Franz Gruber’s Christmas hymn has been translated into nearly every language imaginable.  I was surprised to see and hear it sung in Japanese in Akira Kurosawa’s “Scandal” which dates from 1950.  Considering most Japanese aren’t even Christian, I thought it was remarkable.  It goes to show us how important that “Tyrolean Folk Song,” as it was known in its early life, has become to the world.

Here is a favorite arrangement by Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller. You can easily imagine yourself at the crib on that night of all nights.

I’m posting this with my sincere best wishes for a happy and holy Christmas season to all my readers. I especially liked the video used here.

Welcome to Sunday Snippets hosted by RAnn at This That and the Other Thing. Join us, won’t you? Share your posts for the week or just comment.

Monday I wrote a little about Our Lady of Guadalupe and included links to other posts regarding her that I’ve written.

For some lovely Advent and Christmas music, visit my posts: Mannheim Steamroller: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel and Sabbath Moments. You might get hooked as I have been.

If, by any chance, you are going to see some quirky relatives over the holidays, St. Benedict has some really good advice I wrote about in Patiently Bear Weaknesses.

Since we are going out of town over the holidays, at most I’ll have only one or two additional posts until after Christmas.  To all my readers, may the Christ Child come into your hearts and bless you abundantly in the coming year.

Christmas Carol - Wislawa Kwiatkowska

In winter, Jesus is born in a manger; watching with fear over the Child,
a multitude of angels bow. Mary, like a lily, wraps the Child in swaddling clothes.
Brightness pulses from the candles, from the stars, from the snow.
Give warmth to your little Son, Mary, full of grace.
Let the angels in silver armor withdraw.
Let the compassionate animals draw near and warm the baby with their breath.

Kazimiera Illakowiczowna, Z pastoralki

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.

Awareness of God

Welcome to our Saturday meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace.  Visit her to read other blogger’s Sabbath Moments for the week.

Christmas Music

This week I’ve been listening, off and on, to Chip Davis’ Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music.  Davis often incorporates Renaissance flavors in his compositions.  In 1996 Mannheim Steamroller put on a Renaissance Christmas at the Orpheum theater in Omaha.  In this clip you can hear the joyous Christmas music played with recorders, lutes, and other Renaissance instruments along with modern instruments.  That’s Chip Davis himself sitting next to Roxanne Layton playing the recorder.  God gave Davis multiple gifts: being able to compose good music, being able to inspire other very talented people to work with him, and being able to put on a great stage show.  If you go to YouTube and search Mannheim Steamroller Renaissance Christmas you will find more.

Nut mixes and pumpkin bread

This week has been busy preparing for a trip to visit family.  I made my low carb nut mix to give away to family and filled the house with the enticing odors of pumpkin bread.  Since I have to live gluten free, it’s always a challenge to mix a variety of flours together to get something tasty.  This time I used coconut flour along with brown rice flour and garbanzo bean flour.  The bread is heavier than when you use wheat flour, but it tastes great and my husband likes it.  When I’ve experimented more, I’ll publish the recipe.  God is good to allow me the strength to get all this extra work done.

Sunshine!

After a couple of dreary weeks we got a day of sunshine to enjoy.  It was a nippy 40 degrees with a north wind, but I took Francie for a walk anyway.  We had a good time under the blue sky.  Fresh air and walking is a good break from all the brain work and domestic duties that normally make up my day.

May God bless all my readers and may all of you have a joyous Christmas.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.

Carol at Simple Catholic Living posted Ten Great Christmas Music CDs.  In my comment I mentioned Mannheim Steamroller’s great Christmas music which prompted a visit by me to YouTube.  There I found this exquisite recording/video of Veni, Veni, Emmanuel. This is the English version of the original Latin hymn containing all the O Antiphons.

Mannheim Steamroller is an awesome group that has given me much listening pleasure over the years. If you go to YouTube you can hear a lot more of their music.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

(Click on the link above to read why I end my posts this way.

Rentaro Taki, 1879-1903

As trees drop their leaves and the last flowers of summer fail in the autumn chill, Rentaro Taki’s beautiful composition, Kojo no Tsuki (Moon Over a Ruined Castle), seems a fitting accompaniment to nature’s preparation for sleep.  Taki (1879-1903) was one of Japan’s most famous and prolific composers at the turn of the twentieth century. The government awarded him a scholarship to study at the Leipzig Conservatory because of his talent.  His songs found their way into the music books of Japanese schools and his piano works are still performed by noted Japanese artists.

