Real Men Wear Pink--Err, Rose--Or Salmon(?)!

During our 2006 visit to Paris, I went to the Titien (or Titian) exhibition at the Musee du Luxembourg, the gallery of the French Senat. It was a great event in Paris and I appreciated the quality of the selection. I've enjoyed attending exhibitions at the Grand Palais and the Luxembourg gallery--the organizational plans of the paintings, sculptures and artifacts have been brilliant and I've found myself mostly among Parisians. They are completely attentive viewers of each object, reading the descriptions and observing the details minutely. Perhaps the Marie Antoinette exhibition at the Grand Palais in 2008 was the best of all in its concept and presentation, although I also thrilled at both the thesis and the content of the France 1500 (between the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment) exhibition there in 2010. My husband went with me last year to the Josephine exhibition at the Musee du Luxembourg.

One painting that caught my eye was the Portrait de Gian Girolamo Grumelli dit “le Chevalier en rose”, 1561 by Giovan Battista Moroni. It is now included in an exhibition of Moroni's portraits at the Royal Academy in London. Piers Baker-Bates reviews the exhibition for History Today:

Moroni excelled above all as a portrait painter and the psychologically acute works on display at the Royal Academy should cement his reputation, although, arguably, the few religious works shown here are qualitatively on a par with the portraits. The exhibition takes us chronologically through Moroni’s career and illustrates clearly how his artistic trajectory developed. Particular attention has been paid to the background and hang, which superbly set off the paintings displayed. 

He mentions le Chevalier en rose:

For example, take the portrait of Giovanni Gerolamo Grumelli, the so-called Man in Pink (pictured above). Grumelli’s salmon pink, elaborately trimmed, costume dominates the room in which his portrait hangs. At the same time the cryptic motto of the sitter in the bottom right corner of the painting is not written in his native Italian, but in Spanish: Mas el çaguero que el primero (‘Better the latter than the former’). It is the dramatic realism of such portraits that struck the Victorians and that still impresses us today, as does Moroni’s ability to depict fabrics and textures.

What I noticed in 2006 was the pink in his cheeks and over his ear and his gaze at the viewer. The broken torso, fallen from the statue in the ruined niche and vine growing INSIDE--for all his personal grandeur, Gian Girolamo Grumelli has to face some facts--things are crumbling around him.

Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England, RIP

Katherine of Aragon died on January 7, 1536 at Kimbolton Castle. Her last wishes for her resting place could not be fulfilled, according to this blog, quoting her friend and supporter Eustace Chapuys, ambassador of her nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V:

On these points Cromwell replied to one of my servants, that as to the burial, it could not be done where she had desired, for there remained no convent of Observants in England; but as to the rest, everything would be done as regards the Princess and the servants as honourably and magnificently as I could demand. Next day I sent my man to the Court to Cromwell, to ascertain the whole will of the King on the subject. [...] At the end he spoke to him more coolly than he had done the day before, adding the condition that the King wished first to see what the robes and furs were like, and that if the Princess wished to have what had been given her she must first show herself obedient to her father, and that I ought to urge her to be so.
[...]

As to the burial, the King said the same as Cromwell, that the bequest of her robes to the Church was superfluous, considering the great abundance of ecclesiastical vestments in England, and that although the Queen's will was not accomplished in this respect, something would be done in the abbey where she should be interred that would be more notable and worthy of her memory; that the abbey intended for her was one of the most honorable in all England. It is 17 miles from where she lived, and is called Pittesbery (Peterborough). As to the servants, it concerned nobody so much as himself to requife their services, as he had appointed them to her service. As to the Princess, it depended only on herself that she should have not merely all that her mother left her, but all that she could ask, provided she would be an obedient daughter.

Henry VIII further ordered that her funeral would honor her as the dowager Princess of Wales, thus denying again that she had ever been his wife or the queen (even though she had been mostly certainly crowned and anointed).

More about her death here.

Peterborough Cathedral will host its annual Katherine of Aragon festival at the end of January, featuring a performance of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610. Sadly, no Catholic Mass will be offered this year, unlike at past festivals.

