CROSIER HERITAG - Canons Regular Blog
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<strong>CROSIER</strong><br />
<strong>HERITAG</strong><br />
IN umber JTwelv e May 1984<br />
FOIE<br />
tt li<br />
Homily of Rev Richard Leliaert, O.S.C.<br />
for the Third Sunday of Easter as given at the<br />
Closing Liturgy of the meetings of the<br />
Crosier Heritage Association<br />
and the<br />
American Community of <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong>.<br />
Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 12, 1984<br />
Let's not use the word 'heritage' very lightly! In one of<br />
the talks today, the speaker used the word 'patrimonium' for<br />
'heritage'. It is true that the Lord Jesus has given all of us a<br />
heritage. First of all through our baptism by which he<br />
empowers each of us with the riches of the spiritual life. He<br />
came, as the Gospel says, that we may have life and that we<br />
may have it to the full. As <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> we are stewards<br />
of that precious heritage given to us by Jesus, and in a special<br />
way. Today we symbolically enter into that heritage by the<br />
special symbol of celebrating the Eucharist in unity at the<br />
Lord's table here in the Cathedral Church of St. Augustine<br />
whose rule we follow and whose basic spirit is summed up in<br />
that one word—love. The type of love that we are<br />
celebrating makes one separate oneself from what is truly evil,<br />
and makes us cling to the only one who can fill us with life:<br />
Jesus. We are stewards of the manifold riches of the grace of<br />
Christ. As stewards we must be good shepherds.<br />
On my last birthday, some friends of mine gave me a<br />
party and the host told me to wait after everyone had left.<br />
He came out of the room and he was carrying what looked like<br />
an oversized cane. It was a very tall cane which turned out<br />
to be a genuine shepherd's crook about five feet high. It was<br />
the real McCoy—the kind of shepherd's crook they use in Wales<br />
and he said, 'This is your birthday present'. I don't talk about<br />
that too openly because people might misinterpret it as a<br />
bishop's crozier! But I really appreciate Bob's having given<br />
me that very thoughtful gift. It has nothing to do with<br />
ambition, but it is a kind of reminder that we are to be good<br />
shepherds. You all know that a shepherd's crook has two<br />
parts. The loop at the top is symbolic of the service we have<br />
to render in the spirit of Christ to those who need it, to those<br />
who may stray from the way, to those who may have been<br />
crippled in their spiritual life, to give them that gentle tug<br />
back to Christ, so £hat Christ may take them on his shoulders<br />
and lead them home.<br />
The other part of the shepherd's crook is the butt end<br />
with which you nudge the sheep who move apart, those who<br />
decide to follow their own way, or those who do not live out<br />
their baptismal commitment. In this day and age, I know<br />
know it is not considered kosher to reflect on this part of being<br />
a steward or shepherd. But sometimes we have to be like the<br />
apostles on Pentecost and stand up and call for renewal and<br />
reformation, not only of our own lives but of those to whom we<br />
minister. A fact that has never won popularity contests is<br />
that there is a right time for that end of the shepherd's crook<br />
and that makes the call to be a shepherd a kind of a Cross:<br />
We know that we human beings are weak and that our brethren<br />
need the support and strength of a shepherd. Yet, as Peter<br />
says in the second reading, we are called to set an example, an<br />
example not only of the risen Christ but of the suffering Christ<br />
who gives his life for the sheep. When the life of the sheep is<br />
threatened by any type of fad or conduct or lifestyle that is<br />
really opposite to the Gospel we need in our sense of<br />
stewardship as shepherds to stand up and call for reform and<br />
renewal.<br />
So the opening prayer of the Mass today is very timely<br />
for all of us. We ask our God that our own ears, hearts, and<br />
minds—our whole being—will be attuned to the sound of his<br />
voice and we may walk in the way he has shown. It's a very<br />
difficult challenge—in the days of the gospel, in the medieval<br />
period, and today. The voice of Christ the shepherd through<br />
the centuries calls all of us not only to renewal but also to<br />
truly enjoy savoring the manifold riches of the grace of Christ.<br />
My prayer is that we will recall our precious heritage and ask<br />
for the grace of wisdom from the Holy Spirit that we need to<br />
be attuned to the sound of Christ's voice so that we may walk<br />
in the path He has shown, not just for our sakes but for the<br />
sake of the People of God in. the call of the Spirit. May God<br />
be with you all, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of<br />
the Holy Spirit. Amen.o<br />
Some of those who attended the first meeting of the<br />
Crosier Heritage Association in Kalamazoo. Picture<br />
key on page 10
Ariicl es<br />
Thoughts on<br />
The Spirituality of the Order<br />
by Brother Dirk Wasserfuhr, O.S.Cr.<br />
tr by Rev Bernard Leisenheimer, O.S.Cr.<br />
FRACRES<br />
CRUCI-<br />
SIGNATI<br />
SANCTI<br />
AUGUSe<br />
1NI++ +<br />
"IF YOU WANT TO BE A <strong>CROSIER</strong>, THEN TAKE UPON<br />
YOURSELF EVERYTHING WHICH IS THE CROSS."<br />
—(Prior General Petrus Pincharius, OSC written in the<br />
second half of the 14th Century in the VESTIS NUPTIALIS,<br />
page 325)<br />
This statement of Petrus Pincharius (died 1382) is<br />
indeed one of the most significant expressions of the Order's<br />
spirituality that has been handed down to us. That this<br />
"taking upon yourself" of the cross belongs to the very center<br />
and is indeed the life-giving source of the Order is obvious<br />
from the Order's history. Every time this key aspect of the<br />
Order's spirituality was lost or shoved in the background it<br />
meant a decline or even decay.<br />
It was in such a way that the Brethren of the Cross<br />
attempted to idealize and to realize their "vita mixta". In<br />
other words their prayer and contemplation, centering around<br />
the cross and passion, sought to be the foundation for their<br />
service of their neighbor on the one hand. In addition, this<br />
apostolate toward the suffering and needy allowed new<br />
perspectives and impulses for their prayer and worship. The<br />
contemplative and active elements of their ideal were<br />
correlational—their spirituality was not isolated within the<br />
walls of their churches, rather it permeated their entire living<br />
area.<br />
In the interest of a renewal and an enlivening of the<br />
spirit of the Order I would like to attempt a protrayal of how<br />
the past Brethren of the Holy Cross sought to express this<br />
spirituality in order to help inspire our contemporary life and<br />
apostolate.<br />
Numerous sources evidence the fact that our<br />
medieval monasteries very often had a place for giving alms,<br />
caring for the sick and travelers (of the book SIE TEILTEN<br />
MIT JEDERMANN, Bonn 1978, by Rev. Dr. Piet van den Bosch,<br />
OSC). The ideal of the "vita mixta" was at work here: the<br />
contemplative was to be mirrored in the active - in fact it had<br />
to be if the ideal was real and alive. By looking at what the<br />
early Crosiers did we can clearly trace a connection to their<br />
spirituality.<br />
The Cross and the Passion of Christ—the two pillars<br />
of the Order's spirituality—could find no better expression<br />
than in the care of the sick, the poor, the suffering and the<br />
needy. The person of faith knows who it is that he encounters<br />
when he serves such people, "and if you do this to the least..."<br />
(of Mathew 25:34-40). How does Christ better reveal himself<br />
as the suffering servant, the man of sorrows, than in all of<br />
these The repeated protrayal of the man of sorrows and the<br />
sorrowful mother (expecially those dating from the era of the<br />
"devotio moderns") in the oldest churches of the Order gives<br />
concrete expression to this notion.<br />
"The Man of Sorrows"<br />
Detail of a chasuble, late 15th Century embroidery.<br />
Crosier Monastery of Liebfrauenthaf, Ehrenstein.<br />
XII, 10, bw
Is it possible that the ministry of a religious or of any<br />
person of faith be fruitful and valuable without the strength<br />
found in prayer and worship In the same way prayer is<br />
senseless, and empty form, unless it finds expression in<br />
"doing". Keeping the conviction of Augustine's Rule in mind-<br />
-"When you pray...let your heart be attentive to what your lips<br />
are speaking." (Chapter 3)—we might continue: "What you<br />
pray should become visible in your deeds and what you busy<br />
yourself with should find its place again in your praying."<br />
Anything else would be a denial and ridicule of the deepest<br />
center of the "vita mixta" as spirit and charism of the Order.<br />
Detail of a baroque etching of the martyrdom of<br />
St OdUia with "Crosier Saints": (top) the Man of<br />
Sorrows with angels carrying tools of the passion;<br />
(from left to right) Quiriacus, Peter, Philip, Helena,<br />
Andrew, Augustine; (center) the Martyrdom of<br />
St Odilia. Printed in Cologne in the early 17th Century.<br />
As mentioned above, our monasteries and churches<br />
held numerous portrayals of the man of sorrows and the<br />
sorrowful mother—the Pieta'. If the suffering Christ<br />
concentrates our attention especially on physical suffering,<br />
then the figure of Mary reveals one who endured deep<br />
psychological pain: "and your very soul will be pierced with a<br />
sword." The Pieta1 combines these two sufferings. Was the<br />
Pieta1 the summary of all that the early Crosiers saw as their<br />
task: ministry to the whole person, the binding up of<br />
physical as<br />
The<br />
Pieta':<br />
Summary of ministry to the whole<br />
person.<br />
well as psychological wounds, a "nursing to health" of the<br />
whole person To do this the monasteries had to be open<br />
houses, as is evident by looking at the city character of our<br />
monasteries, most often near a gate, as well as the country<br />
monasteries, which were most often on "highways". We<br />
probably need not wonder for very long where the roots of<br />
hospitality in the Order are to be found. If the monasteries<br />
and those who live in them are not only there for their own<br />
salvation, then such hospitality will have to take a<br />
predominant place in their lives.<br />
The "Crucified and Resurrected Christ"<br />
