The first principle of the Ordinariate is then about Christian unity. St. Basil the Great, the Church’s greatest ecumenist, literally expended his life on the work of building bridges between orthodox brethren who shared a common faith, but who had become separated from one another in a Church badly fragmented by heresy and controversy. He taught that the work of Christian unity requires deliberate and ceaseless effort...St. Basil often talked with yearning about the archaia agape, the ancient love of the apostolic community, so rarely seen in the Church of his day. This love, he taught, is a visible sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed present and active, and it is absolutely essential for the health of the Church.

- Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Homily on the Occasion of his Formal Institution as Ordinary

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Choral Vespers for the Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman

BY CHARLES COLE

Choral Vespers for the Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman will be broadcast live from Westminster Cathedral on BBC Radio 3 this Wednesday at 3.30pm. Appropriately much of the music is English, including Stanford's virtuosic double-choir setting of the Magnificat and also his beautiful Iustorum animae. The plainsong melody for the hymn Iste confessor is also English and is taken from the Bosworth Psalter. This year we mark the 50th anniversary of Poulenc's death, and the two choral pieces which frame the Vespers, the Introit and the Salve Regina, are both by the French composer.

Introit: Tout puissant (Poulenc)
Hymn: Iste confessor (Plainsong)
Psalms 14, 111 (Plainsong)
Canticle: Magna et mirabilia (Plainsong)
Responsory: Iustus Dominus (Plainsong)
Magnificat for Double Chorus, Op.164 (Stanford)
Motet: Iustorum animæ (Stanford)
Antiphon: Salve Regina (Poulenc)
Organ Voluntary: Præludium in E minor (Bruhns)

The Cathedral Choir is directed by the Master of Music, Martin Baker and the organ is played by the Assistant Master of Music, Peter Stevens.

from the New Liturgical Movement blog.

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