Taki’s life was cut short by tuberculosis.  Japan and the world were deprived of a great talent who had the ability to blend western music styles and harmonics with Japanese melodics. The minute you hear Kojo no Tsuki you know it is Japanese at the core yet blended eloquently with western European styles of the late 1800s.

Based on all the films and music of east Asian origin that I have seen and listened to, I think Asians express themselves in language more poetically and lyrically than we are used to speaking in the west. The title, Moon Over a Ruined Castle reflects this.

Fushimi, Imperial Palace, Tokyo, (c)Tomo.Yun (www.yunphoto.net/en/)

Japan has many ruined castles, the price paid for the consolidation of power under the Tokugawa Shogunate when daimyo after daimyo lost their lands and wealth, driving multitudes of samurai out of work and many to banditry and starvation.  Taki was born a mere eleven years into the Meiji (enlightened rule) era after the 268 year reign of the Tokugawa ended at Edo Castle in 1868. Kojo no Tsuki seems to lament not only the ruined castles of Japan but the loss of the samurai way of life – a mourning of the past and a laying to rest of both the good and the bad of the previous era.

The castle above is not ruined.  It is the residence of the Japanese emperor and a national treasure.  Imagine it burned, tree roots and other vegetation invading the stone foundation, and you will have the idea of the loss Taki depicted which commemorated the famous Oka castle (1185-1871) at Takeda City, Oishi, Japan on the island of Kyushu.

This recording features the Japanese koto, one of my favorite instruments.  It imparts a brightness and vitality to Taki’s composition, which has also been recorded for cello and piano.

HT to The Deacon’s Bench for this video.

From time to time I’ve mentioned my interest in Asian culture and history.  I have a respectable collection of Japanese art films and some of Zhang Yimou’s great Chinese works.  Recently Korean drama has come to my attention and I have watched a number of period and contemporary series at hulu.com.

This venture has allowed me to learn a lot about the differences in the Asian cultures.  At the rehab center where I work out I’ve become acquainted with a fine Korean lady who has graciously answered questions and given me insight in how to interpret what I’m seeing and hearing in the videos and when encountering Koreans.  One thing she says is that Koreans are the Italians of the Asians – the most emotionally expressive.  You will get a glimpse of that in this video of Korea’s Got Talent.

In every society we see both good and bad characteristics that work for or against human dignity.  Choi Sung Bong’s story is as sad, impressive, and inspiring as his voice is beautiful. His is a purely Korean story.  We Americans can’t even conceive of the life he led, it is so Dickensian and 18th-19th century.

The judges’ reactions to his ability and story is heartwarming and also expressive of the unique Korean culture.  I am deeply affected by his humility as much as I am by his talent.  It seems every year out of some nation on earth we are privileged to witness in a special way God’s blessing upon someone we could classify as “poor” or “disadvantaged” in some way.  In 2008 it was Susan Boyle.  This year it is Choi.

I am certain of one thing: this young man will never forget his past.  He is destined to do some very good things for the underprivileged of Korea.  I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did.

Resurrection, 1520, Marco Basaiti (active 1496-1530 in Venice), Oil on canvas, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo

Every liturgical season in the Church contains gems illustrating the story of salvation.  In Lent, we focus on the Passion and its many aspects.  One of the oldest and most beautiful hymns praising the Cross is Vexilla Regis Prodeunt.  As the fall of man came about through a tree, so his salvation comes about through the wood of the Cross.

The Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite celebrates Passion Sunday two weeks before Easter.  At first Vespers we begin using Vexilla Regis as the hymn and continue to do so every day until Holy Thursday.  It is also sung at Vespers on all feasts of the Holy Cross.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

[Vexilla Regis]  … was written by Venantius Fortunatus [530-609], and was first sung in the procession (19 Nov., 569) when a relic of the True Cross, sent by the Emperor Justin II from the East at the request of St. Radegunda, was carried in great pomp from Tours to her monastery of Saint-Croix at Poitiers. Its original processional use is commemorated in the Roman Missal on Good Friday, when the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession from the Repository to the High Altar.

…the vexillum is the cross which (instead of the eagle) surmounted, under Constantine, the old Roman cavalry standard. This standard became in Christian hands a square piece of cloth hanging from a bar placed across a gilt pole, and having embroidered on it Christian symbols instead of the old Roman devices.

Much sacred art depicting the Resurrection of Christ shows the vexillum (cross) on a banner in just the manner described.