Detail of a chalice veil, early 16th Century,<br />
Gold-thread embroidery.<br />
Crosier Monastery of St Agatha near Cuijk,<br />
II,<br />
10, bw<br />
The Netherlands<br />
The Cross: middle point, pivot and sign of the<br />
Order. On the one hand the instrument of death and<br />
martyrdom, but in faith the eternal victory through pain and<br />
ignominy, over suffering and sin. Through death is death<br />
destroyed; through suffering is suffering annihilated. That<br />
was the good news the early Crosiers had to tell in their<br />
ministry to the suffering and needy: the cross, the sign of<br />
hope, of salvation, of life, of strength, of the way to joy:<br />
Life-giving hope is able to spring from hopelessness.<br />
Expression of this came again and again in figures of the<br />
resurrected Christ and the martyrs, especially those who were<br />
crucified.<br />
The cross is the new sign of salvation which Moses<br />
once raised in the copper serpent in the desert: all who look<br />
upon it will healed. All this found expression in the name of<br />
these brethren: cruciferi—those who bore the cross; those<br />
who helped the weak and needy to carry their cross, thus<br />
making it lighter. Cross-bearers in a literal sense.<br />
Is it not necessary to reflect anew on this early ideal<br />
and expression of the Brethren of the Cross today, to call it to<br />
mind once again It is more than obvious in our time, in our<br />
society, which seems to have everything to offer, that many<br />
are psychologically sick, empty, hollow. An indication of this<br />
can be found alone in the divorce rate, indeed in the inability,
The cry of loneliness:<br />
"Why have you forsaken me"<br />
is everywhere today.<br />
especially among the young people, to make any sort of<br />
committment at all. The incredible loneliness and resignation<br />
among young and old alike, particularly in the large cities,<br />
belongs to the everyday experience. It is a loneliness that<br />
leads to the cross again: "My God, my God, why have you<br />
foresaken me!" The echo of these words has grown in more<br />
and more people in our day. The burden of this cry becomes<br />
more deafening and hardly any one person can bear it alone.<br />
Is it a special call to us<br />
Likewise the consumer society had influenced the<br />
atmosphere of our hospitals and old folk's homes. Ultra<br />
modern in every technical sense, they are often lacking<br />
bitterly in the human and religious motivation (beyond the "job<br />
mentality',1) needed to really care for the physical and<br />
psychological needs of the sick, the old and the handicapped.<br />
The ministry to those on the lowest scale of the social ladder<br />
belong to this group as well.<br />
The spirituality of the Order might well find<br />
expression in renewed efforts to enliven the practice of the<br />
Sacrament of Penance, of "individual pastoral care"<br />
("Einzelseelsorge"). That is a hospitality that goes much<br />
deeper than merely eating and drinking (though it might<br />
include that as well). How can our monasteries become more<br />
and more "alms-houses" again What do we have to give<br />
Are we willing to give it These are questions we need to<br />
consider and answer.<br />
The "Finding of the Cross" by Saints Quiriacus and Helena.<br />
Detail of a chasuble, Neo-Gothic. Vii 8 bw<br />
Crosier Monastery of Our Lady of the Linden<br />
Uden, The Netherlands.<br />
But the final answer lies in our seriousness toward a<br />
renewed and enlivening practice of the "vita mixta". Only<br />
then can the above considerations bear fruit when we are<br />
ready to draw more deeply on the charism of the OrderJo<br />
Father Leisenheimer, O.S.Cr.<br />
6. IX. 1983
Norbert Of Xantetl... the peacemaker<br />
by Rev Theodore Antry, 0. Praetn.*<br />
The standard image that we have of St Norbert of Xanten<br />
needs to be developed a bit. He is usually seen as a proponent<br />
of the Blessed Sacrament, but there is another element that<br />
plays another theme in the early lives of Norbert.<br />
This year 1984 we Norbertines are celebrating the<br />
"Norbert Year". It is the 850th anniversary of his death—<br />
June 6, 1134. We have been celebrating it, not as the closing<br />
of a past event, but as a beginning. The committee of our<br />
June 6, 1984<br />
850th Anniversary of the Death<br />
of St Norbert<br />
abbey which has organized the program for this special year<br />
wanted to raise the consciousness of Norbert's charism, and by<br />
doing that we can make him a part of ourselves and thus to<br />
communicate him to those whom we serve.<br />
We have struck a commemorative medal on which is<br />
perhaps the standard picture of Norbert, portrayed, as he<br />
usually is, holding a cup and bread or a monstrance or some<br />
other form of eucharistic symbolism. But on the reverse side<br />
of the medal we have the words, "Minister of Peace and<br />
Concord. Exhorting and Reconciling Enemies. Reducing old<br />
hatreds to Peace." Those words come from the early life of<br />
Norbert, called "Vita A". Most of us who would have read the<br />
life of Norbert would wonder about the connection between<br />
those words and what we know about Norbert. Norbert was<br />
the founder of the Norbertine Order and archbishop of<br />
Magdeburg in Germany. He is a reformer of clergy and of<br />
canonical life, and a defender of the Blessed Sacrament.<br />
So what is this about peacemaking Every once in a<br />
while it is good to go back and read the sources. When we go<br />
back we find that sometimes we are seeing something different<br />
than we had previously imagined. Sometimes the sources have<br />
been used in a particular way throughout history and perhaps<br />
there is something more that hadn't been noticed. What do I<br />
mean Since the late 16th century Norbert has been<br />
portrayed as a eucharistic defender. Part of this was due to<br />
the fact that during this time the real presence in the<br />
eucharist was being denied by some. We needed somebody to<br />
foster the doctrine of the real presence and to bring out the<br />
importance of the Eucharist in Catholic life. Norbert was<br />
portrayed with that image. It was indeed a valid image—a<br />
very valid image, because Norbert was the promoter of the<br />
Eucharist. Norbert had preached against the eucharistic<br />
heresy in Antwerp. This particular emphasis took on extra<br />
Norbert has been portrayed<br />
as a eucharistic defender.<br />
proportions because of the Protestant Reformation and<br />
because at the time orders were being founded for specific<br />
purposes rather than for a lifestyle, and this eucharistic image<br />
could be given as a rationale for the existence of our order.<br />
We were to foster the Eucharist, and we were to have a special<br />
devotion to the Eucharist. But there are other images of<br />
Norbert, and I suggest that we reread the sources, that we go<br />
back to the early lives of Norbert. We may find that in<br />
different periods of history different elements of our heroes<br />
are emphasized. In a sense, we can rewrite history. In the<br />
16th century it was rewritten to emphasize the Eucharist, and<br />
I propose that we rewrite it again to look at this new Norbert.<br />
From the 14th century we have two pictures of Norbert.<br />
A small wood cut from the Abbey of Schlagl in Austria and is<br />
dated 1482. There is also a fresco from a former abbey of the<br />
Order in Italy from the 14th century. Both picture him with a<br />
book, rather than the Eucharist. These images of Norbert<br />
postdate him by 300 years, but they still come from the period<br />
before the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation at which<br />
time orders emphasized particular reasons for their existence.<br />
Perhaps they represent a truer image of Norbert and what he<br />
stood<br />
for.<br />
There are also two early lives of Norbert, refered to<br />
simply as "A" and "B", with "B" being the earlier known. "A"<br />
wasn't discovered until about 1856 when it was published in<br />
Monumenta Germania Historica. It is a briefer life of Norbert<br />
than "B", with "B" expanding everything at "A" contains.<br />
"A" is considered more historically correct, while "B" is more<br />
homiletical and scripturally oriented, illustrating the events of<br />
Norbert's life. In these works Norbert is presented as a<br />
preacher. There are 23 chapters in the Vita A, and 11 of<br />
those chapters speak expressly about Norbert going out to<br />
preach, with Hugh of Fosse as first follower, going from town<br />
to town with crowds coming out to him. It's as if the word<br />
goes out before him from town to town and the people come out<br />
to meet him. Five of those 11 chapters speak of him as a<br />
peacemaker. The entire Chapter Seven is devoted to one<br />
story of his peacemaking, and half of Chapter Eight is devoted<br />
to another story. The author of Vita A is very explicit in<br />
these stories, and to give an ideal of the way Norbert worked, I<br />
would like to follow one story step-by-step.<br />
Norbert enters the town of Fosse where Hugh came from<br />
and where he is well known. The people gather around him<br />
and refer to him as a man of peace. They report and there is a<br />
dispute in the town which is very destructive. People are
losing their land, their crops, because of the opposing parties.<br />
There have been at least 60 people who have been killed.<br />
While they are telling Norbert the facts, a man approaches<br />
whose brother was killed the week before. Norbert goes up to<br />
him, and says, "lama stranger in this place, and I will soon be<br />
passing on, but I would like to ask you a favor. I would like<br />
you to forgive those who killed your brother." The man is<br />
moved by Norbert and says, "Father, I see you are a man of<br />
God, so I will do this. I will grant them forgiveness." The<br />
following Saturday the opposing parties come together and<br />
Norbert is there, but first he just prays in his room for a long<br />
time, almost to the point where the people are beginning to<br />
wander away—they are getting tired of waiting for him.<br />
Hugh goes in and says to him, "The people are asking what is<br />
happening to you." He answers, "God has to be served<br />
according to his ways, not the ways of man." Finally Norbert<br />
comes out and celebrates the mass of the Virgin Mary; then he<br />
celebrates a mass for the deceased to have been killed in the<br />
dispute. Then he holds a long sermon on the theme of the<br />
Scripture that the Lord sent his disciples out with the<br />
instruction to say "Peace to this house!"; if there is a man of<br />
