: Fides Publishers, 1954) 229-254.

Dominique Delalande, O.P., "Chant gregorién," in Initiation Théologique (Paris: Cerf, 1952) 235-261.

Dominican Chants of Good Friday

2011-04-22T13:32:00.001-07:00

Among the most beautiful chants of the Dominican Office of Tenebrae (Matins and Laudes on the days of the Pascal Triduum) are the responsories used with the Lamentations and other readings. By provision of the Proprium Officiorum Ordinis Praedicatorum (1982), these may also be used with the modern Liturgy of the Hours. This excellent video, made available by Bro. Lawrence Lew, O.P., shows the friars of Blackfriars Oxford chanting the responsories Velum Templi and Tradiderunt Me, as well as the Benedictus (in English).

We at St. Albert the Great Priory in Oakland have also been celebrating Tenebrae, but, unfortunately, I have no videos or recordings.

May these beautifully performed chants inspire other Dominican communities to take advantage of the chant treasures of the Order approved for use with the Liturgy of the Hours.

Christ in the Doors of Santa Sabina

2011-04-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

In the video below, Br. Gabriel Toretta, O.P., speaks about depictions of the crucifixion in art. Amongst other images, he discusses the doors of the Dominican church of Santa Sabina in Rome (beginning around 12:54). Br. Gabriel will be giving this presentation once more this coming Sunday, April 17, at 10:15 am at St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Charlottesville, VA.

Painting, Crucified from Province of Saint Joseph on Vimeo.

Primitive Hymn for the Feast of St. Dominic

2011-04-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

One of the oldest historical sources for the Dominican chant tradition is a Breviary-Antiphonary manuscript that is preserved at the Archivum Generale of the Order of Preachers at Santa Sabina in Rome (SS XIV L2). This manuscript dates from before the standardization of the Dominican liturgy under Humbert of Romans, and may be the work of the commision of Four Friars who attempted to codify the liturgy before Humbert. This manuscript preserves certain elements that are not present in Humbert's codification which served as the basis for the Dominican liturgy after the mid-thirteenth century. Nevertheless, this manuscript continued to be used for the next several centuries, and was thus modified at various points by the addition of the new chants and feasts.

One very interesting variation of this manuscript from the later Dominican tradition is that it gives a different melody for the hymns of St. Dominic than is found in the liturgy of Humbert of Romans. In fact, out of the three hymns of St. Dominic's feast, Gaude mater ecclesiae, Novus athleta Domini, and Hymnum novae laetitiae, the first has had its original melody scratched out and replaced by the melody for St. Dominic given by Humbert, the second has had its melody erased and left blank, and the third has been untouched, allowing us to see the original melody. The original melody for St. Dominic's feast is shared in this source with the feast of St. Augustine, which suggests that this melody may have been sung by St. Dominic himself. (St. Augustine was also given a different melody in Humbert's revision.) Although this melody did not originate with the Order (it may be found also in Bruno Stablein's book of hymn melodies), it is beautiful in its own right and gives us a glimpse of the early devotion to St. Dominic within the Order, particularly the way in which he was associated with Holy Father Augustine.

The transcription above combines the melody as given in SS XIV L2 with the text of the Hymnum novae laetitiae as found in the Suarez edition of the Dominican breviary (1952).

Dominican Chants of Lenten Compline

2011-04-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

I am happy to make available to our readers the following presentation by Bro. Innocent Smith, O.P., of the St. Joseph Province, about some of the most famous and beautiful distinctive Dominican chants for Compline during Lent.

I would also mention these three chants are also sung at St. Albert the Great Priory, our House of Studies in Oakland. We sing the Evigila with the Nunc Dimittis daily from Ash Wednesday to the Third Sunday of Lent; we sing O Rex with the Nunc Dimittis from the Third Sunday to the Triduum. The Media Vita is sung in place of the short responsory In Manus tuas after the reading on First and Second Vespers of Sundays and Solemnities and everyday during Holy Week. On other days of Lent, we sing another Dominican responsory, the In Pace in place of the short responsory.

I hope this provides readers with a spiritual meditation on the spirituality and liturgy of Lent in anticipation of Holy Week and Easter.

With special thanks to Bro. Innocent!

Dominican Liturgy Facebook Page

2011-03-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention, and I am sure that it will interest our readers, that Mr. Jesson Mata, of Blessed Sacrament Dominican Parish in Seattle has a Facebook page with lots of discussion and photos of the traditional Dominican Rite. It is called the Dominican Institute for Liturgy.

There are also postings about other liturgical activities in our Dominican parish in Seattle.

I congratulate Jesson on this project.

"Life in A Monastery": St. Albert the Great Priory, Oakland CA, 1961

2011-02-27T16:20:00.001-08:00

The video "Life a Monastery" was broadcast on Oakland Channel 6 in 1961. It shows life in the Western Dominican Province House of Studies, Saint Albert the Great Priory, in Oakland CA.

VIDEO ONE

The film begins with clips of our House of Studies, still the same today in Oakland CA. Then follows film of the Dominican Rite Solemn Mass, the center of the liturgical day at the House of Studies. The film than moves to the class room, and then highlights different aspects of the life. A list of those appearing is below the video. The times listed for each of the scenes in the identification list tell where you can find that segment on the video.

The Priory and Grounds (time 0:00)

Members of the Choir (time 1:35) are identified for Second Video

Solemn Mass Ministers (time 2:43)
Celebrant: Fr. Martin Giannini, O.P.
Deacon (l): Bro. Aquinas Wall, O.P.
Subdeacon (r): Bro. Nicholas Prince, O.P.
Senior Acolyte (r): Bro. Bernard Cranor, O.P.
Junior Acolyte (l): Bro. Brendan O’Rourke, O.P.
Thurifer: Bro. Bertrand Pidgeon, O.P.

Classroom (time 5:07)
Instructor: Fr. Fabian Parmisano, O.P.

Student in his Room (time 7:00)
Bro. Jordan DeMan, O.P.

Library Stacks (time 7:26)
Bro. Terence McCabe, O.P.
Bro. Sean Doherty, O.P.

Studying in Library (time 8:36)
Bro. Peter Cole, O.P.
____________________

Student Discussion by the Fire (time 9:11)
Bro. Philip Valera, O.P.
Bro. Benedict DeMan, O.P.
Bro. Bertrand Pidgeon, O.P.
Bro. Albert Linkogle, O.P.
Bro. Brendan O'Rourke, O.P.
Bro. Edmund Ryan, O.P.

Chess Players (time 9:58)
Bro. Stephen Coughlin, O.P.
Bro. Lawrence Ackerman, O.P.

Music Room (time 10:20)
Bro. Thomas More McGreevy, O.P.
Bro. Salvador Calderon, O.P. (Mexican Province)
Bro. Francisco Brenes Camocho, O.P. (Spanish Province)

Drama Practice (time 10:43)
Director: Bro. Lawrence Ackerman, O.P.
Bro. Sabastian Haterias, O.P.
Bro. Gerald Elher, O.P.
Fr. Fabian Parmisano, O.P.

Weather Service (time 11:30)
Bro. Stanislaus Sharlach, O.P.

Art Studio (time 11:56)
__________________
Bro. Aquinas Wall, O.P.

VIDEO TWO

The second part of the film highlights the fine arts and the domestic life of the house. It then returns to the Solemn Mass and ends with the chanting of the Exsultet according to the Dominican chant. The credits were actually added later, I am told by Fr. Finbar Hayes.

Music Session (time 0:00)
Trumpeter: Bro. James Aymong, O.P.
Guitar: Bro. Louis Fronk, O.P.

Print Shop (time 0:30)
Bro. Antoninus Everson, T.O.P.

Wood Shop (time 1:25)
_____________________
Bro. Daniel Thomas, O.P.
Bro. Raphael Goodfriend, O.P.

Visiting the Infirm (time 2:39)
Fr. Bertrand Clyne, O.P.
Bro. Gregory Lira, O.P.

Student and Teacher (time 2:60)
Fr. Leo Thomas, O.P.
Bro. Giles Wentworth, O.P.

Priest Leaving for Sunday Supply (time 3:30)
Student Driver: __________________
Fr. Mark McPhee, O.P.

Gardens (time 4:06)
__________________ (walking)
Bro. Matthias Lockett, O.P. (weeding)

Dominican Sisters at Grotto (time 4:35)
Sister Assumta Vorndran, O.P.
Sister Maria Goretti Eder, O.P.
Sister Nicolina Kohler, O.P.
Sister Melita Wolf, O.P.

Sisters in the Kitchen (time 5:02)
Sister Rosalia Steinbach, O.P.
Sister Maria Goretti Eder, O.P.

De Profundis Line and Refectory (time 5:19)
Fr. William Lewis, O.P. is the Prior

Reader in Refectory (time 6:35)
Bro. Stephen Coughlin, O.P.

Friars at Table (time 7:03)
server: _____________
Fr. Dominic Deniz Ortega, O.P. (Province of Spain)
Fr. Martin Giannini, O.P.
Fr. Mark McPhee, O.P.
Fr. John Flannerty, O.P.

