The SSGG Is Now A Chapter of CMAA

As of September 1, 2012, the Society of St. Gregory the Great, an independent lay organization of Catholics in Central Oregon, will add to its name: A chapter of the Church Music Association of America (CMAA).

As a member organization of CMAA, the society is acknowledging as part of its mission the educating  of local Catholics in appropriate sacred music for the liturgy, including Gregorian chant.  The CMAA was founded in 1874 and revived in the wake of Vatican II to carry out the authentic instruction of the Church in regard to music for the Mass and Office.  Its quarterly publication, Sacred Music, provides much information about how to implement the mind of the Church on sacred music.

The Society also wishes to link itself to the CMAA in recognition of CMAA's work in providing many resources for Catholic musicians, including free on-line music for singing the Mass – propers and ordinaries – as well as its excellent colloquia each year. Next year the Sacred Music Colloquium will be once again held in Salt Lake City, which will give those in the Western United States access to training and opportunities to participate in magnificent liturgies.  

More information about the colloquium for 2013 will appear on this blog and at www.musicasacra.org as the time for the June-July event gets nearer.

A Bishop Speaks about the EF Mass

Some thoughts from Bishop Alexander Sample of the Diocese of Marquette on the extraordinary form of the Mass (H/T Fr. John Hollowell at On This Rock blog):

The Story of the Seven Holy Sleepers

This is a homily of Fr. Eric M. Andersen, Sacred Heart in Gervais, OR for July 27th, 2012.

The Seven Holy Sleepers of Ephesus

The Roman Martyrology for July 27th, the sixth day in the Kalends of August:

At Ephesus, the birthday of the Seven Sleepers: Saints Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Denis, John, Serapion and Constantine.

And elsewhere, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

Thanks be to God.

Sometimes a quick perusal of the Roman Martyrology can be too quick. We can easily overlook such an entry as this. When I looked over the various entries for today, I didn’t notice this one. It is the 7th entry for July 27th. But what I just read to you is the English version from 1961. The newest version of the Roman Martyrology from 2004 has never been translated into English. It is available only to us in Latin. So, I usually check both just to see if there are any new saints that I recognize. Well, when I looked at the entries for today in the Latin edition, this moved up to the first entry. I noticed it because it speaks of the Dormientium, of those who are sleeping. It was such an interesting word to use. It is a very short entry and easy to translate. This is what it says in the 2004 version:

The Commemoration of the seven holy sleepers of Ephesus, who, so it is told, consummated martyrdom, and rest in peace, expecting the day of resurrection.

I decided to see if I could find anything out about these seven sleepers. I checked a couple of sources and found a chapter in the Golden Legend of Jacobus Voragine.

He has a chapter about these seven sleepers. Fascinating!

Here is the story (from Voragine, The Golden Legend. Vol II. Ch. 101: The Seven Sleepers):

“The emperor Decius, who decreed the persecution of Christians, came to Ephesus and gave orders to build temples in the center of the city, so that all the people might join him in worshiping false gods. He further ordered that all Christians were to be rounded up and put in chains, either to sacrifice to the gods or to die; and the Christians in Ephesus were so afraid of the threatened punishments that friends betrayed friends, fathers their sons, and sons their fathers” (p. 15).

“…seven young Christian men named Maximianus, Malchus, Marcianus, Dionysius, Johannes, Serapion, and Constantinus who “held high rank in the palace…refused to sacrifice to the idols. Instead they hid in their houses and devoted themselves to fasting and prayer. For this they were denounced and brought before Decius. They affirmed their Christian faith, but the emperor gave them time to come to their senses before he came back to the city” (15).

These young men acted fast. They distributed all their wealth to the poor and together, all seven of them agreed to take refuge on Mount Celion where they would live a holy life. Among them, Malchus was chosen to dress as a beggar and go into town each week for supplies and food. Meanwhile Decius returned to Ephesus commanding that the seven be brought before his presence and forced to sacrifice. The seven men hiding in the mountain cave ate their last meal in fear and trembling and with full stomachs, “by the will of God, fell asleep” (15).

