Wednesday, January 16
Extraordinary Extraordinary
Somehow this flew beneath my amazing Trid-dar (my ability to tell if someone is saying Incensum istud a te benedictum within a mile's distance), but there's a very fine article in Notre Dame Magazine about the return of the Tridentine Mass to campus. I may have not been there to witness it, but it's just another aspect of the long, gradual move towards a greater engagement with traditional liturgy and customs that my friends (and when I had time, I) helped in small ways to foster during our time on campus. Its continued health cheers me tremendously.
Incidentally, I was told, in passing, by a friend visiting from the school that the Mass is now a missa cantata rather than a simple Low Mass, though I'd be curious if anyone could confirm this. I'm also told it continues to be well-attended.
My only remark is the first paragraph of the article plays up the "diversity" angle a little too much (describing campus masses of both forms as drawing on "a sampler box of musical styles and aesthetic surroundings"). Don't panic, my dear readers, you shouldn't take that to mean Notre Dame is a liturgical cafeteria! We do have standards. While there's many different ways the mass is celebrated on campus at Notre Dame (some of which I prefer more than others, and some of which may be closer to the ideal than others), on the whole, the masses sponsored by the Basilica and Campus Ministry have long had a consistently good level of reverence and technical skill in music and execution; as Fr. Ayo says in the article, "If we’re going to do it at Notre Dame, we’re going to do it right." And it seems that's exactly what they're doing.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
