It has been a year since we began using chanted prayer at Mass last October, and I want to revisit the Church’s understanding of what makes music “sacred” and “suitable for use” at the Sacrifice of the Mass. Pope St. Pius X summarized this teaching in his papal letter on sacred music, Tra le Sollecitudini. The opening line reads: “Among the concerns of the pastoral office…a leading one is, without question, maintaining and promoting the decorum of the House of God in which the august mysteries of religion are celebrated.” Pope Pius wrote this in 1903 when the influence of secular and theatrical fashions had unduly influenced sacred music. He taught, in keeping with the traditions of the Church, that “nothing should have place in the temple calculated to disturb or to diminish the piety and devotion of the faithful, nothing that may give reasonable cause for disgust or scandal, nothing which directly offends the decorum and sanctity of the sacred functions and is thus unworthy of the House of Prayer and of the Majesty of God.” His language is strong and may cause a twinge upon first read, but we can see from this that, because Mass is so important, our music at Mass is also very important!
The question of what kind of music is suitable for Mass is nothing new, but to understand we must first understand what Mass is, and why we are there in the first place. At Mass, we Christian faithful gather as the Body of Christ to offer worship to God the Father in union with Christ our Head, through His re-presented sacrifice for our salvation on the altar. This is an event of unparalleled dignity, unsurpassed worth, and infinite value, one which demands the utmost reverence and devotion. The Mass is serious business; it is the greatest treasure Christ entrusted to His Bride, the Church, and the Mass belongs first to the Church before it is the possession of any particular community. As the “property” of the Church, we must learn from the Church what She teaches about the Mass: what it is and how it ought to be celebrated. Not just anything goes, because anything admitted to the Temple must be worthy of the Temple. It boils down to the distinction between ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’: is this form of music, is this sound more in keeping with the secular (those things that belong outside the Temple) or the sacred (those things set aside for the Temple)? What is the sound of sacred music? Does the Church have anything to say about that? Well, she does! According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, music is considered sacred if it possesses three qualities:
- It must be holy, and must, therefore, exclude all profanity (from the Latin ‘profanum’, meaning “outside the temple”) not only in itself but also in the manner in which it is presented by those who execute it.
- It must be true art, for otherwise, it will be impossible for it to exercise on the minds of those who listen to it that efficacy which the Church aims at obtaining in admitting into her liturgy the art of musical sounds.
- It must be universal, in the sense that while every nation may admit into its church compositions the forms which are said to constitute its native music, these forms must still be subordinated to the general characteristics of sacred music, such that nobody of any nation may receive an impression other than ‘good’ on hearing them.
That’s quite a litmus test! Is there a form of music that is properly called “sacred” then? Yes! As St. Pius X taught, these three qualities are found in the highest degree in “Gregorian Chant”, and this is the music proper to the Church. It is the music she inherited from the ancient fathers, which has been developed and guarded quite jealously over the centuries; it is the music she offers to the faithful as “her own”, and which is so sacred that there are certain parts of Holy Mass for which no other form of music is suitable or worthy. For these reasons, Gregorian chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music, and so the following rule has been laid down regarding liturgical music: “the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration, and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple.”
This is hard to accept at first because it all seems so new. “Why have we never heard this before?” is a question that often comes up in conversations about music at Mass and what its purpose is, especially since what we do is very different from what’s been done, and even what is currently done in other places. But regardless of these tensions, this is the clear teaching of the Church as regards the purpose and use of music during our celebration of the Sacred Mysteries, something that has been “rediscovered of late” in the practice of the Church throughout the country and world. It challenges us, but we need to practice trust: everything the Church proposes for belief is intended to glorify God, save our souls, and sanctify our lives – it’s all for our good and to make us holy! It isn’t about disputing “tastes” or preferences, but about doing what is right and just. If we approach these things with faith, trust, humility, and an openness to being transformed by God and immersed more deeply in His life through our celebration of the Mass, I know the Church will be proven right: we will see that through our efforts God will be glorified and we will become saints, which is the only reason the Church asks us to do any of the things she does. May God bless you in the week ahead and may Mother Mary lead you more deeply into the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus. I remain,
Affectionately Yours in Christ,
Fr. Hess
