Seasonal Music

Advent and Christmas are richly musical seasons and there are many recordings available of carols and noels, cantatas and oratorios. Each year I look with interest at the many new CDs produced for the festive Season, although it is always a great temptation to put on recordings of carols as soon as we light the first candle on the Advent Wreath.

Here are two particularly fine new CDs, though rather different from the usual ‘Ultimate Carol Collection’ or ‘Best Christmas CD Ever.’

Hieronymus Praetorius, Magnificats and motets
(The Cardinall’s Musick, Andrew Carwood)
Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629) – not to be confused with the slightly more famous Michael Praetorius (curiously not related) – worked in Hamburg and produced some ravishing and lively polyphonic music. This CD includes his masterpiece, the Magnificat quinti toni to which is attached two popular Christmas carols: Joseph, liber Joseph mein and In dulci jubilo (my favourite carol). The booklet notes that the former piece was ‘associated with the cradle-rocking ceremony at Christmas vespers – a priest would sit next to a cradle containing an effigy of the baby Jesus and would rock the cradle gently in time to the lilting rhythm of the music.’ The Cardinall’s Musick is one of our best choirs and its director, Andrew Carwood, was formerly Director of Music at the Brompton Oratory and is now in charge of the choir at St Paul’s Cathedral. For more information and samples, click here.

Natalis Cordat and Nicolas Saboly, Noel Baroque en Pays D’Oc
(La Camera delle Lacrime, Bruno Bonhoure)
This rather obscure CD contains C17 settings of French Noels by Natalis Cordat (c.1610-63), parish priest of Cussac-sur-Loire, and Nicolas Saboly, an organist in Avignon. It includes some familiar tunes, such as Li a pron de gens (allegedly written by Saboly to make fun of a lame priest he knew). The pieces are excitingly performed on period instruments and have a rustic charm, which makes you think back to C17 Provence. For more information and samples, click here.

Distracted by the trappings

Today I felt 'Christmassy' for the first time, thanks to the cold weather and our school's excellent Christmas concert, which I attended this evening (based around Dickens' Christmas Carol). I even rushed out to a local supermarket to buy some drinks for our family get-together, which takes place in the presbytery next Thursday. Such a Yuletide mood will come in handy over the next few days, as my thoughts turn to the content of my Christmas sermon, but I keep having to remind myself that there is still a purple candle waiting to be lit on the Advent wreath and there is much interior preparation needed before 25 December.

With this in mind, the Holy Father's words at today's Audience seem very opportune:

“The Lord is at hand: come let us adore him!”. In these last days of Advent, the liturgy invites us to draw close to the stable of Bethlehem contemplating in awe the birth of the Redeemer. Full of joy and thanksgiving we recall how the Creator of the universe, out of love, came to dwell among us. For many centuries Israel had awaited the Messiah, imagining him as a powerful and victorious leader. Instead, the Saviour was born in absolute poverty, and the true light who enlightens all people was not accepted by his own (cf. Jn. 1:9-12).

Do we still await the Saviour? Today many consider God irrelevant; an obstacle to success. Even believers sometimes seek tempting but illusory shortcuts to happiness. And yet, perhaps even because of this confusion, humanity seeks a Saviour and awaits the coming of Christ, the one true Redeemer. We Christians, through our witness against those who offer a ‘cheap salvation’, defend the truth of Christmas which Christ brings to every person of goodwill.

Let us then with Mary and Joseph prepare to open our hearts to the Lord who is at hand. Do not be distracted by the trappings! Be watchful and pray! In this way our homes will welcome Jesus with faith and love.

Gaudete and O Sapientia

The original purpose of Gaudete Sunday has been rather lost over the centuries – especially with the commercialisation of Christmas in our own times. Advent is supposed to be a penitential season as we prepare and purify ourselves for the great celebration of Christmas. At one stage, Advent lasted forty days, though it was subsequently shortened to four Sundays. Gaudete Sunday parallels Laetare Sunday in Lent – a sort of mid-Season breather, when we swap the sorrowful purple vestments for more cheerful rose-coloured ones and wait expectantly, with increasing urgency, for the coming of the Lord.