Venantius Fortunatus was the holy bishop of Poitiers, France and an accomplished poet.  Another well-known hymn he wrote is Quem ter­ra, pon­tus, ae­the­ra (The God Whom Earth, and Sea, and Sky).  Eleven volumes of his great Latin poetry remain, along with a few found in Paris in recent years.

After thirteen centuries the stirring stanzas of this hymn still evoke penitence, joy, and praise, reminding us, the Church Militant, that we are marching in the army of our Redeemer. In most parishes, oratories, and chapels adhering to the Extraordinary Form, Vexilla Regis is sung in chant form.  However, a great priest composer, Guillaume Dufay (1397?-1474), following the practice of his time, wrote Vexilla Regis with chant interposed with polyphony.  In some places we still use his work today.

Vexilla Regis Prodeunt

The royal banners forward go,

The Cross shines forth in mystic glow,

Where Life himself our death endured

And by His death our life procured.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,

Life’s torrent rushing from His side,

To wash us in that precious flood,

Where mingled water flowed, and blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told

In true prophetic song of old

To all the nations: “God,” saith he,

Hath reigned and triumphed from the Tree.”

O Tree of beauty, Tree of light,

O Tree with royal purple dight,

Elect on whose triumphal breast

Those holy limbs should find their rest;

On whose dear arms, so widely flung

The weight of this world’s ransom hung;

The price of humankind to pay,

And spoil the spoiler of his prey.

O Cross, our one reliance, hail!

This holy Passiontide avail

To give new virtue to the saint

And pardon to the penitent.

To Thee, eternal Three in One,

Let homage meet by all be done;

As by the Cross Thou dost restore,

So rule and guide us evermore.  Amen.

Translation from the 1962 Daily Missal published by Angelus Press.

This is Dufay’s composition recorded live during Mass on 9/14/08 and sung by Les Choristes, the vocal quartet in residence at the French National Church in San Francisco, CA (Steven Olbash, director).  It does not have all the verses.

For an excellently sung Gregorian chant try Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis, Giovanni Vianini, Milano, Italia.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Welcome to Sunday Snippets, a weekly meme hosted by RAnn at This That and the Other Thing. Please join us even if you’re not a blogger.  You’ll find some interesting reading.  Leave comments if you wish.  I’ve meet some very interesting people at this carnival.

This week I addressed the “why?” of suffering in Lent, the “Why?” of Suffering and the Japanese Tragedy.

At Liturgical Stations of the Cross I posted links to the fourteen stations I published last year.  These stations make great one-a-day short meditation with snippets from the Old and New Testaments plus prayers from the Extraordinary Form.  If you want to bookmark it, you can use it throughout the year.

Ancient Lenten Hymn, Parce Domine is a presentation of the hymn and a recording of it in polyphonic style by a 20th century Polish composer.

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 63 is a meditation on that Psalm.

Sabbath Moments relates blessings of this past week.

Another APOD photograph for your enjoyment:

Cooling Neutron Star

Credit: X-ray: NASA / CXC / UNAM / Ioffe / D.Page, P.Shternin et al; Optical: NASA / STScI;
Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

Explanation: Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a comfortable 11,000 light-years away. Light from the Cas A supernova, the death explosion of a massive star, first reached Earth just 330 years ago. The expanding debris cloud spans about 15 light-years in this composite X-ray/optical image, while the bright source near the center is a neutron star (inset illustration) the incredibly dense, collapsed remains of the stellar core. Still hot enough to emit X-rays, Cas A’s neutron star is cooling. In fact, 10 years of observations with the orbiting Chandra X-ray observatory find that the neutron star is cooling rapidly, so rapidly that researchers suspect a large part of the neutron star’s core is forming a frictionless neutron superfluid. The Chandra results represent the first observational evidence for this bizarre state of neutron matter.

Awareness of God

Welcome to Sabbath Moments, hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace.  Visit her to see how God was working in the lives of fellow bloggers this past week.

This week I spent quite a bit of time researching information and examples of the beautiful Lenten hymn, Parce Domine for one of my blog posts.  This peaceful work always places me consciously in the presence of God, and makes me appreciate the many treasures of our sacred liturgy.

We had two wonderful days of sunshine and moderate temperatures which allowed us to get some of our spring planting area cleared up and enriched.  It involved digging up some day lilies and iris which we are offering to neighbors if they want them.  What was extra special about this is the fellow who came to do this work.  He knows what he’s doing, is very kind, and the earnings will go to help him with his autistic son and pre-teen daughter.  Seeing a devoted father is always inspiring.  I got a lot of sunshine, too, for which I am grateful as it always makes me feel better.