In the Cloister (time 7:40)
In garden: __________
In archway: Bro. Thomas Thierman, T.O.P.

The Choir at Mass (time 8:35)

The Cantors (left to right)
Bro. Francisco Brenes Camacho, O.P. (Spanish Province)
Bro. Louis Fronk, O.P.
Bro. Bertrand Pidgeon, O.P.
Bro. James Aymong, O.P.

Front Row on Left (left to right)
Bro. Daniel Thomas, O.P.
Bro. Gregory Lira, O.P.
Bro. Antoninus Everson, T.O.P.
Bro. Albert Linkogle, O.P.
Bro. Lawrence Ackerman, O.P.
Bro. Augustine Hartman, O.P.
Bro. Anthony Chavez, O.P.
Bro. Patrick Labelle, O.P.
Bro. Bede Wilks, O.P.
Bro. Philip Valera, O.P.
Fr. Peter Miles, O.P.

Back Row on Left (left to right)
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

Front Row on Right (left to right)
_____________________
Bro. Sebastian Haterias, O.P.
Bro. Gerard Elher, O.P.
_____________________
Bro. Giles Wentworth, O.P.
Bro. Stephen Coughlin, O.P.
_____________________
Bro. Edmund Ryan, O.P.
Bro. Frederick Narberes, O.P.
_____________________
Bro. Adrian Rivera (lay brother postulant)

Back Row on Right
[Empty stalls]
Bro. Terence McCabe, O.P.

Solemn Mass (time 10:00) ministers are identified for first video

The Exsultet (time 11:34)
Bro. Kieran Healy, O.P.

Credits (time 14:00)
Fr. Mark McPhee, O.P.
Fr. Fabian Parmisano, O.P.
Fr. Finbar Hayes, O.P.
Fr. Leo Thomas, O.P.

I thank Bro. Lupe for his help with the production of this video and Fr. Edmund Ryan for his help in identifying the friars. I also thank the many friars who have written me with corrections and new identifications.

Dominican Rite Low Mass Tutorial Videos with Commentary

2011-02-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

These very beautifully done videos were prepared by friars of the Eastern Dominican Province for training purposes in the traditional Dominican Rite. The celebrant in these videos was Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P. They are best viewed along with the rubrical aid originally compiled by Fr. Anthony Patalano, O.P., and put in a lovely PDF format by Eastern Province friars. Download it here. I think we can anticipate that these videos will soon bear fruit in public celebrations of the Dominican Rite in the Eastern Province.

Since in the Western Province, where we have regular public celebrations of the Rite and I am currently teaching the Practicum for the student brothers on it at our House of Studies for, I wanted to make these videos more easily accessible along with commentary mentioning differences in custom between the two provinces in the manner of celebration. In include such notes below each video. I emphasize that this is merely meant to help priests of the Western Province learn what is traditional in our province, not as a criticism of the Eastern friars who produced these videos or of their province's local uses.

Preparation in the Sacristy

Preparation of the Chalice.

Note that the corporal should be placed in the burse so that then pulled out it will be in proper position for unfolding. This has clearly been done, but it is not mentioned.

Vesting of the Priest.

Note that the cord of the amice goes under the back scapular, not over it. This is not visible in the video, although it seems that Fr. Hofer did so.

Arrival at the Altar

The Entrance.

It is not the Western Province practice for the server to go up the front steps to the altar -- only the ordained do that. He should go to the side of the altar and only go up the side as high as he needs to for performing his function. The method of folding the veil in the video does not follow Western Province practice: It should be folded by thirds vertically, not horizontally, so that the decoration is right-side up on the bottom end. It is then laid vertically paralleling the right side of the corporal (not the gradine, as here). The purificator should not be folded in half (as here) but unfolded completely along the right side of the corporal. The pall is then placed on the upper part of the folded veil when it is not on the chalice.

The Preparation of the Chalice.

Although it seems to have been suppressed among American Dominicans generally, the kissing of the priest's had when handing the cruets seems to have been done occasionally (probably among those trained in Europe) in the Western Provicance. Some of our servers do it now, but not all.

The Prayer Actiones Nostras.

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar.

Although Bonniwell says that the priest stands on the "first step" (understood in the video to be the top one below the footpace), Western Province practice is to descend to the floor for the "Prayers at the Foot of the Altar." Our server does not bow for the priest's Confiteor, but only for his own. He then stands erect while the server bows for his Confiteor. In the Western Province, the server, while bowed, customarily makes a head nod to the priest when he says "te pater" but I personally wonder if this isn't something that has crept in from the Roman Rite. The verse Adjutorium nostrum is said at the foot of the steps and the priest then ascends the steps. The rubrics say that the server is to lift the edge of the priest's alb so that he does not trip going up the steps. Some servers tried (and try) to do in our province. But I find it awkward and unhelpful.

Priest Ascends to the Altar.

The Officium (Introit) to the Collect

The Officium and Kyrie.

The Gloria.

It is common in our province for the priest to continue recitation of the Gloria as he moves to the book, but, if he does not have it memorized, it is possible to pause while moving (as here). Priests should note that the 1965 Missal does not have the head bows in the Gloria marked (except for those at the Name of Jesus). Priests might wish to pencil these rubrics into that newer book.

The Collect.

We say the word Oremus in the center, with a head bow to the cross, before moving to the book for the collect. Note also how Fr. Hofer nicely makes a head bow to the cross at the Name of Jesus in the conclusion of the Collect (not mentioned by the commentator).

Epistle, Responsory (Gradual), Alleluia, and Gospel

The Epistle.

A small head bow is also made at the name of the saint of the day, for example, when the name appears in the Collect.

The Responsory and Alleluia.

It is custom in the Western Province to signal the server that the recitation of the chants between the Epistle and Gospel are ending by placing the left hand extended flat on the altar toward the center so the server can see it. This is especially helpful when there is no Alleluia or where the Alleluia is followed by a sequence. Also note that the server should go up the side steps, not the front.

The Gospel.

Although you cannot see it, Fr. Hofer rests his folded hands in the missal in the V-shaped depression where the pages are bound. This is a priestly position. The deacon holds his hands folded before his breast, not resting in the book.

The Offertory

The Offertory Verse.

Note in the video and commentary that this is the only time that Oremus is said with the hands extended.

The Offertory Prayers.

Again, note that the veil should be folded vertically, not horizontally. Although Bonniwell says that the pall may be placed against the center altar card, as here, Western Province priests usually place it on the upper part of the vertically folded veil. Again, the purificator should be fully extended along the right side of the corporal.

The Lavabo.

It is certainly permitted to recite the Lavabo psalm while moving, if one has it memorized.

The Prayer In Spiritu Humilitatis.

The Orate Fratres.

Note that Fr. Hofer has made a full circle when saying Orate fratres, this is correct when the tabernacle is not present. When it is present, as here, the priest does not make a full circle, but turns to his right placing his back to the Gospel side the tabernacle, and then turns back by by the way he came. This can be seen in earlier videos, for example at the Dominus vobiscum before the Collect.

The Secret.

Of course, the priest also says the response Et clamor meum ad te veniat to the verse Domine exaudi orationem meam, although this is not mentioned or heard in the video.

The Preface

The Preface.

The Sanctus.

You will note the server lighting the Sanctus Candle (not mentioned in commentary). It was a very strict rule in our province that, not only the priest, but also the server should avoid turning in a circle so as to show his back to the tabernacle. Here the server would turn in the opposite direction
.

The Canon Part I (Te igitur to the Consecration)

The Te Igitur.

Note that the priest should not be using his thumb and forefinger to change the pages in the book. As the commentator said, they should be reserved for touching the Host.

The In Primis.

The Communicantes.

The Quam Oblationem.

The Canon Part II (The Consecration)

The Consecration of the Host.

Note, as the commentary says, that the priest now keeps the fingers that have touched the Host on the corporal rather than outside it. This position is used from now on, whenever the priest places his hands on the altar.

The Consecration of the Chalice.

Again, the normal practice in the Western Province is to place the pall on the upper part of the folded veil, not against the altar card. The usual process in our province is not just to steady the base of the chalice with just the three free fingers of the left hand, but to extend those three finders behind the stem of the chalice with the joined thumb and forefinger in front of the stem. The base of the chalice thus securely held down, lest blessings or other motions risk tipping it over. This will be the case for all blessings, etc., for the rest of the Mass until the reception of communion, so I will not comment on this in the future videos. Our practice is not just to "not raise the chalice higher than the head," but not to raise the base of the chalice above the eyes.

The Canon Part III (After the Consecration)

The Unde et Memores.

In the Western Province, the general rule was, after the consecration, to extend the arms only moderately (not straight out as in the video). This moderate extension is what is specified in the Latin Missal rubrics and the wood cut in the 1933 Missal. There are, however, a couple of photographs of Western Province priests doing the rigid straight arm cross position shown in this video. The current practice in the Western Province is to follow the more rubrical "moderate extension." Also note that when the server rose he turned in such a way as to present his back to the tabernacle. In the Western Province servers should turn in the opposite direction before descending the steps.