Today, then, is half time in the Advent Season. The last fortnight our readings have focussed on the Second Coming; now we consider the First Coming and reflect on the familiar Christmas Story. The closeness of Christmas is why the prophet Zephaniah tells us to ‘shout for joy’ and ‘exult with all your heart’ and why St Paul writes ‘I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord’.

This year Gaudete Sunday coincides with 17 December and the start of the Great 'O' Antiphons, chanted or recited before and after the Magnificat at Vespers. These are a beautiful expression of the Church's expectancy as we approach Christmas and use the great Messianic titles of Sacred Scripture.

Less well-known is the fact that if you take the first letter of each of these Messianic titles in reverse order - Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia - they spell ero cras (Tomorrow I will come) - a powerful message for 23 December, the last day of the antiphons.

Most of us will have heard of the 'O' antiphons, but very few of us will have heard them sung, unless we belong to a religious community or have an enlightened (and musical) pastor. I, for one, am more familiar with Charpentier's Antiennes 'O' de l'Avent (H.36-43), which I have on CD, than with the chant, which I've never heard 'live'.

There are some online resources to help priests and laity alike learn these venerable antiphons and add them to their repertoire. Scott Turkington sings O Sapientia as found in the Liber Usualis, complete with Magnificat (via NLM). The excellent English Dominican blog, Godzdogz, has usefully produced videos of the Dominican 'O' antiphons, complete with the musical score.



O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O come to teach us the way of truth.

St Lucy's Slipper

I love the Advent saints - and today it is the turn of the Sicilian Virgin Martyr, St Lucy. She is an appropriate saint for the Season for her name is derived from lux (light) and points towards the coming of the Light of the World, her Bridegroom, in just over a week's time. According to the Julian Calendar, 13 December was the longest night of the year. In Sweden her feast is celebrated by processions and carol-singing, in which one young giril dresses as St Lucy in a white gown and wearing a crown of lit candles.

St Lucy is popularly invoked against eye problems and blindness - despite the tradition that she tore her eyes out in order to put off a suitor (which is why one of her iconographic symbols is a plate with her eyeballs!).

This time last year I was in Rome and, to mark the feast, visited the little-known church of Santa Lucia in Selci on the Esquiline Hill. The convent of Augustinian nuns is best known as one of the chief dispensaries of relics (which is referred to as the Lipsanoteca) - provided you have a letter of recommendation from a bishop. The little church was 'baroque-ified' in the seventeenth century, thanks to the likes of Maderno and Borromini. The doors are opened every 13 December and Romans pour in to pray to the martyr, attend one of the many Masses, pick up a santino or bottle of St Lucy's oil and venerate the relics. The body of the saint is claimed by the church of Santi Geremia e Lucia in Venice (near the railway station) but Santa Lucia in Selci boasts the relic of St Lucy's slipper. The picture below is an 'action shot' of a pilgrim wiping the shoe-shaped reliquary with her handkerchief!

Columna es immobilis, Lucia, Sponsa Christi!

Update: Mgr Mark Langham has a wonderful post of the Swedish Sankta Lucia festival that took place at Westminster Cathedral, complete with a young girl wearing the crown of five candles (which, Mgr Langham observes, is very similar to the head-dress of the Bridgettines).

Our Lady of Guadalupe

In 1754 Benedict XIV declared Our Lady of Guadalupe the Patroness of New Spain and fixed 12 December as her Feast. It's a great celebration and one that only recently made the Universal Calendar. Even though it displaced St Jane Frances de Chantal (now 12 August), I was pleased because a rather decisive event in my life happened on 12 December thirty-one years ago (at around 4pm). I met the other involved party - my parents - last night for a wonderful meal at Il Portico restaurant on Kensington High Street (the most authentically Italian place that I've been to in London). This morning I said an early Mass in the Lady Chapel at Kingsland in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe and, on returning to my study, found a present from my parish priest - the new book on Sir Ninian Comper (famous Church architect) by Anthony Symondson, SJ, and Stephen Bucknall. So the day has got off to a good start!