peace who lives there, peace will rest upon the house. Finally<br />
the relics of the local church are brought out, and the<br />
disputing parties gather on either side and by oath they decide<br />
to put aside their discord, and peace as been brought about.<br />
I think we can take that story as a general pattern of<br />
how Norbert would have proceeded when he went from town to<br />
town, although the author merely reports that Norbert went<br />
preaching from town to town and reconciling disputes.<br />
There is another story in Chapter Eight in which Norbert<br />
goes to a town where two noblemen ask Norbert to make<br />
peace. He speaks to one man and asks him to be reconciled.<br />
He says, "God looks over you, and he wants you to be a man of<br />
peace. The man agrees. Then Norbert goes to the other<br />
man, but sees that he is very wild, a man of fighting temper and<br />
angry. Norbert says that this man is mad and will never make<br />
peace, but that he foresees the end of this man. The author<br />
of Vita A says that within a week this man had been attacked,<br />
taken prisoner, and killed.<br />
The early image of Norbert is that of a preacher holding<br />
a book. He has in our time been known as the Apostle of the<br />
Blessed Sacrament, Defender of the Eucharist. In our own<br />
time, when peace is such an issue and when we must deal with<br />
the nuclear threat, we need a man of peace. We need a<br />
patron of peace in the world. There are many patrons, and<br />
perhaps we have not been looking to saints for assistance, but<br />
as began this year looking at our founder, looking back at our<br />
roots, trying to see what those roots have to offer, trying to<br />
In our own tine,<br />
Peace is such an issue<br />
that we need a man of peace.<br />
understand the charism of Norbert, I think we can try to take<br />
on, at least in our own order, the sense of Norbert as<br />
peacemaker, and to try to pass this word of peace on to others.<br />
A good householder can look in his pantry for both the old and<br />
the new. This image of Norbert is new, but it is in a sense an<br />
old one as we see Norbert preaching from town to town the<br />
proclamation of the Word of God, a message of peace.©<br />
♦Father Ted Antry is prior at Daylesford Abbey in Paoli,<br />
Pennsylvania, and novicemaster. This paper was presented on<br />
May 11,1984, in the Symposium on <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> at the 19th<br />
International Congress of Medieval Studies at Western<br />
Michigan University.<br />
The Cathedral Liturgy...<br />
A Canonical<br />
Future<br />
by Rev Gaston Fontaine*<br />
Canon <strong>Regular</strong> of the Immaculate Conception<br />
Part I: History of the Liturgical Function<br />
of Cathedral Chapters<br />
The new Code of Canon Law, in effect since<br />
November 27, 1983, defines chapters of canons thus:<br />
"The Chapter of canons, whether cathedral or<br />
collegial, is a college of priests, whose role is to<br />
celebrate the more solemn liturgical functions in a<br />
cathedral or a collegiate church. It is for the<br />
cathedral chapter, besides, to fulfill those roles<br />
a entrusted to it by law or by the diocesan bishop." (1)<br />
The whole history of the life of clerics is recalled<br />
with this definition, from their origins which established the<br />
basic principle of liturgical prayer in each particular church,<br />
to the most recent changes in the chapters and in canonical<br />
communities. I would like to note briefly here some phases of<br />
this historical evolution.<br />
1. Let us take note, as our point of departure, of the<br />
decisive influence that the monastic rules, since Cassian (c.<br />
435) and above all St. Benedict (c. 540) exercised on the<br />
Divine Office of other churches, taking into consideration the<br />
general organization, of its structure and elements.
2. The Ecclesia or Basilica senior, where the bishop<br />
had his chair (cathedra) was the center of all religious activity<br />
for the clerics, who remained closely united to the bishop.<br />
Even when, after the sixth century, the worship and<br />
ecclesiastical administration underwent a decentralization,<br />
the liturgy of the churches, both urban and rural, remained<br />
dependent on that of the cathedral church. All clerics<br />
remained attached to the service of that church presided over<br />
by the bishop; they formed his presbyterium, even if they<br />
performed permanent or occasional ministry in other places of<br />
worship in the city and its environs. The liturgical office was<br />
distributed among these different places of worship and their<br />
clergy. The cathedral was the place where the liturgical<br />
celebration reached its most complete development, because it<br />
profited from the presence both of the bishop—principal<br />
liturgist and leader of prayer—and of a more important<br />
presbyterium. The clerics of all orders had to participate in<br />
these celebrations, at least on certain days, each according to<br />
his rank.<br />
3. St. Chrodegang, bishop of Metz from 746 to 766,<br />
undoubtedly found the model for the canonical organization of<br />
the Divine Office in the liturgy of the great basilicas in Rome<br />
which were served by monastic communities. His program<br />
was demanding: he wanted "all clerics to come to the Divine<br />
Office (at the cathedral) for all the canonical hours" or to<br />
make up for it privately. (2) These demands were not fully<br />
adopted immediately by all chapters of canons, but this<br />
program was a guide for the future.<br />
This was one of the major elements of this canonical<br />
life which royal, imperial, and synodal chapters strove to<br />
restore. The Divine Office became one of the most important<br />
functions of priests and clerics in cathedrals, collegial<br />
churches, and other important places of worship. One after<br />
another, the provincial councils of the ninth century "insisted<br />
on the organization of the 'canonical1 life for all clerics in<br />
terms of the duty incumbent upon them to be at the service of<br />
their church, and their obligation to participate in the choral<br />
office." (3) The Roman Synod of 826 established the<br />
principle; there could not be a church without regular<br />
celebration of the Divine Office. (4)<br />
4. As a matter of fact, during the succeeding<br />
centuries, a very sensible evolution of the obligation to recite<br />
the Office became a reality, and its private recitation became<br />
more and more frequent and even normal for many clerics,<br />
because of the demands of the ministry, studies in the<br />
Universities, itinerant preaching, outside duties, and also<br />
because of negligence and lack of fervor. Nevertheless,<br />
innumerable provincial councils, synodal constitutions, and<br />
episcopal decrees from the 13th to the 16th centruy<br />
maintained the tradition of the choral office and its obligation.<br />
(5) The Decretals of Clement V (1305-1314), while again<br />
insisting upon the obligation of solemn celebration, established<br />
a distinction (dating back to the Council of Vienna) between<br />
the "cathedral, regular, and collegial churches, where it was<br />
necessary to chant with devotion at the prescribed hours, and<br />
other churches where the celebration of the daily and nightly<br />
office took place in a suitable manner and according to the<br />
rule (but more simply)." (6)<br />
At its 21st session on June 9, 1435, the Council of<br />
Basle prescribed that "in all cathedral or collegial churches<br />
the canonical hours be chanted by all in common at the<br />
prescribed hours, not in haste and quickly, but very calmly and<br />
slowly with reverence." (7)<br />
5. The Council of Trent would recall twice the<br />
obligation of the choral office even in parish churches:<br />
"In all parish churches or those that have baptismal<br />
fonts, in which the people are so numerous that one<br />
rector alone is not sufficient for the administration<br />
of the sacraments of the Church and for the<br />
performance of divine worship, the bishops...will<br />
oblige the rectors to take as assistants...as many<br />
priests as necessary for the administration of the<br />
sacraments and celebration of divine worship"<br />
(Session 21, Decree of reform, canon 4). (8)<br />
In Session 24 the Council offered the participation in<br />
the cathedral office as the first obligation of canons. (9)<br />
By publishing on July 9,1568 the Bull, "Quod a nobis,"<br />
Pius V imposed the celebration of the new Breviariurn<br />
Romanum on "all churches, monasteries, orders, and places,<br />
even those that were exempt, in the entire world where the<br />
Office of the Roman Church was compulsory or was said<br />
according to custom."<br />
6. The institution, on the one hand, of orders and<br />
congregations who did not have the obligation of choral office,<br />
for example the Society of Jesus; and on the other hand, the<br />
orientation of 17th century spirituality ("the breviary became<br />
a priestly 'devotion,' tied to reception of sacred orders" (10));<br />
and as a result, the general practice of private recitation of<br />
the Office, all these things which profoundly marked the<br />
Church's life in these last three centuries, make clear by<br />
contrast the privileged, ideal, and exemplary nature of the<br />
choral celebration of.the liturgy in cathedral chapters and<br />
canonical or monastic communities.<br />
Part II: The Solemn Celebration of the Liturgy<br />
1. Before the reform of Vatican II, liturgical books<br />
called "a solemn Mass" a Mass:<br />
—celebrated with a certain number of ministers: bishop or<br />
priest, deacon and subdeacon, acolytes, thurifer, and master<br />
of ceremonies, if necessary;<br />
—and sung throughout: celebrant's prayers chanted, sung<br />
readings, sung propers and ordinaries.<br />
The capitular or conventual Mass normally had to be a<br />
solemn high Mass or at least a Mass with singing throughout.<br />
When speaking of a "solemn office," one usually<br />
called to mind one or other or all of the following elements:<br />
—an exceptional or important occasion, a great religious or<br />
civil festival;<br />
—particular dignity of the president (bishop or prelate);<br />
—the presence of a number of clergy, with dignitaries;<br />
—the presence of a number of acolytes and choir boys;<br />
—magnificent singing, ordinarily polyphonic, and instrumental<br />
music (organ, orchestra);<br />
—auspicious decorations: hangings, banners, bunting,<br />
flowers, lamps.<br />
The people present were evidently not considered,<br />
they were reduced to the role of mute spectators!
