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Show f" gburcl) UtitoersaT 1 js, KiJelis. 3J3.00S for societies', v-rk Ht. Mark, Evangelist. 376,370 f"' '""sunday. ur Lad" of "6V(Vunscl.-T-:. I John v, 4-10; G. I finnd ... 792 for conversions. 1 j.,hn . I tHe general intention !! D,-0mmended by His' Holiness, Be" Piux X. -Hi' lNT1-:'?f'1TY OF THE FAmi-' FAmi-' rho H ''!' Father, the Guardian of the ( ,. committed by our Blessed fU,n1 to His Church, recommends the I . .t( tj)at fajth to the prayers of I 4,,',.i.''hip. While the faith of I ; p phun-h can never fail, for Christ I 'nc . i-.'.i that "the grates of hell J saI! n.vr prevail against lier," still I jviduals may weaken in tjje faith I ind "vn 1 it entirely. I hjj. p. ious grift received in yap-! yap-! cnl i? i1" very root and. foundation "a!i irfii and good works. Without tells us we cannot pb'ase ' Van' "i ho acceptable in His siir.it. 1 . man 'viihout faith is as blind in I e Ppiri' '-i I order and as dark to heav-1 heav-1 'f'nr' thi'i-s as was the blind man out- 'e of .!!! -ho till Our Lord touched y,f eyes and he saw. .! -ftis blessing wo can weaken I .r, pur .-nils and even lose completely. I (Vf-ry d.iy life the atmosphere v e ' Jathe i so tainted in the miasmic mrs "' unbelief, that unless we arc sitanl we soon inhale the pois- i I,.;c ;,! and our faith in readily tar-j tar-j The men and women we meet I f,- 50 imbued with tenets opposed to j .j,',' supeTint ural that the purity of our f -aj;h in asily blurred by daily oon-I oon-I .t vi:':i them. Books, papers and I -ami' - so reek with doubt and in- unions t-achings that if we are not i vigilant ",n run great risk of be-j be-j (.iminp ni"i tally soiled and of having niir perception of supernatural train dimmed. Hence this month we are to ray I'iiir.esily for the preservation of ihif most precious gift unsullied in our heart?-in the hearts of the faithful. TVe shail not forget also to offer tip our prayers for those who do not see the truth, that God may open tludr ,Vfs and hearts to 'its light and .strength. CHURCH MUSIC REFORM. ' Magnificent Criticism of Archbishop Blenk's Pastoral Letter on Church Music in the Noted American Review, Re-view, Church Music of Philadelphia. Philadel-phia. "I'hutvh Music." one of the most rfitr-d ("aiholie Magazines and ecclesi-astiral ecclesi-astiral reviews of tiff country, entirely ri.-v.it erf m this most important part of . hur- h service. Gregorian Chant, pub-:!;- in the March number Archbishop fllenk's beautiful pastoral letter on I "I'hun-li Music" More than this, the ; apa zi!i . under the caption, "Two y-ilii'isi!"!'- "M Church Music llo- : ti." ciiit.ii ialiy refers to the pas-I pas-I a! i"ti v ,,f tho archbishop of j;,s-I j;,s-I - and "in own dear archbish.jp of I V c'i!c;mis. in the following com-I com-I r'r.;at ! manner: "v Luis and carefully-phrased ut- t ran. e of the archbishon of New Or-I Or-I a nan .if which appears in this r-zb-r of Church Music, is of much ( than merely local interest. Like t;.a n.itHlde one of the archbishop of K"?tiiii. which was published in the January issue, it discusses the broad iJ'-ti'iii ,f the real meaning of music til' - hurch services, of the miiiister-Kctati'T, miiiister-Kctati'T, of that meaning which U-anto U-anto 'Omni, ,n throughout the Chtis-tiHTi Chtis-tiHTi v.nrld. and of the sufficiently sc-in-'ai'U? .ind anomalous results which ns-Kf!. . This i not an overstatement of (he f mpie fHcT. Thus Archbishop OVon-r-il felt hiniself abb- to say not in a ua: uttrraiiee. hut in his ofTicial -a-i;iity him! in a most formal way: Xn r.nr. v,,v doubts that in the mai-'"r mai-'"r "' '"'desiastiea! music the grravtst ''X'-t'd. when at last Tius X Si'f' gain and again those s-t evrr ),,, , ij urch to guard its sacvd im.i!iies have raised their vences .nisi pnoving abuses. . . Mut wave has grown to such propor-Xlf propor-Xlf mat nearly the whole world of inrnpAw-r... and directors had been -n-r' -!i::ost the memory of the u masters of ecclesiastical music Hl.;l. few loyal souis, whom .alsr at m. .sphere could not pervert. 'Pt the re. fjre. -v-a:!y all had succumbed to what '"lls ,n" fatal influence of l..ar.e n.:;sie in the church. , ,:""" r' i'lirase, but to the same "iV1' ,Ar' ! bish"l Illenk says: A.; ;d)jse uh.-n allowed to exist for J 'tri?'- nf time hardens into a cus-). cus-). S' finally the very principle b.-eo:;;es obscureJ in our minds. 1S ' ! ;" as laken place in regard iz'.r"v" ,: :' usi - Kvery Catholic real-t'? real-t'? (V ' llUrcn if the house of . Ur i. i implies this principle at r "'"f ": during his private devo-y devo-y s'; , ' hiKh mass or as vespers , become so accustomed to abuses as no longer to v y t!. principle: he is inclined ".'',.".' '" s,'rv'Cfs expecting to be 'rd"i ' ! T ,( im to a large extent i;.V'v !r,v'' ,vl of praying he listens, ts."?l? !:'' ;;,:f n,ion from the altar to j iT.i';i"1;- v'hieh latter has been re-!:v re-!:v f'k. :!'"'Jgh in demonstration of t:ilJ..'a ' x '"'ation from the sane-(''j1" sane-(''j1" " gallery just over the x'. ) ' "'"re to think that any i t-,..l !, v '" m;d taken up such a posi- h 'i.' a,ll enforced it with ': ;-' ;: as that used in the two I il,- , '1 above, would have I i.;1 l.'