Today is also my dies non - so my plan is as follows: do some Christmas shopping, go to the Travellers Club on Pall Mall (the one-time home of Mgr Alfred Gilbey) where a friend is hosting both myself and Fr Whinder, go with the said Fr Whinder to the Holbein in England exhibition at Tate Britain and then return to the presbytery and curl up with a good book.

Happy Feast, especially to Roman Miscellany's American friends!

PS I met up with the dúnadan on Sunday evening and had a meal in Cally's Kitchen. Click here for pictures of the Roman Miscellenist meeting 'Berrydict' the cat!

Onomastico

Today is my onomastico - the Feast of St Nicholas (which is, scandalously, an optional memoria). My patron has been abused and misrepresented over the last century as the benign and bumbling Santa Claus - a result of the Reformation and the collapse of the veneration of the saints.

Santa reminds us that St Nicholas is the patron of children but, in truth, there is little that is fluffy about the saint. When I visited Bari in August, there were no sentimentalised images of the saint or Santa outfits; he came across as a manly, passionate defender of Truth, a powerful intercessor in Heaven and a very human saint with a quick temper (rather like St Peter).

One of the main concerns of his life, for example, was fighting the heresy of Arianism. According to an early biography, ‘thanks to the teaching of St Nicholas, the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as a death-dealing poison.’ There is even a story of the saint attending the Council of Nicaea and becoming so angry at the blasphemies of Arius that he went over to the heretic and punched him in the face. The bishops imprisoned St Nicholas for his assault, depriving him of his Episcopal dignity and burning off his beard. However, in prison he was visited by Our Lord and Our Lady, who restored his office and set him free. It’s a great story, even though St Nicholas is not recorded as attending the great Council, but it says something about the saint’s zeal.

Another example of the saint’s manliness and ‘righteous anger’ was his order to cut down a tree dedicated to the goddess Diana, much to the fury of the Devil. A fine fresco in the saint’s basilica in Bari shows the saint wielding the axe himself (rather like St Boniface cutting down the Sacred Oak).

The people of Bari take St Nicholas very seriously indeed. In particular, there is a strong devotion to the 'manna' of St Nicholas, a liquid that is apparently produced from the saint's tomb. This is extracted every year on 9 May (Feast of the Translation of St Nicholas), diluted and distributed to pilgrims (especially the sick). Between 1954 and 1957 the bones were exhumed during the renovation of the crypt and exposed to the public. The bones were frequently seen to 'perspire' and a linen cloth that was in contact with the bones was found to be soaking wet. The holy manna is traditionally put inside specially painted bottles.

A tenth century Greek wrote that ‘the West as well as the East acclaims and glorifies him. Wherever there are people, his name is revered and churches are built in his honour. All Christians reverence his memory and call upon his protection.’

Last May, when Pope Benedict visited Bari on his first papal pilgrimage, he referred to 'fortunate Bari, a city that preserves the bones of St Nicholas, a land of encounter and dialogue with our Christian brethren of the East.' As a saint who unifies East and West, St Nicholas takes on a great deal more significance than the lightweight caricature who can now be seen in a shopping centre near you.

Another Seasonal Recommendation

Here's another new recording which I'd like to highly recommend to readers searching for presents or needing some seasonal inspiration: Christmas Vespers at Westminster Cathedral (on the Hyperion label).

It presents 'an adorned version of the Office of Vespers as it might be heard on the eve of Christmas in Westminster Cathedral' - by 'adorned' read 'Old Rite,' since there are five psalms, no bidding prayers and everything is sung in Latin. The recording includes Tallis' Magnificat, Victoria's Alma Redemptoris, Schutz's Hodie Christus natus est and Langlais' Fete for organ. It demonstrates the Cathedral's liturgical excellence and the famous Westminster sound.

Advent I - A Homily

Happy New Year to all of you!