They were betrayed and denounced for having given away their wealth to the poor and by deserting the city. Decius sent his men to wall up the cave with stones so that they would die of hunger.

Two Christian men, “Theodorus and Rufinus, wrote an account of the martyrdom and left it concealed among the stones that closed the cave” (15-16). “Three hundred seventy two years later…in the thirtieth year of the reign of…the Most Christian emperor…Theodosius, there was an outbreak of heresy and widespread denial of the resurrection of the dead.”

In that year, a good citizen of Ephesus decided to build a shelter for sheepherders on Mount Celion. He hired stone masons and they found a good collection of very fine stones stacked very deliberately in a pile outside of a cave.

Click image for more info about the cave

[Meanwhile] Malchus and his companions awoke to the light of day and were gravely concerned about the actions being taken by the Emperor Decius. Malchus was sent into town as usual to buy extra loaves of bread for their sustenance should they be forced to stop making these trips into the city.

But the city which Malchus entered was visibly changed. It was the same city, but he was disoriented. There were notable changes, such as huge crosses on all the imperial property, and he kept hearing people talking and using the name Christ. He went to a bread baker to buy bread “but when he offered his money, the sellers, surprised, told each other that this youth had found some ancient treasure. Seeing them talking about him, Malchus thought they were getting ready to turn him over to the emperor” (16). He became afraid and told them to keep the bread and the money, but they thought he was suspicious and caught hold of him.

Word of this reached St. Martin, the bishop, and he ordered the citizens to bring this youth and the money to him. The bishop looked at the coins. “The inscription on the coins (was) more than 370 years old. The bishop and his proconsul questioned him and Malchus was so confused. They too were confused. The youth told the bishop that he and his friends were hiding from the Emperor Decius, and he would take the bishop and show him the cave.

“The bishop thought this over, then told the proconsul that God was trying to make them see something through this youth. So they set out with him and a great crowd followed them. Malchus went ahead to alert his friends, and the bishop came after him and found among the stones the letter sealed with two silver seals. He called the people together and read the letter to them. They marveled at what they heard, and, seeing the seven saints of God, their faces like roses in bloom, sitting in the cave, all fell to their knees and gave glory to God” (17). 

The emperor Theodosius was summoned. When he arrived, “their faces shone like the sun. The emperor prostrated himself before them and gave praise to God, then rose and embraced each one and wept over them, saying: ‘Seeing you thus, it is as if I saw the Lord raising Lazarus from the dead!’” St. Maximinus proclaimed that God must have done this, without their knowledge, “so that you may believe without the shadow of a doubt in the resurrection of the dead” (18).

Then, while all looked on, the seven saints bowed their heads to the ground, fell asleep, and yielded up their spirits as God willed that they should do. The cave was embellished with guilded stones (18).

Jacobus Voragine, who presented this story as it is, added this note at the very end:

“There is reason to doubt that these saints slept for 372 years, because they arose in the year of the Lord 448. Decius reigned in 252 and his reign lasted only fifteen monts, so the saints must have slept only 195 years” (18).

Thus far the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus…

Thanks be to God. 

Feast of St. James

Fr. Ryan Erlenbush has an excellent (as usual) post about today’s feast on his blog, The New Theological Movement.

Here’s an excerpt:

July 25^th, Feast of St. James the Greater

And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and [Jesus] named them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder (Mark 3:17)

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. James the Greater, who was the brother of St. John the Evangelist. This is the St. James who was first among the Apostles to be martyred (by Herod in Jerusalem) and whose relics are venerated in Compostella, Spain.

St. James the Greater was not called “the brother of the Lord” (that is St. James the Less), but he and his younger brother St. John were called Boanerges or “sons of Thunder”. Why did Jesus give them this designation?

The fiery style of the sons of Zebedee

There are certainly several incidents recorded in the Gospels which indicate the fiery preaching style of Sts. James and John. Certainly, these two were burning in their evangelical zeal, even to the point of some slight imperfection – this impetuousness was, of course, purified through their experience of our Savior’s Passion and Resurrection (as well as in the descent of the Holy Spirit).