Sing we Yule til (Almost) Candlemas

We have put the lighted nativity of Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph back in storage (it's minimalist--no shepherds, Wise Men, angels, or barn animals), but are leaving our (artificial) Christmas Tree, lights, and other garland up until the end of January. Candlemas this year is on Monday (February 2) and the pre-Lenten Septuagesima season begins on Sunday, February 1, so it seems appropriate to take them all down on Saturday, January 31. Doesn't seem right to have the Christmas Tree and other decorations up when we are preparing for Lent! The lights of the tree are so festive during the usually cold and overcast days and early nights of January so we look forward to their glowing light in our living room.

As during the Advent and Christmas seasons, the commercial world is already preparing for St. Valentine's Day and Easter with candy and cards in the stores. With the Epiphany Season, as Blessed John Henry Newman reminded us, we are still celebrating the Incarnation and worshiping the newborn baby Jesus! This fifteenth century English Christmas carol modernized by William Henry Husk has an appropriate refrain:

Make we mirth
For Christ His Birth
And sing we Yule till Candlemas.

1. The first day of Yule we have in mind
How man was born all of our kind,
For He would the bonds unbind
    Of all our sin and wickedness.

2. The second day we sing of Stephen
That stoned was, and said up even
With Christ there he would stand in heaven,
    And crowned was for his prowess.

3. The third day 'longs to St. John,
That was Christ's darling, dearest one,
To whom He took, when He should gone,
    His dear mother for his cleanness.

4. The fourth day of the Children young
With Herod's wrath to death were throng,
Of Christ they cold not speak with tongue,
    But with their blood bare witness.

5. The fifth day hallowed St. Thomas,
Right as strong as pillar of brass,
Held up his church and slain was,
    For he stood fast in righteousness.

6. The eighty day took Jesu His name,
That saved mankind from sin and shame,
And circumcised was for no blame,
    But for example of meekness.

7. The twelfth day offered to Him Kings three,
Gold, myrrh, incense, these gifts free,
For God and man and king is He,
    And thus they worshipped his worthiness.

8. The fortieth day came Mary mild

Unto the Temple with her child,

To shew her clean that never was 'filed,

    And herewith ends Christmas.

One way to continue this celebration is suggested by the blogger at Silverstream Priory in Ireland: using the Rosary to meditate on the mysteries of Epiphany:

The Five Mysteries of the Epiphany correspond to the five great Epiphany Gospels given us by the Church (in the traditional calendar and Liturgy) on the day of the Epiphany, 6 January; on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, 13 January; and on the Second, Third, and Fourth Sundays after Epiphany. Each of these Gospels presents a particular manifestation of the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Matthew 2:1-12, Our Lord makes himself known to the Magi by means of a star, and receives their adoration in Bethlehem.

And behold the star which they had seen in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him. (Mt 2:9-11)

2. John 1:29-34 — At His Baptism in the Jordan by John, the Holy Ghost descends in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Father reveals Jesus as His Beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased.

Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also being baptized and praying, heaven was opened; And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, as a dove upon him; and a voice came from heaven: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (Lk 3:21-22)

3. John 2:1-11 — At the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, Jesus, at His Mother’s bidding, changes water into wine.

And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come. His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. (Jn 2:3-5)

4. Matthew 8:1-13 — Jesus, with a word, cleanses a leper.

And behold a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus stretching forth his hand, touched him, saying: I will, be thou made clean. And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed. (Mt 8:2-3)

5. Matthew 8:23-27 — Jesus calms the raging sea.

And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep. And they came to him, and awaked him, saying: Lord, save us, we perish. And Jesus saith to them: Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm. (Mt 8:24-25)

Happy Epiphany SEASON

The verse for this Parochial and Plain sermon is, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him." John ii. 11.--

THE Epiphany is a season especially set apart for adoring the glory of Christ. The word may be taken to mean the manifestation of His glory, and leads us to the contemplation of Him as a King upon His throne in the midst of His court, with His servants around Him, and His guards in attendance. At Christmas we commemorate His grace; and in Lent His temptation; and on Good Friday His sufferings and death; and on Easter Day His victory; and on Holy Thursday His return to the Father; and in Advent we anticipate His second coming. And in all of these seasons He does something, or suffers something: but in the Epiphany and the weeks after it, we celebrate Him, not as on His field of battle, or in His solitary retreat, but as an august and glorious King; we view Him as the Object of our worship. Then only, during His whole earthly history, did He fulfil the type of Solomon, and held (as I may say) a court, and received the homage of His subjects; viz. when He was an infant. His throne was His undefiled Mother's arms; His chamber of state was a cottage or a cave; the worshippers were the wise men of the East, and they brought presents, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All around and about Him seemed of earth, except to the eye of faith; one note alone had He of Divinity. As great men of this world are often plainly dressed, and look like other men, all but as having some one costly ornament on their breast or on their brow; so the Son of Mary in His lowly dwelling, and in an infant's form, was declared to be the Son of God Most High, the Father of Ages, and the Prince of Peace, by His star; a wonderful appearance which had guided the wise men all the way from the East, even unto Bethlehem.

