Mount Calvary Church
A Roman Catholic Parish
The Personal Ordinariate of S. Peter
Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue
Baltimore, Maryland
Trinity XIX
Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor
Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choirmaster
Midori Ataka, Organist
Sunday, October 27, 2019
8:00 A.M. Said Mass
10:00 A.M. Sung Mass, with Baptism
Brunch to follow in the undercroft
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Prelude
Andante, from Voluntary I, John Stanley
Postlude
Southwell, setting by Raymond Haan
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Common
Missa S. Maria Magdalena, Healey Willan
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Anthems
Give Almes of Thy Goods, Christopher Tye (1500-1573)
Give almes of thy goods, and turn never thy face from any poor man:
then the face of the Lord shall not be turned away from thee.
This Sunday’s offertory anthem is the most tasteful stewardship anthem in the repertoire. Rather than “please turn in your pledge card,” it requests us to “give almes of thy goods.” The beauty and effectiveness this short anthem is its simplicity and imitative voice parts. One vocal line leads as all the others follow, woven together like fine fabric. Listen for the words “and then the face” as they culminate in sublime, homophonic chordal treatment of the text “shall not be turned away from thee.” Christopher Tye (c.1505-1572) has been called an “innovator” of English cathedral music; together with Tallis, he bridged the musical and liturgical styles from Roman to Anglican in the earliest days of the English Church in the mid-16th Century. He worked closely with Edward VI, the young monarch who called Tye “our musical lecturer.” Moving away from plainsong, Edward VI had decreed that choirs sing in English and with only one note to every syllable. Tye graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music from Cambridge and sang as a lay clerk in the King’s College Cambridge choir. He then became master of the choir at Ely Cathedral, and Cambridge bestowed upon him the Doctor of Music degree. Though not documented, it is assumed he held a position in the Chapel Royal in the 1550s.
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Beati mundo cordi, William Byrd (1540-1623)
Domine, non sum dignus
ut intres sub tectum meum,
sed tantum dic verbum,
et sanabitur anima mea.
Lord, I am not worthy
that thou shouldest come under my roof:
but speak the word only,
and my soul shall be healed.
William Byrd’s Domine, non sum dignus is an exquisite setting of words spoken by a Roman centurion when Christ offers to come to his house to heal the man’s servant (Luke 7: 6–7). This text is familiar from our liturgy where it serves as a preparation before receiving the host. Byrd displays his usual skill in setting the text using features characteristic of the Italian madrigal, especially at the words “sed tantum dic verbum” meaning “but only say the word” where the imitation comes thick and fast, building to the final section in which healing arrives.
Hymns
#414 (words) O for a heart to praise my God (RICHMOND) is by Charles Wesley (1707-1788). This hymn has the Wesleyan emphasis on the religion of the heart, which is transformed by the saving blood of Jesus. The hope for perfection is deeply Wesleyan. The Beatitudes likewise point the Christian to greater and greater perfection: Blessed are the pure of heart, blessed are the meek. Perfection is found in love, because we become sharers of the divine nature, and Jesus reveals the “new, best name” of God, Love. The tune RICHMOND is by the Anglican clergyman Thomas Haweis (rhymes with pause) (1734-1820), a leading figures of the 18th century evangelical revival and a key figure in the histories of the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion, the Free Church of England and the London Missionary Society.It is named for the Rev. Leigh Richmond, a friend of Haweis’s.
#781 Lord Jesus, think on me (SOUTHWELL) is a translation by the Anglican clergyman Allen William Chatfield (1808-1896) of the Greek hymn, Μνώεο Χριστέ by Synesius of Cyrene (375-430). Synesius was the Bishop of Ptolomais, one of the ancient capitals of Cyrenaica that is today part of modern-day Libya.
I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath (OLD 113th) is Isaac Watts’ (1674-1748) paraphrase of Psalm 146, altered by John Wesley. It was one if his favorite hymns; he sang it at the end of his last sermon. Wesley’s caretaker at his deathbed wrote that, shortly before Wesley’s death, he ” broke out ..in a manner which considering his extreme weakness astonished us all, in these blessed words: ‘ I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath…’ ” During that night Wesley tried to repeat the hymn, but could only say ” I’ll praise — I’ll praise”. A few hours later John Wesley has passed into the Lord’s presence. In death Christians pass into endless praise of God’s goodness and mercy. OLD 113th was composed by Matthaus Greiter (1495-1550). He became priest and cantor at Strasbourg Cathedral. In 1524 he joined the new Reformed Church. In 1538 he accepted a position of music teacher at the Collegium Argentinense (later University of Strasbourg). In 1549 he returned to the Catholic religion and founded a Catholic school of singing.
Addendum
The attentive reader (and all readers of this blog are in that category) will no doubt have noticed the variation in the text of Byrd’s Domine non sum dignus.
In the Latin Missal, the phrase is sed tantum dic verbo, verbo being an ablative of means : Say only by the word, but Byrd’s text puts verbum in the accusative, making it the direct object of dic. Alas, I do not know the origin of this variation (the Vetus Latina?).
The Vulgate has sed dic verbo, et sanabitur puer meus.
As the blog Réponses Catholiques explains in answer to a question:
« Dans la liturgie en latin, avant la communion, nous disons : « Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic VERBO, et sanabitur anima mea. Instinctivement je dirais : « sed tantum dic VERBUM ». Pouvez-vous m’expliquer le sens de VERBO ? »
Sur ce blogue, toutes les questions sont bonnes, y compris les plus techniques. Mais comme mes connaissances ne sont pas universelles, j’ai consulté un confrère hautement qualifié.
Voici sa réponse, in extenso :
« J’ai longtemps cru que c’était une faute de latin (comme il y a dans le missel français des fautes de grammaire, cf. l’horrible et fautif “prends pitié”), jusqu’au jour où un moine que j’interrogeais à ce sujet m’a dit : Mais pas du tout ! Il s’agit bien d’un ablatif. Le verbe transitif “dicere” est normalement suivi d’un accusatif : “dic verbum” = “dis une parole”. Mais il existe un autre sens : commander, ordonner, avec l’ablatif : “dic verbo” = “ordonne au moyen d’une parole (par une parole)”. Il n’y a donc pas de faute, contrairement aux apparences.
Signé : Père O. »