sacred music, 122.2, summer 1995; the journal of the church music association of america

8/14/2019 Sacred Music, 122.2, Summer 1995; The Journal of the Church Music Association of America

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Strasburg Cathedral

SACRED MUSICVolume 122, N um be r 2, Sum m er 1995

FROM THE EDITORS 3Scanda lReform of the ReformCH UR CH MUSIC IN THE CATHEDRAL OF REGENSBURG: BETWIXT AN D 5BETWEEN THE REGENSBURG TRADITION AN D POSTCONCILIAR REFORM

Joseph Cardinal RatzingerIN MEMORIAM: MO NSIGN OR FRANCIS P. SCHMITT 18

Allen HobbsRENOVATING A CHU RCH EVEN W ITHOU T AN ALTAR 24

Reverend Robert A. SkerisAN INTERVIEW WITH MO NSIGN OR SCHULER 26

Michael TungerREVIEWS 34

O P E N F O R U M 3 8NEWS 38

EDITORIAL NOT ES 38CONTRIBUTORS 40


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SACRED MUSIC

Editorial Board:

News:

Music for Review:

Membership, Circulationand Advertising:

CHURCH MUSICASSOCIATIONOF AMERICAOfficers and Board of DirectorsPresidentVice-President

General SecretaryTreasurerDirectors

Continuation of Caecilia, published by the Society of St. Caeciliasince 1874, and The Catholic Choirmaster, published by th e Society ofSt. Greg ory of Am erica since 1915. Pub lished q uar terly by theChurch Music Association of America. Office of Publications: 548Lafond Avenue, Saint Pau l, Minnesota 55103.Rev. Msgr. Richard J. Schuler, EditorRev. Ralph S. March , S.O. Cist.Rev. John BuchananHarold H ughesdonWilliam P. MahrtVirginia A. SchubertCal StepanRev. Richard M. H oganMary Ellen StrappRev. Msgr. Richard J. Schuler548 Lafond Avenue, Saint P aul, Minnesota 55103Paul S alamunovich, 10828 Valley Spring Lane, N. Hollyw ood, Calif.91602Paul M anz, 1700 E. 56th St., Chicago , Illinois 60637548 Lafond Avenue, Saint P aul, Minnesota 55103

Monsignor Richard J. SchulerGerhard TrackVirginia A. SchubertDonna WeltonRev. Ralph S. Ma rch, S.O. Cist.Mrs. Do nald G. VellekWilliam P. MahrtRev. R obert A. SkerisMembers in the Church Music Association of America includes asubscription to SACRED MUSIC. Voting membership is $12.50annua l ly ; subsc r ip t ion m em bersh ip i s $10 annua l ly ; s tud en tmembership is $5.00 annual ly . Single copies are $3.00. Sendapplications and changes of address to SACRED MUSIC, 548Lafond Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55103-1672. Make checkspayable to C hurch M usic Association of America.Library of Congress catalog card numb er: 62-6712/MNSACRED MUSIC is indexed in the Catholic Periodical and LiteratureIndex, Music Index, Music Article Guide, and Arts and HumanitiesIndex.Cover: Vestment, Church of Saint Agnes, Saint Paul, Minnesota.Photo by Joe Oden.Copyright by Church Music Association of America. 1995.SACRED MUSIC (ISSN 0036-2255) is published quarterly for $10 per year by the ChurchMusic Association of America, 548 Lafond Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55103-1672.Second-class postage paid at Saint Paul, Minnesota.Postmaster: Send address changes to SACRED MUSIC, 548 Lafond Avenue, Saint Paul,Minnesota 55103-1672.


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FROM THE EDITORSScandalHow is i t that thir ty years af ter the close of the II Vatican Council , which ordered somany refo rms in the l i tu rgy and in church music , there can s t i l l be such de ter io ra t ion

ins tead o f im pro vem ent in the l i tu rg ica l l if e o f near ly the en t i re Chu rch? W hy hav eour l i tu rg ica l ri tes beco me so un in tere s t ing , so chea p and b anal , so lack ing in reverencean d d ig n i ty ? W h y h av e so m a n y p eo p le g iv en u p th e i r a t t en d an c e at Su n d ay M ass?Why has the genera l leve l o f knowledge o f Catho l ic teach ing abou t the Mass , bo tham on g adu l ts and ch i ld ren , fa llen to so low a leve l? W hy ha ve the a r ts tha t have forcen tu r i e s b een so c lo se ly a s so c i a t ed w i th t h e l i t u r g y m u s ic , p a in t in g , n eed lewo r k ,arch i tec tu re and meta lworkproduced no th ing o f s ign i f icance , and even o f beau ty ino u r d a y ? W h e r e a re t h e r e l i g i o u s o r d e r s h e a d e d ? H a v e w e i n c r e a s e d t h e a c ti v ep a r t i c ip a t io n o f o u r wo r sh ip p e r s? W h a t h ap p en e d to t h e gr ea t h o p e th a t ev e r y o n e h adat the close of the council for the l i turgical reform a nd th e freedo m it gav e us? Th ekeysto ne to the re fo rm be gun by Po pe Pius X had be en pu t in p lace by the council . Bu tw h a t h a s h a p p e n e d ?Answers to those quest ions te l l us c lear ly tha t the hopes and the d i rec t ions o f thecounci l have never com e to f ru it ion. The refo rm has fa iled becaus e it w as neve r g ive na chance; i t has never been imple me nted . Ins tead , an a t tack on the Ro ma n r ite , theLat in language , Gregor ian chan t and the fa i th o f Catho l ics in the rea l p resence o f JesusChrist in the renewal of His Sacrif icial offer ing of Himself in the Mass, has wreakedwh a t we see al l ab o u t u s . I n t h e p a s t t h i r t y y ea r s , i n s t ead o f a cco m p l i sh in g g r ea ts t r ides toward ho l iness , love o f the Church and s t reng then ing o f fa i th , what we haveseen has been the very opposi te . The refo rm ha s beco me a scandal , the occas ion fo rsin.Scan d a l i s an ac t io n o r an o m iss io n th a t i s t h e cau se o r o cca s io n f o r an o th e r t ocom mi t sin . If I go to chu rch on Su nd ay an d f ind that ther e is l i t t le or no reve rence inGod ' s house and tha t the Blessed Sacrament i s ignored and fo rgo t ten , i s th is no t an

o ccas io n fo r i n f lu en c in g o u r o w n co n d u c t? If m u s i c h ea r d in m o s t ch u r ch e s h a sb e c o m e b a n a l , c h e a p a n d s e c u l a r , i s i t n o t s c a n d a l t o d o t h e s a m e j u s t b e c a u s e" e v e r y b o d y i s d o i n g i t ? " If g e n e r a l a b s o l u t i o n w i t h o u t c o n f e s s i o n o f s i n s , f ir s tco m m u n io n b e f o r e f i rs t co n f e s s io n , c a r e l e s s d r e s s a t M ass , t a r d in e ss a t an d ev e nabsence f rom Sunday Mass become the norm in a communi ty o r par ish , then a l l havebeen scand al ized . Som e one o r som e prac t ice has led o thers in to the sam e cond uct .V i r t u e h a s n o t i n c r e a s e d , b u t e r r o r s , w r o n g s a n d s c a n d a l h a v e b e e n t h e u l t i m a t eresu l thard ly what the counci l was a l l abou t .W hat i s un de r considera t ion i s the d i ffe rence be tw een good a nd bad exam ple . I t i sso im por tan t tha t paren ts shou ld teach the i r ch i ld ren by the i r ow n examp le . An ac ts p e a k s a t h o u s a n d w o r d s . A s c h u r c h m u s i c i a n s , t h e p r i n c i p l e s f or j u d g i n g o u rper fo rmances , our reper to ry , our obed ience to the Church ' s laws and suggest ions fo r

music in the l i tu rgy a l l demand f rom us a loya l ty and de terminat ion to do what i s r igh tand lawful, correct and holy, f i t t ing and ar t ist ic .T h e ea r ly Ch u r ch p r o d u ced th o u san d s o f m a r ty r s , m en an d wo m en wh o wer e soconvinced o f the i r fa i th and a l l tha t i t demanded o f them, tha t they were wi l l ing to r i skan d eve n fo r fe i t l if e i t se lf ra the r than g ive up even an io ta o f t ru th . Tod ay s uchp e r s e v e r a n c e i s n o t h a i l e d b y t h e l i b e ra l e s t a b l i s h m e n t b u t r a t h e r d e m e a n e d a n dlabel led " r ig id ." Co ncen sus i s the p ro ced ure o f the day and i t ma y wel l be us ed inma t te r s abo u t wh ich a var ie ty o f op in io n i s in o rder . Bu t in our fa i th, in our w ors h ip ,in our mora l i ty there i s no room for concensus . We are bo un d by the Holy Ro ma nCatho l ic Church , i t s d i rec t ives , i t s Magis te r ium, i t s lawfu l h ie rarchy to gu ide us , d i rec tu s a n d c o m m a n d u s .As ch u r ch m u s ic i an s t h en , we sh o u ld p l ed g e o u r su p p o r t f o r t h e d ec r ee s o f t h eC hu rch , i ts legislation an d directiv es. We m us t up ho ld the prin ciple s of ou r mu sica l FROM THE EDITORS


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CHURCH MUSIC IN THE CATHEDRALOF REGENSBURG, 1964-1994Betwixt and Between the RegensburgTradition and Postconciliar Reform(Given on the occasion of the retirement of his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger,as choirmaster at the Regensburg cathedral , this ar t icle was translated by FatherRobert A . Skeris.)

