Idea for each of us to act on, according to his talents and circumstances
  • This year is the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Revolt,
    the 300th anniversary of the founding of Freemasonry and


    the 100th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun.

    I am in the process of trying to organize some local singers to come together to sing "a decade of Ave Marias": that is, 10 distinct settings of the Ave Maria on one (or possibly more) occasion(s) between May and October of this year. We have a Marian shrine here, and a Portuguese parish close at hand, so my idea, here, involves both places.

    May I encourage the membership to try to organize something like this in your own areas?

    What else takes place could involve a procession, or Benediction or..... perhaps some unison singing of Marian hymns or.....
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    And it could also be combined with the Sacred Heart devotion.
    Thanked by 2bhcordova Kathy
  • francis
    Posts: 10,826
    I am volunteering to compose an Ave Maria for this occasion!
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    If any of you do the Public Square Rosary Rally in October, the choir could always sing some Marian motets out there, for all to see and hear. I think it would be lovely.
    I've led a Rosary Rally for the last 4 or 5 years. It's wonderful, and not all that time-consuming.
    (This past October, I thought I'd be able to get the choir to come out, but then there happened to be a "White Mass" and reception at the same time. =( )
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,164
    What is a 'White Mass'?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    A "Red Mass" is a votive Mass of the Holy Spirit celebrated on behalf judges, lawyers and related professionals. It gets its name from the red vestments. However, two related votives get differently named based on colors associated with members of other professions: "White Mass" for doctors (white coats) and related professionals, and "Blue Mass" for police, fire and other public safety professionals.


  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    "White Mass" for doctors (white coats) and related professionals, and "Blue Mass" for police, fire and other public safety professionals.



    There is now also a Gold Mass for scientists.

    According to the Catholic Herald, gold was chosen for this Mass because it is the color of the hoods which doctoral candidates in science wear at graduation and because the patron of scientists, St. Albert the Great, was an alchemist who tried to turn base metals into gold.

    Now back to our regularly scheduled programming (posting).....
    Thanked by 1bhcordova
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    Deleted.
  • Blaise,

    I didn't mean to suggest that Ave Verum Corpus would be inappropriate, and I hope I didn't convey such a thing. I've never seen it done, but I think it a refreshing idea.

    On the other hand, what I was trying to convey is that these Ave Marias could be sung in conjunction with a procession (think "out door stations") or with Benediction to follow the singing.
  • Blaise,

    May I paraphrase?

    Me: Here's an idea: sing something to honor Our Lady.
    You: Ave Verum fits that bill, and even connects Our Lady to Our Eucharistic Lord. It's a Two-fer.
    Me: Huh?

    You: Ave Verum fits that bill, and even connects Our Lady to Our Eucharistic Lord. It's a Two-fer.

    Me: (now) That's a brilliant idea.
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    I am not quite sure how you are seeing insult when I meant none. As this is a written forum and not a spoken one, it is hard to communicate the points I am trying to emphasize. I will delete my posts.
    Thanked by 1noel jones, aago
  • Blaise,

    NO. Please don't delete your posts. You don't mean to insult, and I understand that. Being thick-headed, I didn't get it at first. I do now.
  • Shouldn't you open with a Pater noster? Maybe end with a Salve Regina?
    Thanked by 2Jahaza eft94530
  • CGM
    Posts: 699
    My wife and I (she as soprano and me as organist) do a "decade of the rosary" devotion where we open with the chanted Pater Noster, do ten Ave Marias (including a brief chant amongst 'em), and then conclude with chanted Gloria Patri & Salve Regina. We've been doing this at various occasions throughout the last decade, at numerous churches in the northeast, and the program lasts 35-40 min. or so. It something that really seems to stir people, and in the spirit of the original post, I encourage everyone to try something similar, whether it's a single voice w/ accompaniment or a small choir.

    Also, there's a fellow who has a website cataloguing various settings of the Ave Maria. I think he's up to something like 4000(!) different compositions thus far...
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen mattebery
  • Good land, 4000 settings... I find it hard to believe that someone can do such an unbelievable amount of work, yet not lift a finger to procure the collection?

    I mean, we can all agree that for every visitor to the site, there is a particular number of settings beyond which every additional setting makes the site less useful (e.g. consider how useful it would be to add 4 trillion mediocre settings to the site). And I think we can agree that for *almost* every musician interested in such a site, that point of diminishing returns is far below 4,000. (The only exception would probably be a visitor who wanted to download the entire collection and use it to create a curated collection for the public.)

    Anyway, sorry, not a very helpful rant, but... Really? Not even a tiny, tiny bit of metadata? I'm stunned. In this state it's like an Amazon.com with no search field, no product categories, and no product ratings....
    Wow.

    But thanks for the reminder though. I'll have my choir at least learn the standard chanted "Ave Maria" for starters, and go from there :)

    All the best!
  • If you are looking to start, as suggested above, with a Pater Noster, may I humbly offer http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/pater-noster-digital-sheet-music/19971755?narrow_by=pater which has not only been used at my own church but also at two local cathedrals.
  • JesJes
    Posts: 576
    I totally did this at White night one year.
    My aim was to do a rosary and sing a different Ave Maria for every Ave. Great idea!!!!
    (Just so you guys know white night is just a night where the city is open all night with lots of light shows, it has nothing to do with race...)
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen