Chant School

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Today we learn the antiphon for Rorate Caeli, a hymn based on the beginning of the Introit for the 4th Sunday of Advent. A wonderful, simple antiphon to have on our lips during this last week before the Lord Comes!

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.

Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: thy holy city is a wilderness,Sion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation:our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee.

We have sinned, and are as an unclean thing, and we all do fade as a leaf:and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away:thou hast hid thy face from us:and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

Behold, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send forth him whom thou wilt send; send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion:that he may take away the yoke of our captivity.

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know me and believe me: I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour: and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people; my salvation shall not tarry: why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee?Fear not, for I will save thee: For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

Link to Music"Give peace in our time, O Lord, because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, O God."

Propers of the Year: A series of episodes in which we provide instruction and practice for more advanced chanters who are interested in preparing the Gregorian propers for each Sunday of the liturgical year.

In this episode, Thomas teaches you the propers from Christmas Mass During the Day

Link to Music

Link to Music

1. O Gregory, that once wast the apostle of the Angli, and now art a companion of the angels! protect now, as of old, the nations that believe in Christ.

2. Thou spurnest wealth and riches and all the glory of the world, that so thou, being poor, mayst follow the Lord Jesus, who was poor.

3. An angel presents himself to thee, in the garb of one that was shipwrecked, and asks an alms; thou first makest him a double gift, and then thou givest him a silver vase.

4. After this, Christ puts thee over his Church, for thou didst imitate the virtues, and now thou hast the honours, of Peter.

5. O excellent Pontiff! Light and ornament of the Church! Thou hast so richly instructed us, assist us in our dangers.

6. From thy lips there flows honey that brings sweetness to the heart. Thy. words are more fragrant than the richest perfume.

7. Admirably dost thou solve the obscure figures of sacred Writ. The divine mysteries are taught thee by him that is the very Truth.

8. O thou that hast the office and the glory of the apostles, pray for us, that we may be loosed from the bonds of sin, and obtain the thrones prepared for us above.

9. To the unbegotten Father, and to his only-begotten Son, and to the Spirit of them both be praise and highest kingship. Amen.

Link to the Music: https://tinyurl.com/stabatsolemn

In this episode, Giorgio and Joe sing a less well known, more difficult version of the Stabat Mater, in which there is a new melody every two verses.

Considered by many to be one of the greatest Latin hymns ever written, the Stabat Mater Dolorosa tells the story of the sorrows of Mary during her Son’s passion, and puts the singer in the position of begging to accompany her in those sorrows. Written in the 13th century, likely either by Pope Innocent the III or by a Fransiscan Friar: Jacopo da Todi.

He’s an interesting fellow, who was a very wealthy and successful lawyer, got a reputation for being worldly and greedy, married a pious woman who dedicated her life to penance and prayer for her wicked husband. When she died, Jacopo discovered that she had been wearing a hair-shirt at the time of her death, and he realized it was for his sake. He gave up all his earthly possesions, and joined the Fransiscans and was one of the more...Fransiscan of them...doing all kinds of weird things like crawling around the piazza wearing a saddle, and showing up to his brothers wedding tarred and feathered.

The Stabat Mater is actually one of a pair of hymns that he wrote to the Blessed Mother. The other was almost lost to history, but was rediscovered in the 18th century: Stabat Mater Speciosa – which sings of the birth of Jesus in the same style that the Dolorosa sings of His Passion: from the perspective of Mary, and begging to be admitted to her great joy just as in the Dolorosa we beg to be joined to her great sorrow.

At the Cross her station keeping, Stood the mournful Mother weeping, Close to Jesus to the last:

Through her heart, his sorrow sharing, All his bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword has pass'd.

Oh, how sad and sore distress'd Was that Mother highly blest Of the sole-begotten One!

Christ above in torment hangs; She beneath beholds the pangs Of her dying glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep, Whelm'd in miseries so deep, Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Can the human heart refrain From partaking in her pain, In that Mother's pain untold?

Bruis'd, derided, curs'd, defil'd, She beheld her tender Child All with bloody scourges rent;

For the sins of his own nation, Saw Him hang in desolation, Till His Spirit forth He sent

. O thou Mother! fount of love! Touch my spirit from above, Make my heart with thine accord:

Make me feel as thou hast felt; Make my soul to glow and melt With the love of Christ my Lord.

Holy Mother! pierce me through; In my heart each wound renew Of my Saviour crucified:

Let me share with thee His pain, Who for all my sins was slain, Who for me in torments died.

Let me mingle tears with thee, Mourning Him who mourn'd for me, All the days that I may live:

By the Cross with thee to stay; There with thee to weep and pray; Is all I ask of thee to give.

Virgin of all virgins blest!, Listen to my fond request: Let me share thy grief divine;

Let me, to my latest breath, In my body bear the death Of that dying Son of thine.

Wounded with his every wound, Steep my soul till it hath swoon'd, In His very blood away;

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh, Lest in flames I burn and die, In his awful Judgment day.

Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence, Be Thy Mother my defence, Be Thy Cross my victory;

While my body here decays, May my soul thy goodness praise, Safe in Paradise with Thee.