1.1. Terrestrial and Celestial Liturgy: the View of the FathersIn the autum n of 1992, after an unforgettable helicopter flight over the m ountainsof South Tyrol, I visited the monastery of Mt. St. Mary (Marienberg) in the valley ofthe Etsch. The monastery was founded in that magnificent n atural setting to thepraise and glory of God, thus responding in its own way to the invitation expressedin the Canticle of the Three Young Men: "Ye mountains and heights, praise the

Lord!" (Dan. 3: 75). The real treasure of this monastery is the crypt (dedicated July13, 1160) with its glorious frescoes which in recent years have been almost CHURCH MUSIC


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worl d. Here, the pan or ama is much more confused and dis orde red . Acontemporary observer has described the present situation as one of "already andnot yet/' by which he does not mean the eschatological anticipation of Christ Who isto come in a world still marked by death and its difficulties. This author is simplysaying that the "new" which is "already" there, is the reform of the liturgy butthe"old" (namely the "Tridentine" order) is in fact "not yet" overcome.3 And so theage-old question, "Whither shall I turn?" no longer refers, as it once did, to oursearch for the countenanc e of the living God. That ques tion becomes instead adescription of the perplexity and embarrassment which typifies the situation ofchurch music which is said to have resulted from the half-hearted realization of theliturgical reform. To put the matter in terms of today' s trendy expression: here, aprofoundly radical "paradigm shift" has quite obviously taken place. A great abyssdivides the history of the Church into two irreconcilable worlds: the pre-conciliarand the post-conciliar world. As a matter of fact, many believe that it is impossibleto utter a more fearful verdict over an ecclesiastical decision, a text, a liturgical formor even a person, than to say that it is "pre-conciliar." If that be true, then CatholicChristendom must have been in a truly frightful condition unti l 1965.

Now, let us apply that to our practical instance: a cathedral choirmaster who heldhis post from 1964 unti l 1994 at the cathedral church in Regensburg was really ifmatters are really so in a rather hopeless situation. When he began his duties, theliturgy constitution of Vatican II had not yet been promulgated. When he took officehe very definitely followed the proud standard of the Regensburg tradition, or moreprecisely the standard of the motu proprio, Tra le sollecitudini on church music,issued by St. Pius X on November 22,1903.4 Nowhere was this motu proprio receivedwith such rejoicing, and so unreservedly accepted as the norm and standard to befollowed, as in the cathedral at Regensburg, which of course with this attitude set anexample which was followed by many a cathedral and parish church in Germany aswell as in other lands. In this reform of church music, Pius X had put to good use hisown liturgical knowledge and experience. At the major seminary he had al readyconducted a Gregorian chant schola, and as bishop of Mantua and later patriarch ofVenice he fought to eliminate the operatic "church" music style which was thendominant in Italy. Insistence upon Gregorian chant as the genuine music of theliturgy was for him but a part of that greater program of reform which was aimed atrestoring to liturgical worship its pristine dignity, shaping and forming Catholic culton the basis of its inner requirements.5 During the course of these efforts he hadcome to know the Regensburg tradition which, one might say, was something of agodparent to the motu proprio without implying that the "Regensburg tradition" assuch was thereby "canonized" in its entirety. In Germany (but not only there!) Pius Xis today often remembered chiefly as the "anti-modernist" pope, but GiampaoloRomanato has clearly shown, in his critical biography, the great extent to which thispontiff was a reforming pope precisely because he was a pastor of souls.6

He who reflects upon all of this and spends a little time examining it more closely,will soon notice that the chasm separating "pre-conciliar" and "post-conciliar" hasalready grown smaller. And the historian will add another insight. The liturgyconstitution of the last council indeed laid the foundations for a reform which wasthen shaped by a post-conciliar committee and in its concrete details cannot withoutfurther ado be attributed to the council itself. That sacred synod was an openbeginning whose broad parameters permitted a number of concrete realizations.When one duly reflects upon these facts, then one will be disinclined to describe thatbroad arc of tensions which manifested itself in these decades, In terms like "pre-conciiliar tradit ion" and "conciliar reform." It wou ld be bette r to speak of theconfrontation or contrast between the reform of St. Pius X and that introduced by thecouncil in other words, to speak about stages of reform instead of a deep trenchbetween two opposing worlds. And if we broaden our perspective even more, wecan say that the his tory of the liturgy always involves a certain degree of tension CHURCH MUSIC


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between continuity and renewal. The history of the liturgy is constantly growinginto an ever-new Now, and she must also repeatedly prune back a Present which hasbecome the Past, so that what is essential can re-appear with new vigor. The liturgyneeds growth and development as well as purgation and refining and in bothcases needs to preserve its identity and that purpose witout which it would lose thevery reason for its existence. And if that is really the case, then the alternativebetween "traditionalists" and "reformers" is woefully inadequate to the situatioin.He who believes that he can only choose between Old and New, has alreadytravelled a good way along a dead-end street. The real question is rather: What isthe essential nature of the liturgy? What standard does the liturgy set for itself?Only when this question has been answered, can one proceed to ask: What mustremain? What is permanent? What can and perhaps must change?

II. The Question of the Liturgy's Essence and ofth e Standards of th e Reform.Our ref l ec t ion upon the frescoes at Mt. St. M a r y in South Tyrol has been inanticipation giving a pre l iminary answer to the ques t ion about the essence of the

liturgy. It is t ime to examine the question in greater depth. As we begin to do so, weat once encounter another of those alternatives which derive from the dualist ic viewof history which divides the world into pre- and post-concil iar ag es. In this view, thepriest alone "did" the l i turgy before the council , while now, after the synod , theassembled com muni ty "does" l iturgy, indeed "causes" it. Hence, some conclude, thecelebrat ing co mm uni ty is the true subject of the liturgy, and determines what occursin the liturgy.7 Now, it is of course true that the priest celebrant never had the rightto determine by himself what was to be done , or how, in the sacred liturgy. For him ,the l i turgy was not at all a matter of acting according to his own liking. The l i turgyexisted before the priest , as r i te , as the objective form of the C hurch ' s com m onprayer.The polemic a l t e rna t ive "pr i es t or congregat ion , source and s u p p o r t of the

l i t u rgy?" is unreasonab l e because it re - invent s ins t ead of p r o m o t i n g a correc tunde r s t and i ng of w orsh i p , and because it creates that false chasm between "pre-conciliar" and "post -conci l iar" which rends asunder the overal l cont inui ty of thel iving history of faith. Such a false alternative is rooted in superficial thinking whichdoes not penetrate to the heart of the matter. On the other hand, when we open theCatechism of the Catholic Church we find a masterful ly luminous summary of the bestinsights of the l i turgical movement and t hus of the permanent ly val id elements ofthe grea t traditio n. First of all, we are reminded that l i turgy means "service of andfor the people."8 When Christ ian theology adapted from the Greek Old Testamentthis word formed in the pagan wor ld , it naturally was thinking of the people of G odwhich the Christians had become through the fact that Christ had broken down thebarrier between Jews and heathens in order to uni te them all in the peace of the oneGod. "Service for the peop l e" Chri s t i ans thought of the basic t ruth that thispeop l e did not exist of itself, for i ns t ance as a c o m m u n i t y by ances t ra l descentthrough blood l ines, but rather came into existence through the Paschal service ofJesus Christ was based , in other words, solely upon the minist ry or service ofsomeone else the Son. "People of G od" do not simply exist the way Germans ,Frenchmen, I tal ians, Americans or other peoples "exist ." They always come intobeing only through the ministry or service of the Son and by virtue of the fact thatHe raises us up to fel lowship wi th God a level we cannot at tain by our ownefforts. Accordingly, the Cathechism cont inues:

In Christian tradition (the word "liturgy") m eans the participation of the peop le ofGod in the work of God (opus Dei). Through the liturgy, Christ our Redeemer andCHURCH MUSIC High Priest continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through H is Church.


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social boundaries expresses i tself in concrete openness for those who do not belongt o i ts co re g ro up . T o a l a rge ex t en t , co n t em po ra ry t a l k abo u t " co m m un i t y"presupposes a homogeneous group which i s ab le to p l an common ac t iv i t i es andjointly carry them out. An d then, of course , this com mu nity ma y perh aps be askedto "tolerate" none but a priest with w ho m it is mu tually a cqua inted. All of that , ofcourse , has noth ing to do with theology. For instance, whe n at a solemn service in acathedral church a group of men gather who form a sociological point of view do notform a unified congregation and who find it very difficult to join in congregationalsinging, for exam ple, do they consti tute a "com mu nity" or not? Inde ed they do ,because in comm on they turn tow ard the Lord, and He approach es them interiorly ina way which draws them together much more in t imate ly than any mere soc ia ltogetherness could ever do.