The Supplices Exoramus.

The Memento.

The Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus.

The Per Quem Haec Omnia.

Again, normally we put the pall on the upper part of the vertically folded veil.

The Per Ipsum.

The Pater Noster to the Communion

The Pater Noster.

Following the logic of the Latin rubrics, which say to extend the hands "as before" at the Embolism, it is the practice in the Western Province for the priest to join his hands when the people make their response Sed libera nos a malo. They are then extended again after the priest says quietly Amen and begins the Libera. Again, we put the pall on the upper half of the folded veil, not against the altar card. Our practice is to place the paten on the lower half of the folded veil (not to the side).

The Fraction.

The Agnus Dei.

Although it was not unknown in the Western Province to ring the "Communion Bell" at the first Agnus Dei, the more common practice, near universal today, has been to defer this bell until the priest turns to present the Host for adoration by the people saying (since 1958) Ecce Agnus Dei. When, according to local custom (as allowed by the Ecclesia Dei Commission), the Communion Confiteor is said, the bell is rung at that point (as it would be for the friars communion at a Solemn Mass). Thus the bell serves as a signal for the people to prepare for commuion. If it is a Low Mass without any communions, then the bell may be rung at this point, as in the video.

The Priest's Preparation and Communion.

Note that when removing the pall in order to take communion from the chalice, the priest should steady the chalice by placing his three fingers to one side of the node and the forefinger and thumb on the other to hold it down.

The Ablutions to the End of Mass

The Ablutions.

The Communion Verse.

Note again that the server should turn in the opposite direction to avoid turning his back to the tabernacle.

The Postcommunion Prayer.

Note that the Oremus is here done at the center as it the Western Province practice (cf. the Opening Collect above).

The Ite Missa Est.

The Blessing of the People.

The Last Gospel.

In our province the server comes to the Gospel side of the altar to respond to the dialog of the Last Gospel, as he did the Gospel of the Mass. Normally he would return to stand in his place before the altar on the Epistle side. But is is also permitted for the server to hold the altar card up for the priest so that priests with poorer eyesight do not have to strain to make out the words. The Deo gratias at the end of the Last Gospel is said by the server.

The Leonine Prayers

The Leonine Prayers are not part of Mass; they were added in the late 1800s for particular intentions. As their recitation was a matter of Church law, they have not been required since abrogation of the decree to recite them in 1965 even in the traditional forms of Mass. Nevertheless they still are said (by local custom) in some places.

The Leonine Prayers.

The Return to the Sacristy.

Again, my most sincere thanks to the friars of the Eastern Province for these beautiful videos.

Dominican Art and Liturgy Announcements

2011-01-28T12:09:00.000-08:00

In celebration of the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, two items of interest to our readers. First, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, the Studium of the Western Dominican Province, has put up a wonderful Web-Exhibit of the VITA D. THOMAE AQUINATIS by Otto van Veen and published in 1610 in Antwerp. Itis a pictorial history of the life of St. Thomas Aquinas accompanied by a short Latin text of explanation accompanying each of the thirty-one illustrations. The inages are lovely and the explanations by Fr. Michael Morris, O.P., Professor of Religion and the Arts at DSPT are very informative. You can access the exhibit here. The first page of van Veen's Vita decorates this post.

Liturgically, in honor of the 15th anniversary of the dedication of the church, a Dominican Rite Missa Cantata of the Dedication of a Church will be celebrated at Holy Rosary Church, Portland OR, on Sunday, January 30, at 11:00 a.m. The pastor, Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P., will be the celebrant. Music will be by Cantores in Ecclesia and a reception will follow in the parish hall. You can read more about this event and get driving informatino here.

A blessed feast day to you all!

Renovation of the Sanctuary at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Seattle WA

2011-01-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

Renovations of the Sanctuary were recently completed at the Dominican Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Seattle WA. Our readers have already seen images of the prerenovation building because it was the site for the Dominican Rite Solemn Mass celebrating the parish's 100th anniversary, and for a Solemn Dominican Rite Requiem Mass on All Souls last.

Here is an image of the church before the renovation of the sanctuary:

You can see that, after Vatican II, the sanctuary had been extended into the crossing and a modern style portable altar with floor candlesticks was placed on it. Seating faced in from the transcepts and forward from the nave to create a make-shift "church in the round." The old high altar can be seen at the back. The tabernacle previously on it had been removed to a side chapel in the north transcept.

Here is an image after the renovation:

You can see that the tabernacle is now back on the old high altar. A new free-standing altar, suitable for ad orientem as well as ad populum celebration was commissioned and installed. The extension into the crossing was removed, the communion rail put back in its original place. Thus the original configuration of the pews was also restored. In addition, stalls for chanting the office were commissioned to replace the folding chairs previously used in one of the transcepts for this purpose. Note also the "Benedictine" candle arrangement.

Slovanic Sub Tuum Sung by the Students of St. Albert the Great Priory

2011-01-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

Here at St. Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA, the community sings the Sub Tuum in Dominican Gregorian chant after every Saturday morning Mass.

Inspired by a Ukrainian brother who was recently ordained a bi-ritual priest, the brothers learned this Slavonic version of the hymn based on a 17th-century Polish melody. As we await the Purification of Our Lady on February 2, I thought our readers might enjoy this chant.

The opening photo shows the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Priory Chapel at St. Albert the Great House of Studies in Oakland CA.

St. Cecilia: Dominican Rite Solemn Mass, Portland OR

2010-12-07T15:41:00.001-08:00

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.

2011 Calendar for Dominican Rite Available

2010-12-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

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.

Use of the Capuce at Office in Light of Dominican Tradition

2010-11-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

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.

All Souls Dominican Requiem at Holy Rosary Chruch, Portland OR

2010-11-10T13:01:00.001-08:00

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!

13th-Century Stabat: Text and Music

2010-09-15T07:39:00.001-07:00

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.

Dominican Stabat Mater (XIII century)

2010-09-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Mass at the Tomb of St. Dominic

2010-09-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2010-08-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Summer Sounds at Anchorage Cathedral

2010-08-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

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!

Thirteenth-Century Dominican Stabat Mater Found

2010-07-29T18:56:00.001-07:00

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.

100,000 Visits to Dominican Liturgy

2010-07-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

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!

Chant Chant at Thomistic Conference

2010-07-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Sacramental Forms in the Dominican Rite

2010-06-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

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."

Historical Dominican Liturgical Colors

2010-06-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

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.

New Dominican Liturgical Texts

2010-06-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

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.

Solemn Requiem Mass for the Dead

2010-05-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

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.

Medieval Salve Regina

2010-05-17T20:50:00.001-07:00

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?

Dominican Antiphonal Completed

2010-05-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

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.

New Dominican Rite Resources

2009-12-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Through the kindness of contributors, I can now announce several new resources for the Dominican Rite.

The first is James Harrison's How to Sing Plainchant: Chiefly for the Use of Dominican Choirs (Ditchling: St. Dominic's Press, 1920). This is more extensive than my post on how to read Dominican notation and interpret the rhythm. Note, however, two oddities in this text. First, the author discusses the smaller version of the quarter bar, which was found in editions of our chant from 1910-1933. Unlike the regular quarter bar, this was NOT a sign to lengthen the preceding note, but merely a phrasing mark. It seems to have been added in 1910 to imitate the quarter bar found in the Solesmes-Roman system. Post-1933 books don't have this mark. Also, he mentions, merely in passing, the quilisma. As readers know, our books do not mark this. I assume that he thinks that choirs will add the interpretation where it would found in the Roman books, but he never explains how to do this. One can download a PDF file of this book from from the link on the left sidebar under "Dominican Chant Books" or consult it online here.

Next is a PDF file of Ceremonies of the Dominican Rite (New York: McBreen, 1877). This is a useful book for those who cannot read Latin. Although it does not reflect the practice of 1962 exactly, it is an excellent resource and covers many things not mentioned in Bonniwell's Ceremonial. The book includes rubrics for choir office and other rites besides Mass. It can be downloaded on the left sidebar under "Dominican Rite Texts."

Next is the new Liturgical Calendar of the Dominican Rite for 2010. I have compiled this for use in the Western Province, so it has a number of feasts proper to my province in it. I have also added the page numbers for the feasts along the right margin for those celebrations whose old date was changed and therefore are a bit hard to find in the 1936 Traveling Missal. The numbers indicate the page in that Missal. At the end, is found a list of the local celebrations in dioceses served by my province. Also, as this always seems to come up, the date of the September Ember days follows the reform of Pope John XXIII, which is proper for the usage of 1962. That is why they are a week later than some "Tridentine" calendars that you can find on the web. The Calendar has the days on the correct dates. You can find the link for download on the left sidebar under "Dominican Rite Texts."

Finally, thanks to Sister Mary Catherine of the Summit NJ monastery of our cloistered nuns, a new font can now be downloaded from our sidebar. If you insert the font in a document and type a capital F you will get the traditional Dominican Flex Mark whenever you need it for any psalter project. You can download it at the link under "Other Useful Links." The just copy it into the fonts directory under Windows. Although I cannot reproduce the mark here, due to limitations on fonts in the blogger program, this nice character will look much better than the usual substitutes, an upside down 2, or the † character.

