O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O! say does that star spangled banner still wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines in the stream.
’Tis the spar spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band which so vauntingly swore,
’Mid the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, shall leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.
And the star spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O! thus be it ever when freeman shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation;
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land,
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, In God is our trust.
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
When our land is illumed with liberty’s smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
The accursed power which stands on privilege
(and goes with women, champagne and bridge)
Broke - and democracy resumed her reign
(which goes with bridge and women and champagne)
Belloc
The seeming contradictions between Jefferson’s slaveholding history, deeply racist personal views, his support of the institution in his political life, and his assertion of human rights in the Declaration, in many ways parallel Key's story.
In 1814, Key was a slaveholding lawyer from an old Maryland plantation family, who thanks to a system of human bondage had grown rich and powerful.
When he wrote the poem that would, in 1931, become the national anthem and proclaim our nation “the land of the free,” like Jefferson, Key not only profited from slaves, he harbored racist conceptions of American citizenship and human potential. Africans in America, he said, were: “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community...Ironically, while Key was composing the line "O'er the land of the free," it is likely that black slaves were trying to reach British ships in Baltimore Harbor. They knew that they were far more likely to find freedom and liberty under the Union Jack than they were under the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Additionally, Key used his office as the District Attorney for the City of Washington from 1833 to 1840 to defend slavery, attacking the abolitionist movement in several high-profile cases.”
My comment was no rant, but a historically informed observation on the nature of the man who wrote the national anthem. His words and deeds are relevant. Anybody going to be programing or singing David Haas hymns anytime soon? Of course nobody is perfect, but when someone through their words or deeds contributes to gross injustice and evil, their work should not be venerated or elevated to the level of a hymn sung in a Catholic Church, or national anthem sung everywhere. As I said, go ahead and speak freely about the national anthem, sing it even, if you must, stand for it, salute it etc., etc., - just be informed about what it is exactly you are singing, standing and saluting for. As for me and my house, in the words of Jackie Robinson, "I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world.” I am not a black man, but I agree with him. This country will not fulfill its promise until casual racism and explicit racism are eradicated from everyplace, including this forum, and from all parts of our culture, including the national anthem that is as rotten to the core as its author.Is the black lives matter rant over now?
"...it is only Christian men / Guard even heathen things,"
It was Sunday, May 10, 1942, exactly two years after the fall of Holland...
...The latest heartache for Dutchmen was an edict making it a crime to sing the "Wilhelmus," our national anthem.
Father, Betsie and I were on our way to the Dutch Reformed church in Velsen, a small town not far from Haarlem, where Peter had won the post of organist in competition against forty older and more experienced musicians. The organ at Velsen was one of the finest in the country; though the train seemed slower each time, we went frequently.
Peter was already playing, invisible in the tall organ loft, when we squeezed into the crowded pew. That was one thing the occupation had done for Holland: the churches were packed.
(...)
The closing prayers were said. And then electrically, the whole church sat at attention. Without preamble, every stop pulled out to full volume, Peter was playing the "Wilhelmus"!
Father, at eighty-two, was the first one on his feet. Now everyone was standing. From somewhere in back of us a voice sang out the words. Another joined in, and another. Then we were all singing together, the full voice of Holland singing her forbidden anthem. We sang at the top of our lungs, sang our oneness, our hope, our love for Queen and country. On this anniversary of defeat it seemed almost for a moment that we were victors.
Afterwards...
But now that the moment had passed I was, as usual, angry with him. The Gestapo was certain to hear about it, perhaps already had: their eyes and ears were everywhere. (...) And for what had Peter risked so much? Not for people's lives but for a gesture. For a moment's meaningless defiance.
(...)
...It was Wednesday morning just as Father and I were unlocking our workbenches that Peter's little sister Cocky burst into the shop.
"Opa! Tante Corrie! They came for Peter! They took him away!"
"Who? Where?"
But she didn't know and it was three days before the family learned that he had been taken to the federal prison in Amsterdam.
- John AdamsAs the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Mohammedan] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
- John ZehringPatriotism, as exemplified by Dr. King, thinks evaluatively about one’s country in light of its best values, including the attempt to correct it when it’s in error and fix it when it is broken. Yet especially on our national patriotic holidays, too often our churches promote nationalism—the uncritical support of one’s nation regardless of its moral, truthful or political bearing.