We can sum marize these though ts by saying that nei ther the priest alone, nor thecongre gation alone , "does " the l i turgy. Rather, the divine l i turgy is celebrated by thewhole Chr i s t , Head and members : t he pr i es t , t he congregat ion , t he ind iv idual sinsofar as they are united with Christ and to the extent that they represent the totalChrist in the commu nion of Head and Body. The who le Church, heaven an d earth,God and man take part in every l i turgical celebration and that not just in theory,bu t in actua l fact. The me an ing of liturg y is realized all the mo re concretely, the m oreeach celebration is nourished by this awareness and this experience.These reflections appear to have taken us far away from the subject of Regensburgtradi t ion and post -conci l iar reform but that only seems to be the case. It wa snecessary to describe the great overal l context which const i tutes the standard byw h i ch any r e fo rm i s m e asu red . A n d on l y i n t e rm s of t ha t s t a nd a rd can w eapp ropria tely describe the inner location and the correct type of church m usic. No wwe can briefly depict the essential tendenc y of the reform chosen by the council Inopposi t ion to modern individual i i sm and the moral ism which is connected wi th i t ,t he d imension of the mysterium wa s to ap pe ar onc e mo re , t ha t i s , t he co smiccharacter of the li turgy which encom passe s heave n and earth. In i ts sharin g in thePaschal Mystery of Christ , the l i turgy transcends the boundaries of places and t imesin order to gather all into the hour of Christ which is anticipated in the l i turgy andthus opens up history to its final goal.11The concil iar consti tution on the l i turgy add s two other impo rtant asp ects. First,in Christian faith the concept of the mysterium is inseparable from the concept of theLogos. In contrast to m an y heath en my stery cults, the Christ ian mysteries are Logos-mys teries. They reach bey ond the limits of hu m an reaso n, bu t they do not lead intothe formlessness of frenzy or the dissolution of rationali ty in a cosmos understood asi rrat ional . Rather, the Christ ian m ysteries lead to the Logos, that i s , to creat ivereason, in which th e mean ing of all things is finally gr oun ded . An d that is the sou rceand origin of the ult imate sobriety, the thorough-going rationali ty, and the verbalcharacter of the liturgy.With this ther e is con nec ted a sec ond fact: the Word bec am e flesh in history.Hence for the Christ ian to be oriented toward the Logos always means also beingoriented toward the historical origins of the faith, toward the word of Scripture andi ts authori tat ive dev elopm ent a nd explana t ion in the Ch urch of the fathers. As aresult of contemplating the mysterium of a cosmic liturgy (which is a Logos-liturgy) itbecomes necessary to describe in a visible and concrete way, the community aspectof worship, the fact that i t is an action to be performed, i ts formulation in words.This is the key to un der stan din g all the individ ual directives abo ut the revision of theli turgical books and ri tes. W hen o ne keeps this in min d, i t becom es clear that in spiteof the outward differences, both the Regensburg tradit ion and the motu proprio of St.Pius X intend th e same goal and p oint in the same direction. The de-em pha sizing ofo rches t r a l a ccom pan i m en t , w h i ch above a l l i n I t a l y had deve l oped ope ra - l i kequalit ies, was meant to put church music once again at the service of the l i turgical

CHURCH MUSIC text , and of ador at ion. Chu rch music was no longer to be a perform ance on the10


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occasion of a liturgical service, but rather the liturgy itself, i.e., joining in with thechoir of angels and saints. Thus it was to be made clear that liturgical music was tolead the faithful into the glorification of God, into the sober intoxication of the faith.The emphasis upon Gregorian chant and classical polyphony was therefore orderedat once to the "mystery" aspect of the liturgy and its Logos-like character as well asits link to the word in history. That emphasis was, one might say, supposed to stressanew the authoritative nature of the patristic standard for liturgical music, whichsome had occasionally conceived in a manner too exclusively historical. Such anauthoritative standard, correctly understood, does not mean exclusion of anythingnew, but rather means pointing out the direction which leads into open spaces. Here,progress into new territory is made possible precisely because the right path hasbeen found. Only when one appreciates the essential elements of intention andtendency which are common to the reforms of both St. Pius X and Vatican II, can onecorrectly evaluate the differences in their practical suggestions. And from thatposition we can turn the proposition around, and assert that any view of the liturgywhich loses sight of its character as "mystery," and its cosmic dimension, must resultin the deformation of worship instead of its reform.

III. 1. The Reason for Music and its Role in WorshipBy itself, the question of the liturgy's essence and the standards of the reform has

brought us back to the question of music and its position in the liturgy. And as amatter of fact one cannot speak about worship at all without also speaking of themusic of worship. Where the liturgy deteriorates, musica sacra degenerates too. Andwhere worship is correctly understood and lived out in practice, there too will goodchurch music grow and thrive. We note earlier that the concept of "congregation"(or "assembly") appears in the new Cathechism for the first time at the point wherethe Holy Ghost is described as the one Who shapes or forms the liturgy, and we hadsaid that it is a precise description of the congregation's inner location. Similarly, it isno accident that in the Cathechism we find the word "to sing" for the first time in thesection which deals with the cosmic character of the liturgy, in a quotation from theconciliar constitution on the liturgy:

In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which iscelebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims...With allthe warriors of the heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord.12

A recent author has found a very good way to express that state of affairs bymodifying the famous aphorism of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who wrote that "one mustremain silent about that which one cannot utter." This now becomes: that which onecannot utter, can and must be expressed in song and music when silence is notpermissible.13 And the author adds that "Jews and Christians agree in viewing theirsinging and music-making as referring heavenward or coming from heaven, aseavesdropped from on high..."14 In these few sentences we find set forth thefundamental principles of liturgical music. Faith comes from hearing God' s word.And whenever God's word is translated into human words, there remains somethingunspoken and unutterable, which calls us to silence into a stillness whichultimately allows the Unutterable to become song and even calls upon the voices ofthe cosmos to assist in making audible what had remained unspoken. And thatimplies that church music, originating in the word and in the silence heard in thatword, presupposes a constantly renewed listening to the rich plenitude of the Logos.

While some maintain that in principle, any kind of music can be used in aworship service,15 others point to the deeper and essential relationships betweencertain vital activities an d forms of musical expression which are fitting andappropriate to them: "I am convinced that there is also a type of music particularly CHURCH MUSIC


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appropriate (or, as the case may be, inappropriate) . . . for man's encounter with themystery of faith..."16 And as a matter of fact, music meant to serve the Christianliturgy must be appropriate and fitting for the Logos, which means concretely: suchmusic must be meaningfully related to th e Word in which the Logos has foundutterance. Even in its purely instru me ntal form, such music cannot disengage itselffrom the inner direction or orientation of this wo rd w hich open s up a n infinite space bu t also draw s certain bo und aries a nd establishes criteria of distinction. In itsessence, such music must be different from a music which is meant to lead thelistener into rhythmic ecstasy, or stupefied torpor, sensual arousal or the dissolutionof the Ego in Nirv ana to mention b ut a few of the attitudes w hich are possible. St.Cyprian has a fine observation in this connection, in his commentary on the Lord'sPrayer:

But let our speech and petition when we pray be under discipline, observingquietness and modesty. Let us consider that we are standing in God's sight (subconspectu Dei). We must please the divine eyes both with the habit of the body andwith the measure of voice. For as it is characteristic of a shameless man to be noisywith his cries, so on the other hand, is it fitting to the modest man to pray withmoderated petitions...And w hen we meet together w ith the brethren in one place, andcelebrate divine sacrifices w ith God's priest, we ought to be mindful...not to throwabroad our prayers indiscriminately, with u nsubdued voices, nor to cast to God withtumultuous w ordiness a petition that ought to be commended to God by modesty...forGod...need not be clamorously reminded...17

It goes without saying that this interior standard of a music appropriate to theLogos mu st be related to life in this world: it m ust introd uce m en into the fellowshipof Christ as fellow suppliants at prayer here and now, in this era and in a specificlocation. It mu st be accessible to them w hile at the same time leading them onw ard sin the direction which the divine liturgy itself formulates with unsurpassable brevityat the beginning of the canon: sursum corda lift up your hearts! lift up the heartmeaning the inner man, the totality of the self, to the heights of God Himself, to thesublimity which is God and which in Christ touches the earth, drawing it with andupwards toward itself.III. 2. C hoir and Cong regation t h e Question of Langu age

Before I at tempt to apply these principles to a few specif ic problems of churchmusic in the cathe dral of Reg ensburg, somethin g mus t be said a bout the subjects ofliturgical music and the langu age of the chants . W herever an exaggerated concept of" c o m m u n i t y " p r e d o m i n a t e s , a c o n c e p t w h i c h i s ( as w e h a v e a l r e a d y s e e n )completely unrealistic precisely in a highly mobile society such as ours , there onlyth e pr ies t and the congregat ion can be acknowledged as leg i t imate executors orp e r f o r m e r s of l i turg ica l song . Today, prac t ica l ly eve ryon e can see thr ou gh theprimit ive activism and the insipid pedo gogic rat ionalism of such a p osi t ion whichis w hy it is no w asse rted so seldom . The fact that the schola an d the choir can alsocontr ibute to the whole picture, is scarcely denied an y m ore, even am ong those w hoerroneously interpret the council ' s phrase about "act ive part icipat ion" as meaningexternal activism. How ever, a few exclusions remain, and ab out them w e shall speakpresently. They are rooted in an insufficient interpretation of liturgical cooperativeac t ion i n communi ty , i n wh ich t he congrega t ion wh ich ac tua l ly happens t o bep r e s e n t can never be the so le subjec t , but which may only be unders tood as anassembly open tow ard a nd from above, synchronical ly and diachronically, into thebread th of divine history. A recent auth or has s tressed an imp ortan t aspect of thequest ion by spe aking of highly develope d forms which are not lacking in the l i turgyas a feast of God , bu t wh ich cannot be fi lled o ut by the congrega tion as a whole. HeCHURCH MUSIC rem inds us that " the choir , in other w ord s, is not related to a l is tening congregation12