I thank all who have contributed to these new resources.

1965 Dominican Holy Week Available

2009-11-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

As readers know, one of my goals is to make the chant books of the Dominican Order accessible to the public in PDF format for download. Through the work of Fr. Gregory Schnakenberg, O.P., a contributor to Dominican Liturgy, we can now make available the last, 1965, edition of the Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae iuxta Ritum Ordinis Praedicatorum, that issued by order of the Master of the Order Aniceto Fernandez. It is now found linked for download on the left side bar under Dominican Chant Books. We already had made available the 1965 Regulae Chantus, and hope eventually to have available the 1965 edition of the Completorium.

This edition is of considerable historical interest. It integrated the selection of chants published in 1959 to bring the Dominican liturgy of Holy Week into conformity with the Roman Rite. In addition, this version of Holy Week abandoned the traditional Dominican notation and imposed on our music the Solesmes method of execution and its system of interpretive marks. Those interested in how this revision affected the music may the chants in this book with those in the older versions, as exemplified by the 1927 edition also available on the side bar.

All Souls at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Seattle WA

2009-11-17T10:02:00.001-08:00

I apologize for the delay in posting these images of the Solemn Requiem Mass according to the Dominican Rite celebrated at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Seattle WA on All Souls last. It has taken me some time to get them together. This is just a selection from the photographs taken and posted by Mr. Pat Bucy at this photo album.

The minsiters for the Mass were: Fr. Daniel Syverstad, O.P., Pastor and Former Provincial of the Western Dominican Province, priest; Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., S.T.M., professor of Church History at Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, deacon; and Mr. Jesson Mata (an installed lector and acolyte), director of liturgy and music at Blessed Sacrament, subdeacon. Music was provided by the Tudor Choir, resident at Blessed Sacrament, under the direction of Mr. Doug Fullington, which sang the Requiem and Libera of Tomas de Vittoria. The church, which holds just over 700 was almost completely full, so attendence is estimated at about 650.

The High Altar of the church, dressed for the Mass; notice the black humeral veil for use later by the subdeacon, and the unbleached candles. Funds need to be raised for a violet tabernacle veil and for a proper black altar frontal; the vestments you will see in the coming photos were a kind loan from Holy Rosary Dominican Parish in Portland; the catafalque candle sticks were from the attic of the local Episcopal parish. If you would like to help Blessed Sacrament purchase what is needed needed for regular celebration of Dominican Rite Masses, contact Mr. Jesson Mata at the parish about how to make a donation.

The catafalque, covered with a black pall, where the Absolution of the Dead will be performed during the singing of the Libera, following the Mass.

Members of the Dominican Community of Blessed Sacrament, in choir awaiting the beginning of Mass: from left to right: Fr. Raphael Mary Salzillo, O.P., parochial vicar (ordained last spring); Fr. Jordan Bradshaw, O.P., Director of the Catholic Newman Center, University of Washington; and Fr. Augustine Hartman, O.P., in residence and chaplain.

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar in the Dominican form. Note the very simple apparels on the albs. The acolytes were Lawrence Lam and Thomas Fetz.

The ministers in the cross formation, waiting for Fr. Daniel to turn for the Dominus Vobiscum.

The priest and deacon read the Epistle, Responsorium, Tract, and Sequence quietly at the sedilla; they will stand in a moment to read the Gospel. Note the black "mappula" or "mappa" on their laps, the Dominican form of the Roman gremial.

The subdeacon has taken the black humeral veil and is about to bring the chalice to the sedilla where it will be prepared. The choir is singing the chants between the readings.

The Gospel Procession goes to the lectern.

The Offertory: the subdeacon has unveiled the already prepared chalice and the deacon has just passed it to the priest, saying "Imola Deo sacrificium laudis et redde Altissimo vota tua." The priest will offer up the host and chalice in a single oblation. Note the very simple apparels on the amices.

The Preface: the ministers are in this position for the dialogue (they are coming up from bowing for "Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro"). They will also take this position for their reading of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei.

Ministers in position for the first part of the Canon. They will kneel in the triangular formation on the steps for the Consecration. The catafalque is visible in front.

The Elevations were not photographed out of respect for the Blessed Sacrament. This photo shows the deacon returning from placing the pall on the chalice and the priest with his arms extended in the cross position used by Dominicans after the Consecration.

Display of the Host for the Ecce Agnus Dei. This ceremony is not actually proper to the Dominican Rite. It is a Romanization imposed on the Rite in 1960 when our use of our Communion Confiteor was also suppressed by the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

Fr. Daniel was recovering from back surgery a little over two weeks before the Mass -- as those present could clearly see. He did not distribute Communion. Here Fr. Raphael is assisted in distribution by the deacon.

Fr. Jordan is assisted by the subdeacon.

The senior acolyte assists Fr. Hartman.

The priest consumes the ablution of water and wine at the side of the altar, deacon and subdeacon hold the cruets, servers wait to retrieve them.

The Choir has chanted the Libera. As he silently recites the Pater Noster, Fr. Daniel, wearing the cope, sprinkles the catafalque with Holy Water. He will then incense it and sing the verses and collects. For this ceremony, Chris Hanzeli served as crucifer (in front), and James Bronoske was thurifer.

The procession departs. You can see the full pews on either side of the church.

I thank Mr. Jesson Mata for forwarding the link and photographs.

New Holy Week Chants now available for download

2009-11-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that, through the kindness a friar reader of this site, we can now make available in PDF format for download the chant book Cantus Gregoriani ad Ordinem Hedomadae Sanctae Iuxta Ritum Ordinis Praedicatorum (Rome: Santa Sabina, 1959).

As many of our readers know, and as I have explained in my history of the Dominican Liturgy post on this site, the Dominican Rite Holy Week rituals underwent extensive revision in the 1950s to make them conform to the reformed Roman Liturgy. As our rite is a monastic rite and did not have any provisions for blessings of the font (non-existant in monastic churches), baptisms, and other aspects of the secular liturgy, this was a major revision. To supply chants for the reformed rites presented great challenges. The editors of the Cantus Gregoriani sought out as many authentic medieval versions of the chant as they could find and adopted others from the modern Roman tradition.

This set of chants represents the last effort to conform the Dominican Rite Holy Week to Roman practice using medieval music. In 1965, this material would be consolidated into the last edition of the Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, but in that edition they music would be drastically revised to conform to the Solesmes methods of execution and notation. Those interested in the music of the Dominican Rite before accomodation to the Solesmes regime will find this download especially useful.

The music may be downloaded on the side bar under Hebdomadae Sanctae Cantus Novi.

Solemn Requiem Mass at Seattle WA

2009-10-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce:

ALL SOULS DAY
November 2, 2009
7:00 p.m.

SOLEMN MASS OF THE DEAD
According the the Dominican Rite

V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Syverstad, O.P., Pastor and Former Provincial
Celebrant
V. Rev. Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P., S.T.M.
Deacon
Mr. Jesson Mata
Subdeacon

Music Program

Tomas Luis de Vittoria
REQUIEM MASS
and
LIBERA
(Absolution of the Dead)

Propers from the Graduale Sacri Ordinis Praedicatorum

TUDOR CHOIR OF SEATTLE
under the direction of
Mr. Doug Fullington

CHURCH OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
Dominican Parish
5041 Ninth Avenue N.E.
Seattle, WA 98105
206-547-3020

Dominican Nuns of Marbury Alabama

2009-10-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

I promised the Dominican nuns of the Monastery of St. Jude in Marbury, Alabama, that I would mention them to our readers and emphasize their dedication to Dominican Chant. But I also want to pay tribute to the community's commitment to racial justice. At the time of their founding in 1944, they were among the first cloistered nuns to break the color line in the Deep South, something very difficult at that time. To the right you can see a picture of the some of the youngest and oldest members of the community.

I have often been asked whether there are any houses of cloistered Dominican nuns in the United States who are dedicated to preserving the chants of the Dominican Order, and I have always answered that all the monasteries of nuns preserve the chant to a greater or lesser degree. But my friends, the sisters of Marbury, are especially dear to my heart because I have been collaborating with them for almost two years in the revision of their music.

Like most of the Dominican monasteries in the U.S., the sisters at Marbury were then using the "Neo-Gregorian" music produced back in the 1970s in the monastery of Buffalo N.Y. When the Dominican nuns, following the friars, adopted the new Roman Liturgy of the Hours back in 1970, they discovered that many, if not most, of the antiphons and other chants of the Liturgia Horarum were new creations and had no music in the medieval chant tradition. In a heroic project old melodies were adapted to fit the new texts. Monasteries of our nuns adopted this music around the world, when they did not convert to vernacular chants.