This being the character of this Sacred Season, our services throughout it, as far as they are proper to it, are full of the image of a king in his royal court, of a sovereign surrounded by subjects, of a glorious prince upon a throne. There is no thought of war, or of strife, or of suffering, or of triumph, or of vengeance connected with the Epiphany, but of august majesty, of power, of prosperity, of splendour, of serenity, of benignity. Now, if at any time, it is fit to say, "The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him." [Hab. ii. 20.] "The Lord sitteth above the waterflood, and the Lord remaineth a king for ever." "The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." "O come, let us worship, and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker." "O magnify the Lord our God, and fall down before His footstool, for He is Holy." "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; bring presents, and come into His courts."

Blessed John Henry Newman is here reflecting on the manifestations of Jesus: to the Magi; at His Baptism in the Jordan River, and at the Marriage Feast of Cana. The Feast of Epiphany has been moved to Sunday in the Ordinary Latin Rite calendar; otherwise it is celebrated as the 12th day after Christmas--"Twelfth Night", the last burst of festivity before the return of workaday efforts. On the calendar of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, the season of Epiphany lasts until the end of January, as Septuagesima, the pre-Lenten season, begins on Sunday, February 1.

It's a tradition to announce the dates of movable feasts of the Church Year on Epiphany:

Know, dear brethren (brothers and sisters), that, as we have rejoiced at the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, so by leave of God's mercy we announce to you also the joy of his Resurrection, who is our Savior.

On the eighteenth day of February will fall Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the fast of the most sacred Lenten season.

On the fifth day of April you will celebrate with joy Easter Day,the Paschal feast of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[In those places where the Ascension is observed on Thursday:
On the fourteenth day of May will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.]

[In those places where the Ascension is transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter:
On the seventeenth day of May will be the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.]

On the twenty-fourth day of May, the feast of Pentecost.

On the seventh day of June, the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

On the twenty-ninth day of November, the First Sunday of the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

First Book of 2015 Read

When I visited my mother on Friday, I found that her parish had delivered her this book--it's the next selection in their parish reading program. I asked her if I could take it home and read it. She said that I could.

This paperback edition is part of the Lighthouse Catholic Media program. Ignatius Press publishes the book in hardcover and ebook formats now:

Discover the five great loves of St. John Paul II through remarkable unpublished stories on him from bishops, priests, students, Swiss Guards, and others. Mining through a mountain of papal resources, Jason Evert has uncovered these many gems, offering a treasure chest brimming with the jewels of the saint’s life. After a brief overview of John Paul’s life, Evert explores in depth his five great loves: Young People, Human Love, The Eucharist, Our Lady, The Cross.

This work is intended to be catechetical, inspiring, and evangelical. By looking at what he loved and why, the goal is to help readers learn more about key aspects John Paul’s life and teachings, including Theology of the Body, Divine Mercy, Total Consecration, Eucharistic adoration, and redemptive suffering.

The book is divided into two parts: first a biography of Karol Wojtyla/Pope John Paul II and then the examination of the five loves. There is some repetition because in telling the story of his life, Evert necessarily reveals the patterns of these five loves. For example, by describing the Father Wojtyla's practice of meeting with young people and discussing marital love, Evert prepares the reader for the chapters on those loves: Young People and Human Love. And while describing Pope St. John Paul II's five loves, Evert adds to the biography as he examines, for example, how Pope John Paul embraced his physical suffering in his love of The Cross in the recounting of his medical treatments and his death or how he faced danger, including assassination attempts through his total consecration to Our Lady (Totus Tuus) through his pastoral visits around the world. 

As all the saints are human models of how we can love Jesus, Pope St. John Paul II shows us an example of prayerfulness, devotion, love, humility, poverty, and perseverance. Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves is an accessible introduction to his life and pattern of holiness. Good reading for the beginning of the New Year!