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as it is to a concert audience which allows something to be performed for it. Ratherthe choir is itself part of the congregation and sings for it as legitimate deputy ordelegate."18 The concept of deputyship is one of the basic categories of all Christianfaith, and it applies to all levels of faith-filled reality, and precisely for this reason isalso essential in the liturgical assembly.19 The insight that we are dealing here withdepu tysh ip , in fact resolves the apparent conflict of opposites . The choir acts onbehalf of the others and includes them in the purpose of its own action. Through thes ing ing of the choi r , everyone can be conduc ted i n to the grea t l i turgy of thecommunion of saints and thus into that interior prayer which pulls our hearts onhigh and permits us to join with the heavenly Jerusalem in a manner far beyond allearthly expectations.But can one really sing in Latin when the people do not unders tand it? Since thecouncil, there has arisen in many places a fanaticism for the vernacular which is infact very difficult to comprehend in a multicultural society, just as in a mobile societyit is not very logical to hypostasize the congregation. And for the moment let us passover the fact that a text translated into the vernacular is not thereby automaticallycomprehensible to everyone thus that touches upon an entirely different questionof no little impo rtance. A point which is essential for Christian liturgy in general was

recently expressed in splendid fashion:This celebration is not interrupted whenever a song is sung or an instrumentalpiece is played..., but it shows by that very fact its nature as "feast" or "celebration."But this requirement does not demand unity of liturgical language nor of style in thevarious musical parts. The traditional, so-called "Latin Mass" always had parts inAramaic (Amen, Alleluia, Hosanna, Maran atha), Greek (Kyrie eleison, Trisagion) and thevernacular (the sermon, as a rule). Real life know s little of stylistic unity andperfection. On the contrary, a thing which is really alive will always exhibit formaland stylistic diversity...; the unity is organic.2"

It was on the basis of insights such as these that in the three decades of theologicaland liturgical turmoil during which the retiring cho irmaster did his duty, supportedby the confidence both of Bishop Graber and of his successor, Bishop ManfredMiiller, and the auxiliary bishops Fliigel, Guggenberger and Schraml, he steered acourse of continuity in development and development in continuity often in spiteof the difficulty caused by powerful contrary currents . Than ks to the profounda g r e e m e n t b e t w e e n the c h o i r m a s t e r and the r e s p o n s i b l e p r e l a t e s and t he i rcollaborators, he was in a position unswervingly but at the same time in an openw ay to make an essential contr ibution to the preservation of the digni ty andgrandeur of liturgical wors hip in the cathedral of Regensburg, which maintained itst ransparency towards the cosmic liturgy of the Logos within the unity of the world-wide Church without becoming a museum piece or petrifying into a nostalgic by-way. And now, in conclusion, I should like to discuss briefly two characteristicexamples of this struggle to maintain continuity while still developing even in theface of published opinion. I refer to the question of the Sanctus and Benedictus, andthe question of the meaningful position of the Agnus Dei.III. 3. Par t icu la r Quest ions: Sanctus, B enedictus, Agnus Dei

It was my friend and former colleague in Munster, Monsignor Emil JosephLengeling, who said that when one understood the Sanctus as an authentic partintended for the congregation celebrating the service, "then there result not onlycompelling conclusions for new compositions, but the exclusion of most Gregorianand all polyphonic settings of the Sanctus, because they exclude the congregationfrom singing and ignore the acclamatory character of the Sanctus.2] With all duerespect to the renowned liturgist, that quotation shows that even great experts canerr egregiously . First of all, mistrust is always in order when the greater part of CHURCH MUSIC

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l iv ing his tory must be tossed out in to the dustbin of old misunders tandings nowhap pily clarified. That is all the mo re true of the Christian liturgy, which lives out ofthe continu ity and th e inne r unity of pra yer bas ed on faith. As a ma tter of fact, thealleged acclamatory character of the Sanctus, to which only the congregation coulddo justice, is totally un fou nd ed. In the entire liturgical tradition of east and we st, thepreface always concludes with a reference to the heavenly liturgy and invites theassemb led congreg at ion to join in the hym n of the heavenly choirs . An d i t wasprecisely the conclusion of the preface which had such a decisive influence upon theiconography of the majestas Domini, which we mentioned at the beginning of ourreflections.22 Compared with the biblical matrix of Isaias 6, the liturgical text of theSanctus shows three new accents .23 First, the scene of the action is no longer theTemple at Jerusalem, as in the case of the prophet, but rather it is heaven, which inth e mysterium ope ns i tse lf tow ard s the ear th . Hen ce it i s no longe r mer ely th eseraphs who cry out, but all the legions of the heavenly hosts, in whose cry to usfrom Chris t (Who uni tes heaven and ear th) the ent i re Church, a l l of redeemedma nki nd, can join in chorus. An d that, finally, is the reason wh y the Sanctus w astranspos esd from the "he" to the "thou " form: Hea ven and ea rth are fil led with Th yglory. The Hosa nna, originally a cry for help, thus becomes a song of praise. He wh oignores the mystery-character and the cosmic nature of this summons to join in thepraise of the heavenly choirs, has already failed to grasp the meaning of the whole.This joining in can take place in different ways, but it always has something to dowi th depu tysh ip . The congregation gathered in one particular locality opens itselfout to the Wh ole. It also represents those absent; i t is unite d w ith those far awa y andthose very near. An d w he n in this congregation a choir exists, which can dr aw thecongregation into the cosmic praise and into the wide open space of heaven andearth more strongly than the congregation's own stammering is able to do thenprecisely in that moment the deput ized, representat ive funct ion of the choir isespecially appro priate and fitt ing. Thro ugh the choir, a greater transparency tow ardthe praise of the angels is rendered possible and therefore a more profound interiorparticipation in the singing, than would be possible in many places through one'sown crying and singing.I suspect , however , that the real reproach cannot consis t in the "acclamatorycharacter" and in the dem and for tutti-singing. That would seem too banal, I think.In the background there surely lurks the fear that a choral Sanctus even more sowhen it is made obligatory to follow with the Benedictus at once precisely at themoment of entering into the canon of the Mass, is regarded as a kind of concert piecewhich produces a break or a pause in the prayer a t the point where i t i s leas tdesirable and thus in suppo rtable. As a matter of fact, if one presup pose s that there isno such thing as deputyship or representation and that i t is not possible to sing andpray inter ior ly while remaining outwardly s i lent then this reproach is qui tejustified. If all those not singing du rin g the Sanctus simply await i ts conclusion, ormerely listen to a religious concert piece, then the choir 's performance is hard tojustify, if not intolerab le. But do es that hav e to be the case? Ha ve w e not forgottensome thing here, which w e urgently need to re-learn? Perha ps it is helpful here torecall that the silent recitation of the canon by the priest did not somehow beginbecause the singing of the Sanctus lasted so long that one had to begin the prayeranyhow , in order to save time. The real succession of events was the exact opposite.Certainly since the Carolingian epoch, but very probably also earlier, the celebrantente red th e sanctua ry of the canon "silently." The canon is the time of pure silence as"wor thy p repara t ion fo r God ' s approach ." 2 4 And then for a time an "office ofaccompanying petitionary prayers, akin to the eastern ektene...(was laid) like an outerveil to cover the silent praying of the canon by the celebrant." 25 And later on it wasthe singing of the choir which (as Jungmann put it) "continues to maintain the olddominant note of the canon, thanksgiving and praise, and unfolds it musically to theCHURCH MUSIC ear of the pa rtic ipa nt ove r the enti re canon ."26 Even though we may not wish to

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restore that state of affairs, it can nonetheless give us a useful hint: Would we not dowell, before moving on into the center of the mysterium, to be gifted with a period ofwell-filled silence in which the choir recollects us interiorly and leads each individualinto silent prayer, and precisely in that way, into a union which can take place onlyon the interior level? Must we not re-learn precisely this silent interior praying alongwith each other and with the angels and saints, the living and the dead, with ChristHimself, so that the words of the canon do not become mere tired formulae whichwe then try in vain to replace by constantly new and different word-montages inwhich we attempt to conceal the absence of any real inner experience of the liturgy,and of any moving beyond human talk into actual contact with the Eternal?

The exclusion alleged by Lengeling and repeated by many others after him, ismean ingl ess. Even after Vatican II, the Sanctus sung by the choir is perfectlyjustified. But what about the Benedictus? The assertion that it may not, under anycircumstance, be separated from the Sanctus, has been put forth with such emphasisand seeming competence, that only a few strong souls were able to oppose it. Butthe assertion cannot be justified, either historically or theologically or liturgically. Ofcourse, it makes good sense to sing both movements together when the compositionmakes this relationship clear, for it is a very ancient one and very well founded. Buthere again what must be rejected is the exclusionary alternative.Both the Sanctus and the Benedictus have their own separate points of departure inholy writ, which is why they developed separately at first. Though we already findthe Sanctus in the First Letter of Clement (34/5 ff.),27 that is, in the age of the apostles,we first find the Benedictus (as far as I can see) in the apostolic constitutions, in otherwords, in the second half of the fourth century, as a cry or acclamation before thedistribution of Holy Communion, in response to the call "Holy things to the holyones!" Since the sixth century, we find the Benedictus again in Gaul. There it hadbeen joined to the Sanctus, as also happened in the oriental tradition.28 While theSanctus developed out of Isaias 6 and then was transferred from the earthly to theheavenly Jerusalem and thus became a song of the Church, the Benedictus is basedupon a New Testament re-reading of Psalm 117 (118) verse 26. In the Old Testamentthis verse is a blessing upon the arrival of the festive procession in the Temple; onPalm Sunday it received a new meaning which admittedly was already preparedfor in the development of Jewish prayer. After all, the expression "He who comes"had become a name for the Messias.29 When on Palm Sunday the young people ofJerusalem shouted out this verse at Jesus, they were greeting Him as the Messias, theKing of the end times who entered into the holy city and the Temple in order to takeposs ess ion of them. The Sanctus is directed to the eternal glory of God; theBenedictus, on the other hand, refers to the coming of the God made flesh in ourmidst. Christ, the One Who has come, is always the One Who is coming, as well!His Eucharistic coming, the anticipation of His "hour," makes Promise becomePresent and brings the Future into our Today. Consequently the Benedictus ismeaningful both as moving toward the Consecration and as an acclamation to theLord become present in the Eucharistic species. The great moment of His coming,the prod igy of His Real Presence in the elements of ear th, expressly call for du eresponse: the elevation, the genuflection, the ringing of bells are all such stammeringattempts to respond.30 Following a parallel in the Byzantine rite, the liturgy reformhas constructed a congregational acclamation: Christ has died...But the question ofother possible cries of greeting to the Lord Who is coming and has come, has nowbeen raised. And for me it is plain that there is no more profoundly appropr iate andno more truly traditional "acclamation" than this one: Blessed is He that cometh inthe name of the Lord. The separation of Sanctus from Benedictus is, of course, notnecessary, but it is extremely meaningful. When Sanctus and Benedictus are sung bythe choir without a break, then the caesura between preface and canon can in factbecome too long, so that it no longer serves to promote that silently participatoryentry into the praise of the whole cosmos because the interior tension cannot be CHURCH MUSIC

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maintained. But when, on the other hand, during a well-filled silence, one onceagain joins in an interior greeting to the lord after the Consecration has taken place,then that corresponds most profoundly to the inner structure of the event. Thepedantically censorious proscription of such a division (which developed organicallyfor good reasons) should be consigned as soon as possible to the scrap heap of merememories.

