May I, humbly, suggest some minor surgery on the sentence 'Most Saints....had this sung at his/her Confirmation,!', correcting it to 'Most Saints...had this sung at their Confirmations!'. This brings 'Saints', the pronoun 'their', and 'Confirmations' all into agreement in number. It is becoming all but amusingly common nowadays to use subjects, pronouns and verbs which do not agree with each other in the same sentence; usually in a silly effort to avoid (heaven forbid!) those awful 'gender-specific'
pronouns.

I admire your use of Veni Creator Spiritus for this occasion. It is anciently proper to Terce of Whitsun-week, proper to ordinations, and proper to confirmations. I have also used it at weddings and other occasions when the Holy Spirit's invocation seems particulary appropriate. Vatican II, of course, did nothing to alter its priviledged status at such feasts; but, rather, the liturgical Jacobins, having successfully brought off their coup, threw it out the window with so much else, with the result that we now have two generations of Catholics who are illiterate of their Catholic musical heritage. God be with you in your efforts (dare I say, your ministry?).

In the old Pontifical the only chant prescribed for Confirmations was the Antiphon «Confirma hoc Deus» (see e.g. p. 1844 of the 1961 Liber Usualis; in Google Books you can find several editions of the old pontifical). Hymn Veni Creator was NOT prescribed for confirmations.

It had other roles in the liturgy. 1) It was sung at the Divine Office at Pentecost. 2) It was sung when presbyters were ordained. 3) It was sung when bishops were consecrated. 4) At the Sarum Rite, the prest said the hymn while vesting for Mass (rather than saying the prayers of the Roman Rite).

This said, I do agree that it is a fine hymn for confirmations. In my former parish in Lisbon, Portugal, the choir sang it many times in such ocasions, with organ interludes to stretch it for the time necessary.

This is definitely an excellent chant for Confirmation. Might I also add that this was also the chant used as the cardinals processed their way from St. Peter's Basilica to the Sistene Chapel for the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

M. Jackson,

To paraphrase Ned Rorem's quip to a print journalist: you are allowed one semicolon per day, not two per comment.
Here's mine ;)

priorstf wrote:

I was quite surprised last year to note that more than half of the kids did not select a patron. That was one of the biggest concerns back when I was confirmed.

I am always blown away by the number of people I meet who don’t remember their confirmation saint.

I mean, ok, I guess the apostles didn’t have confirmation saints, but still...why get rid of this tradition??

Here it is....except apparently this forum software expects application/pdf MIME type files to have .rar filename extensions....??

Aristotle??

By the way, G, if the Becker litany you're using includes "Hippolytus and Origen", please remember to replace Origen with some Church Father who actually is venerated as a saint.

TO ALL, Please review this thread: http://musicasacra.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=266&page=1#Item_22

AND DOWLOAD this document provided by Paul F. Ford, I'm afraid it was overlooked in the other thread: http://musicasacra.com/forum/?PostBackAction=Download&AttachmentID=16

Pipesnposaune, what diocese is this, may I ask?

Your bishop's office is correct in saying that the Litany of the Saints is not an official part of the Ritual Mass of Confirmation.

But that is a very different thing from forbidding its use in the Ritual Mass of Confirmation.

Liturgical law is subject to a broad interpretation (“stretches the meaning of the text to allow the most favorable interpretation without going beyond the meaning of the law” except “where the values underlying the law would be harmed”) in its (1) legal, historical, theological, and cultural context, (2) immediate context, (3) relations within the same book or rite, and (4) relation to other similar books and rites.

See (1) Francis G. Morrisey, “Papal and Curial Pronouncements: Their Canonical Significance in Light of the 1983 Code of Canon Law” (The Jurist 50 [1990] 102–125), (2) Ladislas Orsy, “The Interpreter and His Art” (The Jurist 40 [1980] 27–56), (3) John Huels, “The Interpretation of Liturgical Law,” One Table, Many Laws (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1986), 17–36, (4) John Huels, Liturgical Law: An Introduction (Washington: Pastoral, 1987), and (5) John Huels, Liturgy and Law: Liturgical Law in the System of Roman Catholic Canon Law (Quebec: Wilson & Lafleur, 2006).

The canonical principle is: odiosa restringenda, favorabilia amplianda: "favorable understandings are amplified (favorabilia amplianda), harmful ones narrowed (odiosa restringenda)."

Baptism and Eucharist are two of the sacraments of initiation. The Litany of the Saints is required at Baptisms. The Litany of the Saints can be sung at Eucharist and must be sung at the Easter Vigil even if there is no one being initiated. Therefore, the Litany of the Saints can be sung at Confirmation.

Blessings,
Paul

By the way, G, if the Becker litany you're using includes "Hippolytus and Origen", please remember to replace Origen with some Church Father who actually is venerated as a saint.

Oh, never fear ... I actually thought when I came on board that the illicitness of venerating Origen, MLK, Gandhi, the late lovable janitor, whomever, was my ace in the hole for objecting to parish practice, and that we could make the Sacramentary Litany the default, at least for ceremonies that prescribed the use of it.
No such luck, the Becker is almost as beloved by TPTB as Let There be Peace On Earth.

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

The Becker litany goes well with a relaxed cha-cha rhythm.

Paul- Syracuse, NY diocese. Thanks for the insight!

As far as the Becker litany: don't forget the candidates can add Kodaly instruments for participation. ;)

For the last several years we've used a little piece I've spliced together. We sing verse 1 of the Veni Creator as a refrain sung by all (congregation, those being confirmed, etc...) while the choir sings verses of the chant Magnificat in English (as found in the Pius X Hymnal) in between each refrain. My idea behind it, which caused it to actually be embraced by their "teachers" (who normally would be terrified of any Latin) was explaining that it was asking for the Holy Spirit's descent at the same time as talking about their mission as servants - like Mary... and that though the "refrain" was in Latin, the "verses" were in English.

We'll probably do this again this year.

What was the Litany used at the wyd in Denver with JPII ?

My confirmation around 1965 had apx 500 confirmandi. Confirmation was not celebrated in the context of Mass. Parents were not allowed to attend. We sang "Ecce Sacerdos." and benediction hymns, nothing else.
Liturgically we were cutting -edge, so we did not wear robes.
The pro & re -cessionals were "Pontifical March" and "SIlver Trumpets"- these were the only marches permitted by our pastor.

Donna: is the Becker Litany the one mentioning Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and maybe Princess Di? But the other which I vaguely remember is from the World Youth Day in Denver. I notated ed it at the time, but the texts were too complex to capture completely.The texts had brief descriptions or subtitles of each saint often quotations from the orations of the saint's Mass. It reminded me of Taize but with a less metered tempo. It had a continental sound, like the Polish chant tones. Does any remember this?

I myself have no big objection to the Becker- a little schmaltzy, but compared to other stuff I hear not bad., It just ticks me off that a priest and an usher would fell free to chew me out for using the traditional music of the church. Heck, I'm not even Roman and I can hear the beauty of it- why can't they? I swear there is nothing more spinetingling and goosebump inspiring and spriritually moving than hearing everyone in the church singing in unison
"All you Holy men and women pray for me." It is like worshiping in one of the old churches in Europe where 1000's have knelt before you. You feel their ghosts all around you.

Donna

If the Litany of Saints is done at Confirmation, when is it sung in the Liturgy?