At the Name of Jesus

Yesterday in the Ordinary Form and today in the Extraordinary Form, the Church honors the Name of Jesus. It makes such good sense that we honor His Name during the Christmas season. He was given the name Jesus when conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:31); He was given in the name Jesus when He was circumcised (Luke 2:21).

The Introit for Mass yesterday and today is taken from St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians:" at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

This Feast had been suppressed after the Second Vatican Council but was restored in 2002. It is common in Catholic piety to devote the month of January to the Holy Name. The Fish Eaters website notes that we should be ready to pray in reparation when this Name, the only name by which we may be saved (Acts 4:8-12) is taken in vain, used as swear word, or otherwise disrespected:

the Catholic in the room will (or at least should) make reparation by crossing himself and praying "Sit nomen Dómini benedíctum!" ("Blessed be the Name of the Lord!"), to which another Catholic who might be in the room replies, "Ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum!" ("from this time forth for evermore!") or "per ómnia saecula saeculórum" ("unto ages of ages").

St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a prayer to the Holy Name commonly used as a hymn for the Feast:

Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills the breast! Yet sweeter far Thy face to see And in Thy presence rest.

No voice can sing, no heart can frame, Nor can the memory find, A sweeter sound than Jesus' name, The Savior of mankind.

O hope of every contrite heart! 0 joy of all the meek! To those who fall, how kind Thou art! How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah! this Nor tongue nor pen can show The love of Jesus, what it is, None but His loved ones know.

Jesus! our only hope be Thou, As Thou our prize shalt be; In Thee be all our glory now, And through eternity. Amen.

In the fifteenth century, St. Bernardine of Siena promoted devotion to the Holy Name, using the initials IHS as an image for veneration. Devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus spread to England in the fifteenth century and was at its height in popular devotion before the English Reformation, with a fraternity and parish guilds, chapels dedicated to the Name, the practice of special votive Masses, specific prayers, and use of the IHS initials. Since it was a devotion based so firmly on the Holy Bible, some aspects of devotion survived the English Reformation, and the feast of the Holy Name was included in The Book of Common Prayer. 

The imagery of the IHS initials, however, was too Catholic for many in the Church of England and was associated with High Church Anglo-Catholicism as practiced by Bishop Lancelot Andrewes and Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud, so the cult of devotion to the Holy Name was suppressed, according to this article. The IHS symbol became a mark of recusant Catholicism, especially since the Society of Jesus used the initials as an emblem. Since Englishmen who studied for the priesthood on the Continent and returned as Jesuit missionaries to the Catholics of England were singled out from Elizabeth's reign to the Popish Plot as traitorous spies and instigators of rebellion, it could not be an acceptable sign in England.

It's Still Christmas! The Pasche, Merbecke, Ludford, and Tallis Edition

This is another CD we've listed to several times this Christmas season:

The Peterhouse Partbooks, a set of partbooks copied around 1540 belonging to Peterhouse, Cambridge, is one of the most important sources of English Latin church music leading up to the Reformation.

Dr. Nick Sandon has spent a large part of his life reconstructing music from the Peterhouse Partbooks. This album contains music from this beloved collection. Dr. Sandon has meticulously reconstructed the tenor parts in tracks 1-3 and has supplied some of the soprano part in track 4 with precision and artistry in order to provide us a sense of the sound world and the expressive writing of Pasche, Merbecke, Ludford and Tallis in the early 16th century.

There are just four selections:

1. William Pasche (fl. early 16th c.) – MAGNIFICAT

2. John Merbecke (c.1510-1585) – AVE DEI PATRIS FILIA

3. Nicholas Ludford (c.1485-1557) – SALVE REGINA ​

4. Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) – AVE ROSA SINE SPINIS

The last hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary weaves the Ave Maria (as it was then prayed, without the section asking Mary to pray for us now and at the hour of our death) into the praise of the Mother of God:

AVE rosa sine spinis,
Te quam Pater in divinis
Majestate sublimavit,
Et ab omni vae servavit.
MARIA stella dicta maris,
Tu a Nato illustraris
Luce clara deitatis,
Qua praefulges cunctis datis.
GRATIA PLENA: te perfecit
Spiritus Sanctus dum te fecit
Vas divinae bonitatis
Et totius pietatis.
DOMINUS TECUM: miro pacto
Verbo in te carne facto
Opere trini conditoris:
o quam dulce vas amoris.
BENEDICTA IN MULIERIBUS:
Hoc testatur omnis tribus;
Coeli dicunt te beatam
Et super omnes exaltatam.
ET BENEDICTUS FRUCTUS VENTRIS TUI,
Quo nos semper dona frui
Per praegustum hic aeternum
Et post mortem in aeternum: Amen.