- see above comment for authorAs for separating the state from God, (or on this forum patriotism from faith) it cannot be done without the fall of an empire. Christus Vincit... king of both church and state. So the state better wake up before it’s too late to find any decent semblance of civilization left to defend.
- James MadisonDuring almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution. Enquire of the Teachers of Christianity for the ages in which it appeared in its greatest lustre; those of every sect, point to the ages prior to its incorporation with Civil policy.
Jpnz71, we are standing and saluting for the words and images invoked by such - not for the person who wrote them, nor even for whatever dirty thoughts may have ever entered his mind.
Here's the rub: Attacks on works of art because of moral problems with the life of the creator are a threat to... most works of art.
By this principle, even if all you dream of should come to pass, and a new, more worthy national anthem be selected by an official act, yet would The Star Spangled Banner retain its dignity as a former national anthem, unsullied.
The reasoning by which you condemn the national anthem would condemn much of the world's artistic heritage. We are here as musicians to keep it alive.
sounds more like a Never Trump anthem. 1861 is long before statues of confederates went up, up, but it is poignant that Holmes Sr. (1809 – 1894) lived to see reconstruction ruined.Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
Indeed, appearances are that someone is less interested in promoting music values than in a five minute argument.
My mind drifts to a scene by Anthony Esolen in his book, Life Under Compulsion:Imagine a new father looking into the eyes of his child. A wisp of blond hair curls about the baby’s scalp. The fingers, wrinkled like those of an old man, curl about his own finger. The child has blue eyes, but who knows whether they will stay that way? There’s the slightest indentation in the chin, reflecting that of his wife, who cradles the baby in her arms and hums gently to him.
“Here is one,” says the father, “who will be a productive member of the labor force, and who will assist in the increase of the Gross Domestic Product.”
“Here is one,” says the mother, “who will be adept at the processing of information, so to facilitate the attainment of a successful career.”
“Here is one,” says the father, “who will possess the capacity to embark upon independent research, who will present arguments that balance claim and counterclaim.”
“Here is one,” says the mother, “who will meet the Common Core Requirement anchor standards and high school grade-specific standards, which work in tandem to define college and career-readiness expectations” (pp. 54-55).
I can just imagine the call coming in: "Hi, JP: we've got a music director job to fill at St. Glossolalia's Parish. Can you recommend some people who might fit it well? Of course, we'd want you to exclude anyone who likes the national anthem, votes for Orange Man, or wants the schools to re-open in September."
"And yet in early democracies, as in American democracy at the time of its birth, all individual human rights were granted on the ground that man is God’s creature. That is, freedom was given to the individual conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility. Such was the heritage of the preceding one thousand years. Two hundred or even fifty years ago, it would have seemed quite impossible, in America, that an individual be granted boundless freedom with no purpose, simply for the satisfaction of his whims. Subsequently, however all such limitations were eroded everywhere in the West; a total emancipation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice. State systems were becoming ever more materialistic. The West has finally achieved the rights of man, and even to excess, but man’s sense of responsibility to God and society has grown dimmer and dimmer."
"To this day, for many of our contemporaries, and sometimes even for ourselves, living far from God, letting go of His commandments, means marching on and conquering a more actual and more comprehensive freedom, it means working at the progress of our human race… Yet, is that so certain? Willingly living far from God means renouncing the light of Christ that was to recreate man in the image of God. It also means renouncing to live fully in the light of the first word, the word of creation. Freedom, which consists in receiving as a gift the work of God, in stepping into the fair harmony of the divine plan, in making one’s own the fact of being a man or a woman, in unfolding this being amidst creation, and especially amidst the other men and women, this true freedom gives way to its caricature, a freedom that is brazen, rebellious, slumped over itself, shackled by the frantic desire to obtain what has never been obtained, to live what has never been lived.
The state of the earth, of men, of societies, already bears witness to the consequences stemming from the refusal of the fair order given by the divine intelligence and love: chaos in nature, chaos in families, chaos in society, chaos in the heart of man. Man, the protagonist of progress, proclaims himself the master of all things. Boundaries yield, until they reach those of absurdity. For a long time now, the legislative machine has embarked on an inexorable runaway race. It is so easy to pass laws that go against common sense. Will it be as easy to subjugate creation and creatures, the victims, to our lack of common sense?"
Assumption of Our Lady
Sermon for the Mass
Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau
Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault
Fontgombault, August 15, 2020
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