2. Happily, the liturgical reform of Vatican II has<br />
established some more serious norms for "solemn" celebration<br />
of the liturgy.<br />
Here are three major texts:<br />
2.1 Article 113 of the Constitution on the Liturgy<br />
enumerates three elements which constitute the "forma<br />
nobilior" (nobler form):<br />
"Liturgical worship is given a more noble form<br />
—when the Divine Office is celebrated solemnly with song,<br />
—with the assistance of sacred ministers,<br />
—and the active participation of the people"<br />
(the text is taken up again word for word in the<br />
Instruction "Musicam sacram," n. 5).<br />
2.2 According to the Instruction "Musicam sacram"<br />
(March 5, 1967), n. 11:<br />
"The true solemnity of liturgical worship<br />
—depends less on a more ornate form of singing<br />
—and a more magnificent ceremonial<br />
—than on its worthy and religious celebration, which takes<br />
into account the integrity of the liturgical<br />
celebration itself, and the performance of each of its<br />
parts according to their own particular nature."<br />
2.3 In short, regarding singing, the General<br />
Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours, n. 273 establishes the<br />
principle of "progressive solemnity," which<br />
"--admits several intermediate stages between the singing of<br />
the Office in its entirety and the simple recitation of<br />
all its parts."<br />
"—This principle offers a considerable and pleasing variety;"<br />
—it permits in each part of the celebration a re-discovery of<br />
"its meaning and original function;"<br />
—it admits a realization "of the day or the hour which is being<br />
celebrated, (...)<br />
—of the numerical importance or the character of the<br />
community."<br />
3. From these texts and from other documents of<br />
the liturgical reform, the principle of solemn celebration can<br />
be established in the following way:<br />
3.1 The solemn celebration is the model celebration,<br />
where the liturgical action attains maximum expressiveness,<br />
significance, and effectiveness.<br />
3.5 Every enhancement of the liturgy requires as<br />
much research as possible into the full, active, and conscious<br />
participation of the faithful, both interiorly and exteriorly.<br />
This participation is "required by the very nature of the<br />
liturgy" and it is "a right and duty for the Christian people."<br />
(15)<br />
3.6 The eucharistic celebration "is the center of<br />
the whole Christian life for the Church, both universal and<br />
local, and for each member of the faithful." It is the supreme<br />
liturgical act to which "are linked all other actions and works<br />
of the Christian life" which find in it "their source and their<br />
end." (16)<br />
3.7 The most excellent form of this celebration is<br />
concelebration. This form does not exist merely in order to<br />
"enhance the exterior solemnity of the rite, but also to<br />
illuminate with greater clarity the mystery of the Church,<br />
which is the sacrament of unity." (17)<br />
3.8 "The more complete solemn form of liturgical<br />
celebrations" includes the singing of all singable parts "with<br />
respect for the style and form required by their own proper<br />
character." (18)<br />
3.9 Between the liturgical action wherein as much<br />
singing as possible takes place and the "most simple form<br />
wherein no singing occurs, there can be several degrees,<br />
according as singing is given more or less prominence." (19)<br />
This progressive solemnization must take into<br />
consideration:<br />
—the importance of the feast,<br />
—the real abilities of the assembly and its ministers,<br />
—the nature and importance of the parts to be sung. (20)<br />
3.10 Through the liturgy of the hours, "the prayer<br />
of Christ is continued in the Church without interruption." (21)<br />
"The ecclesial celebration appears with maximum<br />
clarity—and this then is recommended with the greatest<br />
insistence—when it is accomplished by a particular Church,<br />
(...) with its bishop surrounded by his priests and ministers.<br />
This celebration, even when it is done in the absence of the<br />
bishop, by a chapter of canons or by other priests, should<br />
always be done<br />
—by observing the true character of the hours,<br />
—and, insofar as possible, with the participation of the<br />
people." (22)<br />
3.2 This state of being a model concerns all the<br />
elements in the celebration: persons, actions, places, times,<br />
things. Nothing is unimportant for giving all its value to the<br />
liturgical action, "an action sacred by its excellence, and no<br />
other action of the Church can claim the same degree of<br />
excellence." (11)<br />
3.3 Since it is one of the privileged signs of the<br />
mystery of the Church, the perfect liturgical action calls for<br />
the bishop, surrounded by his presbyterium and his ministers,<br />
and the holy people of God. (12)<br />
3.4 "Each one, minister or member of the faithful,<br />
in performing his function, does only and completely what<br />
pertains to him in virture of the nature of things and liturgical<br />
norms." (13) Thus, "by the very organization of the<br />
celebration, the Church appears as she is set up in her<br />
different orders and ministers." (14)<br />
Part III: A Future for Communities of <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong><br />
Every cathedral church should be the mother-church<br />
of the diocese, where exemplary worship is celebrated<br />
completely at all hours. This should be the privileged place of<br />
the liturgy of the hours and of the Eucharistic liturgy, as well<br />
as the other sacraments.<br />
1. Therefore, it must be well understood that<br />
Chapters of titular canons in the cathedrals, when they exist,<br />
are not suitable for this task. The new Code of Canon Law<br />
still proposes as essential this mission of the Chapters; but the<br />
persons who compose these Chapters in cathedrals, with rare<br />
exceptions, are not in a position to realize this ideal in the<br />
concrete.<br />
8
2. Could not the communities of canons regular take<br />
up the challenge<br />
11 est<br />
11 ut Episcopum, ad<br />
normam<br />
2.1 The canonical order holds a true charism,<br />
nourished by a long and faithful tradition, for the solemn<br />
celebration of divine worship.<br />
2.2 It can secure the formation of its members in<br />
this sense and, through it recruitment, the vitality of clerical<br />
communities responsible for divine worship.<br />
2.3 Completely subject to the diocesan bishop for<br />
that which concerns this celebration and the pastoral ministry,<br />
the canonical community can assure in the cathedral parish all<br />
the ordinary pastoral functions.<br />
Called by vocation to the exemplary celebration of<br />
the Holy Liturgy, the canons regular should be ready to put<br />
themselves at the service of bishops who want to make of their<br />
cathedral the privileged and exemplary place of liturgical life<br />
in the diocese.<br />
♦Father Fontaine is Prior of the <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> of the<br />
Immaculate Conception in Montreal, Quebec. This paper was<br />
presented in the Symposium on <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> at the 19th<br />
International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western<br />
Michigan University.<br />
Notes<br />
1. Canon Law, No 503 (Non-official translation).<br />
Here is a comparison between this article of<br />
the new Canon Law and that of the old Canon Law:<br />
New Canon Law (503) Old Canon Law (391)<br />
1 Capitulum canonicorum, 1 Capitulum canonicorum<br />
2 sive cathedrale sive<br />
collegiale<br />
2 sive cathedrale sive<br />
collegiale<br />
3 seu collegiaturn<br />
4 est sacerdotum collegium, 4 est clericorum<br />
collegium<br />
5 cuius est 5 ideo institutum ut<br />
6 functiones liturgicas 6 sollemniorem cult urn<br />
sollemniores<br />
7 in ecclesia cathedrali aut 7 Deo in ecclasia<br />
8 collegiali persolvere 8<br />
exhibeat<br />
12 munera adimplere<br />
12 sacrorum canonum,<br />
tanquam<br />
13 quae ipse ipso iure aut ab 13 eisdem senatus et<br />
concilium,<br />
14 Episcopo dioecesano 14 adiuvet<br />
committuntur<br />
15<br />
15 ac, sede vacante,<br />
eius vices<br />
16 suppleat in dioecesis<br />
regimine.<br />
2. Regie des chanoines (vers 750), chapitre 4 (texte latin,<br />
cite dans P. SALMON, primo loco, p. 28.<br />
3. P. SALMON, primo loco, p. 31.<br />
4. ID., ibidem (texte latin, note 1).<br />
5. ID., ibidem, pp. 45-46.<br />
6. Texte latin dans A.G. MARTIMORT, primo loco, p. 131.<br />
7. Cf. P. SALMON, primo loco, pp. 49-50.<br />
8. ID., ibidem, p. 53, note 1.<br />
9. CANON 12: "All shall be obliged to take part in the<br />
office, person nally (...) and to sing the praises of God<br />
respectfully, distinctly and with devotion, in the choir duly<br />
constituted to celebrate His name in hymn and song. (...) As<br />
far as other points are concerned regarding the conduct of<br />
