Vir erat
  • Heath
    Posts: 933
    As I've been fortunate enough in my current position to use the Proper chants more and more, my love and understanding of them has grown . . . but I'm still baffled by this one: Vir erat (Offertory for 27 OT--Ordinary Form)

    The translation:

    "There was a man in the land of Hus whose name was Job, simple and upright, and fearing God: and satan asked to tempt him; and power was given him by the Lord over his possessions, and over his flesh: and he destroyed all his substance, and his sons: and he wounded his flesh with a grievous ulcer."

    WTH?!? I don't even know where to begin with this . . . it just seems so out of place. The chant is lovely, of course, but still . . . . anyway, questions:

    1) Where the heck did this come from?

    2) Why is it still in the GR?

    3) What reasonable answer can I give to my choir for why a text like this would be stuck in the middle of the Mass?


    As a side note, an Anglican colleague and I were dialoguing about certain propers a while back, and he gave an interesting anecdote in response to this Proper:

    "Thereby hangs a small, probably apocryphal tale: Palestrina was charged with editing the Medicean Graduale; he was told to remove "Vir erat" (fondly known as "Job's boils, alleluia" in Anglican circles), since the OT Lesson from Job was long-gone from the Mass Lectionary. But the papal choir was fond of his five-part setting, so it remains as a little monument to the stubbornness of choir men everywhere."
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    No idea, but this is one of the most interesting chants in the repertoire, particularly with the elaborate verses (which are not in the GR).

    A version complete with verses

    edit: oh, also this from William Mahrt's choir
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    Job is always a type of Jesus, and of the Christian who takes a proper attitude toward suffering. "There was a Man" is very Christological. It combines with the second reading this week about suffering.
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    I found it very gratifying, setting that text, and quite entertaining to hear the sopranos and altos singing about Job's "gravi ulcere". Call me perverse...
    VirErat_RRice0909.pdf
    123K
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    I'm so glad you posted these questions, Heath… I was thinking much the same things. Last year at this time, I went "alius cantus aptus"… but due in part to these encouraging responses, I'm going for the real thing.
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    Here is Dom Gueranger on the subject (The Liturgical Year, Vol. 11):

    "[T]he near approach of the general judgment, and the terrible state of the world during the period immediately preceding that final consummation of time, is the very soul of the liturgy during these last Sundays of the Church's year. As regards the present Sunday, the portion of the Mass which used formerly to attract the attention of our Catholic forefathers was the Offertory, taken from the Book of Job, with its telling exclamations and its emphatic repetitions. We may, in all truth, say that this Offertory contains the ruling idea which runs through this twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost [27th Sunday, OF].

    "Reduced, like Job on the dung-hill, to the extremity of wretchedness, the world has nothing to trust to but God's mercy. The holy men who are still living in it, imitating in the name of all mankind the sentiments of the just man of Idumes, honour God by a patience and resignation which do but add power and intensity to their supplications..."

    Dom Gueranger includes the text of all four verses, noting that the antiphon (anthem) alone "gives us the words of the historian, who simply relates the facts, one after the other, without any remarks; but, in the verses, we have Job himself speaking, his body all humbled, and his soul full of sorrow: the repetition of the same words, their interruptions, their refrain, their broken phrases, vividly represent his panting for breath, and intense suffering."
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    I find the Propers to be fruitful in teasing out other meanings in the scriptures.
    I recall reading that Jewish rabbis do this with apparently un-related scripture verses,
    but cannot recall the name for the process. Anyone?

    The OT-27-B Ordinary Form readings follow with the connections I see ...

    Genesis 2:18-24
    God said: "it is not good for man to be alone". God gives freedom to the devil, and the devil uses it to work against what God says is good for man (the devil trashes God's world and Job).

    Psalm 128:1-2,3,4-5,6
    "Blessed are you who fear the Lord". Job fears God, and it leads to even greater prosperity.

    Hebrews 2:9-11
    Maureen (above) connects it to the second reading.

    Mark 10:2-16
    "The kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Job has child-like trust in God.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    We don't really sing the offertory proper, so this really intrigues me. Seems worthy of a story in Sacred Music. someone?
  • Adam Bartlett
    Posts: 533
    "I recall reading that Jewish rabbis do this with apparently un-related scripture verses, but cannot recall the name for the process. Anyone?"

    Sort of like biblical typology? The New Testament is revealed in the Old and the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New...
  • don roy
    Posts: 306
    lets not forget the offertory chant that refers to unicorns.
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,032
    I have heard that it was connected to the readings for Matins in the Divine Office (EF), though I have not verified this.

    Sam Schmitt
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    Adam, no.
    Two verses from the OT. Bang them together. See what you get.
    I will resume thinking and searching next week.
    No spare bandwidth until Monday.
  • Heath
    Posts: 933
    Following up on Sam, I should point out this wonderful recording, directed in part by the esteemed Laszlo Dobszay:

    http://tinyurl.com/ydd7p8t

    (The Story of Job in Gregorian Chant and Polyphony)

    I seem to recall the liner notes speaking about how the book of Job was used in the Divine Office back in the day.
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