Procession of Palms: Latin Rite in Scotland

Here is the procession of Palms from a Latin Rite church in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The service starts outside the church, with the reading of the gospel account of Palm Sunday and the response of "Hosanna!" by the congregation.

The congregation then processes into the church. In English-speaking congregations, they sing All Glory, Laud, and Honor during the procession.    Perhaps you Latin or liturgical scholars out there can tell us if this Latin chant is a similar text.

The Annunciation of Our Lord: Biebl's Ave Maria

It seems odd that we would celebrate something so "Christmassy" during Lent.  It takes a little biological understanding to get this one.  Tradition holds this to be the day Christ was crucified, which in turn also holds that this is the day Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  This places the real-time celebration of the Annunciation of Our Lord nine months before the celebration of His birth at Christmas.

The Annunciation celebrates the Angle Gabriel's appearance to Mary, announcing that she will conceive by the Holy Spirit.  The Angel Gabriel tells Mary:

Hail, thou that art highly favoured,
the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women.

This forms the basis for the beginning lines of the Ave Maria, which is drawn directly from the Latin translation of the Bible (Luke 1:28).

Áve [María], grátia pléna,
Dóminus técum.
Benedícta tu in muliéribus...

Hail [Mary], full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women...

The next line is also drawn directly from Scripture (Luke 1:42). They are the words Elizabeth proclaimed to Mary.

...et benedictus fructus ventris tui [Iesus].
...and blessed is the fruit of your womb [Jesus].

Of course, Protestants don't have a problem reciting or singing words of Scripture. The issue is with praying to the saints.

That being said, here is a wonderful setting of Ave Maria in Latin by 20th century composer Franz Biebl. It includes parts of the narrative from Luke 1 and John 1, and is based on the Roman Catholic tradition of The Angelus.  It should be noted that the Seminary Chorus at Concordia, St. Louis, does an English version of Biebl's work which revises the lyrics so that they fully reflect the teaching of Scripture.

The inclusion of the "Ave Maria" and the "Angelus" here is not an endorsement of the "intersession of the saints."

UPDATE #2: Sound of Majesty Celebrates Bach's Birthday!

UPDATE:  Audio issues have been resolved and the show is now posted.

Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Sound of Majesty will have it's entire program devoted to everyone's favorite Kantor.

You can catch the live broadcast at Midnight ET tonight over at moodyradiochicago.fm. Not planning to be up that late? The show will post here today and be archived here tomorrow.

And remember Iggy's soon-to-be-famous saying, "If it ain't baroque, fix it!"

Here's the Agnus Dei from Bach's "Mass in b-minor" (German: Messe en h-moll), complete with a bonafide countertenor (in other words, a male alto). One could do a series of posts just on this section, but this blogger has enough unfinished things on his plate, so just enjoy!

Young Talent: Bethany Lutheran Madrigal Singers

The Madrigal Singers from Bethany Lutheran, Naperville, IL, received "first division" in a recent solo and ensemble competition.

HT: Cheryl at A Round Unvarnish'd Tale, whose daughter is in the group.

Sing We, Dance We, On the Green
Francis Pilkington (1565-1638)

Know of any other young talent just waiting to be discovered? Drop a link to the video in any comment box and it will be considered.

St Joseph, Guardian of our Lord

Today commemorates the earthly father of Jesus. Joseph was in many ways a step-father to Jesus. As we confess in the creeds, Jesus was "conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary."

Very little is spoken of Joseph in the Bible, which leads to all sorts of folk lore and folk hymnody, like this one, a lullaby in which Mary addresses Joseph in the first verse and Joseph responds in the second verse.

Like many folk carols, this one isn't typically found in denominational hymnals, since the words of Mary and Joseph are not found in Scripture. You will find the tune, though, with a translation of the Latin Carol Resonet in Laudibus.

Please note that as this is a folk hymn Russian folk images are used in the video of a German carol.

Here is the poetic translation of the German.

“Joseph dearest, Joseph mine,
Help me cradle the Child divine;
God reward thee and all that’s thine
In paradise,” so prays the mother Mary.

He came among us at Christmastide,
At Christmastide, in Bethlehem;
Men shall bring Him from far and wide
Love’s diadem:
Jesus, Jesus,
Lo, He comes, and loves,
and saves, and frees us!



“Gladly, dear one, lady mine,
Help I cradle this child of thine;
God’s own light on us both shall shine
In paradise, as prays the mother Mary.”

He came among us at Christmastide,
At Christmastide, in Bethlehem;
Men shall bring Him from far and wide
Love’s diadem:
Jesus, Jesus,
Lo, He comes, and loves,
and saves, and frees us!

Just for Fun: Daniel Boone was a man...

...was a BIG MAN

With an eye like an eagle

and as tall as a mountain was he!

HT: Ben on Facebook

Just for Fun: King of the Wild Frontier

Actor Fess Parker passed away today.  He played both Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on television.  These shows didn't run very long in prime time, but they did run in syndication for years afterward.  As a kid, I would watch them on Saturday afternoon when a sports game wasn't on, perhaps just before the 6 pm news.

Here's The Ballad of Davy Crockett, the long play version from the soundtrack to the theatrical movie. Disney connected the first three television episodes to make a feature-length presentation.

Davy, Davy Crockett,
King of the wild frontier!