Daffodils

Friday at 3:30 a.m. we had a thunderstorm come through that woke me up, giving me extra prayer time in the middle of the night.

The daffodils have been blooming for the past two weeks, their happy yellow blossoms dancing in the breeze.  If you leave them alone, they will propagate themselves, giving you surprises every spring.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

One of the most beautiful Lenten Gregorian chants is Parce Domine, the antiphon of which comes from Joel 2: 17.  When I was growing up in Catholic schools, I remember clearly the Stations of the Cross every Friday at 3:00, and after the Stations, Benediction, during which we sang the Parce Domine.  It is also appropriate to use this chant for any Mass or paraliturgical service involving the subject of penance.  The verse referring to the “forty days” can be omitted outside of Lent.

I found a very useful site, The Cross Reference, which has the translation of the antiphon and all the verses, plus where the verses came from.  I am presenting Jeffrey Pinyan’s translation from that site here because it is the best I found.

Delving into this hymn is an adventure that takes us down the tunnels of time all the way back to Pope St. Gregory the Great. Although I searched everywhere I could think of on the internet, I could find no place to tell me the history of this prayer, but its components can rightly be described as ancient.

The theology behind the Parce Domine antiphon is the Old Testament concept of a God angered by sin. The verses themselves speak of the penitent soul pleading for the Divine Mercy upon all.  Even if you don’t sing it, meditating on the verses is very powerful.

Parce Domine Antiphon, Plain Chant

R.  Parce Domine, parce populo tuo: ne in aeternum irascaris nobis.

R.  Spare, O Lord, spare Your people: lest You be angry with us forever.

1.   Flectamus iram vindicem, ploremus ante Judicem; clamemus ore supplici, dicamus omnes cernui.

1.   Let us bow before the avenging wrath, let us weep before the Judge; let us cry out with words of supplication, let us all speak, falling prostrate.

2.   Nostris malis offendimus tuam Deus clementiam; effunde nobis desuper remissor indulgentiam.

2.   O God, by our wickedness we have offended Your clemency; pour forth on us from above, O forgiving One, Your pardon.

3. Dans tempus acceptabile, da lacrimarum rivulis lavare cordis victimam, quam laeta adurat caritas.

3.   Giving us an acceptable time, grant to purify, in the rivers of our tears, the sacrifice of our hearts, enkindled by joyful charity.

4.   Audi, benigne Conditor, nostras preces cum fletibus in hoc sacro jejunio fusas quadragenario.

4.   Hear, O benign Creator, our prayers, with lamentations, poured forth during this holy fast of forty days.

5.   Scrutator alme cordium, infirma tu scis virium; ad te reversis exhibe remissionis gratiam.

5.   O beloved Searcher of Hearts, You know the weakness of mortal bodies; show to those returning to You the grace of forgiveness.

All the hours of the Divine Office have hymns proper to the feast or the time of the day.  This hymn borrows verses from some of those.  What we find here is a microcosm of the penitential theme of the Lenten liturgy as it developed over the centuries.

Verses one and two are from Ex more docti mystico, a hymn attributed to Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-620), verse one having been altered by Pope Urban VIII (1568-1644).

Verse three is from O Sol salutis initimis (Pope Urban VIII), who revised it from a hymn dating to the earliest, the 6^th century and to the latest, the 10^th century.

Verses four and five are from Audi, benigne Conditor (Pope St. Gregory the Great).

These are words sung by some of the holiest and greatest saints of the Church throughout her history.  When we sing music like this, we join our voices to theirs in one long line of penitence and confidence in God’s mercy.

Felix Nowowiejski

Music directors who would like a print out of the plain chant of Parce Domine with all verses go here.

During the Renaissance, polyphonic composers like Jacob Obrecht (1457-1505) and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) took the melody line of the antiphon and embellished the verses into exquisite lines of music.  In the 20^th century Polish composer, Felix Nowowiejski (1877–1946), composed a rendition that could easily take its place among later 20^th century composers Arvo Pärt (1935-) and Henryk Górecki (1933–2010) in style and harmony.

Each one is so beautiful I can hardly pick one to present here, but given my love of choirs of young people, here is Nowowiejski’s composition sung by the great Singapore choir, Raffles.

There is only one verse in this recording, and it is a departure from the traditional hymn.  Beautiful, nonetheless.