About two years ago, the sisters of Marbury contacted me asking if there were any way to replace the Neo-Gregorian music with authentic Dominican chants. I assured them that it was possible and we began the project of compiling a new Antiphonal using the order of authentic antiphons given in the Ordo Cantus Officii published by the Sacred Congregation in 1983. Almost all these antiphons have Dominican variants and the substitutions were made. Parts of this project were already in use by the nuns last spring, and when I visited Marbury to celebrate a Missa Cantata in the Dominican Rite for Ascension Thursday. I was then able to hear the Paschal Time Office, with its traditional Alleluia antiphons, in use with the Liturgia Horarum for the first time in my life. The chants for that Mass were those from the Dominican Gradual, which the nuns also use at their regular Extraordinary Form Masses according the Roman Missal of 1962.

The Marbury sisters have always maintained the chant as part of their life of prayer, and it is central to their daily Horarium. When complete, the Advent-Christmas volume of the new Antiphonal will contain the complete music for all the Hours, not just Vespers as at present. The sisters plan to begin introducing this restored music on the First Sunday of Advent. The only thing lacking will be the "prolix responsories" for use at the Office of Readings, but I have included those responsories appointed for use in place of the short responses at First Vespers of Solemnities by the 1983 Proprium Ordinis Praedicatorum. And page references are will be provided for those not included. They can be found in the Dominican Antiphonals of 1863 and 1933, both available for dowload in PDF format on the side bar here at Dominican Liturgy. When complete this new Antiphonal will be available there too.

The Marbury sisters are a small community, but they have been blessed recently with an increase in vocations. They have asked me to call their community to the attention of young Catholic women who feel called to the Dominican spiritual tradition of study and prayer in the form of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, but especially to those women who have a love of Gregorian Chant. Those interested may find the vocation page here. Even if you are not thinking of a vocation to the sisters, their web page is still worth a visit.

Note to readers

2009-10-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

The analysis of the "Canonical Status of the Dominican Rite" on the side bar has been updated.

Dominican Libellus Precum Available On-Line

2009-10-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have been asked many times about collections of Dominican prayers and devotions in Latin. So it may please readers to know that the Libellus Precum ad Usum Fratrum Ordinis Praedicatorum ["Booklet of Prayers for Use by the Friars of the Order of Preachers"], has been made available on-line for down-load in PDF format on our left sidebar or here.

This small prayerbook contains the Latin texts of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin in its Dominican Rite form, the Daily Office of the Dead, and many other prayers and devotions popular in the Dominican Order. It also contains special Dominican forms for blessings, including that of the Rosary, as well as the daily Examination of Conscience and the Thanksgiving after Communion. The first edition was produced in 1911 and the last in 1957. This is the edition printed under the Master of the Order Fr. Emmanuel Suarez, O.P., in 1952.

A new version of the Libellus was created and published in 1983 as part of the Proprium Ordinis Praedicatorum, which adapted chants and texts of the traditional Dominican Rite for use with the new Roman Liturgia Horarum. Sadly this section of the Proprium was never published independently.

I know of no translation of the Libellus Precum. Should anyone do one, I would happy to post it for download. I think my collaborator Bro. Corwin Low, O.P., for providing this excellent quality scan.

Dominican Missal of 1521

2009-09-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

It may interest our readers to know that the Dominican Rite Altar Missal of 1521 is now, in part, available on-line at Gonzaga University in Spokane WA. It is published electronically by their Rare Books Collection. This is a beautiful and informative presentation, with excellent digital images, one of which decorates this post.

Of special interest artistically are the woodcuts with which it is decorated. This missal, although heavily overburdened with saints days (almost to the exclusion of the Sundays of the Year!) is important because it is one of the last editions before the Romanizing reforms mandated by the Dominican General Chapter of Salamanca in 1551. Most famously, the Salamanca reforms changed the Dominican (and Sarum) practice of counting Sundays after Trinity to "Sundays after the Octave of Trinity," an oddity preserved until the change to the Roman form of "Sundays after Pentecost in the Missal of 1965.

I thank Mrs. Jamie Ballanger for calling this publication to my attention.

Fifteenth-Century Dominican Breviaries in Digital Form

2009-08-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

A kind friar has called it to my attention that three incunabula containing Dominican liturgical materials are now available in digital form on the web. Perhaps these would interest some of our readers. These items have been made available by the Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek in Munich, Germany, as part of their digital library project.

First are two breviaries, both published in Venice, one dating from ca. 1477 and the other from about that date but undated. The dated volume may be found here. And the undated one here. The texts they contain are very similar, if not identical. The third item is the Diurnale Fratrum Predicatorum published by Andrea dei Toresani at Venice in 1490 according to the colophon. It is available here.

For those interested in the medieval Dominican Office these are an important resource since the 1477 edition is the second oldest printed version of the Dominican Breviary–only the edition printed at Milan the year before (and virtually identical) is known to be earlier. Although they have the excessively crowded calendar of the later middle ages (at least in comparison to the exemplar of Humbert–1254), they are fairly representative of early Dominican practice.

These printed volumes are historically important because they represent the Office as it was celebrated before the revision mandated by the General Chapter of Salamanca (1551), in which the lessons of Matins were purged of much material judged legendary and Biblical lessons were, for the first time, introduced in Feasts of Nine Lessons. One can see in these digital versions that they also have the numbering of Sundays “after Trinity,” the Dominican medieval practice, as opposed to “after the Octave of Trinity” as found in all Dominican books after the Salamanca reform–except the Missal of 1965, which adopted the Roman style of “after Pentecost.”

For those who would like to compare these texts to that of a medieval Dominican Breviary, one is available in digital form here, showing an exemplar from the Czech Republic. As images from the printed versions are not available for reproduction, this post is decorated with a page of the calendar of this manuscript.

Easter Vesperal for Dominican Use Available

2009-04-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

The Easter Season Vesperal for the modern Liturgy of the Hours following the Dominican Use is now available on our left side-bar or here for download in PDF format. This Vesperal gives the Dominican Versions of the Gregorian music assigned for use with the Latin Liturgia Horarum according to the Ordo Cantus Officii (1983) issued by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. Also included are additions and variants provided in the Proprium Officiorum Ordinis Praedicatorum (1982).

In addition to Vespers, the Alleluias that may replace the psalm antiphons of the Liturgia at Office of Readings, Lauds, and the Little Hours are also included, along with the Antiphons at the Benedictus. The music for Vespers of the feasts of the Annunciation and St. Joseph follows the Psalter.

I apologize for the lateness of this posting, especially to those who have been waiting for this material for personal use. A computer problem had to be rectified before I would edit the music for this project and create PDF files. In order to make this available as quickly as possible, I have posted this Vesperal without the Commons of the Saints. I need to complete the revision of the antiphons and responsories to include alleluias. Once this is done an updated version will be posted.

The Ancient Dominican Easter Vigil

2009-04-09T04:52:00.001-07:00

As some readers know, the old Easter Vigil of the Roman Rite underwent a series of reforms beginning in 1951 and continuing until the introduction of the revised Holy Week Rite of Pope Pius XII in the spring of 1956. The Dominicans imitated as much as possible these changes until we produced a new Vigil of our own, one that went into effect at Easter 1957, a year after the Roman Rite. Readers who know the Vigil of the 1962 Roman Missal would find that in use by Dominicans from 1957 onward virtually identical to it, so I am not going to describe it. But as our older liturgy is quite different and of historical interest, Shawn has suggested that I post a discussion of it.

Following the medieval practice of Saturday afternoon celebration of the Easter Vigil, the Dominican Vigil began after the singing of None. In the modern period, when the Vigil had migrated to Saturday morning, this meant that Matins and the four Little Hours of Holy Saturday were sung back-to-back in the morning so that the Vigil itself could begin before 9:00 a.m. One of the first effects of Pope Pius XII's period of experimentation after 1951 was that in some houses the Little Hours of Holy Saturday were restored to their normal times and the Vigil was celebrated in the later afternoon, but this was by no means the universal practice. Morning celebration continued in many places until 1957.

The old Dominican Vigil began with the Blessing of the New Fire. The prior or other priest celebrant, in purple cope, standing before the high altar, blessed lighted coals in a small metal dish held by the sacristan. The coals had been lighted without any special ceremony in the sacristry before the service. The deacon held the missal. The blessing prayer Domine sancte Pater was short and merely recited, not sung. A small candle was then lighted from these coals, but they were kept in the presbytery until the lighting of the church lamps, so that they could be used to relight the Easter Candle should a draft put it out. The deacon received the prior's blessing, gave the subdeacon the missal and placed himself to the subdeacon's left, which was the Gospel side, as all were facing the altar. The two acolytes with unlighted candles flanked the deacon and subdeacon. The prior took his place at the Epistle side of the altar, as he did for the singing of the Gospel at Solemn Mass. The Deacon then sang the Exultet, for which Dominicans have a tone somewhat different from the Roman and which differs in a number of places from the Roman text.

