I am overjoyed that, following a tornado in March 2020 which devastated Middle Tennessee and landed a direct hit on 7th Avenue N in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood, including on the Church of the Assumption, my parish, our church is reopening. The bishop of the diocese decided that, while it would have been easy to close the parish due to the extent of the works required, we would be treated to a full, complete restoration, including from damage from a fire after World War II simply painted over. William Heyer is our architect, Conrad Schmitt Studios has restored the art and stenciling painted over or neglected in the last century and added new gold-leaf capitals to the columns; they have also worked on our stained glass. New Holland Church Construction just installed a new pulpit based on the one removed in the 1910s, which is now apparently the highest in the state of Tennessee, and they have built our newly acquired sanctuary furniture. The organ console has been rebuilt, and the organ partially restored. (The organ is actually not original to the church; more here.)
On Saturday, March 30, at 6 PM, the choir will sing Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Te Deum, H. 146. The service will be in the presence of H.E. Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, friend of our pastor, Fr. S. Bede Price, appointed many years ago to serve as the first rector of the first iteration of the Oratory of Saints Gregory and Augustine in the archdiocese of Saint Louis, when Fr. Price was a monk of the abbey.
Very Rev. John Hammond, vicar general of the diocese, will preach the first sermon in the church, and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament will follow.
On Sunday, March 30, the high Mass will exceptionally be in the usus recentior, celebrated by His Excellency, J. Mark Spalding, bishop of Nashville, again in the presence of H.E. Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. The men’s schola will sing the full Gregorian propers, and the Ordinary will be Mass XVII, with the Kyrie and Credo of the Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, Hob. 22/7, by Joseph Haydn.
The choir will also sing Bruckner’s “Ecce sacerdos magnus” for the entrance of the bishop.
The schola will sing Vespers at 6 PM as we do every Sunday, once more graced by the presence of Cardinal Burke assisting from the throne. I should have posted earlier, of course, but we have been terribly anxious that it would be delayed.
For the first time, our pastor will celebrate Holy Week and Easter in his church following his appointment in the spring of 2019.
The blessing of palms followed by the procession and the high Mass will occur at 10 AM. Tenebrae will be sung on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 6 PM. More information to follow via the parish bulletin on the other service times of the Triduum (or you can DM me).
Finally, among many other gems to follow, at the high Mass of Easter Sunday, the choir will sing the entire Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, which Fr. Price intends to become the annual custom for that morning, while the men’s schola once again sings the full Gregorian propers. Vespers follows, of course, even (especially on Easter Sunday).
I suppose that my one real regret is that I can’t tell Bill Mahrt in this life about this.
This is such good news. My grandmother was baptized at the parish. Catholic Nashville is my lineage. I did not know Bishop Spaulding can celebrate the tlm. Is he just sitting in choir? I know him from when he was a priest in Louisville.
One is particularly excited because this is the South and these things just don't happen.
To participate in the discussions on Catholic church music, sign in or register as a forum member, The forum is a project of the Church Music Association of America.
