Online Edition:
March 2013
Vol. XIX, No. 1
News & Views
Note from Editor: Pope Benedict XVI Resignation | Translation Update | CMAA: Renewal of Sacred Music | Apocalypse Prize: Art Is Deep in History | Sacra Liturgia 2013 Conference | Ancient Vatican Manuscripts Online
Note from Editor: Pope Benedict XVI Resignation
And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore His holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer. — Pope Benedict XVI, February 11, 2013
Pope Benedict’s announcement that his papacy will end on February 28 occurred just as we were going to press with this issue of the Adoremus Bulletin. We know you will understand our inability to summarize here his contribution, both scholarly and pastoral, to the Church’s sacred liturgy during his years at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and throughout his papacy — or the encouragement and inspiration he has given to work such as ours.
In his Wednesday audience January 30, he spoke of the Fatherhood of God, and said that God’s Fatherhood is “infinite love, tenderness that stoops over us, weak children, in need of everything.” He assured us that “Faith gives us this certainty, which becomes a secure rock in constructing our lives: we can face all the moments of difficulty and danger, the experience of the darkness of crisis and of times of pain, supported by our faith that God does not leave us alone and is always near.”
Pope Benedict has been an example to us all of true fatherhood — giving us guidance and encouragement, knowledge and strength to live our Catholic faith with integrity and fidelity. Our gratitude to him is profound. — Helen Hull Hitchcock, Editor
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The bishops of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) met January 7-11 in Washington, DC. The bishops, led by ICEL chairman Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, New Jersey, approved the “Gray Books” (final drafts) of the Order of Celebrating Marriage (second edition) and the Order of Confirmation for release to member conferences. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is expected to vote on the newly translated liturgical texts at their November 2013 plenary meeting.
ICEL will also release three “Green Books” (preliminary drafts) for study and comment: the Order of the Dedication of a Church and Altar, the Rite of Exorcisms and Certain Supplications, and the Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours.
“The Renewal of Sacred Music and the Liturgy in the Catholic Church: Movements Old and New” is the title of a conference sponsored by the Church Music Association of America, October 13-15, 2013, at the Church of St. Agnes and the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The event marks the 40th anniversary of the residence of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale, founded by Monsignor Richard J. Schuler, at the Church of St. Agnes in St. Paul. Its objective is to explore, through critical analysis, past and present efforts to revive the Church’s sacred liturgy and music, particularly as exemplified by the late Monsignor Schuler’s work.
While the conference will focus on sacred music, other aspects of liturgy (theology, history, architecture, documents, etc.) will also be considered.
The conference will include solemn celebrations of vespers (Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore) and Missae Cantatae at the Cathedral of St. Paul and the Church of St. Agnes, featuring an orchestral Mass, classical works for organ, and a modern polyphonic setting of the Mass Ordinary. Dr. William Mahrt, CMAA president, will deliver a keynote address.
Proposals for papers and recital programs related to the conference theme are invited. The deadline for proposals is March 22, 2013. Notification of acceptance will be given by April 8, 2013.
For questions and information about the conference, contact Jennifer Donelson via e-mail: [email protected], or phone: 954-262-7610. musicasacra.com/st-agnes.
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Apocalypse Prize: Art Is Deep in History
The Apocalypse Prize is a free religious art competition open to all artists as a way of encouraging religious art based on and illustrative of the Sacred Scriptures. A grand prize of $10,000 will be given to the participating artist who is best able to use the principles of Medieval style in his own work. Themes must be chosen from the Apocalypse (Revelation) of Saint John.
All artists over 16 years of age may compete for the grand prize of $10,000, while artists 13-15 years compete for a second prize of $2,000, and artists 12 years old and under may compete for a prize of $1,000. The deadline for entries is December 31, 2013.
The Apocalypse Prize website — ApocalypsePrize.com — has teaching videos and many other helps to enable participants to fully engage in this learning experience.
The purpose of the Apocalypse Prize, according to artist Gloria Thomas, who is coordinating this event, “is to offer young artists a traditional way of making contemporary art through the profound spirituality of Medieval art. Everywhere I look, I find an almost total loss of a sense of the sacred, or of even an expression of intelligible meaning in Christian art…. In times like these, I suppose many concerned people attempt to stem the tide in whatever way they are able and with whatever degree of success is granted them by God. Through the Apocalypse Prize, we are hoping to encourage those artists who are struggling, as I did for so many years, to find a way out of the tangle of ideas that produces contemporary art. Our Catholic Tradition provides an alternative.” — (Gloria Thomas’s work can be seen on her website: Gloria-Thomas.com).
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Sacra Liturgia 2013 Conference
An international conference to study, promote, and renew the appreciation of liturgical formation and celebration and its foundation for the mission of the Church is being held in Rome June 25-28 at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
The conference features an international group of presenters, including Vatican prelates and liturgical experts, as well as speakers from other countries. The roster includes Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, who will preside at a Mass; and Cardinals Malcolm Ranjith, Raymond Burke, and Walter Brandmüller, who will address the group.
The conference, organized by Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon, France, is co-sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, Ignatius Press, Human Life International, and others.
The conference is open to clergy and religious, theological students, and laity. Registration opened in January and the program will be announced at Easter 2013.
For details on speakers and registration for the Sacra Liturgia conference, visit sacraliturgia2013.com.
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Ancient Vatican Manuscripts Online
More than six centuries after it was founded by Pope Nicholas V, the Vatican Library announced January 30 that it has made a first selection of ancient manuscripts available for consultation online.
The first 256 documents to be digitized form part of a broader project to make a large section of this prestigious archive freely available to students, scholars, researchers, and teachers.
The library, founded in 1451, has been supported in this work of digitization by a grant from the Polonsky Foundation and other sponsors.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, Monsignor Cesare Pasini, the prefect of the Vatican Library, said it had taken two years to make this first selection of manuscripts available online. He said the majority of the documents have been digitized as a result of a joint project with the University of Heidelberg in Germany. A similar project with the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford is also underway to make more of the material available as soon as possible.
For full details of how to obtain an electronic reader’s pass for access to these documents, visit vaticanlibrary.va.
Source: Vatican Radio
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