A Glimpse at the Supra-Cultural Value of Gregorian Chant
  • francis
    Posts: 10,848
    A must read and, IMHO, a wonderful article in the latest journal. Makes convincing argument for the bed of sacred music in the Roman Rite. Here is one paragraph... go out there and subscribe to the journal so you can read the rest for yourself.

    Now the question arises: if the church so highly exalts and promotes Gregorian chant, even establishing it as the sine qua non to which liturgical composers should have vigilant recourse, is there an effective way of making it more appreciable to faithful around the Catholic world? In my estimation the principal need for believers is to practice Christian virtue, the immediate end in Christan living. Humility and docility towards the church's rich patrimony, therefore, would certainly be the first avenue for people to learn to appreciate chant. Another would be to accept the church's definitive teaching regarding its own proper music. And something still encountered--remnants of the 1960s zeitgeist that all but extirpated Gregorian chant for its being a stifling, stale repertoire of undecipherable monkish droning--needs to die its well-deserved and inevitable death.

    Sacred Music, Summer 2010, Volume 137 No. 2

    "Humility and docility towards the church's rich patrimony..." We as the ministers of sacred music, should be all the more respectful on how we speak of the sacramentals and the clothing that belong to Mother Church!

    This article demolishes the idea that chant is a European invention which has been foisted upon the world and robs the locale of its own cultural millieu. Bravo, Frater Gabriel Law, C.R.N.J. ...!
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