Solemn Requiem Mass at Seattle WA

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

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

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

Dominican Libellus Precum Available On-Line

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

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

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

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.