.v those whose indiffer- I u-V." "'' i -'bal mandate in this mat-I mat-I T, '"'"""0- notorious, to be an i'.' ' " partisan who forgets the ' ' language. "Exaggera- i,t, ' ' he result of this debase-V; debase-V; ' i,U!v,' music? The archbieh- T?;1"iM:"! 'Hls us: ':"o...,.':,"-!ll"i,s,"r r bttei". with us ' y"l' :;r'-iied supreme in a inat-ti, inat-ti, fct,,''"'' ""'"y was no more subject xho oanI,' on the altar. X:', . , '' M :'' "tie end, in the chancel, t :v-f , n: HI ,hfA "iher, in the choir, "iv s"I'y"ated if not divided ('rvr,j s)'uld liave been pre- jh-i-j. '! : red unit, went each his ;. v '.( v -the music and the litur-'"rTt litur-'"rTt ti" in 1wail1. anl between Hiip . s,'-"m dignity of God's wor- f':,ir iJ,,s','1' T'l! Iicnity of God's wor-x,''-rdu, ''M r'if-'bed." It is not the '""n '! ' "f a ,nus'eal fanatic who has srof"'''"1 ''esperate by the jeers rW ','': "f those in the market -of th. (f,'" "f 'arefully weighed word liinisf if .." ho'li f a great diocese, "'udf-ni a"s- ip llis supreme pontiff) a iinro .. a lover of music, but even las,' ,., 'dont hii da lover of the lit- hnrch. a wine love for the litursy. t the archbishop or Xew Orleans spends much effort to place the character of sacred music before his people, and to insist on the necessity of reform- Once more let us remind you of the importance of this reform, which concerns con-cerns not merely the exterior of worship, wor-ship, as is sometimes supposed, but the very quality of that worship itself It concerns most intimately the reverence due to God in His chosen dwellin-upon dwellin-upon earth. " Yes: the question is one. not merely of the external decorum which should be observed in the house of God, but of the spirit of reverence which should exist lrf the heart of many alwavs but then especially when he ventures' into the real presence of Christ in the tabernacle tab-ernacle and offers to God the adoration of a creature, is this sermonizing-' if it be, it is but a weak echo of th-stronger th-stronger homily of the archbishon of though?leanS Wh addS a furtn" This subject, as we have said, concerns con-cerns the honor of God; but it concerns, con-cerns, furthermore, and most intimately, intimate-ly, the salvation of man. . . Man's tendency is to drift toward mere naturalism; natur-alism; bu4 the church pronoses to Pft him to supernaturalism, and for tilis purpose put before him vividly and reahsiically-the spirit of praver as opposed to that of the world. . . . r.ut what we desire to insist on esp.vmMy is this: music as such was not th- intention in-tention of the church. . . . Nothin" could be further from the mind of th church than to provide entertainment or distraction for her children, nor did the music (sc. plain-song) ever assume an independent character of its own, becoming a stumbling ohj.-n in place of an inspiration. We have condensed very much ni the above excerpt in order to reach m .,e quickly the heart of the question of sacred music which is. that it should never become "a stumbling block in place of an inspiration." The ies.'t of the abuses which have crept into the musical portion of the church's liturgy litur-gy is that a stumbling block has been placed to interior worship, to the spirit of recollection, in that very feature of the liturgy which St. Augustine had found so helpful in his day, namely the singing. We invite our readers to peruse again the concluding words of the -ul-dress. in which the archbishop of Boston Bos-ton directly places on the commission the duty of seeing that the law of the Holy Father is carried out first of all by themselves, and then by others. In a similar fashion does the archbishop of New Orleans declare for "a beginning begin-ning at once" in carrying out thc.-e-form which, he declares, can "at the end of five years as a maximum that is to say, on the feast of St. Cecilia in 1912." be so perfected that the parishes parish-es in that diocese "will be in a posj-tion posj-tion to comply literally with the Moto Proprio' of the Holy Father, and will be expected to do so." All lovers of the dignity and corum of the liturgical functions, all those who would vindicate to the house of God its true character rs "a house of prayer," all who desire to place no obstacle in the pathway of interior devotion in the church services, serv-ices, will look forward with consuming consum-ing interest to the gradual progress of the reform movement in these two great dioceses which have thus auspiciously aus-piciously entered upon the pathway of obedience to the commands of the Il dv Father. Easter in Germany. Easter morning in Germany today s very similar to the American children's conception of Christmas, except that instead of Santa Claus their dreams are filled with kind-hearted rabbits who make their homes throughout the year in deep holes in the sides of the mountains moun-tains and from there keep watch over children in order to ascertain which ones are worthy to receive their Easter Cift of etrgs. These they color and hide in all the nooks and crannies around the homes of good children on Easter eve. Early the next morning the children chil-dren assemble and join in the Eier Suction Su-ction or egg hunts. Another belief of the German children chil-dren is that rabbits lay colored eggs for them on Easter eve, and in order to find them they make attractive nests for bunny in convenient places and derive much enjoyment from their rabbit-egg hunts on Easter morning. |