Divine Office, the correct way to sing and to chant is to be<br />
observed; the rules to be observed fro assembling in the choir<br />
and finally all that concerns the ministers of the Church or<br />
other similar things. If so required a formula shall be<br />
prescribed by the Provincial Synod according to the<br />
conventions of each province and the customs of the country":<br />
Trans. A. MICHEL, Les decrets du Concile de Trente<br />
(HEFELE-LECLERQ, Histoire des Conciles, tome 10, lere<br />
partie), Letouzey et Ane, Paris, 1938, p. 575.<br />
10. P. SALMON, primo loco, p. 61.<br />
11. 2eme Concile du Vatican, constitution sur la sainte<br />
Liturgie Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 7.<br />
12. Cf. Presentation generale du Missel romain, n. 74.<br />
13. 2eme Concile du Vatican, constitution sur la Sainte<br />
Liturgie Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 28.<br />
14. Presentation generale du Missel romain n. 58.<br />
lOCapituli<br />
praeterea<br />
cathedralis<br />
9 et, si agatur de<br />
Capitulo<br />
10 cathedrali<br />
15. 2eme Concile du Vatican, Constitution sur la sainte<br />
Liturgie Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 14.<br />
16. Presentation generale du Missel romain n. 1.<br />
17. Idem, n. 59.
18. Instruction Musicam sacram (5 mars 1967), nn. 7 et 6.<br />
19. Idem, n. 7.<br />
20. Idem, nn. 7-11: Presentation generate de la liturgie des<br />
heures, n. 273.<br />
21. Presentation generate de la Liturgie des heures, n. 28.<br />
22. Idem, n. 20.<br />
23. Idem, n. 31 a.<br />
24. Idem, n. 37.<br />
25. Idem, n. 37.<br />
26. May it be permitted to corroborate what is said in this<br />
second section by quoting a few very significant excerpts from<br />
a liturgical book, still being prepared, the "Ceremonial des<br />
eveques (preparative diagram, pro manuscripto, 1975) private<br />
translation:<br />
-n. 12: "Sacred celebrations presided over by the bishop<br />
are not just a series of ceremonies; but, they manifest the<br />
mystery of the Church where Christ is present. Moreover<br />
these same celebrations must be a model for the entire local<br />
Church and should be enhanced by an active participation.<br />
That is why the assembled community participate in the<br />
singing, the dialogue, the sacred silence, interior attention and<br />
by the reception of the Eucharist.<br />
-13. "At specified times and on the principal days of the<br />
liturgical year, a large manifestation from a particular church<br />
should be scheduled, where people from various regions of the<br />
diocese are invited with priests, if possible.<br />
-14. "It is highly recommended that the Bishop have<br />
assistant priests in attendance for liturgical celebrations.<br />
Even more so, in the Eucharistic celebration presided over by<br />
the Bishop, priests shall concelebrate with him so that is<br />
manifested in the Eucharist, the mystery of the unity of the<br />
Church and so that priests appear before the assembly as the<br />
presbyterium of the Bishop.<br />
-42. "The Cathedral Church must be the focal point of<br />
liturgical life in the diocese...."<br />
-170. "...It is recommended that, with the utmost care,<br />
when possible, the Bishop celebrate the liturgy of the Hours,<br />
especially Lauds and Vespers with the presbyterium as well as<br />
his ministers, only with the full and active participation of the<br />
people, preferably in the cathedral church.<br />
-171. "It is fitting that at least on Easter Sunday,<br />
Christmas Day, Pentecost Sunday and the solemnity of the<br />
patron of the diocese, the Bishop celebrate with his clergy and<br />
the people assembled in the Cathedral church, either the first<br />
Vespers or the morning Lauds, or the second Vespers,<br />
whatever the circumstances of the place may dictate, always<br />
safeguarding the veracity of the Hours."<br />
-173. "Finally, that the Bishop teach the flock entrusted<br />
to him, in word as well as in action, the importance of the<br />
Liturgy of the Hours; that he encourage the common<br />
celebration in parishes, communities and various meetings<br />
according to the General Presentation of the Liturgy of the<br />
Hours."<br />
Bibliography<br />
GREA, Dom Adrien, L'Eglise et sa divine constitution,<br />
nouv.ed., Casterman, Tournai, 1965, pp. 297-359.<br />
ID., La Sainte Liturgie, nouv. ed., Maison de la Bonne Presse,<br />
Paris, 1909, pp. 1-26.<br />
LUYKX, Bernard, L'influence des moines sur lfOffice<br />
pariossial, dans La Maison-Dieu, n. 51 (1957), pp. 55-81.<br />
MARTIMORE, Aime-Georges, L1 Obligation de l'Office,<br />
ibidem, n. 21 (1950) pp. 129-153<br />
ID., La priere des heures, dans A.G. MARTIMORT, L'Eglise en<br />
priere, ed. nouvelle: IV. La liturgie et le temps, Desclee, Paris,<br />
1983, pp. 167-293.<br />
SALMON, Mgr. Pierre, L'Office divin. Histoire de la<br />
formation du Breviarire (coll. Lex orandi, n. 27), Ed. du Cerf,<br />
Paris, 1959, pp. 1-97.<br />
ID., La priere des heures, dans A.G. MARTIMORT, L'Eglise en<br />
priere. Introduction a1 la liturgie, Desclee ft Cie, Paris, 3eme<br />
ed., 1965, pp. 807-902.°<br />
-44. "For the prescription of the General Presentation of<br />
the Roman Missal in regard to the arrangement and decoration<br />
of churches, the Cathedral church is to be a model for other<br />
churches of the diocese."<br />
-108. "The stational Mass of the bishop must manifest the<br />
unity of the local Church and the diversity of the ministries in<br />
relation to the bishop and the Holy Eucharist.<br />
That is why all the holy people of God shall be<br />
convened, represented at least by a large number of faithful<br />
who participate actively;<br />
moreover, priests are to be present,<br />
concelebrating with the Bishop as well as deacons performing<br />
their ministry as well as acolytes and lectors, each performing<br />
their function."<br />
-110. "If there is a Chapter, all canons must concelebrate<br />
with the Bishop, the stational Mass in the cathedral church;<br />
that, of course, does not exclude the other priests."<br />
Some of those who attended the first meeting of the<br />
Crosier Heritage Association in Kalamazoo. (Back)<br />
Rev Tim Conlon, O.S.C., Rev Martin Schoenberg. O.S.C.,<br />
Rev Theodore Parker, O.S.C., Rev James Remmerswaal,<br />
O.S.C., Rev Michael Cotone, O.S.C., Rev Theodore An try,<br />
O.Praem., Rev Myron Effing, O.S.C., (front) Br Luis Perez,<br />
C.R.L., V. Rev. Jerome Rausch, O.S.C., Br Angel Santiago,<br />
C.R.L., Br Rumando Peralta, C.R.L., Rev Richard Leliaert,<br />
O.S.C., RevJosu Iriondo, C.R.L.<br />
10
Association IN ews o o o<br />
Minutes of the First Meeting of the<br />
Crosier Heritage Association<br />
May 11, 1984<br />
The meeting was called to order at 8 pm in Room 305 of<br />
Valley III Hall at Western Michigan University by the<br />
Chairman, Father Richard Leliaert, O.S.C. The following<br />
signed the roll call: Rev John Lozano, C.M.F.; Rev Richard<br />
Leliaert, O.S.C; Rev Martin Schoenberg, O.S.C; Rev Michael<br />
Cotone, O.S.C; Rev John Hawkins, O.S.C; Rev James<br />
Reramerswaal, O.S.C; Rev Josu Iriondo, C.R.L.; Brother Angel<br />
Santiago, C.R.L.; Brother Rumando Peralta, C.R.L.; Brother<br />
Luis Perez, C.R.L.; Rev Timothy Conlon, O.S.C; Dr Lelja<br />
Dobronic; Rev Theodore Parker, O.S.C; Rev Theodore An try,<br />
O.Praem.; Rev Jerome Rausch, O.S.C.; Rev Ernest Martello,<br />
O.S.C; Rev Myron Effing, O.S.C<br />
The Chairman asked for a financial report and a<br />
membership report from Father Effing, the Editor of the<br />
Crosier Heritage Association. He reported that the<br />
Association has $80 in cash at the present moment, that issues<br />
of the Crosier Heritage cost about $120 per issue, that<br />
donations from five Crosier houses and several benefactors had<br />
helped to defray the expenses of the Symposium on <strong>Canons</strong><br />
<strong>Regular</strong>, and that some additional monies had been spent on<br />
reproduction of audiovisual materials which could be borrowed<br />
by members from the Association archives. He also reported<br />
that the Association has 57 paid members, 4 paid institutional<br />
members, 26 associate members, and 8 associate institutional<br />
members, for a combined membership of 95 members.<br />
After discussion of possible projects for the Association<br />
which might help fulfill needs for printed materials, the<br />
following motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously:<br />
"Be it resolved that the Crosier Heritage Association proposes<br />
to the Crosier Jubilee Committee the publication of Father<br />
Cotone's translation of Father Henri van Rooijen's book,<br />
"Ecclesia Sanctae Crucis", as an official project for the<br />
celebration of the diamond anniversary of the Crosiers in the<br />
United States."<br />
Next the Chairman introduced the topic of new officers.<br />
He suggested that he should not have another term as Chairman<br />
because he was hoping to take a sabbatical, and felt he didn't<br />
