Today, instead of choirs of angels transporting someone into heaven, we’re more likely to hear of their being scooped up on bird wings. In the Mass of Christian Burial, vestments are usually white, symbolizing the Resurrection (though violet and black are approved colors). Many classical composers over the centuries have set those texts for the concert stage, so impressive are they.Īfter the Second Vatican Council, the emphasis at Catholic funerals shifted from sorrow of death to the joy of heaven. ![]() Traditional Latin chants were solemn and magnificent, the Introit, Requiem aeternam, asking for eternal rest the Sequence, Dies Irae, where one trembles at the thought of the Last Judgment and the celestial In Paradisum, where martyrs greet the deceased and a choir of angels receives him. The priest wore black vestments, signifying mourning. ![]() There was a time when Catholics were buried at a Requiem Mass. All rights reserved.Music for Catholic Funerals - or, But Uncle Horace Loved that Song! The Chapel remains open for private prayer.Ĭopyright © 2013 Abbey of Regina Laudis. *Exceptions: Tuesdays throughout the year and Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the summer months, Sext and None are sung inside the enclosure and therefore not open to the Public. The community finds in the Eucharist and the Divine Office, expressed through the Gregorian Chant-when properly rendered in the unanimity of a single voice (Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 19:7)-a form of prayer which remains eminently capable of imparting peace and of evoking the response of present-day man. The deepest form of communication which the nuns of Regina Laudis extend to each guest is the liturgy. It is our joy to be able to share our life through hospitality, and especially to invite our visitors and guests to be present in our chapel or church when the Divine Office is being chanted. The privilege of this vocation to praise is both demanding and deeply fulfilling. Nevertheless, the power of the Divine Office as a unifying and strengthening force in our life is evident, even for those new to the community.Īs we strive to live the motto of our Order, Ora et Labora (Pray and Work), it is the singing of the chant that continually brings us back to our common purpose as we are over and over again, called back to Choir, called by the bell from whatever manual work or study or other activity we may be engaged in, to sing the next Office, to re-center, together, in God. And certainly the experience of the Divine Office is a very personal one for each member of the Community. ![]() Of course it takes years of study, of Latin, of the Rule, of the Chant itself-rhythm, solfège, counting, and years of just singing together, and living together!-to feel “at home” with the Chant. We sing the psalms seven times a day and once in the night, in an arrangement very close to the schema set forth by our founder Saint Benedict in his Rule, 1500 years ago. Surely one of the ways that this value is gradually learned, practiced, and shared with others is through the singing of the Divine Office. It is our prayer that we may as a community witness to the value of living a life together with others. From Venite Seorsum as quoted in the Regina Laudis Constitutions
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