Although in modern times Dominicans used Easter Candles of conventional size, as late as the 1800s we often used a very large Easter Candle, much taller than those in use today. Our Province archives have pictures from the 1850s of one of these candles at our old priory church in Benicia California. I will try to get a scan of it. Dominicans did not use a three-branch holder for the Easter Fire and there was no chantning of Lumen Christi. In many priories the ancient practice of the "Easter Card" (Cartula Paschalis) was maintained into the last century. This was tacked to the candle in place of the modern practice of lettering on the candle. The card gave the year of the Lord, the years since the foundation of the Order, Years since the death of St. Dominic, the Epact, the Dominical Letter, and the Indiction.

When the deacon reached the words In huius igitur noctis, he inserted the first grain of incense into the candle; at the words Rutilans ignis accendit, he lit the Paschal Candle. The server holding the other four grains of incense then inserted them as the deacon continued to sing the Blessing. These acts would have required use of a ladder in the old days. As the deacon sang Qui licit sit divisus in partes, the two acolytes' candles were lighted, and then, at Pretiosae huius lampadis, the church lamps. When the Exultet was finished, the ministers returned to the sacristy, put on white Mass vestments and returned to the altar. There they bowed and went to be seated for the readings, without any other ceremony. During this one Mass of the year, the acolyte's candles were not snuffed when not in use, but allowed to burn continuously.

A lector in surplice then sang the four readings of the Vigil. These were Gen. 1-2; Ex. 14-15; Is. 4; and Is. 54-55. A Tract and Collect followed each reading except that from Genesis, which had only a Collect. The second reading from Isaiah had two collects, one before and one after the Tract Sicut Cervus. Two chanters wearing surplices in medio chori then lead the community in singing the Litany of the Saints in its Dominican form. When the choir had sung the last Agnus Dei of the Litany, the choir began the Easter Kyrie and the major ministers approached the altar for the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar.

The priest then intoned at the center of the altar, the Gloria in the solemn tone (very similar to that of Roman Mass IV). As it was intoned, the organ played for the first time since the beginning of Lent, the church bells were rung for the first time since Holy Thursday, and the friars took off their black cappas to reveal their white habits. The subdeacon then sang the Epistle from Colossians 3.

The Dominican way of singing the Easter Gospel Alleluia differs from the common Roman form, with its three repetitions of the Alleluia and cantors raising each intonation. To the right you can see the Easter Alleluia according to the Domincan chant, the melody of which differs a bit from the common Roman form. You can also see how it is sung. Two cantors in medio chori intone it and the friars all rise. The community then joins in on the short melisma at the end: as indicated by the double bar. Note that this use of the double bar in Dominican notation functions as does the asterisk in Solesmes notation. Then the entire Alleluia is repeated by all, as indicated by the "Repet." The friars then sit while the two cantors sing the verse, joining in for eius at the end, as indicated again by the double bar before that word. As can be seen from "Non repet. Alleluia." the Alleluia is not repeated after the verse. So the Dominican practice is to repeat the Alleluia only once, before the verse. Originally we sang the Alleluia once more after the verse, as I will explain below. Another pair of cantors next joined the original two to sing, antiphonally, the Tract (Ps. 116). Then came the deacon's chanting of the Gospel from Matthew 28.

The current use at the Alleluia reflects changes made in our liturgy at the time of Humbert's reforms in 1256. In the picture to the right you can see displayed one of the four extant Dominican Missals from before the Reforms of Humbert of Romans in 1256. This book represents the "Liturgy of the Four Friars" whose standardization of Dominican practice was approved in 1246. The left page shows the end of the Litany and the Vigil Mass of Easter (the right page is the Mass of Christmas). If you look carefully you can see where the rubrics for the Alleluia have been changed to conform to Humbert's revision: originally the Alleluia was sung a third time after the verse. This is here crossed out. The Tract was then sung in medio with two pairs of friars alternating the verses. At the Gospel only incense was used; no candles or cross were carried. There was no Credo and no Offertory chant.

The Mass then continued as usual until the Pax Domini. Unlike the usual practice at Solemn Mass, the Pax instrument was not passed and there was no Agnus Dei. Rather, a very short vespers service began immediately after the response to the Pax Domini. The triple Alleluia antiphon was sung and followed by Psalm 116 with its Gloria Patri. After the choir repeated the antiphon, the cantor intoned the Magnificat Antiphon Vespere autem sabbati, which was also repeated after the choir had finished the Magnificat. The priest, who had by this time finished communion, then sang the Postcommunion Collect. The Mass ended in the usual way with the Placeat, the Ite Missa est, the blessing, and the Last Gospel, the deacon, however, sang the Ite with triple alleluias. Compline was sung after the evening meal with chants proper to the Easter season and the Salve Regina was followed by procession to the altar of the Virgin Mary singing the Litany of Loreto, was customary on all Saturdays of the year. In case you are wondering, Dominicans sing the Salve Regina all year round after Compline.

There was no General Communion of the friars at the Vigil because the Easter General Communion was at the day Mass of Easter. But I understand that in many places a General Communion had been introduced into the Vigil in the early part of the twentieth century. Such as the practice at our House of Studies in the early 1950s. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Dominican Vigil is the absence of any rites related to Baptism and the font. This reflects the monastic origins of our rite: monasteries did not have pastoral cures and so had no baptismal font since they never needed to perform baptisms. The rite is also of interest for the simplicity of the Fire Ceremony, which is probably quite ancient.

The Four Friars Missal show is Lausanne: Musee Historique MS MG 2117 and dates to the late 1240s. This post follows the rubrics of the 1933 Dominican Missal, the 1869 Caeremoniale juxta Ritum S. Ordinis Praedicatorum, and the memories of older friars of the Western Dominican Province, in particular Bro. Raymond Bertheaux.

How to Read Chant in Dominican Notation

2009-02-16T04:05:00.000-08:00

Because of some request for a reposting of how to sing Dominican chant by those involved in current music projects, I am reposting this. In response to a question I have also added an explanation of the use of the flat.

PART ONE: NOTATION

Those who know Gregorian music, especially with the so-called Solesmes marks, are often surprised when they first encounter printed versions (or on-line manuscript) versions of Dominican chant. The first thing they notice is the complete absence of the Solesmes marks: epistema, dot, ictus, etc. The next thing they notice is that there is no quilisma. The so-called "expressive neumes" are totally absent. Then there is that funny Dominican quarter bar: it is not on the top line of the staff, but moves up and down to the height of the note it follows. And the double bar appears where in the Roman books one expects an asterisk. Finally they notice that the liquescents often appear on diphthongs and liquid consonants where they are lacking in Roman music.

Modern Dominican books reproduce the shape of the neumes in the medieval manuscripts of our music, which were based on the Humbert of Roman Codex exemplar of 1254, which still exists as MS 1 in the Domincan Archives in Rome. In order to sing our music properly, cantors need to know the system of interpretation explained in the treatises of Jerome of Moravia (d. after 1271. probably Scottish), a Dominican musicologist, who codified traditional practice. An image of his treatise De Musica, copied at the beginning of every medieval Dominican Antiphonal, is at the top of this post. It is from the fourteenth-century Poissy Antiphonal.

His system for rhythm is presented in an accessible, albeit Latin, form in the Dominican Processionarium of 1949. The Dominican system of adapting psalm tones to the psalms found in that book was suppressed in 1965 with the publication of the post-Vatican II Regulae Cantus in favor of the Benedictine method, although the Dominican melodies of the tones were left unchanged. But for all other chants, the thirteenth-century system continues in use today, in continuity with the living tradition of chant extending in an unbroken line back to the earliest days of the Order. The most important section of the Regulae Cantus for interpreting the chant is Section III, "De pausis et earum signis et proportione." I have adapted that section for use by choirs, and will present it in another post, but first singers need to know certain things.

1. Dominican and Gregorian neumes mean the same thing as to relative pitch on the staff as indicated by the clef. Those who do not know how to read neumes and what their names are, should consult the many books and on-line aids that explain this before reading any further.

2. In our chant, the two liquescents (the Ephiphonus and the Cephalicus) normally indicate a diphthong or liquid consonant. Since, in normal speech, the two sounds of the diphthong slur into a single vowel and the liquid is a semi-vowel merging into the following or preceding vowel, the two notes in these neumes do not get equal length because of a palatalization (touching tongue to roof of mouth). It is often said that the small note is "shorter" than the bigger one, but strictly speaking they are really about the same--it just seems shorter because of the palatalization. The same is kind of neume (but without the little note) is used for liquescents even when they do not indicate a diphthong or two distinct notes. A careful student will notice that we regularly use liquescents where Benedictine and Roman music has the two sounds of a diphthong sung on two distinct puncta, e.g., the separation of the "e" and "i" of the "ei" in Eleison.

3. The double bar in our system has two uses. They are very different and have some variations. Here they are:

3A. Most commonly, the double bar indicates the end of a major phrase, at which one side of the choir stops singing, and the other side takes over, following the traditional system (not only Dominican) of "antiphonal singing." This meaning is especially common in Kyries where the last Kyrie is sung by one choir, then the other, then both together. This shift is indicated in Roman books by asterisk and double asterisk. We use double bars. This use of the double bar also indicates a lengthening of the last syllable(s) of the phrase according to a system I will explain later.