have the time for the job. It was moved, seconded, and passed<br />
unanimously that Father Michael Cotone should become the<br />
Chairman of the Crosier Heritage Association beginning<br />
January 1, 1985, and for a term of three years.<br />
Next the Chairman proposed that the Association have a<br />
Treasurer to maintain its records and finances. It was moved,<br />
seconded, and passed unanimously that Father James Moeglein<br />
be elected Treasurer of the Crosier Heritage Association fora<br />
term of three years beginning January 1, 1985.<br />
Next the Chairman proposed that the Association<br />
consider some kind of election procedure for the Board of<br />
Directors. The current board where members of the<br />
Provincial Chapter who sponsored the original Chapter<br />
proposal which endorsed an organization such as the Crosier<br />
Heritage Association. It was moved, seconded, and passed<br />
unanimously that the Association would have a Board of six<br />
members, The Chairman and the Editor of the Association as ex<br />
officio members, and four members elected by the membership,<br />
two being elected at each successive meeting of the<br />
Association. In order to begin this process, it was moved,<br />
seconded, and passed unanimously that the two places of<br />
members of the Board who were not present at the meeting<br />
should be up for reelection in January of 1985, and that ballots<br />
should be sent with the January 1985 issue of Crosier Heritage.<br />
Thus the chairs of Brother Ralph Dahl and Father James<br />
Cash man will be open for election in January.<br />
Next the Chairman proposed that the Association<br />
consider the appointment of the Editor for the Association.<br />
It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously that Father<br />
Myron Effing continue as Editor, and that he be assisted by an<br />
Editorial Board consisting of the volunteers, Father Ted Antry,<br />
Father Jerry Rausch, and Father Martin Schoenberg.<br />
Next the Chairman proposed that further documentation<br />
should be developed, and it was resolved that the minutes of<br />
this meeting will be the beginning of a constitution for the<br />
Association which could be more developed by the time of our<br />
next meeting. It was also resolved that the Crosier Heritage<br />
would do well to publish a summary of its editorial policies, and<br />
of its purpose, needs, and wants.<br />
Next the Chairman proposed that the Association discuss<br />
whether it was desirable to meet again next year, and whether<br />
the context of the Medieval Congress at Western Michigan<br />
University was suitable in the minds of the participants. It<br />
was moved, seconded, and adopted unanimously that the<br />
Crosier Heritage Association would petition the Board of the<br />
Medieval Congress of Western Michigan University for the<br />
sponsorship of a second Symposium on <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> in the<br />
Spring of 1985.<br />
There being no further business, the meeting was<br />
adjourned. < O O' /<br />
/\ Rev Mwon Effing,/j^.a"<br />
Secretary<br />
f<br />
•<br />
11
Not o<br />
o o<br />
A Sermon About War and Peace,<br />
about Worship and Self-Destruction<br />
For the Preacher Himself and for All who<br />
Desire Peace but Wage War<br />
by Rev Werner Kettner, O.S.Cr.<br />
tr by Rev Raymond Steffes, O.S.C.<br />
Contributed by Rev Bernard Leisenheimer, O.S.Cr.<br />
[This first of Father Kettner's sermons was preached on the<br />
occasion of the deployment of American Cruise Weapons in<br />
West Germany during "Hot October" of 1983. It was<br />
published in pamphlet form by Franz Schmitt Press of Siegburg,<br />
Germany.]<br />
The Bishop has asked me to preach to you about peace.<br />
I have known it already for weeks and it has not been a secret<br />
how this request has been tormenting me. About what kind of<br />
peace should I preach The peace which everyone wants<br />
ultimately.<br />
The Peace of Mr. Meyer and Mr. Miller<br />
The Meyers have built a fence around their place so that<br />
no one can look in anymore. They have their peace. The<br />
Millers want only renters without children, so they will have<br />
their peace. They have even had their child aborted so that<br />
their peace is not disturbed. The 18 year olds leave their<br />
parents' homes under protest and find their own apartments, so<br />
that they can do what they want and have their peace.<br />
Another says to his wife, "All we get in church is bad news.<br />
We won't go there anymore, because we have finally found<br />
peace for ourselves." A husband has become so well adjusted<br />
and his wife can no longer complain, so that in their minds they<br />
have finally found peace. Yes, all these things seem to make<br />
up peace. We must strive after peace, even over the dead<br />
bodies<br />
of others!<br />
The Bishop has asked me to preach about peace, and it is<br />
no secret what a torment this is for me. About what peace<br />
should I preach Some go to war in order to achieve peace.<br />
Rockets in<br />
Sight<br />
It might be exaggerated now and then, but if looks could<br />
kill, would ther not be dead bodies in our parliaments and on<br />
our streets If looks could kill would there not be dead bodies<br />
in our places of work, in our homes, and even in our churches<br />
If looks could kill. . . If the Bishop had asked me to preach<br />
about war, it would have been much easier. I only need to<br />
bring up the days of the many, many small wars which were<br />
waged by us knowingly or unknowingly. It was bad, very bad,<br />
how we are a people who are otherwise so reasonable and<br />
thoroughly<br />
decent.<br />
"The Prayer" Sculpture by Rev B. Leisenheimer of Ehrenstein.<br />
Possessed by the Devil<br />
We can imagine ourselves in the best of company with<br />
Paul, the passionate man of God, as contradictory as that may<br />
sound. In his letter to the Romans he wrote: "What happens<br />
is that I do not the good I will to do, but the evil I do not<br />
intend." (Rom. 7, 19) In a similiar manner we could cry out:<br />
"O, we are unhappy people. We do not render peace, which<br />
we want, but rather war, which we do not want". Is this not<br />
confusing Paul wrote still further: "What a wretched man<br />
I am! Who can free me from this body under the power of<br />
death" (Rom. 7, 24) If it is clear anywhere in the world<br />
among the nations and with people that there is sin, that there<br />
is evil, that there is a Satan, then it is clear here! The devil<br />
is the father of lies, the liar from the beginning. (John 8, 44)<br />
He speaks of peace, but he means war. Could we not come to<br />
that dreadful conclusion, that we are somehow possessed by<br />
the devil, when we desire peace, but still wage war.<br />
The Bishop has asked me to preach about peace. Up to<br />
now I have spoken only about war. I can preach about peace<br />
only if I preach Christ. Christ is another word for peace.<br />
Peace in<br />
Practice<br />
A woman is brought forward in the full brightness of<br />
noonday amid yelling and confusion, she is pulled into the<br />
12
market place. That is the scene: she has broken the<br />
marriage vow and must be stoned to death. The venomous and<br />
lustful gaze of the crowd fixes itself on the woman and now it<br />
turns to Jesus. What will He do What will He decide He<br />
gestures the crowd to silence. "You could stone her," He<br />
says, "but let him first throw at her, who is without sin."<br />
They all go, led away by the instigator of the charge. Now He<br />
stands there alone with the woman. "I do not condemn you<br />
either. But from now on avoid this sin." (Jn. 8, 1-11)<br />
Who of You is Without Sin<br />
Sin—that is the essence of war. Jesus could have said—<br />
but these are my words—"In which of you is there not war,<br />
who enrages himself about those who prepare for war In<br />
which of you is there not war, who sits in judgement over those<br />
who hold power in the East or West"<br />
Christ is another word for peace. He is so, not through<br />
talks and discussion, not through public statements and<br />
pastoral letters, not through demonstrations, passive<br />
resistance or temporary work stoppages. He is peace because<br />
God reveals Himself through Christ and because God bursts<br />
forth in Christ as the God of Peace and reconciliation.<br />
Christ is another word for peace. Whoever wants peace<br />
must go to Him. If individuals or nations want peace, they<br />
must go to Him. Peace can be found only where He is. Christ<br />
is<br />
peace.<br />
The same Paul, who desperately complains about his own<br />
lack of integrity, writes in his letter to the Galations, "I do not<br />
live anymore. But rather Christ lives in me." (Gal. 2, 20) No<br />
more do I set the tone for my life; rather I yield to what Christ<br />
has proposed for me. In Christ Paul found his peace.<br />
The German Bishops have spoken and written:<br />
our striving for peace me find it first in God".<br />