Read the rest here.

Vocations and the EF Mass

A short article by Fr. McDonald at Southern Orders blog is worth considering. He sees the value of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass (the Traditional Latin Mass) as an important factor in motivating boys and men to consider a priestly vocation.

He says in part:

…What is it about the Tridentine Mass now known also as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass that attracts young boys and men to consider a priestly vocation and in great numbers?

The ethos of the EF Mass is more masculine in "personality" compared to the Ordinary Form. By that I mean it is more regimented, military like, "soldier like", "march like" and in sinc with masculine attitudes for better or worse. Men are more private about their faith, less flamboyant and not normally given to wanting to be the center of attention. They are more cut and dry, prefer precise directions and less prone to the openness of how females conduct themselves…

Fr. McDonald also notes the importance of “the cult of altar boys” as a recruitment tool”

The cult of altar boys as a recruitment for the seminary and priesthood has been lost as well as forming a community of altar boys based upon prayer and carrying out the rites of the Mass and other liturgies with great precision and pride. For the most part this has been lost in most parishes and altar servers are not well trained, have minor roles during the liturgy and don't take what they do as seriously as is demanded by the right implementation the celebration of the Mass.

…[W]e need to recover that which promoted and inspired young boys and men to consider the priesthood.

Read the entire article here.

Monsignor Richard Schuler: CMAA Hero

The Church Music Association of America owes no one more of a debt than Monsignor Richard Schuler, a musician, teacher and pastor from the Twin Cities in Minnesota.  His name was singled out at the Requiem Mass for the deceased members of CMAA  on Wednesday, June 27, in Salt Lake City.

Schuler was born into a German family in 1920 and trained musically from his early years, eventually learning to be a fine organist. He entered the seminary in St. Paul after two years at the College of St. Thomas in the same city. After ordination, his superiors recognized his value as a teacher of music and assigned him to Nazareth Hall, the minor seminary for the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul. He taught there for three years, before spending a year at the Eastman School of Music where he got a Master’s degree. The following summer he spent in Europe and, in 1954, he was awarded a Fullbright scholarship to study in Rome.

The next year he began teaching at the College of St. Thomas. Although he had hoped to be assigned to the major seminary, Father Schuler taught religion and music at the college for 14 years and obtained a Ph.D. in 1963. During this time he also directed two church choirs and was secretary for the Guild of Catholic Organists and Choirmasters. He also wrote articles for church music journals and was active in international Catholic music circles. He soon founded the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale, which would sing the Masses at the only parish he ever headed.  The group toured extensively nationally and internationally.

Shortly after the archdiocese got a new prelate, Bishop James P. Shannon, Father Schuler asked for and was given the pastorship of St. Agnes Church in St. Paul. A beautiful edifice that had not yet suffered from the stripping of churches so common in the next decades. St. Agnes would become the focus of weekly Latin (Novus Ordo) Masses with music by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven and Schubert.  Father Schuler saw this assignment as a chance to implement the actual decrees of the Second Vatican Council on a parish level and, sometimes against great odds, he continued to do that until his death. At St. Agnes, there were appropriate vestments, processions and ceremony, as well as Gregorian propers and the works of great composers informing the Masses.

Father Schuler also oversaw the completion of the interior of the baroque church. In 1990 the bells were renewed and a fourth bell, named Richard after the pastor, was added. The Catholic school at the parish became famous for its orthodoxy and Father Schuler made certain the catechical materials used were sound. He was always insistent that Catholics must follow the Holy Father and implement the correct teachings of the councils.

His history with CMAA is legendary. He became the editor of its journal, Sacred Music, in 1973 and in 1976 was elected as its president, positions he held until the last few years before his death in 2007.

For his insistence on excellence in the liturgy and orthodoxy in doctrine, Monsignor Schuler has become an icon to those who continue his work. He lived to see several of the Sacred Music Colloquia and his spirit remains among those who strive to pass on the work he championed.