And finally, a word about the Agnus Dei. At the cathedral of Regensbur it hasbecome customary that after the kiss of peace, the priest and people together recitethe threefold Agnus Dei. And then it is continued by the choir during thedistribution of Holy Communion. It was, of course, objected that the Agnus Deibelongs to the rite of the breaking of the bread, the fractio panis. From this originalfunction as accompaniment for the time it took for the breaking of the bread, only acompletely petrified archaism can conclude that the Agnus Dei may only andexclusively be sung at that point. In actual fact, when the old rites of fractio panisbecame superfluous because of the new small hosts coming into use during the ninthand tenth centuries, the Agnus Dei indeed became a communion song. No less anexpert than the late J. A. Jungmann points our that already in the early middle ages,only on e Agnus Dei was oftentimes sung after the kiss of peace, while the second andthird invocations found their place after communion, thus accompanying thedistribution of Holy Commuion (when it took place).31 And does it not make verygood sense to beseech Christ, the Lamb of God, for mercy at the precise moment inwhich He gives Himself anew as defenseless Lamb into our hands He Who is theLamb, sacrificed but also triumphant, the lamb Who bears the key of history (Apoc5)? And is it not particularly appropria te, at the moment of receiving HolyCommunion, to direct our request for peace to Him, the defenseless One Who, assuch, was victorious? After all, in the ancient Church "peace" was actually one ofthe names used to designate the Eucharist, because It flings open the boundariesbetween heaven and earth, between nations and states, and unites all men in theunity of Christ's Body.

At first glance, the Regensburg tradition and the reform, conciliar and post-conciliar, may seem like two contrary worlds which clash like diametrical opposites.The man who stood between them for three decades has the scars to prove howdifficult were the questions raised. But where this tension can be endured, itgradually becomes clear that all these are but states on one single path. It is onlywhen they are held together and endured, that they are correctly understood, andthen there can unfold and develop a true reform in the spirit of the Second VaticanCouncil reform which is not synonymous with rupture or breach and destruction,but rather purification, cleansing and growth to new maturity and abundance.Thanks are due the cathedral choirmaster who bore this tension: that was not only aservice to Regensburg and its cathedral church, but a service to the whole Church!

JOSEPH CARDINAL RAZINGERNOTES1 On these frescoes, see H. Stampfer-H. Walder, Die Krypten vo n Marienberg im Vinschgau(Bozen 1982).2 Important on the subject of vita angelica is J. Leclercq, Wissenschaft und

Gottverlangen(Diisseldori 1963) 70 and see also Stamper-Walder (note 1) 20.3 Harold Schutzeichel, Wohin soil ich tnich wenden? Zur Situation der Kirchenmusik imdeutschen Sprachraum: Stdz 209 (1991) 36 3/74 .4 Original Italian text in AAS 36 (1904) 329/39; English translation in R. F. Hayburn , PapalLegislation on Sacred Music (Collegeville 1979) 223/31.5 In the introduction to the motu proprio (Hayb urn 224) and in section 11/3 (Hayburn 225)we find explicit mention of the active participation of the faithful as a fundamenta lliturgical principle. G. Romanato , Pio X. La Vita di Papa Sarto (Milano 1992) 179 ff.,213/4, 247/8, 330 describes the prehistory of th e motu proprio in Pope Pius' life. He had

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conducted the student choir in the seminary at Padua and made notes on that task in anotebo ok wh ich he still carried wi th him as patriarch of Venice. As bish op of Mantu a,during his reorganization of the seminary he devoted a great deal of time and energy toth e schola di music (music class). There he also made the acqu aintan ce of Fr. LorenzoPeros i , w ho rema ined closely associa ted with Sarto. From his year s of stu dy inRegensburg, Perosi had received imp ortant influences w hich remained a powerful factordurin g his long career as a church musician. The connect with Perosi continued whe nSarto was promoted to the See of Venice, where in 1895 he published a pastoral letterwhich was based upon a memorandum he had sent in 1893 to the Congregation of Rites a docum ent which anticipated alm ost verbatim the motu proprio of 1903. Text inHayburn 205/31.6 Romanato (note 5) 247 also refers to the judgment of church historian Roger Aubertwho described Pius X as the greatest reformer of intramural church life since the Councilof Trent.7 Schiitzeichel (note 1) 363/6.8 CCC 1069.9 Loc. cit.10 CCC 1097/8.11 See the liturgy constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium 8, as well as the note which follows.12 CC 1090 = Sacrosanctum Concilium 8. The Catechism also notes the fact that the sameidea is expressed in the last paragraph of Lumen gentium, the dogmatic constitution onthe Church, para. 50.13 Ph. Harnoncourt , Gesang und Musik im Gottesdienst in H. Schiitzeichel (ed.), Die Messe.Ein Kirchenmusikalisches Handbuch (Diisseldorf 1991) 9/2 5, here 13.14 Harnoncourt (note 13) 17.15 Schiitzeichel (note 13) 366.16 Harn oncourt (note 13) 23.17 Harnoncourt (note 13) 17.18 On this, see the thorough work of W. Menke, Deputyship. Key Concept of Christian Lifean d Basic Theological Category (Einsiedeln-Freiburg 1991).19 Harn oncourt (note 13) 21.20

EJ. Lengeling, Die neue Ordnung der Eucharistiefeier (Regens burg 1971) 234 and see alsoB. Jeggle-Merz/H. Schiitzeichel, Eucharistie-feier, in H. Schiitzeichel (ed.), Die Messe (note13) 90/151, here 109/10.21 On this see K. Onasch, Kunst und Liturgie der Ostkirche (Wien 1984) 329.22 This is J. A. Jungmann, Missarum sollemnia II (Freiburg 1952) 168 ff.; English one-volume ed. 381-2.23 Jungmann (note 23) 174. English one volume ed. 384.24 Loc. cit. 175/6. English one-volume ed . 385.25 Loc. cit. 172. English one-volume ed. 384.26 See K. Onasch (note 22) 329, Jungmann (note 23) 166; English one-volume ed. 381.Already in Clement (Cor 34) we also find the connection of Jeremias 6 with Daniel 7/10which is presupp osed in the shape of the liturgical Sanctus. It is exactly the same visionwhich we found in the frescoes of Mt. St. Mary: "Let us consider the vast multitude ofHis angels, and see how they stand in readiness..." On the dating of First Clement, seeTh. J. Herron, The dating of the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (Rome 1988), whoattempts to show that First Clement dates from around 70 A.D. and not, as iscustomarily held, around 96 A.D.27 Jungm ann (note 23) 170/1, English one-vo lum e ed. 383 note 5.28 Loc. cit. 171 note 42 and see also R. Pesch, Das Markusevangelium II Freiburg 1977) 1984.29 On this see Jungm ann (note 23) 165, English on e-volum e ed. 363. In this connection itmay be interesting to note that in the 1903 motu proprio of St. Pius X (III/8 = Hayburn226) the pontiff insists that only the prescribed liturgical texts may be sung at HolyMass, with but one exception: "according to the custom of the Roman Church, to sing amotet in honor of the Blessed Sacrament after the Benedictus at High Mass."30 Jungm ann (note 23) 413/22 English one-volume ed. 485/7 .