3B. The double bar also appears at the beginning of a chant, after the first word or couple of words: there it indicates where the choir comes in to join the cantor who has intoned the piece. It functions like the asterisk in Roman chant. In this case, it does NOT indicate any lengthening of the previous notes.

3C. An interesting variant of this is found in Dominican books for the Gloria. There is one double bar to indicate the end of the priest's intonation phrase: "Gloria in excelsis Deo." But then there is another double bar at the end of "et in terra pax," an odd place to put it. This phrase belongs to the cantor. The choir comes in after that second double bar on the word "hominibus." Why? Many priests cannot sing for beans. They will foul up the intonation, but in the old rite they had to do it. So, the choir ignored what the priest sang and waited to hear the correct pitch and melody from the first cantor. Many priests simply recto-toned their intonation. The Gloria is the only place where this system is used.

4. Expressive neumes and quilisma do not exist in Dominican music. They did not exist as far as I know in any thirteenth-century chant manuscript. The expressive neumes are the product of Solesmes theorists. The quilisma is founded on the appearance, at certain places in the pre-staff notation, of a kind of fuzzy squiggle. There have been long debates over what it meant. My personal opinion is that it originally indicated the half-step and had no phrasing significance. Prof. William Mahrt of the CMAA, with whom I have discussed this, says that is very possible I am right, although he thinks it indicated a light vibrato. Good news! None of this matters for those singing Dominican chant because we don't have any of these flourishes.

5. Those who know the history of Dominican chant know that generally Dominican versions of chants avoid as much as possible the use of the flat. We also use it differently than the Solesmes books. When the flat appears in Dominican chant it remains in force until the end of the printed line of chant unless canceled by the natural sign. It is not voided by a bar line of any type. If a note is flatted in the next printed line of chant, the flat must be repeated before that note. Those who have second hand Dominican books will find that owners have often penciled in extra flats in a line of chant after a bar because they do not understand our use of the flat.

PART TWO: RHYTHM

The most debated and controversial issue in performance of Gregorian Chant since its nineteenth-century revival has been the issue of rhythm. The earliest manuscripts with Gregorian music have no staff and so present grave problems of interpretation for pitch and intervals. But they do have a whole series of other marks that in part seem to indicate phrasing and rhythm. Manuscripts after the eleventh century have a staff with a clef to indicate "do" or "fa" and so solve the interval problem, but they seem to have little or anything to indicate phrasing and rhythm.

The modern science of musical semeiotics has attempted to resolve this problem. The Solesmes marks and system(s) allow an interpretation of both pitch and rhythm. What I am about to describe is how Dominicans have dealt with the problem of rhythm since the 1200s. I do not claim that this system is "better" than any of the modern Solesmes methods, including that of Dom Mocquereau, currently in favor with workshops sponsored by the Church Music Association of America. Those who want to sing Dominican music, however, cannot use that method because it depends on the presence of Solesmes marks, and these do not exist in our books.

Principles of Phrasing

As you read these principles, you can consult the sample image of various bars and neumes from the Processional, pasted here:

1. The most important determination of phrasing is the meaning of the Latin text. Dominicans break the text into what might be called longer phrases, and then break the longer phrases into shorter ones. This is the way we punctuate English. A period or semicolon indicates the end of a major phrase; the comma (or implicit unwritten "comma") indicates a "joint" between the shorter clauses.

2. The punctuation marks of Dominican chant are the double bar (A), the single bar (E), and the half bar (D). The quarter bar (C), which moves up and down, is NOT a punctuation mark. The single bar and double bar are very similar: both indicate a full stop and a point at which a full breath may be taken. The difference is that after a double bar, the other choir takes up the new phrase; the same choir continues to sing after the single bar. In small choirs it is common not to alternate between choirs. In that case, both of these bars are treated the same way--although it is common to make the pause after the double bar a bit longer since it sometimes (as in hymns) indicates a new stanza. The half bar indicates a minor break or joint in the phrase. The pause is shorter and a short breath may be taken.

3. The quarter bar is not a rest or a break; its function is similar to the Solesmes dot. It serves ONLY to lengthen the previous note. No breath is taken at a quarter bar. There is no break in the phrase. Back at choir practice in our Western Dominican House of Studies in Oakland during the 1970s, this was called the "don't breath here bar." Some people even cancelled them out with a pencil and put in a dot instead. Although lazy singers often took a breath at quarter bars (and the lengthening of the previous note tended to cover this), it is very bad form and ruins the phrasing. It is better for people to stagger their gasps for breath at any place other than a quarter bar.

4. Although it is not noted in the music by any mark, singers "take off" (slightly accelerate) as they begin a phrase, and "make a landing" (slowly retard) as they end the phrase. They do this in a more delicate way in the minor phrases ended by half bars. This acceleration and retard is so delicate that it should be hardly noticeable, just as the similar change in velocity is hardly noticeable in ordinary speech.

5. Singers hold the syllable(s) that precede the bar, be it a double, single, half, or quarter bar. This is distinct from the gentle progressive retard of the "landing." The proper way to do this is to slow down, hold, and taper off in volume so as to let the note fade away. Avoid, at all costs, staccato stops.

6. In music with one neume per syllable, the number of syllables held is determined by accented (or virtually accented) syllable.

6A. Lengthen the last syllable before the bar if the word there a monosyllable (e.g., "te").

6B. If the word has more than one syllable (e.g., "nobis"), and the penult (second to last) is accented, lengthen that and the final syllable.

6C. If two syllables follow the accented one (e.g, "Dominus"), lengthen the last syllable only: it is considered "virtually accented."

6D. So, you never lengthen more than two syllables.

6E. Finally, if you are singing a hymn, sequence, or other music with a poetic meter, ignore these rules and lengthen ONLY the last syllable of the line.

7. In melismatic chants, i.e., those with more than one note per syllable, lengthen only the last neume or part of a neume.

7A. If the last syllable of the last word is melismatic and the penult is a simple punctum, you lengthen only the last syllable, even if the penult is accented. Conversely, if the if the last syllable has a punctum and the penult is melismatic, you lengthen only the last syllable, even if the penult is accented.

7B. When the last syllable has or ends with a two-note neume, e.g. a podatus or a clivus ( see B above), lengthen both notes of that neume.

7C. When the last syllable has a meume with three or more notes (see F above), lightly retard but hold only the last note in the neume.

7D. In very melismatic music, such as Alleluias and Responsories, there will be a part of the multi-note neume at the end, usually a clivus, podatus, or torculus. This part of the neume is often detached, as is the case in B and F above. Hold that part of the neume only, using rules 7B amd 7C.

8. Strive to sing all chant legato. This is very important to phrasing. At the end of all phrases avoid staccato stops. Let your voice volume taper off to silence. Do not gasp for breath; if necessary, stagger your breathing.

That's all there is to the system. It may seem more complex than having the Solesmes marks to tell you what to do, but, in fact, it is very natural and intuitive. And it seems, from writers like Jerome, that all thirteenth-century singers of chant sang this way, or in a very similar way. So, now you twentieth-century singers can sing the music in the new Roman liturgical books like the Missal, where there are no Solesmes marks!

PART THREE: AN EXAMPLE
The Salve Regina

If you do not have the French Dominican C-D Dominican Chant-Dominican Liturgy, which has the example discussed on track 20, you can order it here.

Here is the music of the famous Dominican Salve Regina used all year after Compline, taken from the Antiphonarium. Take a look at it and I will apply the principles of phrasing I explained earlier. If you have the French Dominican recording of this, you might listen along as you read, in it you can hear how the phrasing and the lengthening of ending notes merge into an organic whole. They are also very good on distinguishing the strong retards at the end of major phrases from the lesser ones of the shorter clauses that make them up. To allow you to consult the rules given in the last post, I will reference them in brackets as I comment.

Phrase 1 "Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae.

This is a major phrase with a break in the middle after Regina indicated by the half bar. So the major rhythmic phrase is the whole verse and there are two minor phrases [rules 1, 2]. The take-off begins on Salve and the landing on "ae" of misericordiae. There is a light touch down on "na" of Regina because of the half bar. This kind of subtle articulation is always observed in the rest of the antiphon at the various breaks, so I will not repeat it [rule 4].

There are no "true" double bars in the antiphon Salve Regina until its end because it is traditionally sung by all, not alternately by choirs. That first "double bar," after Salve, does no more than indicate the place to which the cantor sings and at which all come in. There is no lengthening of "ve" since this double bar represents merely that the choir comes in. The clivus on "na" of Regina is lengthened, but not the melisma on "ce" of dulcedo because even though "ce" is accented, it has a compound neume [rule 7A]. The same is true of misericordia, where "cor" is accented, but the second to last note is melismatic: so only the simple neume on "ae" is lengthened [rule 7A].

Phrase 2: "Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve."

This major phrase has joints after Vita and dulcedo, indicated by the half bars. The mark after nostra is a quarter bar--equals a Solesmes dot, not a phrasing mark, so it does not divide a phrase and no breath is to be taken [rule 3]. The final syllables "ta" "do" and "ve" are lengthened, but not any previous notes because the previous notes are all melismatic [rule 7A]. The melismatic neume on "tra" of nostra is lengthened because of the quarter bar, but only on the two notes of the podatus [rule 7B].

