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Franciscan Media Image: Saint Gregory the Great | Jusepe de Ribera, also known as José de Ribera Saint Gregory the Great Saint of the Day for September 3 (c. 540 – March 12, 604)  Saint Gregory the Great’s Story Gregory was the prefect of Rome before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, founded six monasteries on his Sicilian estate, and became a Benedictine monk in his own home at Rome.Ordained a priest, Gregory became one of the pope’s seven deacons, and also served six years in the East as papal representative in Constantinople. He was...

Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan, has issued directions for all parishes in the diocese to institute programs that will lead to the congregation chanting the Ordinary parts of the Mass. Following up on the work of his predecessor in Marquette, then-Bishop Alexander Sample (who is now Archbishop of Portland, Oregon), Bishop Doerfler has called for the action to carry out the vision of Vatican II, which encouraged the use of Gregorian chant and congregational involvement in the singing. In a pastoral letter released in 2013, Bishop Sample had also called attention to the Council's directives on liturgical music, as...

Christians are already divided by so many things, yet we seem to insist on creating more divisions amongst ourselves. I think this is one division we should work to eliminate. Here are some reasons why. It divides otherwise healthy congregations. Many churches have been frightened by the mega-church message that says if you aren’t doing contemporary worship, your church will die. Of course, there are many examples that prove otherwise. And many churches with only contemporary services are closing, also. This doesn’t have to happen to a traditional church. But since nearly all mega-churches are decidedly contemporary, the message seems...

Featured Term (selected at random):PAPAL CHOIR Going back to ancient times, the papal choir was reorganized by Pope St. Gregory the Great. It is composed of specially chosen singers under the direction of a choirmaster who is also a composer. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Look up “Gregorian chant” in just about any current dictionary or encyclopedia and you will see a description that says it “is the liturgical chant of the Roman Catholic Church.” Notice that the tense of the verb “to be” is in its present form of “is.”

Gregorian Chant Kyrie Eleison

Sacred Music and Your Parish February 1st, 2010 by Trent Beattie One can walk into nearly any parish today and hear almost any type of music, from Gregorian chant to folk music to heavy metal.  While most parishes offer one type of music within a given Mass, some parishes even provide a musical contrast within the same one.  I actually attended a funeral Mass in which an electric guitar was used alternately with a harp.  Figure that one out if you can.Unusual combinations aside, isn’t it a good thing to have something different for everyone?  The old people can listen...

Saturday, November 14, 2009 Fr. Robert Fromageot, FSSP, on Life on the Rock by Jeffrey Tucker On Life on the Rock, EWTN, Fr. Robert Fromageot, who teaches at Our Lady of Guadalupe, speaks about Gregorian chant. It is a very interesting interview, beginning at 17:00. He speaks about "learned perceptivity" and how the values and understanding we bring to chant influences our comprehension of its meaning. Fr. patiently explains such terms as "introit" and "Asperges" - and he is wise to do so, but it is notable that he does so with the knowledge that most all of the Catholic...

Father Joel Martin, O.S.B. will discuss “The Revival of Gregorian Chant” with Fr. Mitch Pacwa at 8 p.m. ET, Wednesday, July 22 on “EWTN LIVE.”

Gregorian chant gains momentum in Anchorage By James Decrane Photo Credit: Catholic Anchor Anchorage, Feb 7, 2009 / 08:43 pm (CNA).- On a recent Friday afternoon, amid the bustle of midtown Anchorage traffic, the sounds of Old World liturgical chant — deep baritones mixing with high alto voices — floated from a tiny chapel. The dozen or so singers who attended the practice session last month come from all walks of life. They are part of a growing chorus of voices in Alaska and across the world who are drawn to the ancient Gregorian chant. “This music makes me think...

Video Gregorian Chant Revival The last Daily Blog post focused on the ancient institution of the human family. This one deals with something not quite so ancient, but still a venerable and honored tradition: Gregorian chant. But it’s not just your grandfather’s Gregorian chant. “Gregorian chant holds a place in popular imagination as the province of hooded monks intoning monotonous melodies along dim stone corridors,” according to this article published by McClatchey Newspapers. “It’s not like that.” “At St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Sacramento, the ancient musical form is sung by children and young men and women, a multiethnic...

