Renewal and growth in the Church
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    ...are a very musical people...

    All the more reason that one would think that the moment they were no longer illegal, their religion no longer suppressed, that they would have burst thankfully into ecstatic and glorious song and delighted in those splendid sung masses that they had been denied all those centuries. Is there more to this than the nasty English oppressors? This argument is threadbare and is certainly no longer an excuse - certainly not for 'a very musical people' to be niggardly in their worship.

    If, indeed, they continue to cultivate a studied low mass mentality we might look elsewhere for a reason. At any rate, theirs is no example for anyone to follow and certainly has no relevance at all in the US - where we are free to sing to our hearts content. Yes, something else is at work here.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    While English Catholics were regarded as deluded and potentially subversive, for many years Irish Catholics were regarded much as Hitler viewed Jews. Tallis and Byrd, of course, were under the direct protection of Elizabeth I, who said she "did not wish to have a window into men's souls", and liked the music they made (in English). Irish Catholics were hardly likely to admire the music of either the Anglican or Presbyterian oppressors, whose yoke they only partially removed, less than 100 years ago. The ordinary peasant would have no contact with Catholic culture from elsewhere. It is a very sad story.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CharlesW
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