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Strasburg Cathedral

IN MEMORIAM

IN MEMORIAM: M ONSIGNORFRANCIS P. SCHMITT (1916-1994)Church musicians in general and Roman Catholic church musicians in particularhave lost one of their most dedicated spokesmen. Monsignor Francis Schmitt diedsuddenly at 2:15 A.M., Monday, May 2, 1994, in an Omaha h ospital. Although hehad not been in the best of health, his dea th was a shock to all his friends.Monsignor Schmitt will be remembered by church musicians in the years to comefor two extraordinary accomplishments: as the priest-musician who brought theBoys Town Choir to international fame and as the tireless promoter of the LiturgicalMusic Workshops held an nually at Boys Town, Nebraska, from 1952 until the end ofthe 1960's. It was in these two capacities that he was know n to the general publicand to musicians in so many corners of the globe. But those of us w ho had the honorof knowing him personallyincluding the countless alumni of Boys Townwill

remember him first as an exemplary priest who always had time to discuss aproblem, to answer a question or just to be a friend.He was born on April 14, 1916, in West Point, Nebraska, ten miles from Aloys,where he spent the last seventeen years of his life. He attende d Saint LawrenceCollege in Wisconsin and also earned a teacher's certificate from the University ofNebraska, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1968. After theologicalstudies at Saint Paul Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he was ordianed a priest onMay 31,1941, in the Cathedral of Saint Cecilia in Omaha. His first assignment was asassistant to Monsignor Edward Flanagan, popularly known simply as "FatherFlanagan," the founder of Father Flanagan's Boys' Home, later to become BoysTown. Often "first" as sign me nts last only for a few mon ths or a few yea rs;Monsignor Schm itt's "first" assignm ent lasted for 36 years. Although he was alsolater honored by the Holy Father and could be addressed as "Monsignor," he also18


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was known as "Father" Schmitt, and around Boys' Town "Father" invariably meantFather Schmitt.The bond of friendship and priestly association between Father Flanagan andFather Schmitt was unusua lly strong. Father Schmitt frequently m entioned in lateryears the wonderful ta lks he and Father Flanagan had af ter dinner dur ing thoseyears at Boys Town. They were, as Father Schmitt said, "some of the most p leasan tand formative years of my life." A p p o i n t e d t o Bo y s T o w n to u n d e r t a k e t a s k s p r i m a r i l y a d m i n i s t r a t i v e a n dpastoral , i t was dur ing that very f i rs t summer af ter ordinat ion that both choirdirector and organ ist took their vacatio ns at the same time. Father Flanag an pres sedFather Schmitt into service. Father Schmitt auditioned e very resident and formedseveral choirs. There were beginning choirs, intermed iate choirs and m ore ad vancedgroup s, one which later became the "touring choir."The first concert by the choir took place in 1942. As the groups grew in size, theyalso grew in vocal techn ique, and the repertoire grew quickly. W ithin a few shortyears the Boys Town Choir made increasingly frequent tours, and their concerts "athome" were performed before a s tanding-room only audience in Dowd Memorialchapel and later in the auditorium of the music building.

Father Flanagan died in 1948 and was buried in a tomb in the chapel near thestairs leadin g to the organ loft. Father Schmitt frequently pa use d by the tom b beforegoing up th e stairs. He said nothing: he didn 't need to. His short paus e said it all.Monsignor Nicholas Wegner was appointed to replace Father Flanagan, whoseshoes were hard to f il l. Father Schmit t had the utm ost respect for M onsig norWegner, a wonderful administrator and as director of Boys Town, a great source ofsup por t for Father Schm it t ' s music program . He mad e Father Schmit t ass is tantdirector of Boys Town. By that time there we re num ero us activities for boys w hocou ldn 't sing. An excellent ba nd , priv ate music lesson s, and an excellent musicl ib ra ry enhan ced the p rog ram . La te r on the mus ic bu i ld ing was con s t ruc ted ,providing rehearsal and practice facilities and an excellent auditorium.However important the choir tours , concer ts and radio broadcasts might havebeen, it was the choral music for the Sunday Masses in the chapel that remained No.1 on Father Schm itt's list of "mu sical priorities." People came from far and w ide tohear the Boys Town Choir on Sun day s and feasts. There were telecasts of Christm asmidnight Masses, the Good Friday stations of the cross as well as innumerable localand national radio broadcasts. The choir toured thro ugho ut the U.S.A. and Can ada,made a tour of Cuba and a very important tour of Japan with 46 concerts in sixweeks plus appearances in churches and schools.The annual Liturgical Music Workshops were the invention of Father Schmitt.The ea r l i e s t workshops were des igned p r imar i ly fo r church mus ic ians o f theArchdiocese of Omaha, but the quality of the workshops was so outstanding thatwithin a few years there was an international faculty and students from all over theU.S.A. and C anada. Am ong the faculty one remem bers the names of Flor Peeters,Anton Hei ler , Jean Langlais , Roger Wagner , Paul Salamunovich, Louise Cuyler ,Mo nsignor Richard Schuler, Paul Manz, Dom Ermin Vitry and m any others . Thecom plete list read s like a W ho 's W ho in Liturgical Mu sic. Father Schmitt and F rank"M oe" Szynskie taugh t boy s' choir techn iques. Besides the faculty, there were otherreasons for the success and popularity of the workshops: l)the central location, forBoys Town, situated just outside Omaha, is almost exactly in the center of the UnitedStates, a location far preferable to either of the coasts; 2) the low cost, for FatherSchmitt allocated a certain portion of the profits from the Boys Town Choir tourstowards the expenses of the workshop; and 3) the housing was "on campus," with agreat deal of space available because many of the older boys were on vacation at thetime, either at a farm or a sum me r cam p.

The program for the next year 's workshop was generally well-known in advance,and chu rch musicia ns could plan accordingly. There was a rotation system for some I N MEMORIAM19


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helpless to reverse what had already started. The horse was already out of the barn.The last Liturgical Music Workshop at Boys Town was in 1970. Father Schmitt

said to me "there will be no workshop next year because there is nothing to have aworkshop about." How right he was.

Monsignor Wegner retired in 1973, and the drama of Boys Town took place in1974. Father Schmitt said little about it in public, but I remember all too well anevening he spent in my living room when he discussed the whole matter at greatlength. His parting words that evening were "this is just a bad year." He was right:his mother died in early December, 1974.

From 1975 through most of 1977, Father Schmitt took another sabbatical. He livedin his quarters at Boys Town when he had to, but he spent most of his time travelingand writing a wonderful book, Church Music Transgressed. Frank Szynskie, betterknown as "Moe," succeeded Father Schmitt as director of the Boys Town Choir.They had worked together since Moe arrived at Boys Town in 1941 (shortly beforeFather Schmitt). Moe was a wonderful singer, and eventual ly became FatherSchmitt's right hand-man. In re-reading a number of letters from Faher Schmittbefore going to work on this article, I came across several with references to Moe:"The first and best of my wards;" "my chief cook and bottle washer for most of thepast fifty years." Father Schmitt's old office in the music building at Boys Townalways had two autographed photos where he could see them: one of FatherFlanagan and one of Moe. There were other pictures too, but those two were themost prominent. They were pictures of those closest to him.

Church Music Transgressed was a resume of what Father Schmitt actually heard andsaw between 1975 and 1977, but it is not confined to those years. It is a thin book buta thorough appraisal of church music since the Council of Trent. No good churchmusician shold be without it.

In 1977, Father Schmitt was named pastor of Saint Aloysius Church in Aloys,Nebraka, ten miles west of West Point where he had been raised. Oh, yes. He hadtwo choirs! He had a small adult choir and a children's choir. In 1989, it was agreedbetween Father Schmitt, Frank Szynskie, Father Val Peter (presently the executivedirector of Boys Town) and Ann Labounsky, chair of the department of sacred musicat Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, that the huge and invaluble library of the BoysTown Choir should be given a permanent home at Duquesne. There are over 6,000volumes in the "working library," plus many rare books, some of which belonged toFather Schmitt's mother whose cousin, Father Joseph Pierron, was a pupil of thegreat Dr. Peter Wagner, one of the most import authorities on Gregorian chant.Indeed, it was Father Schmitt who continually proclaimed the great importance ofDr. Wagner's scholarship, and now Dr. Wagner's work is generally recognized as thescholarly work of a real pioneer, more than 60 years after his death.

Father Schmitt took part in the functions at Duquesne after the library had beenmoved there, thanks mainly to Moe and some of the choir boys who did all thesorting and packing.

In his little parishbetween 60 and 70 familiesFather Schmitt was always atwork. He helped out at Saint Mary's Church in West Point and was a member of theCatholic school board.

Father Schmitt rarely spoke about himself. I find a letter, typical of Father'sletters, dating from December, 1990: "I trust that your eye operation was successful.Mine have been pretty good, 'tho I had some muscular degeneration a couple ofyears ago. Hearing not bad either, 'tho after tests I invested in a hearing aid which Iuse only in the confessional, afraid some chap might come in and say that he hadkilled someone and I would tell him to keep up the good work. Last week, I tried toback out of the garage without opening the door, and that, I fear, is not a physicalproblem." His humor was legendary in his own time.

In 1991, Father observed the 50th anniversary of his ordination. I told him Iwould write something for the occasion but he would have to choose the text and tell IN MEMORIAM

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Each of us, I think, has an instant mental picture when we think of someone wehave loved and admired. My mental picture of Father Schmitt has been and willalways be this: back in 1961,1 was at Boys Town for the Liturgical Music Workshopand stopped to make a short visit in the chapel. As I left I noticed that Father Schmitthad come in while I was there. Leaving, he said, "I'll give you a ride." We left thechapel and across the road, standing on the grass was a very tiny black boy. Hecouldn't have been even three feet tall. He was crying his eyes out. Father Schmittsaid, "I had better see what's going on; he's new here." He went over and kneltdown on the grass beside the little boy. After talking for a few minutes FatherSchmitt took out a handkerchief and wiped way the little boy's tears. Then Fatherstood up and took him by the hand and they walked down the road to somebuilding. When Father returned he said, "neither you nor I will ever experience thetroubles that have been that boy's lot in life, and that's why Father Flanagan startedthis business."

Father Schmitt frequently ended a letter or note with "1,000 good wishes." So wecan say "1,000 thanks, Father, for you have taught us so many things.Father Schmitt's survivors include an older brother, William, of West Point, aniece, Kathy Means of Omaha, his huge Boys Town family, led by Moe and his wife

Adelaide, and a family of friends all over the world. He was preceded in death byhis parents Mathias and Magdalene Schmitt, his brother Leo (long bed-ridden as aresult of an accident), a sister, Mrs. Frances Schrum, and finally his beloved sister,Beata Schmitt, who had cared for her parents, her brother Leo and her sister Frances.Father Schmitt was deeply attached to Beata, who died December 26, 1993, onlymonths before his own death.