Once again we start our journey over the next fifty-two weeks, commemorating the chief mysteries of the Faith as we pass from Advent to Christmas, from Lent to Easter and through the weeks of Ordinary Time, which this year will focus particularly on the Gospel of St Luke. Our liturgical journey begins today with the First Sunday of Advent.

Advent is one of my favourite times of year – the traditions, the feasts, the hymns and the excitement leading up to Christmas make it a very beautiful period indeed. But it is also one of the least understood Seasons and every year it is an increasingly up-hill struggle to resist the commercialism of Christmas and observe Advent in any real sense. This year I heard the first rendition of Silent Night in late October thanks to a busker on the Underground; already the decorations and trees are up and Santa seems to have arrived in the local shopping centre.

Advent 2006 is only three weeks long, since (rather confusingly) the Fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve, so it is important that we make the most of it. None of us, priests included, will be able to avoid carol services, nativity plays and Christmas parties over the next few weeks – not to mention the writing of Christmas cards and last minute shopping for presents. But there are some things we can do in order to ensure that our Advent is in tune with the mind of the Church.

Just as Easter (the Feast of the Redemption) has Lent as a time of preparation and purification, so Christmas (the Feast of the Incarnation) has Advent, which is sometimes called the ‘little Lent.’ We don’t normally think of Advent as time for giving things up or taking extra things on, but that is very much its spirit - a great opportunity for changing our spiritual gears, for cleansing our consciences by going to Confession, for giving up bad habits and for spending more time in prayer, spiritual reading and good works.

Advent is a time for waiting. We wait expectantly, together with the prophets and the people of Israel, for the coming of the Messiah, born in a stable in Bethlehem. We also await His Second Coming – this is actually the focus of the first two weeks of Advent. You probably noticed that our Gospel today makes no mention of Mary or Joseph or angels or shepherds or innkeepers, but rather of signs in the heavens, of ‘nations in agony’ and ‘men dying of fear,’ and of ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.’ We begin the Church’s year by looking to the end of time and asking how watchful and ready we are for the Lord’s return. This is perhaps the key question we ask ourselves in Advent and it should encourage our meditation and lead us to form good resolutions for the new ecclesiastical year. Are we awake to God and awake for other people?

Everybody loves Christmas and I for one am itching to play my CDs of Christmas music and put up the crib in my study. However, let us not forget that the three weeks of Advent are followed by the twelve joyful Days of Christmas. Indeed, the Christmas Season continues until Candlemas (2 February) – it is only then that the great Christmas Tree and giant Nativity scene on St Peter’s Square in Rome are taken down. The weeks after Christmas are the proper time for decorations, trees and carols. Now is the time for stepping back and spending time in prayer and penance as we wait for the comings of Christ at Bethlehem and at the end of time.

By all means buy your presents, write your cards and stock up with bottles of wine and mince pies. But let’s not allow the empty commercialism of the shops and the media prevent us from keeping Advent seriously – so that by the time we reach 25th December we will have changed interiorly and have drawn closer to the Babe born for us at Bethlehem.

Ratzinger on Advent

What is Advent? Many answers can be given. We can grumble and say that it is nothing but a pretext for hectic activity and commercialism, prettified with sentimental cliches in which people stopped believing ages ago. In many cases this may be true, but it is not the whole picture.

We can say the reverse, that Advent is a time when, in the midst of an unbelieving world, something of the luminous quality of this lost faith is still perceptible, like a visual echo. Just as stars are visible long after they have become extinct, since their erstwhile light is still on its way to us, so this mystery frequently offers some warmth and hope even to those who are no longer able to believe in it.

Advent is a time when a kindness that is otherwise almost entirely forgotten is mobilized; namely, the willingness to think of others and give them a token of kindness. Finally Advent is a time when old customs live again, for instance, in the singing of carols which takes place all over the country. In the melodies and the words of these carols, something of the simplicity, imagination and glad strength of the faith of our forefathers makes itself heard in our age, bringing consolation and encouraging us perhaps to have another go at that faith which could make people so glad in such hard times.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which Is Above (1986), pp16-17