Tag Archives: sacred music

Restoring the Sacred

Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. John of Kanty, a 15th-century professor and priest in Krakow. He was known not only as an orthodox teacher of the faith, but also for his piety and kindness.

He is also known as St. John Cantius, perhaps even more so now with the establishment in 1998 of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, a thriving religious community of men under his patronage.

The members of the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius seek personal sanctity by imitating Christ in radical opposition to the values of this world. They wish to “Restore the Sacred” in the Church, in the world, and in their own lives in pursuit not only of their own sanctification, but also the salvation and sanctification of all.

The Canons Regular of St. John Cantius’ mission, in the context of parish ministry, is to help Catholics rediscover a profound sense of the sacred through solemn liturgies, devotions, sacred art, sacred music, as well as instruction in Church heritage, catechetics, and Catholic culture. Continue reading Restoring the Sacred

In Praise of Our King

As a gift to God for His goodness, and in response to many requests, the School Sisters of Christ the King have recorded a CD called “In Praise of our King.” The recording contains portions of the liturgy of the hours beautifully chanted by the sisters.

The CD is available, free of charge, upon request. They may be contacted at School Sisters of Christ the King, Villa Regina Motherhouse, 4100 SW 56th Street, Lincoln, NE 18522-9261.

While you’re at it, you might want to include with your request for the CD a tax-deductible gift to the sisters–not only to offset the cost of the CD, but even more to support the sisters and their apostolic works.

This relatively young community already staffs seven Catholic schools in the Diocese of Lincoln, but needs contributions to continue to train young sisters for this work.

Chants Occurrence

When my daughter Virginia was about a year old, I twice received calls that she was unconscious and being rushed to the hospital. (I hope you fathers out there never receive such a call.) Thanks be to God, on both occasions, by the time I arrived at the emergency room, she was awake and fine.

The second time she was knocked out, however, the doctors understandably wanted to do a CT scan to ensure that she didn’t have any lingering internal head injury. The problem is keeping a one-year old still during the procedure. The nurses suggested sedating her, but instead I asked if I could just sing to her.

So, I started gently singing various Marian antiphons, from the Ave Maria to the Alma Redemptoris Mater and Regina Caeli. These chants calmed her so that she was perfectly still and relaxed during the medical procedure.

I mention these chants here, because now that it’s Easter, the “Marian antiphon” of choice is the Regina Caeli (”Queen of Heaven”), which our family sings each evening after our Rosary. Here are the words for this beautiful chant:

Simple tone (Mode VI):
Regina Caeli

The English translation is:

Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
The Son whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
has risen as he said, alleluia.
Pray to God for us, alleluia.

Marian antiphons like the Regina Caeli are not only part of our rich Catholic patrimony, but they can also become part of the daily rhythm of our own families’ lives as well as the lives of religious communities.

 As the episode with Virginia shows, even on a natural level, these antiphons can be “holy lullabies,” gently leading our children to a deep, filial love for our Blessed Mother.

This article was originally published by Catholics United for the Faith.