A memorial scholarship has been established. Contributions may be sent to theMonsignor Schmitt Boys Town Alumni Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 2, Boys Town, NE68010. It provides scholarship funds for seniors graduating each year from BoysTown.

I suggest also that one write to The Seabury Press, 815 Second Avenue, New York,NY 10017, requesting that Church Music Transgressed be put back into print.

May the Good Lord Whom Monsignor Schmitt served so unselfishly throughouthis entire life grant him eternal rest. The Lord giveth; the Lord taketh away: Blessedbe the Name of the Lord.

ALLEN HOBBS

IN MEMORIAM23


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Parish church, Ebersbach, Bavaria

RENOVATING

RENOVATING A CH URCH EVENW ITHO UT A N ALTAR FACING THE PEOPLE(This article, translated from German by Father Robert A. Skeris, first appeared inUna Voce Korrespondez (Vol. 24, No. 4, July/August 1994. p. 245-8).

It is no secret that there are very problematic aspects involved in having "twoaltars" such as are found in not a few churches as a result of introducing "altarsfacing the peo ple." The Vatican Co ngreg ation for Divine Worsh ip has forcefullyrejected this "d uplica tion of altars." The topical significance of that Vatican directivewas recently il lustrated in a striking manner in the Diocese of Augsburg (BavarianSwabia in southern Germany).The magnificent parish church of Saint Ulrich in Obergiinzburg-Ebersbach, inwhich for abo ut four years there had b een no altar facing the peo ple, was completelyrenovated in an operation wh ich took more than three years. Eighty percent of thecosts (which totalled 1.7 million German marks) was paid by the diocesan treasury,whi le the ba lance was made up by c iv i l government subven t ions and p r iva tecontributions. An important factor in the ultimate success of the project was the 1500hours of voluntary unpaid labor performed by parishioners.

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Anyo ne wh o migh t have expected that in the course of this renovation a "mo dernaltar solution " had been found, was disappo inted . The pastor, Fr. Erwin Reichart,explains in the commemorative booklet published to mark the completion of therestoration:In agreement with the Office of Historical Monuments and the diocesan building

commission we have deliberately decided to forego any expensive so-called altarsolutio n. Decisive for us were two groups of facts. Firstly, these mo dernsupplementary altars disturb the spatial harmony in practically every older church; inour v illage the faithful in the balconies can in most cases see only the high altaradequately and clearly; a wonderful high altar with its tabernacle and a mensaconsecrated more than 500 years ago should not become a mere dead and silentbackdrop. Secondly, in constant and complete harmony with the council, a number oftheological reasons guarantee to the celebration of Mass at the high altar its fullyjustified position. Not long ago, the prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of theFaith in Rome, Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote that in the liturgy "the priest and the faithfultogether proceed tow ards the Lord. Thus this orientation for prayer expresses thetheocentric character of the liturgy; it is the fulfillment of the call to prayer: Let us turnto the Lord! This call is directed to each one of us; above and beyond its liturgicalsignificance, it shows u s what the direction of the whole Church's life and action mustbe, in order that she fulfill the Lord's commission."1

And in his letter of congratulation, Auxiliary Bishop Max Ziegelbauer wrote that"we sh ould Took unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith' (Heb. 12:1 f.). Withthis view of the w orld's Redeemer, Who goes before us and Who show s us the Father(John 14:8), there corresponds perfectly the (now as always) licit and completelyappropriate position of the altar ad Dominum, toward and with the Lord."2In response to the newspaper report, which also quoted the pastor's words fromthe commemorative booklet, fellow priests immediately sent letters of protest to thediocesan paper. Fr. Gerhard Kogel, pastor in Gablingen, asked, "What good is thebetter v isibility of the high altar if the faithful in any even t cannot see the gifts ofbread and wine, but only the celebrant's back?" Fr. Peter Guggenberger, pastor inImmenstadt-Stein, criticized the diocesan building commission: "after all, it is thecommission's task to find a good solution for a new altar in a renovated church, andnot simply to leave untouched the status quo ante, i.e., the pre-conciliar arrangem ent,"and (he continued) the papal instruction of 1964 specifically states that the altarshould be "freestanding, to permit walking around it and celebration facing thepeople." Fr. Martin M aurer, pastor at Manching, even speaks of a "leftist m anoeuvreby righ t-w ing ers" ( let ter to the editor, 2/3 April 1994): "here Catholicbroadm indedness, openness and diversity" are being propagated by the very peoplewho otherwise placed partisans of such virtues und er suspicion of heresy. And onewoman (whose methods and purposes have been well-known for years to fellowparishioners, as parish council president and church trustees pointed out in theirreponse) accuses the pastor of Ebersbach, whom she says is well-known "as anoppo nent of the council," of wishing only "to realize his own pre-conciliar ideas."But a good number of other voices were also raised to give good reasons forretaining the high altar without an altar facing the peop le. In a letter to the editorwhich the diocesan pa per pu blished in abridged form on 5/6 March 1994, Fr.Reichart himself defined his own position in the discussion:

If a letter to the editor from a priest colleague creates the impression that churcheswithout an altar facing the people are not in step with the council, then that totallyfalse impress ion is in urgen t need of correction. It is a wid espre ad fairy tale that thecouncil recom men ded o r even prescribed altars facing the people. The text cited bythe author of the letter in fact speaks in general about the arrangement of new altarsand in no way abou t an altar facing the people not even to men tion the idea that a RENOVATING

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second altar should be built into existing churches. (Quite the contrary: theCongregation for Divine Worship has in fact expressly forbidden such "secondaltars," as is well known!) And the instruction of Paul VI is no real argument, for itdeals with the construction of new altarswhich was not the case with us. But evenat new altars there is no obligation to celebrate Mass facing the peopleas that veryinstruction makes abundantly clear. And the post-conciliar liturgy reform nowhereprescribes altars facing the people. The Church very deliberately did not do thisbecause the common orientation at prayer, of priest and people facing the Easttowards the Lordis a thoroughly meaningful and very ancient tradition which datesback to the very beginnings of the Church. That is why even in the rubrics of the newmissal it is taken for granted that there is definite leeway for celebrating Mass at thehigh altar. In his letter of greeting for our booklet, and in his sermon at the conclusionof the church renovation, H. E. Bishop Ziegelbauer also described our foregoing analtar facing the people as quite in conformity with the Church. In his private chapel atCastelgandolfo, the pope himself celebrates Holy Mass facing the Lord, asphotographs in the diocesan paper clearly show. Hence no criticism can be leveled atthe diocesan building commission and the diocesan treasury, but they should ratherbe thanked for displaying genuine Catholic "universality" instead of ideologicalnarrowmindedness.

Monsignor Walter Brandmiilller, professor at the University of Augsburg, wroteon 23/4 April:

When a zealous, loyal and well-respected pastor like Fr. Erwin Reichart isbaselessly branded as an opponent of the council, i.e., as an opponent of the Church'steaching authority, then that is not just an absurdityit is a calumny. And when theword "pre-conciliar" is used as meaning "false, out-of-date, old-fashioned," then bydoing so one disqualifies the entire tradition of ecclesiastical faith up to the year 1965.That is just as absurd as the reproach just mentionedand moreover, it istheologically untenable."

The lessons which can be learned from this episode are many, and surely of greatpotential benefit to clergy and layfolk as well. To such fruitful medi tation, all areinvited.

NOTES'Cf. Der Fels 7/8 (1993), p.218..2A detailed report on the church and its renovation by the editor-in-chief, Anton Fuchs,appeared in the diocesan paper Sonntagszeitung, special edition of 08/09, January 1994.

RENOVATING26


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AN INTERVIEW WITHMONSIGNOR SCHULER(These questions in German were submitted by Dr. Michael Tunger , editor of

Sinfonia Sacra, a church music journal published in Regens burg in Bavaria. Thein terv iew was f i rs t pub l ished in the Germ an rev iew and is p r in ted here wi thpermission.)Q . M o n s ig n o r , t h e q u a r t e r ly j o u r n a l , Sacred Music s t an d s i n t h e t r ad i t i o n o f t h ep e r i o d i c a l s , Caecilia a n d The Catholic Choirmaster. W h e r e d o e s t h e m a i n t h r u s t o f

y o u r wo r k l i e ?A . Yes, o u r q u a r t e r ly j o u r n a l , Sacred Music, i s a co n t in u a t io n o f two p u b l i ca t io n s ,

Caecilia a n d The Catholic Choirmaster. B e f o re 1 9 6 4, t h e r e w e r e t w o c h u r c h m u s i co r g a n i z a t i o n s i n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s : t h e A m e r i c a n S o c i e t y of S t . C e c i l i a w i t h i t sj o u r n a l , Caecilia, an d th e So c ie ty of S t . Gr eg o r y o f Am er i c a w i th i t s j o u r n a l , Th eCatholic Choirmaster. T h e C a e c i l i a n s o c i e t y w a s f i rs t e s t a b l i s h e d i n M i l w a u k e e ,W i s c o n s i n , b y G e r m a n a n d S w i s s im m i g r a n t s w h o b r o u g h t t h e R e g e n s b u r g r e f o rm st o S a i n t F r a n c i s S e m i n a r y w h e r e J o h n S i n g e n b e r g e r w a s p r o f e s s o r of m u s i c . H es t a r t e d a p u b l i c a t i o n c a l l e d Caecilia i n 1 8 74 , i n t h e G e r m a n l a n g u a g e , w h i c h w a sw i d e l y c i rc u l a t e d t h r o u g h o u t t h e M i d w e s t w h e r e t h e r e w a s a c o n c e n t r a t i o n ofGe r m a n - sp eak in g C a th o l i c s . T h e S t. Gr eg o r y So c iety b eg an in 1 91 2 an d w as l a r g e lyco n c en t r a t ed a lo n g th e A t l an t i c seab o a r d ; i t w as n o t co n c e r n ed so m u c h w i th t h eGer m an t r ad i t i o n o f t h e Caec i l i an r e f o r m s b u t r a th e r was in t e r e s t ed in t h e n ewlyp r o m u l g a t e d motu proprio o f P o p e P i u s X a n d t h e r e v i v a l of G r e g o r i a n c h a n t ,e sp ec i a l l y acco r d in g to t h e So le sm es in t e r p r e t a t i o n .