"In all of<br />
A Chinese proverb declares: "There is peace if the steps<br />
to the temple are well travelled, and grass is growing on the<br />
steps to the garrison". If the steps to the temple are well<br />
travelled. Our enlightened contemporaries will probably only<br />
laugh about that. But the laughter fades away when one<br />
considers the words of the scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin<br />
(1881-1955): "Modern man has really only two choices,<br />
worship or self destruction".©<br />
The Symbol of the<br />
Thistle<br />
by Rev Bernard Leisenheimer, O.S.Cr.<br />
The medievals, in sharp contrast to our often very<br />
abstract and theoretic ways of expression, took delight in<br />
"touchables". Theirs was a predominantly "haptic" approach<br />
to interacting with ideas and communicating their faith<br />
experience.<br />
One of the most thought-provoking of their liturgical<br />
symbols was that of the thistle, which found its way into all<br />
sorts of artistic media including painting, stained glass,<br />
weaving and<br />
embroidery.<br />
The thistle has a two-fold meaning. Every gardner who<br />
was ever plagued with them knows also how difficult they are<br />
to root out. The medievals saw here a mirrored image of sin,<br />
of human toil in general, and of the need for conversion and<br />
penance. Despite their stubbornness and the seeming futility<br />
of trying to root them out, every farmer wants to be rid of<br />
them. Despite the ostinancy and tenaciousness of our<br />
sinfullness, we long also to be rid of it. Thistles and thorns<br />
characterized the call to conversion and the way of penance.<br />
In the same way that conversion and penance seek the<br />
revitalization of forgiveness, of new life, of resurrection—so<br />
too the thistle makes its way in its growth upwards to a<br />
magnificent and delicate blossom of brilliant wine colors.<br />
The thistle and all of its connotation is therefore a<br />
foreboding of the cross as well: of Passion and of<br />
Redemption, of suffering and of joy, of despair and of hope.<br />
A symbol worth contemplating, o<br />
Thistle - Detail of a violet chasuble in Gobelin technique.<br />
Design and execution by Rev B. Leisenheimer and Dr Maria<br />
Schmidtberg, 1979-81.<br />
13
Conclusions of Meetings of <strong>Canons</strong><br />
by Rev Richard T. John, O.S.C.<br />
In the January issue of Crosier Heritage there is a list of<br />
"items that need doing", and Number 10 concerns the relict<br />
from the meeting of the members of the Confederation of<br />
<strong>Canons</strong> of St Augustine in Onate, Spain in 1977. Here is a<br />
copy of that relict, together with the conclusions of a<br />
preparatory meeting held the year before. Copies are<br />
available from me in Latin and Italian and French. The<br />
Confederation does edit other works, but practically nothing in<br />
English. The original description of the Canonical life made<br />
when the Confederation was established in 1959 would be well<br />
worth translating from Italian into English. It is about ten<br />
pages long, and I would say that there is really nothing in it<br />
that Crosiers would not agree with and are now attempting to<br />
practice.<br />
[The following is tr from French by the Editor.]<br />
Conclusions of the Third Week of Canonical Studies<br />
Neustift, Austria, 1976<br />
1. In prescribing the common life for his clerics, our father St<br />
Augustine wished above all to lead them to a profession of<br />
holiness.<br />
3. The Church today with its needs and struggles pushes us to<br />
be more and more strictly faithful to our evangelical,<br />
apostolic, and canonical sources.<br />
4. To rediscover and better realize in our common life the<br />
evangelical spirit of poverty of the apostolic communities,<br />
with real detachment and complete sharing, is a real response<br />
to the hopes of the priests and the faithful of our day.<br />
5. To develop and increase our availability, without ceasing<br />
to be ourselves, we need to study to discover ways of helping<br />
the pastors of churches. This seems to be an especially<br />
pressing invitation which the Church of Christ presents to us,<br />
affected as it is by the many crises which are jolting it and<br />
tearing it apart.<br />
6. We should look with special attention at the hopes of the<br />
People of God for a community life in conformity with the<br />
Word of Christ, and we should make it our duty to lead them as<br />
they grope along this path.<br />
7. The figure of St Augustine, father of priests and shepherd<br />
of his people, should be for us the object of our enthusiastic<br />
study and inspiration, o<br />
2. In the course of centuries, the Church has very often<br />
recalled this ideal without always obtaining effective and<br />
lasting results.<br />
3. The experiences of history show that the mission of the<br />
Canonical Order rests essentially on the following three<br />
principles:<br />
1)Faithfulness to the ideal of poverty in the common<br />
life inspired by the Gospel, the Apostles,<br />
and the teaching of the Fathers;<br />
2)Unswerving loyalty to the Church and total<br />
availability to the tasks which she proposes<br />
to us in conformity with the tradition of the<br />
Canonical Order;<br />
3)Ever renewed attention to the spiritual and<br />
religious aspirations of the Christian people<br />
(cf. Jean Chatillon).<br />
4. The soul of this mission is the public prayer celebrated<br />
faithfully, if possible, with the Christian people. We must be<br />
devoted to carrying it out with the greatest care so that it may<br />
be "a source of devotion, a means of gaining God's manifold<br />
grace, a deepening of personal prayer and an incentive to the<br />
work of the apostolate." (Gen Ins Lit Hours #19)<br />
Conclusions of the Ninth Congress of <strong>Canons</strong><br />
Onate, Spain, July 5-8, 1977<br />
1. Our canonical heritage represents a light and a wealth for<br />
the Church today of which we have to be more conscious.<br />
2. The theology of Vatican II clearly reminds us that not only<br />
religious life but also the priesthood is to be lived in close<br />
communion with the bishop and collegially, and that this "vita<br />
communis" is at the heart of the Canonical ideal. This<br />
common life among our brothers in the priesthood is a new<br />
calling which will demand the best from us so that we can truly<br />
be of help.<br />
<strong>CROSIER</strong> <strong>HERITAG</strong>E is the official publication<br />
of the Crosier Heritage Association. The chairman<br />
of the CHA is the Rev. Richard Leliaert, O.S.C,<br />
Nazareth College, Nazareth, MI 49074 Phone:<br />
616/349-7783. The Editor is the Rev. Myron<br />
Effing, O.S.C, Crosier Heritage Association,<br />
P.O. Box 400, Onamia, MN 56359 Phone:<br />
612/532-3103. Contributions to features and<br />
departments are welcome. Membership in the<br />
Association is open to all, and the membership<br />
fee is S10.<br />
The members of the Board of the Crosier<br />
Heritage Association are:<br />
Rev. Richard Leliaert, O.S.C, Chairman<br />
Rev. Myron Effing, O.S.C, Editor<br />
Rev. James Cashman, O.S.C.<br />
Brother Ralph Dahl, O.S.C.<br />
V. Rev. John Hawkins, O.S.C.<br />
V. Rev. Jerome Rausch, O.S.C<br />
14
Letters<br />
Dear<br />
Editor,<br />
At long last—no doubt by means of a particularly<br />
"slow boat'1—I received No. 10 of Crosier Heritage of<br />
September 1983. Many thanks!<br />
I was especially pleased at the efforts you took to<br />
interview Dr. Caroline Walker Bynum to help us in our Crosier<br />
efforts at grasping who we are.<br />
I would react however to a remark that you made in<br />
your conversation with Dr. Bynum which seems to me to be a<br />
dislocated perspective to canonical life if taken exclusively or<br />
even as a main element. I am referring to your remark, "I<br />
have always envisioned the canonical life as urban life."<br />
"Envisioning" has more to do with planning than with that<br />
which actually is. I would like to respond to this remark and<br />
weave some additional thoughts as a continuum to it.<br />
It seems to me to be very necessary right from the<br />
start that "canonical life" reflects various facets and<br />
different developments. It is extremely necessary from the<br />
beginning to differentiate between the secular and the regular<br />
canons, those attached to a particular church and those which<br />
grouped themselves into Orders. While it is true that the<br />
former are almost exclusively found in cities (there are<br />
exceptions, few and far between), the latter, the<br />
"regularized" canons, are found both in cities and secluded<br />
areas. To equate canonical life with an urban setting is first<br />
of all too absolute. Indeed, I pressume it would even deny the<br />
very roots of the reform movement that the regular canons<br />
brought about! That does not mean of course that this<br />
movement was unable to be translated to a city setting—that<br />