I did spot one error in the liner notes written by Dr. Nick Sandon:

The Magnificat—the poetic version of the Blessed Virgin’s response to the Annunciation (sic) given in St Luke’s Gospel (1:46–55)—was the centrepiece of the evening service of Vespers, the pre-Reformation equivalent of Anglican Evensong.

The Magnificat is the Blessed Virgin's response to St. Elizabeth's greeting at what we call the Visitation in the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. And Vespers are not just the "pre-Reformation equivalent of Anglican Evensong" as they are still sung and celebrated in the Catholic Church.

The booklet accompanying the CD provides analysis of each work. As Dr. Sandon comments, these Peterhouse Partbooks, compiled after the Dissolution of the Abbey at Canterbury, indicate the relative conservatism of the Henrician Reformation, especially with these works honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary, displaying traditional Marian devotion. To these works, however, we would have to juxtapose the destruction of Marian shrines throughout England, wrecking the heritage of Mary's Dowry. 

Happy Birthday to J.R.R. Tolkien: A Toast Tonight!

According to The Tolkien Society website:

The name “Tolkien” (pron.: Tol-keen; equal stress on both syllables) is believed to be of German origin; Toll-kühn: foolishly brave, or stupidly clever – hence the pseudonym “Oxymore” which he occasionally used. His father’s side of the family appears to have migrated from Saxony in the 18th century, but over the century and a half before his birth had become thoroughly Anglicised. Certainly his father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, considered himself nothing if not English. Arthur was a bank clerk, and went to South Africa in the 1890s for better prospects of promotion. There he was joined by his bride, Mabel Suffield, whose family were not only English through and through, but West Midlands since time immemorial. So John Ronald (“Ronald” to family and early friends) was born in Bloemfontein, S.A., on 3 January 1892. His memories of Africa were slight but vivid, including a scary encounter with a large hairy spider, and influenced his later writing to some extent; slight, because on 15 February 1896 his father died, and he, his mother and his younger brother Hilary returned to England – or more particularly, the West Midlands.

The Tolkien Society celebrates his birthday with a toast:

Each year on 3 January, the Tolkien Society encourages Tolkien fans from across the world to celebrate the Professor’s birthday with a simple toast-drinking ceremony.

At 9pm your local time, we invite Tolkien fans to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author. The toast is simply: 

The Professor!

Happy birthday, Beren.

Yet Another Victim of Henry VIII: Anne Boleyn's Lapdog!?

Now, I'm really upset with Henry VIII! It isn't enough that he beheaded two queens, a saintly bishop and a holy layman, dissolved the monasteries, friaries and convents of England, sent many hundreds to their deaths in the aftermath of the Pilgrimage of Grace, martyred the Carthusians of the Charterhouse in London and Observant Friars of Greenwich, mistreated his first wife and daughter, etc, etc,--he defenestrated Anne Boleyn's dog!

According to this blog:

On a December day in 1534, an often-overlooked victim of Henry VIII met a sad end. But this was no overblown nobleman, crowing about his claim to the throne, no broken-hearted wife, turning over the past to see where she had gone wrong, and no devoted councillor unable to fulfil the King’s latest scheme. The death of little Purkey, or Pourquoi, Anne Boleyn’s beloved lapdog was to prove a foreshadowing of her own tragic decline. In the beast’s quaint tilted head and appealing eyes, Anne’s own dark orisons were echoed. In its plaintive bark, Henry heard shades of her winning laugh, and when the creature begged, elegantly dancing on his hind legs, it brought the King to mind of Anne’s graceful steps. So why exactly did the canine have to die?