Phrase 3: "Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae."

This major phrase has a joint after clamamus indicated by the half bar. Notice the two quarter bars. The compound neume on Ad ends in a Ephiphonus, which scants the smaller note. The quarter bar lengthens te but without pausing or breath [rule 6a]. Only "mus" of clamamus and the "vae" of Hevae are lengthened because the previous accented syllables have melismas [rule 7a]. The last two notes of the porrectus on "les" of exsules are lengthened without a pause because of the quarter bar [rule 7B].

Phrase 4: "Ad te . . . valle" contains nothing new. Apply rule 6A to te, 7A to clamamus, 7B to hac, and 7A to valle.

Phrase 5: "Eja ergo advocata nostra."

The phrase is jointed after ergo by the half bar. The odd looking podatus over the "E" of Eja is composed of a regular punctum and the large note of the liquescent Chephalus because the "j" is a semivowel: but this has no affect on phrasing. Notice the liquescent Ephiphonus on "er" of ergo because r is a liquid. Because that Ephiphonus is a compound neume only the "go" is lengthened by the half bar, even though "er" is the accented syllable [rule 7A]. In contrast, nostra is a bi-syllable with simple neumes on each one: so since "nos" is accented, both syllables are lengthened [rule 6B].

Phrase 6: "illos tuos . . . converte."

There is nothing new here except the lengthening of the last note only of the neume on "los" of oculos because it is a three-note neume [rule 7C]. Otherwise, apply 7A on tuos, 7B on misericordes, and 7A on converte.

Phrase 7a: "Et Jesum benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis . . ."

This is routine: apply 7B on Jesum, 7A on fructum, tui, and nobis. The next part of this phrase has items of interest. Here it is with the rest of the antiphon:

Phrase 7b: "post hoc exilium ostende."

Note the lengthening of both notes of the clivus on "um" of exilium by the quarter bar, even though "si" is the accented syllable [rule 7B]. Notice also the big note (without the small) of a Ephiphonus on "sten" of ostende because "n" is a liquid--but this has no effect on singing. Both "sten" and "de" are lengthened here because they have simple neumes and "sten" is accented [rule 6B].

Phrases 8-9: "O clemens" and "o pia": nothing new. Apply 7B to both of the Os; apply 7A to clemens and pia.

Phrase 10: "o dulcis virgo Maria."

The joint in the phrase is at the half bar, which is actually in the middle of the notes on O. Note the quarter bar along with that half bar in the melisma on O. The quarter bar, as usual, lengthens the last two notes of the first neume on O without a pause or break [rule 7B]. The next neume on O after the quarter bar is lengthened only on its last note by the half bar because it has four notes [rule 7C]. Although it might seem bad form in Benedictine chant, we Dominicans normally take a small pause and a little breath, here at the half bar before attacking the rising notes that complete the melody on O, which are not lengthened because no bar follows. (Those with the French recording will notice that the French Dominicans manage to sing this without taking a breath here--a particular interpretation which may reflect a variant in the Competorium book.) The phrasing joint in this passage comes here in the middle of the run on the O. This is a not uncommon practice in Dominican chant, especially in Responsoria. Perhaps it is a concession to less disciplined non-French friars who, unlike monks, cannot sing through long runs in a single breath.

On dulcis, note the liquescent because of the "l" and that only the podatus is lengthened by the quarter bar [rule 7B]. There is a one note liquescent on "Vir" because of the "r". Finally, note that only the two notes of clivus on "a" of Maria are lengthened not the neume on the previous accented syllable [rule 7B].

Phase 11: the Alleluia.

The antiphon normally ends with Maria, so there is a double bar after it, but in Paschal time the Alleluia is added. Since there is no choir change before the Alleluia, the double bar magically equals a single bar. There are two things to notice in the Alleluia: the lengthening of the two notes of the clivus on "lu" by the quarter bar [rule 7B], with, as usual, no breath or pause before adding the last three notes. Finally, "ia" has a clivus, both notes of which are lengthened, but not the podatus on the accented syllable [rule 7B].

I hope this clarifies the rules given in my previous posts. If you notice any errors in my cross references, let me know. I think I typed them all out correctly.

Anchorage Chant and Dominican Rite News

2009-02-09T05:17:00.000-08:00

The Catholic Anchor, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Anchorage AK, has recently run a nice story on the revival of Gregorian chant there. As this article also mentions the regular celebration of the Dominican Rite Mass in the Cathedral each First Saturday of the month at noon, readers might be interested in reading it.

It has been posted, with premission of the newspaper here.

William Bonniwell, History of the Domincan Liturgy 1215-1945

2009-02-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

We are delighted to announce that, through the kindness of Bro. Gregory Schnakenberg, O.P., a downloadable PDF copy of

Fr. William Bonniwell, O.P.'s History of the Dominican Liturgy, 1215-1945, 2d. rev. ed. (New York: Wagner, 1945)

is now available on our sidebar under "Dominican Rite Texts."

This book is the only history ever completed in English for the liturgical tradition of the Dominican Order. Father Bonniwell covers both the Mass and the Office. For the period from 1945 to 1970, one may consult my essay published on this blog and linked through the index on the lower left.

The image of St. Dominic to the right is from the Dominican Breviary of 1699 and was used by Fr. Bonniwell opposite the title page of the book.

Dominican Nuns of Summit Discovered by Time-CNN

2009-01-24T12:54:00.002-08:00

Dominican Liturgy is delighted to hear that the Dominican Nuns of Summit NJ have been made the subject of a beautiful photo essay by Time-CNN.

It includes novices and professed sisters speaking in a simple way about their vocations. Here is the link:

Radical Love

After watching this, our readers might want to visit the sisters website, or perhaps their vocations page.

And don't forget their Cloister Gift Shoppe!

Holy Rosary Church: Palestrina Mass of Dedication

2009-01-16T11:55:00.000-08:00

Fr. Anthony-M. Patalano, O.P., pastor of the Dominican Parish in Portland, Holy Rosary Church, has asked that I advise our readers of an up-coming event there.

Holy Rosary Church will mark its 115th Anniversary on Sunday, 25 August, at the 11:00 A.M. Mass. The V. Rev. Gerald A. Buckley, O.P., Prior of the Western Dominican Province House of Studies, Saint Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA, who was pastor at Holy Rosary from 1981-83, and who brought Cantores to this parish will celebrate Mass in Latin according to the Ordinary Form.

Cantores in Ecclesia will sing Palestrina's Missa Emendemus and the Plainsong Propers for the Feast of the Dedication of a Church. Holy Rosary is a dedicated church, and the date of the consecration was 28 January 1894, then the feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Thomas. In the new calendar, so as not perpetually to impede the Feast of the Angelic Doctor, Holy Rosary Parish celebrates the dedication on the closest Sunday. Fr. Patalano invites any readers in the Portland area to attend the celebration and introduce themselves.

I might add that Fr. Patalano is the conference chair for The Living Tradition: The Dominican Rite in the Twenty-First Century, which will be held at Saint Albert the Great Priory in Oakland CA, 5-9 August 2009. This event is open to anyone interested in the Rite, not just Dominicans. The Program and registration forms may be found here.

Jandel Antiphonal Scans Improved

2009-01-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce that the PDF scans of the two volumes of the great Antiphonarium S. Ordinis F. Praedicatorum published in 1863 at the direction of Master of the Order Vincent Jandel, O.P., have now been vastly improved through the hard work of Bro. Corwin Low, O.P., of the Western Dominican Province House of Studies in Oakland. He has my profound gratitude for this project.

These books contain the complete music for the Dominican Office in its medieval form, including the night office with all its long responsories. This is the only printed edition of the complete office ever done.

The pages of the scan are now all clean, straightened, and searchable! And they are now about 1/3 the size of the former scans: about 45 megs each. You may download or consult them at their links on the left side bar.

Corrected Dominican Rite Calendar for 2009

2009-01-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

Those who use the Dominican Breviary or who have permission from their provincial to celebrate Mass according to the Dominican Rite may want to download the calendar that I have prepared for this year, 2009. It is found on the left side bar under Dominican Rite Downloads, or here directly. This version contains some VERY IMPORTANT corrections made on Jan. 3, 2009, thanks to our readers. If you downloaded earlier, please discard that version and use this one.

I have tried to make this calendar as flexible as possible so that those using the 1933 Missal and those using the 1965 can both use it. Principally, this involves the names of the Sundays after Epiphany and after Pentecost. In the 1933 Missal these are called "after the Octave of Epiphany" and "after the Octave of Trinity." As a result the numbering is different depending on the Missal used. There are also occasional page numbers in the right margin; these give the pages where the feast may be found in the 1939 Traveling Missal (which I use).

I have also appended a short summary of rubrics and a list of local feasts in the dioceses of the Western Province. Feasts particular to the United States are included in the Calendar itself.

Should you notice any errors please let me know by writing me directly rather than in the combox.