I know (and I'm sure you do to) the Stabat Mater has become a de-facto antiphon. I am not sure if that is written anywhere or if it's simply unwritten tradition.
Most definitely will we sing the Stabat Mater. I was just wondering if Solesmes had assigned any antiphons to the Stations like they did with the Rosary. Thanks for the help!
Fr. Kemlin responded to my question saying they at Solesmes personally don't use antiphons for the Via Crucis, but suggested choosing some from Tenebrae and/or the feasts of the Holy Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows. I think I'll assign antiphons from his suggestions and possibly the 7 Passion feasts and the Franciscan feast of the Mysteries of the Way of the Cross. Thanks for all your help!
There is an Office, I and II Vespers and Lauds with Hymns for the following feast, Mysteriorum viae Crucis D.N.J.C. (files size 4.8 MB so cannot be posted here)
Thanks, tomjaw. I actually have the Antiphonale Romano-Seraphicum, but I've never been able to find chants for the Matins texts of the feast Mysteriorum Viae Crucis DNJC. The Ordo Processionum seems to contain antiphons for the daily processions in the Holy Land, some stations of which correspond to the typical Viae Crucis, but again I've found music for only very few of those. It seems also that the first seven stations are now sung recto tono in the Holy Land. There's the Preces Stationum, which our parish used a couple of years ago, but I again found chants for only some stations, a few coming from the Improperia. Also, while our Pastor liked it, he wanted shorter antiphons.
Page 273 of the Cantuale Romano-Seraphicum has this: POST EXERCITIUM VIAE CRUCIS Dum imponitur thus ad S. Crucis reliquias honorandus intonatur hymnus, Vexilla Regis, vel alius cantus ex iis qui ponuntur pro S. Cruce, vel etiam cantio in lingua vernacula; et postea datur benectio.
Here are the Matins antiphons for the feast Mysteriorum Viae Crucis DNJC:
Ant. 1 - Pilatus cum audisset sermones Judaeorum, sedit pro tribunal: et tradidit eis Jesum, ut crucifigeretur. Ant. 2 - Susceperunt autem Jesum, et eduxerunt: et bajulans sibi Crucem, exivit in eum, qui dicitur Calvariae, locum. Ant. 3 - Aruit tamquam testa virtus mea, Domine, et lingua mea adhaesit faucibus meis: et in pulverem mortis deduxisti me. Ant. 4 - Vide, Domine, quoniam tribulor, conturbatus est venter meus: subversum est cor meum in memetipsa, quoniam amaritudine plena sum. Ant. 5 - Angariaverunt praetereuntem quempisam, Simonem Cyrenaeum, venientem de villa, ut tolleret Crucem Jesu. Ant. 6 - Inglorius erit inter viros aspectus ejus, et forma ejus inter filios hominum: iste asperget gentes multas. Ant. 7 - Conculcaverunt me inimici mei tota die: adversum me omnes cogitations eorum in malum. Ant. 8 - Filiae Jerusalem, nolite flere super me; sed super vos ipsas flete, et super filios vestros. Ant. 9 - In manu Domini convolutae sunt iniquitates, et impositae collo meo: infirmata est virtus mea, quoniam invaluit inimicus.
(Bumping), does any Stabat melody have any claim to being "official"? I might teach some children for the "Family Stations," and the little book we use has a variation that no one in the congregation sings. There are at least 3 variations the regular attendees use, and two of them are promoted quite forcefully, so there's no clear winner. (I still have nightmares from an unaccompanied-by-musical-instruments outdoor Marian devotion I attended once with dueling Lourdes hymns.)
I don't suppose there is an official tone for anything used at "Family Stations" (I do not mean to denigrate popular devotions, it's just that they are not officially regulated liturgy). On the other hand Stabat Mater was a Sequence for the Feast of the Seven Dolours on Sep 15th, so the tone for that would be pretty "official" (LU 1962 English p.1630). The "simple" tone on p.1874 is the one I know.
The Matins antiphons would be a good reason to bring back the nine station devotion but most of us would have considerable trouble with the furniture moving. Preces-latinae has the 18c ceremony with 14 'antiphons'. I'd be very interested in seeing bulletins; my description at CPDL of a 'typical' Stations is anecdotal.
If you want a good way to kill like a dozen birds with one stone, do a "choral Stations of the Cross"
1) Use your Palm Sunday/Good Friday rep; 2) Sing it; 3) You figure out what is going to be a problem; 4) You give the choir some performance experience; 5) You give the parish something more interesting than the same hymn 14 times; 6) You have a devotion that non-Catholics are less frightened about, so it's the perfect ecumenical outreach. Plus, you'll be planting that seed without them knowing...
Ours always includes the Victoria Popule Meus (split up among the Stations) along with some other stuff (this year, Bartolucci Crux Fidelis and Victoria Vere languores). They did this in Austin at St. Mary's when I was a grad student: it's a brilliant idea!
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