Dominican Altar Boys' Manual

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

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

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

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

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 Calendar for 2012

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.

Liturgy of the Hours in Roman Gregorian Chant

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

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.

Dominican Liturgy Conferences in Hungary, August 2011

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.

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

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

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

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 Liturgy's Catholic Blog "Rating"

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

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)

Dominican Libellus Precum Reprint

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

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

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.

Using the 1933 and 1965 Dominican Rite Missals

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

Dominican Music in the Netherlands

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!

Dominican Chants of Good Friday

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.