It isn't every day that a group of Catholic monks find themselves on the pop charts. Yet that's what happened to the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, a 12th-century Cistercian monastery near Vienna.... After its European release in May, "Chant: Music for the Soul" became the top classical album in Britain before crossing over to the pop charts, at one point outselling recordings by Madonna and Amy Winehouse.... ...The record company had wanted to capitalize on the growing sales of chant music — which were due in part to the popularity of the video game Halo, which uses chantlike melodies in...

The Pope is considering a dramatic overhaul of the Vatican in order to force a return to traditional sacred music. After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music. In an address to the bishops and priests of St Peter's Basilica, he said that there needed to be "continuity with tradition" in their prayers and music. He referred pointedly to "the time of St Gregory the Great", the pope who gave his name to Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant has been reinstituted as the primary form of singing by the...

After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music. In an address to the bishops and priests of St Peter's Basilica, he said that there needed to be "continuity with tradition" in their prayers and music. He referred pointedly to "the time of St Gregory the Great", the pope who gave his name to Gregorian chant. Gregorian chant has been reinstituted as the primary form of singing by the new choir director of St Peter's, Father Pierre Paul.

For decades, the standard of singing in St Peter's basilica has struggled to match that of a Gilbert and Sullivan society. Damian Thompson: Holy SmokeChurch music in Italy is generally atrocious, and the Vatican is no exception.Since he arrived in Rome nearly 30 years ago, the music-loving Joseph Ratzinger has had to endure the sub-operatic warbling of bad 20th-century music. Now he has had enough.The Pope, who last year appointed a new choir director of St Peter's, wants Gregorian chant, polyphony and baroque masterpieces to dominate the repertoire in the basilica and the Sistine chapel. And, by making his preferences...

One of the world's oldest styles of religious music is attracting a host of new enthusiasts.Gregorian chant is usually associated with monks in monasteries, but it's being heard more often now in regular services. Its growing popularity brought 70 representatives of choirs from Northern Ireland to a chanting workshop in the Dominican Convent in west Belfast. The college chapel became a study for a day as experts passed on advice on how best to perform the ancient melodies. Principal tutor Donal McCrisken said Gregorian chant was an excellent medium for vocal training. "You have to sing it very purely -...

Thursday, August 02, 2007 The Rhythm Mystery Revealed posted by Jeffrey Tucker At last, at last, I'm pleased to announce that there is a source for understanding the old-style Solesmes approach to rhythm: The Rhythm of Plainsong by Dom Gajard (1943). This marvelous book strikes me as the best overall defense of the Mocquereau approach to the rhythm of Gregorian chant, with Gajard clearly explaining, in non-technical terms, what is historical, what is deduced from musical understanding, and what is pure speculation. He makes an amazingly persuasive case! Indeed, it strikes me that he settles the issue, and I'm...

“Sacramentum Caritatis”: Everyone to Mass on Sunday A Christian cannot live without the Eucharist, Benedict XVI writes. In it, “the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom.”With the duty that stems from this, and in the political realm as well: to give “public witness to our faith” by Sandro Magister ROMA, March 14, 2007 – Benedict XVI released yesterday the apostolic exhortation “Sacramentum Caritatis,” as the concluding act of the synod of bishops held in Rome in October of 2005 on the topic of the Eucharist. The document has the breadth of an...

Pope wants comeback for Gregorian chants By Philip PullellaVATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, who last week told the world he does not care much for Bob Dylan, said on Tuesday he would like Gregorian chant to make a comeback. The 79-year-old German Pope said the Catholic faithful should learn more of the chanting traditionally sung in Latin by choirs of monks since the Middle Ages."The better-known prayers of the Church's tradition should be recited in Latin and, if possible, selections of Gregorian chant should be sung," he said in part of a 140-page booklet on the Mass.He lamented...

BETHLEHEM, Conn. -- On a recent Monday at the Abbey of Regina Laudis here, about 35 nuns gather in a dim chapel to chant, as they do every day at noon. Making their way through Psalm 118, the nuns sit or stand; some face different directions, while others bow steeply. Throughout, their voices remain in unison. Pope Benedict XVI would approve. After a concert of 16th- and 17th-century music recently, the pope said he would prefer to hear Gregorian chant and other traditional types of music play more of a role during Mass. That's good news for the cloistered nuns...