Purkey was the gift of Honor, Lady Lisle, to the new queen in the winter of 1533. Having remarried to Arthur Plantagenet, illegitimate son of Edward IV, Honor was keen to advance her daughters from her first match. She accompanied Anne to France in the autumn of 1532 and was hopeful that such a gift would encourage the queen to place Katherine and Anne Basset in her household. Anne however, accepted the gift but kept the pretty girls at arm’s length, perhaps recalling her own rise to power from within the service of Catherine of Aragon. Anne adored little Purkey, keeping him often at her side and feeding him titbits from her plate; she was heart-broken when she learned of his death. A year later, in December 1534, he supposedly fell from a window and the King was charged with breaking the terrible news to his wife. In fact, this was because Henry himself was responsible for the animal’s execution. Imagining the scandal if he sent a dog to the block, let alone the practical difficulties, Henry solved the problem with a simple act of defenestration.

Henry VIII determined that Pourquoi or Purkey was a trained spy and thus had the dog destroyed by having it tossed out the window. Obviously, Anne Boleyn was upset:

Anne grieved Purkey’s loss. She had been preparing a special gift for him for New Year, a silver collar hung with dog biscuits fashioned from gold and studded with pearls. In the intensity of her emotion, she ruled that when New Years’ Day arrived, it should be devoted to the memory of her pet, requiring all her ladies in waiting to wear a similar collar and even insisting that Henry too should sport such an item. At first, Henry complied out of guilt, but by the following year, his relationship with Anne had changed so completely that he did not feel obliged to. On January 1 1536, Anne’s ladies wore the silver collars for the second time running, while the Queen spent the day on her knees, as masses were said for the soul of the beast. She was reunited with Purkey a few months later and Henry ordered the silver collars to be melted down and returned to the royal treasury. This was one New Years’ Custom he was not prepared to continue.

There might be some issue with that story, however, since England at that time celebrated the New Year on Lady Day, March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation following the Julian Calendar. More about poor Pourquoi here.

It's Still Christmas! Byrd and Tallis Edition

My husband and I have indeed been fortunate to work for a large aviation manufacturing company that shuts down at Christmas time. While some people have to work over the long holiday break from Christmas Eve to New Year's (which this year has been extended to January 2 so the offices don't open until January 5) most of us are off. Since we're Catholic and we're off work, we have been celebrating Christmas every day. Our decorations are still up, the manger scene on the lawn lit up every night (we put it out Christmas Eve), and with prayer and song, we are still rejoicing at this wondrous season.

One CD in particular has been playing often during these cold winter days--we had snow here on Tuesday--Stile Antico's Puer natus est: Tudor Music for Advent & Christmas:

Stile Antico’s fifth recording, winner of the Edison Klassiek Award 2011, the Diapason d’or and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, focuses on the wonderful music written by the English Tudor composers for the seasons of Advent and Christmas. At its heart is Thomas Tallis’ magnificent seven-part ‘Christmas’ Mass, based on the festive plainchant Puer natus est (‘A boy is born’). The mass is interspersed with William Byrd’s exquisite propers for the fourth Sunday of Advent, and framed by responsories by Taverner and Sheppard, Robert White’s exuberant setting of the Magnificat, and Tallis’ own sublimeVidete miraculum.

There is some debate upon when Tallis' Puer Natus Est was first used at Mass: some say it was during Advent when Mary and Philip attended and Mary was thought to be pregnant. But that's not likely since this is obviously a Mass for Christmas and as the liner notes comment, Tallis--and Mary, and Philip, and the celebrating priest and deacons, and the choir, etc--would have known the difference between Advent and Christmas! (And cared, the notes add.)  While the recording does juxtapose Tallis and Byrd (like their earlier recording Heavenly Harmonies which countered every Protestant hymn by Tallis with a Catholic motet by Byrd) these selections are thoroughly Catholic settings of the propers and ordinary of the Mass:

Tallis: Videte miraculum
Taverner: Audivi vocem de caelo
Byrd: Rorate caeli desuper
Tallis: Gloria (Missa Puer natus est)
Byrd: Tollite portas
Tallis: Sanctus & Benedictus (Missa Puer natus est)
Byrd: Ave Maria
Tallis: Agnus Dei (Missa Puer natus est)
Byrd: Ecce virgo concipiet
White: Magnificat
Plainchant: Puer natus est
Sheppard: Verbum caro

Besides Tallis and Byrd, the Magnificat by While is magnificent and Sheppard's Verbum caro is, as the notes indicate, radiant and sensuous.

Merry Christmas!

And, as a bonus today after Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, we will witness the Baptism of our godson's baby sister!

What a way to start the New Year: attending Holy Mass and then seeing a little baby being born again in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus's Resurrection, becoming a daughter of God!

Happy New Year!