On Friday March 1st, the Rector and Vice Chair of Jesus Guild participated in Choral Vespers (also known as ‘Evensong’) according to the Use of Sarum in the Chapel of Princeton University. 1,000 people filled the Nave to witness a truly historic evening.

The setting was magnificent, and the music provided by Gabriel Crouch’s Gallicantus group, and Clara Gerdes, organist, was almost faultless. It included both polphony and (Sarum) chant, with the psalms inventively decorated with fauxbourdon harmony.

The service was organized by Peter Carter and James Griffin of the Catholic Sacred Music Project, and co-sponsored by the Benedict XVI Institute, Durandus Institute, Scala Foundation and our friends at the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny.

Princeton’s chapel has the proportions of a medieval cathedral. Designed and built by Ralph Adams Cram and completed in 1928, it takes its cues from both collegiate architecture (notably, King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, and Magdalen College in Oxford) and also from the great English cathedrals of the Fourteenth Century (the bay elevation is derived from Exeter, for example) yet the Princeton vault is higher than most of them. Such a distinctly English atmosphere was the perfect liturgical space for Sarum Vespers.

Georgetown Oratory also contributed in a very concrete way to the Liturgy - the Celebrant, Fr. Armando Alejandro Jr. used one of our (antique, French) cloth-of-gold copes, with the Pelican in her Piety embroidered in metal thread on the hood. We can all agree it looked magnificent in the building.

But didn’t Sarum die out at the Reformation? In any event, didn’t the Roman Missal of 1570 exclude all other forms? The answer to both questions is: ‘no.’ It is a point of fact that Mass continued to be celebrated in England and Ireland, even after it was officially prohibited by law. And whilst, due to the influence of the Jesuits on the Counter-Reformation priests, most of them hastily adopted the Roman Missal of 1570 once it was available, it is simply inconceivable that everybody had ready access to a book officially outlawed for divine service. Priests visiting recusant houses would simply have had to make do with what they had, and what they had was Sarum.

As for the legislation of 1570 ‘outlawing’ Sarum, the precise opposite is true: Quo primum specifically preserved uses that have a pedigree over 200 years and prevented the introduction of the Roman Missal except by consent. The problem with law is that it is often interpreted more strictly than the text itself permits. In short, wherever Sarum was permissible in 1570, it is still permissible today, and any opinion to the contrary is against the plain wording of Quo primum.

So would Sarum apply to the United States? Well, before the Reformation, Sarum had risen to pre-eminence across the whole Realm of England. During the reign of Mary I, (1553 - 1558) it was adopted by the reforming legate, Cardinal Pole, for all of the Queen’s dominions, wherever they may be, and none of the penal legislation of Elizabeth I changed that. This means that in the Roanoke Colony in 1585, the Virginia Colony in 1609, or even Plymouth in 1620, had there been a priest among the party, he would have been peacefully within his rights to use either Sarum or the Roman Missal. Furthermore, none of the legislation concerning the Roman Missal, then in 1570 - or now - affects Sarum in any way.

But what of Maryland, you ask? It is true that Fr. Andrew White SJ arrived in 1633 and celebrated Mass on (what became) St. Clement’s Island. He used the Roman Missal, as Jesuits did. But he would have been entitled to use the Sarum Missal, had he chosen to do so, because the competent ecclesiastical authority in Maryland, as in the whole of the English Colonies was not the Society of Jesus, nor Propaganda Fide. It was, instead, the Apostolic Vicariate of England, the successor to a Catholic hierarchy eviscerated by Elizabeth, and extinguished at the deaths of Thomas Watson of Lincoln (held prisoner in Wisbech Castle) in 1584 and Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph, in Rome in 1585. This ecclesiological link is confirmed by the fact that even after the Revolutionary War, the Catholic Church in the new United States was still under the control of the Vicar Apostolic in London. The American Church truly is the daughter of the English Church, with all her rights and privileges.

You can view the whole service here, because it was professionally recorded by Allison and John Girone of G Photography and Films (see their website here: www.gphotographyandfilms.com) who very graciously permitted us to use their photographs in this article.

Goldfinches in Flight!

The countless varieties of birds that God created to fill the heavens never cease to delight us.  In this sacred time of Lent we turned our focus to one in particular, the European Goldfinch, for this week’s art project, and the beautiful legend that surrounds it.

The story of this thistle loving bird is that it tried to comfort Our Lord by removing a thorn from His crown of thorns at the Crucifixion, and in so doing its feathers got stained with His Precious Blood, hence its red face.

Extremely popular in the Italian Renaissance as a symbol of both crucifixion and resurrection, it is said that the European Goldfinch can be found in no less than 486 religious paintings and images.

There are many depictions of Our Lady with the Child Jesus holding a goldfinch, or being handed a goldfinch, including one called Madonna of the Goldfinch by Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, popularly known as Raphael, in c. 1505. 

In this painting a young John the Baptist is handing the Child Jesus a goldfinch as he leans upon his mother Mary, his foot resting upon hers.  It is a potent symbol and foretelling of the crucifixion. This painting can be seen at the Uffizi in Florence.

The popularity of this little songbird continued through the centuries and inspired Antonio Vivaldi in 1729 to compose his “Goldfinch” Concerto, “Il Gardellino”, in which the flute is used to represent the silvery trills of the goldfinch (Flute Concerto Op. 10 No. 3 in D major RV 428).  The goldfinch again makes an appearance in 1816 in the poetry of John Keats’ “I stood tip-toe upon a little hill”.

In class we looked at a few of the Renaissance paintings as well a French statue of Our Lady holding a goldfinch for the Christ Child to touch which resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in the Medieval Gallery. 

We also looked at pictures of real European goldfinches, whose coloring is very different than that of an American goldfinch, as well as pictures of thistles in bloom.  We then began our drawings with the faces of the European goldfinch which is quite complicated. 

The children very patiently worked one step at a time so as to capture the face accurately.  From there they moved on to the rest of the body and then the thistles.  Watercolors turned out to be the best medium to capture this vibrant multicolored and patterned bird in the time constraints we have in class.  The most fun part was the freedom with which they painted the blooms of their thistles, especially after the intense focus of the bird’s face and body.

Our collage Holy Card this week was from Psalm 50:

Patricktide came early this year…

On Sunday March 10th (which was Laetare Sunday) Jesus Guild celebrated an early St. Patrick’s Day. With the preponderance of Celtic patrons at this time of year, perhaps it’s appropriate for Patrick to slide into the whole of March after all.

At Mass the Rector remarked the Introit for Laetare Sunday almost compelled us to have a party: Laetare Ierusalem et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam. Which could defensibly be translated: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and throw a party all you who love her.” So, throw a party we did.

Pryor-Hubbard Hall resounded to our good friend, Jesse Ofgang playing a range of bagpipes with incredible skill and great beauty. Jesse gave us a lively commentary, explaining the different instruments and the influences on him, particularly concerning pieces he himself had written.

Our extended Oratory family includes some very talented folk, none least the the fantastic Herrmanns, of whom, Chloe (now Quigley) and her brother Jared amazed us with truly captivating dancing. How those high kicks are possible is a question us non-Irish will never know! But it was truly thrilling to watch: thank you Chloe and Jared!

Thanks also to our amazing hospitality team, who put together a true Hibernian spread of Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes or Shepherd’s Pie with a tossed salad (even if we’re Irish, we’re Italian) followed by a range of sweet treats. Fr. Rector, it is told, sequestered the pot of gold cake however…