Wi th th e p u b l i ca t io n o f t h e n ew ch an t b o o k s in t h e Va t i can E d i t i o n , t h e Caec i l i anin f lu en ce , so c lo se ly a s so c i a t ed w i th t h e Pu s t e t ch an t p u b l i ca t io n s , b eg an to d ec l in ein the U.S.A. Caecilia c o n t i n u e d p u b l i c a t i o n , a n d t o d a y t h e v o l u m e n u m b e r i n g o fSacred Music i s a c o n t i n u a t i o n o f Caecilia. W e a r e i n V o l u m e 1 2 2 . The CatholicChoirmaster c e a s e d p u b l i c a t i o n w h e n t h e C h u r c h M u s i c A s s o c i a t i o n of A m e r i c a( CM AA) was o r g an ized b y co m b in in g th e two p r ev io u s g r o u p s in 1 9 6 4 .

L i t tl e o r n o th in g o f t h e o r ig in a l Caec i l i an m o v em en t r em a in s i n t h i s co u n t r y . Fewp eo p le h av e ev en h ea r d o f i t , an d th e ex t en s iv e Caec i l i a r ep e r to r y , w id e ly u sed u punt i l the II Vat ican Coun ci l , has d isa pp ear ed . The St. Gr ego ry Socie ty ' s e f for ts fo rG r e g o r i a n c h a n t , e s p e c i a l l y t h r o u g h t h e P i u s X S c h o o l of L i t u r g i c a l M u s i c , h a v el ik ewise d i ed w i th t h e ab an d o n in g o f L a t in , ch o i r s an d ch an t .

T h u s , t h e m a i n t h r u s t of t h e e ff o r ts o f t h e C h u r c h M u s i c A s s o c i a t i o n i s t oim p lem en t t h e d i r ec t iv e s o f t h e co u n c i l an d th e Ro m an in s t r u c t io n s t h a t f o l lo wed .W e r e c o g n i z e a n d p r o m o t e t h e p r i m a c y o f G r e g o r i a n c h a n t . W e a f fi rm t h e b a s i cch a r ac t e r i s t i c s o f m u s ic f or t h e ch u r ch : h o l in e s s an d a r t . O u r e f fo r ts h a v e l a r g e lycon cen tra te d on the journa l . Bec ause of the s ize o f th is coun try an d the g rea t cos ts o ft r av e l an d lo d g in g , i n r ecen t y ea r s t h e r e h av e n o t b een n a t io n a l o r ev en r eg io n a lm e e t i n g s a s w a s fo r m e r l y t h e c u s t o m . A r e c e n t d e v e l o p m e n t , h o w e v e r , is t h es y m p o s i u m o r g a n i z e d a t C h r i s t e n d o m C o l l e g e i n V i r g i n ia f or a w e e k - l o n g s t u d yse ss io n to wh ich ab o u t o n e h u n d r ed p r ac t i c in g m u s ic i an s h av e co m e . Un f o r tu n a t e ly ,t h e r e f o r m a n d r e v i v a l o f m u s i c i n t h e l i t u r g y w i l l n o t b e a c h i e v e d b y e i t h e r aq u a r t e r ly j o u r n a l o r a sy m p o s iu m . I t r eq u i r e s a m a ss ed u c a t io n a l en d eav o r of b o thc l e r g y an d l a i t y , b eg in n in g in t h e sch o o l s a s was d o n e in t h e ea r l i e r y ea r s o f t h i scen tu r y .

Q . T o w h a t e x t e n t d o y o u p e r c e i v e y o u r s e l f p l e d g e d t o t h e c o n t e n t s o f t h eCaec i l i an r e f o r m ?

A. In a sen se I am p led ge d to the Caeci l ian re fo rm an d i t s ph i lo so ph y of chu rchm us ic, bu t on ly inso far as i t clear ly lays ou t the pri nc ipl es of ar t an d bea uty . Th os e INTERVIEW27


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in language, customs, music and art. We do not have a true Volksmusik, except whatthe Germans or the Irish or the Swedes may have brought with them and preserved.One must also remember that religiously the United States has some 400 sects. Whatwas once predominantly Protestant has broken up into many groups, and while theCatholic Church today numbers over 50 million members, there is no commondenominator in origins or traditions.You asked about inculturation. The whole country is an example of inculturationrepeated over and over. Will there ever be a truly American culture in the deepmeaning of that word? Who knows? What will happen to the influences of theEuropean immigrants of the 19th century? What will the Asians contribute? Whatmore has the Black race to give? Yes, I am "European." My forefathers came fromTirol in Austria. I have kept what they gave me, but I live in a country that has manydifferent cultural expressions, even though one's formal education is still essentiallyEuropean. In the State of Minnesota, which is largely populated by people fromGerman and Scandinavian lands, the culture is very much European in music andart. Perhaps a better term is "Western."

Inculturation in African and Asian lands is different. I am not an expert in suchmatters, but with the enormous growth of new communication technology whichwill make the world shrink even more, the sharing of cultural differences will comewith even greater speed. Whether what is sent around the world will be for themoral and intellectual good of all nations remains to be seen. Much evil can result,destroying not only local cultures, but introducing the evils to all parts of the worldfrom the highly-developed lands that have the affluence to send their cultures to therest of the world. What the next five years will produce in communicationstechnology will be staggering. Let us hope it will be for the good of the human race,not for its moral corruption.

Q. In Volume 120, No. 1 of your journal, Sacred Music, in an editorial entitled"They're Wrong!" you deplored the influence of the piccolomini in church music. Youlamented the lack of musical and theological training in persons who have caused adisaster in church music by opposing the very orders of the Church. To what extentdid the ecclesiastical institutions themselves take part in this destruction, and wheredo they stand in any beginnings to repair the ruin?

A. The Italian word piccolomini is the term I chose to describe those who havetaken over the musical and liturgical leadership in this country. I call them "the littlepeople" because they lack formal professional training and experience. Ignorance ofthe fundamentals of music and liturgy is their characteristic. Their fruits have shownwhat they are.

In the United States, preceding the Vatican Council, progress was being made inthe education of church musicians, both those functioning in churches and those inseminaries preparing the clergy. More and more laymen and clerics were acquiringadvanced degrees, and the study of liturgical music was taken seriously even by thebishops. Some compositions appeared, and import of European music grew.Performing groups improved and money was available for professional conductorsand instrumentalis ts. A sense of the history of music and a knowledge of theliturgical year resulted in many centers of good liturgical music. But then came thepropaganda falsely attributed to the directives of the council, and the destruction of ahalf-century of progress began. Latin was said to be forbidden; choirs weredisbanded; publishers ceased to accept choral music for Latin texts; the guitar andpiano replaced the pipe organ. Competent and trained musicians were not wanted,and since they could hardly exercise their art, they resigned from position in theChurch. Into those places, the piccolomini advanced with their secular ideas and thepropaganda about what the council expected of church musicians. Publishers madegreat profit from the new vernacular music as composers with little or nocompetency produced music for congregational use. Parochial and diocesan INTERVIEW

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directors of the "reforms" were themselves often without formal schooling in eithermu sic or liturgy. The period of expe rim enta tion bro ugh t forth an atti tud e of laxityand even disobedience toward rubrics and Roman direct ives . With the piccolomini inpositions of power, they had a "field-day."M o s t A m e r i c a n s c o m e i n t o t o u c h w i t h t h e C h u r c h c h i e fl y t h r o u g h t h e i ratte nda nce at Sun day Mas s. He re they were taug ht a false idea of w ha t the councilwa nted in l i turgical changes. Wh at was in troduced as the "wil l of the Ch urch" wa sra the r the op in io n of l i tu rg is t s . Au thor i ty was used to imp ose p rac t ices to ta l lycontr ary to the conciliar an d post-conciliar doc um ent s. Ignor ance of the tru th an deven some bad will abolished Latin, choirs, chant and the Missa Romana cantata.I t was a se l f -des t ruc t ion , much o f which was b rough t abou t by c le r ic s andinstitu tions of the Churc h, especially the sem inarie s. After 25 year s, som e ho pe iseme rging that a t rue renewal wil l be achieved . The you th, and especial ly y ou ngsem inari ans an d priests, are discov ering the true texts of the council. An interest inLa t in , cha n t an d g rea t mu s ic i s su r fac ing . Ed uca t ion in the he r i tag e tha t thepiccolomini have deprived them of is being sought , and as soon as the youth can takeover the teaching positions, the diocesan liturgy and music offices, then the processof education wil l gradually result in a reparat ion of the ruins that were cause by the"little people."

Q. The Ge rm an philosop her , Josef Pieper, confirms the analysis that you haveoften made in Sacred Music. W hen he cam e to No rth Am erica in 1968, he foun dhardly anything of the exemplary Catholicism which had existed a few years earlier.The Bened ic t ine monas te r ies e spec ia l ly had changed no tab ly in the i r l i tu rg ica lpractices. Pi

sacred music, 122.2, summer 1995; the journal of the church music association of america

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