By Stephanie Swee 

Sunday Homily on Monday

A Homily given by Fr. Eric M. Andersen at Sacred Heart Church in Gervais, Oregon, on July 15th, 2012

Dominica XV Per Annum

The twelve apostles are sent out by our Lord to be as prophets. They are set apart, detached from worldly attachments, and without possessions. They speak the word of God, drive out demons and cure diseases. The people who see them will likely think of them as belonging to the same class as Amos the prophet, or Elijah or Elisha the prophets. This way of living simply and poorly, inspired by the apostolic life, has become the inspiration for religious life in its many expressions from the eremitic life, to the mendicant life, to the canonical life. So we have holy monks and nuns, holy hermits and hermitesses, holy friars and sisters, holy canons and cannonesses.

Such a life is inspired by an earlier tradition begun by the prophets and their followers. It is said that the followers of the prophets Elijah and Elisha who continued to live on Mount Carmel were prepared for the coming of Christ by the preaching of St. John the Baptist. These holy men embraced the faith at the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost when they heard the preaching of the apostles. They were also “permitted to hear the sweet words of the Blessed Virgin and enjoy an unspeakable intimacy with her. They venerated her and were the first to build a chapel in her honor on Mount Carmel “on the very spot where (the prophet St. Elijah) had stood when he saw the little cloud rise up out of the sea” (Gueranger, The Liturgical Year. Vol. 13, p. 113). The cloud was in the shape of a foot as a sign of the foot that would come to crush the head of the ancient serpent.

These men came together in this oratory chapel several times each day “and with pious ceremonies, prayers, and praises honoured the most Blessed Virgin as the special protectress of their Order. For this reason, people from all parts began to call them the Brethren of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel” (Lesson from office of Matins, Breviarium Romanum).

In the twelfth century, during the Crusades, the Holy Land had been freed from the invasion of Muhammedans and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was established. “Many pilgrims from Europe came to swell the ranks of the solitaries on the holy mountain” of Carmel (cf. 113). It became necessary for the hermits living there to organize under a strict religious rule of life according to Western standards. The rule was formalized under Blessed Albert, the Patriarch of Jerusalem and they began to spread throughout the holy land and into southern Europe. In the year 1245, when the Saracens had invaded Jerusalem again, their vindictiveness “reached such a height…that a full assembly” of the order was held and “resolved upon a complete migration” into Europe, “leaving only a few friars eager for martyrdom to guard the cradle of the Order” on Mount Carmel.

In this same year, an English Carmelite, named Simon Stock, was elected the General Superior of the entire Order. When these Carmelite friars migrated to Europe, they experienced difficulty in gaining recognition on the part of certain prelates. These prelates wanted Pope Honorius III to abolish this “new Order”. But on the night between July 15th and 16th in the year of Our Lord 1251, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to the Pope and secured for her dear sons the establishment in the West of the Carmelite Order.

At the same time, she gave to St. Simon Stock the scapular which is a brown piece of cloth worn front and back over the religious tunic. The scapular is a sign of belonging to Mary, under the protection of her mantle. This scapular is worn in miniature by lay people with the promise from our Lady that “whosoever shall die in this habit shall not suffer eternal flames.” She further promised to Pope John XXII “I, their Mohter, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal.” Pope John XXII quoted these very words of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in a Papal Bull which he promulgated for the purpose of making known this promise of our Lady called the Sabbatine privilege.

Tomorrow (July 16) the Universal Church celebrates this feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is a time for us to draw close to her, to wear her scapular, and to amend our lives. She promises to intercede for us. She promises to bring us very close to her Son Jesus. Our Lady of Fatima appeared in her final apparition in 1917 as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding the brown scapular in her hands. Sister Lucia said that this was a sign that Our Lady wished her children to wear the scapular as a special sign of consecration to her Immaculate Heart for peace on this earth. Let us turn to Mary in this time and consecrate ourselves to her Immaculate Heart, wearing the Brown Scapular, for the sake of peace in our world and for the freedom of the Church.