This is Obrecht’s antiphon Parce Domine with organ introduction, and the plain chant from Cante Gregoriano of Milan with verses 1-3.  If I had a choice of which one I could listen to for the rest of my life, it would be the plain chant, perhaps because I grew up singing it.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Here we are again with another fun party at RAnn’s This That and the Other Thing.  Visit her to read posts from other Catholic bloggers they put up this week.

St. John of Matha and the Captives brings the heroic virtue of this 12th century saint into the 21st century.

At Sabbath Moments I tell how I got through a bad day with help from Father Lovasik’s book, “Kindness”.

For a short meditation on Psalm 57, visit Praying the Psalms – Psalm 57.

If you’re tired of the snow and cold, you might enjoy a visit to Mt. Fuji in the spring with all the beautiful flowers.  I love the koto music along with the Japanese flute in the background.  Thought you might like it, too.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Snippets, hosted by our ever faithful RAnn at This, That and the Other Thing. Visit her to see what other Catholic bloggers have had on their minds this week.

I was busy with two writing projects this week.  The Una Voce February Newsletter is ready for download with some good stuff in it from Pope Benedict on Catholics and how we should use the internet.  There’s also a great article by the late Father Austin Milner, O.P., on the history and meaning of “and with your spirit.”  Since the English translation for the Novus Ordo will begin using this phrase in Advent this year, I though people would like to know more about the phrase.  Hint: it links to the sacred priesthood.  Catholics attending the Extraordinary Form can learn from this article, too.

The second project was tuning up, laying out, and publishing Tips for Participating in the Traditional Latin Mass. It’s in pdf format and Acrobat is the best pdf reader to use for this.

Sub Tuum Praesidium honors Our Lady’s Feast of the Purification.  I have a gorgeous composition by Dmitri Bortniansky that he wrote for the Russian liturgy using this prayer.  Listen, it will take you to heaven.

At Sabbath Moments I posted a link to music of the Sarum Rite from Trinity Church in New York.  Composer William Byrd and his contemporaries will also take you to heaven.  Isn’t that what the sacred liturgy is supposed to do?

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 56 is my contribution to Jenny’s meme.

We’re recovering from a lot of snow and will be getting more this coming week.  Hope all my readers are warm and safe.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Awareness of God

Here we are with the Sabbath Moments meme hosted by Colleen at Thoughts on Grace.  Visit her to read other bloggers’ moments with the Lord.

Southwest Missouri is sporting lovely snow covered evergreens.  In our small town only the sun has been able to clean the streets, so the one in front of the house that gets little sun is snowy and icy.  We got another 3 inches yesterday and 4 inches last night.  Beauty belongs to God, and I thank Him for a warm house and trust Him to make sure we have the money to pay the next gas bill!  It’s all his money anyway.

Father Zuhlsdorf posted about a beautiful concert he attended at Trinity Church in New York this week.   It was music from the Sarum Rite and I listened to the whole concert with great pleasure.  Byrd and his contemporaries wrote some truly heavenly music I never get tired of hearing.  Trinity is the kind of church made for this kind of music.  It plays well in the background while you’re doing chores.  Awesome performance.

I also worked up an ebook for newcomers to the Traditional Latin Mass.  Writing, designing, and laying out stuff is very relaxing for me.  Hunting for just the right photo, not so much.  I couldn’t have done this without God’s help.  So far, feedback has been good.  Will write a post about it next week.

Want to subscribe to posts by email? Visit the third box in the sidebar.

V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Since we celebrated the Presentation this week, I want to bring you a gorgeous rendition of  this ancient prayer to the Blessed Mother by Dimitri Bortniansky.  I love the Byzantine liturgical music – so solemn and holy.

Sub Tuum Praesidium dates from between 250 and 280, predating the Hail Mary.  It is found as an antiphon at the hour of Compline in the Divine Office.  You can read more about this at New Liturgical Movement. I have unashamedly stolen this video from the wonderful article by Henri de Villiers, Paris.  If you like Byzantine music, you may want to check out oiscandero’s submissions at YouTube.

The literal translation from the Latin:

Under your
patronage
we take refuge
Holy Mother of God;
our petitions,
do not despise
in necessities,
but of all dangers
deliver us always
glorious Virgin
& Blessed.

Choir directors: the article at New Liturgical Movement contains a downloadable page of Marc Antoine Charpentier’s (1643 † 1704) composition of this prayer.

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

I posted this for your enjoyment and inspiration.  Just another way to look at our life in God.  I liked most of the music behind it, too.