was included as a goal. But first the roots! Let's take a kind<br />
of historical inventory of the concrete situation and then<br />
theorize as to the reasons that led to these facts.<br />
If you take a look at the maps that pinpoint the<br />
Crosier foundations throughout the centuries, from the<br />
beginning until the restoration in 1840, then you will note that<br />
less than half of these are in what could be called an "urban"<br />
setting. Many are in very small villages and a good number<br />
are literally in the woods. (Back issues of "Clairlieu" has<br />
several maps of this nature; the best overall view can be found<br />
on page 87 of Fr. van Rooijen's Liebfrauenthal zu Ehrenstein.<br />
All of these materials are in the Onamia archives.) This<br />
proportion pattern of city vs country was rather consistent<br />
throughout the centuries—it wasn't as though at a certain<br />
time mostly city monasteries were founded, at another mostly<br />
secluded. I might add that I am a bit suspicious of Dr.<br />
Bynum's remark that "the later Premonstratentions were really<br />
urban." I would like to hear from Premonstratention<br />
historians here—I know that the majority of the Norbertine<br />
foundations that I have come across to date were and are near<br />
small village or off by themselves for the most part. My point<br />
is this: it is necessary to distinguish between the secular and<br />
the regular canons. There is a decided difference between<br />
them—and this difference was a chosen one!<br />
If asked what the reasons were that brought the<br />
regular canons into being, one would have to answer in short<br />
form: to restore religious values and discipline. This<br />
expressed itself in a revitalization of two life-giving sources:<br />
a life and concrete practice of poverty as well as the<br />
rejuvenation of the eroded contemplative element of canonical<br />
life. It was an answer—spurred on by a reaction—to the<br />
signs and situation of the times!<br />
My suspicion continues to grow stronger in the last<br />
years of study and practice that precisely these "founding<br />
articles" of regular canonical life are on the threshold of a<br />
new awakening, want to be shaken out of their drowsiness,<br />
brought out of hibernation. Strangely enough the tendency<br />
seems to be stronger among the laity than in the Order.<br />
If it's<br />
true that our Crosier canonical life (granted—a particular<br />
breed of its own) grew out of a reaction to the wealth and<br />
disintegrated spiritual niveau precendent in the founding<br />
decades, then our own time seems more than ripe for a shot of<br />
the same charism that brought us into being "in the beginning",<br />
(n.b. Confrere van Rooijen's new book seems to describe this<br />
eloquently. It won't be published soon enough.) We have<br />
different words today to describe basically the same content<br />
or situation of that time: western consumerism, the unbridled<br />
addiction for an ever higher standard of living at the cost of<br />
whomever, the poor attempt at living with (the accompanying<br />
or resultant) deterioration of spiritual and religious values.<br />
Of the many English words that have crept into all<br />
European languages, none seem to be used more often and<br />
matter-of-factly than "stress" and "hectic" (StreB, hektik).<br />
Symptomatic for the lost ability for contemplation, without<br />
which human beings take a course of becoming less and less<br />
human The real worth of human life lays somewhere else<br />
than in being merely workoholics and "making" money. And it<br />
remains a big question as to whether our unbridled quest for<br />
goods has been a progression toward or from real happiness,<br />
toward or from the grasping of the real reason for living.<br />
Name it eremitic or contemplative, it seems to me<br />
that the regular canons—at least the Crosiers, from looking at<br />
our history—began with a strong sense for these as the<br />
foundation in their search for re-orientation. For themselves<br />
on the one hand, but in order to preach as well! To<br />
accomplish this there was and had to be an emphasis on<br />
seclusion. Certainly as a starting point, but also to maintain<br />
the momentum of the movement they sought to bring into<br />
motion. Seclusion in this sense is not and cannot be for its<br />
own sake: the regular canons—the Crosiers—sought to work<br />
out the "antidote" that needed to be injected into society to<br />
offer some healing. "To be able to begin to bring into motion<br />
something which all people need, society needs groups of<br />
people who do that particular thing above average—in order to<br />
teach it to the others". (Prof. Dr. Robert Spaemann,<br />
Philosophy, University of Munchen in "Die Existenz des<br />
Priesters: eine Provokation in der modernen Welt"). *|5
Dear Editor,<br />
In the 19th century there arose an incredible number<br />
of congregations and some of them grew in astounding numbers<br />
almost overnight (e.g. Divine Word missionaries etc.) to<br />
answer the dire needs of their time: care of the poor-sick<br />
and the education of youth stood at the top of the list, missions<br />
as well. It was as though society was crying out:<br />
"somebody, teach us how to do these things. The answer<br />
came out of a renewed religious awakening, and that in the<br />
wake of the Enlightenment and the Secularization of Napoleon<br />
and in the midst of the "Kulturkampf" along with the general<br />
decadence of the church of the late 18th century which spilled<br />
into the 19th!<br />
Today the dire needs of society are different: we<br />
suffer from being too rich (would it be better said: we suffer<br />
and suffocate!)—and others because of us as well. Today we<br />
suffer from workoholism, hectic, stress or with whatever name<br />
you want to give it. Today we are so well educated,<br />
technologically and economically sure of ourselves—but have<br />
forgotten how to live with ourselves and with others. Our<br />
"report card" bears the marks of rising suicide, divorce,<br />
abortion, continued unjust division of goods in the face of<br />
knowing better, arms race, etc.etc.etc. Aren't the<br />
categories of the signs of the times similar to Theodore's.<br />
They are the same—only the proportional intensity has<br />
changed. Couldn't these symptoms of our "social diseases" be<br />
cured with the sobriety of evangelical poverty in seeking the<br />
reason purpose, reason, direction, orientation, goal in living<br />
Couldn't a rediscovery of the ability to listen—contemplation-<br />
-as well as to pray allow us to direct and control what we do,<br />
rather than allow our activity and work to control us<br />
The regular canons of the 12th and 13th centuries<br />
heard the cry of their society—to which the cry of our time is<br />
strangely similar. To be able to answer it they first had to<br />
get their own act together. They needed first to learn well<br />
that which was being asked of them.<br />
We artists don't normally meddle much in scientific<br />
things, like the laws of heredity for example. But everyone<br />
knows the meaning of the old saying when someone recognizes<br />
a child as being the son of someone they know: "he's the spit<br />
and image of his father." The similarity of our founders' time<br />
and our own seem to be calling for the same "spit and image"<br />
to show itself. Something in my Crosier blood tells me that<br />
the time is ripe and getting riper all the time for a rebursting<br />
of our founding impluses—i.e. charisms. We're standing on<br />
the threshold. We should be expected to be on the front<br />
lines—if we're conscious of our heritage. The House of<br />
Prayer movement in the States and the re-founding of<br />
Ehrenstein in Europe began the questioning in this direction<br />
over 10 years ago. The Gospel tells us that the sower has to<br />
reckon with all kinds of ground: thorny, rocky, with thistles<br />
and thankfully with fertile earth. Hopefully a good portion of<br />
the latter is still to be found on our property.<br />
With all good wishes and greetings to the brethren,<br />
in<br />
cruce<br />
Fr. Bernhard Leisenheimer, OSCr<br />
Kreuzbruderkloster Liebfrauenthal<br />
5466 Ehrenstein Post Neustadt Wied<br />
West Germany<br />
\<br />
In the very first issue of Crosier Heritage you<br />
published an accompaniment, for organ and trumpet, of the<br />
hymn tune "Leone." This is the melody which we use with the<br />
translation by Mike Cotone, O.S.C., of the ancient hymn of the<br />
Holy Cross, "Vexilla Regis Prodeunt." This hymn, written by<br />
Fortunatus in 569, has been an important part of the heritage<br />
of the Church and has been used in a special way by Crosiers.<br />
(When I joined the Order, we were singing the last two verses<br />
of this hymn every Friday for the veneration of the Cross.) I<br />
was happy when Mike Cotone enabled us to appropriate this<br />
hymn in a new way, by making a splendid translation and<br />
setting it to the majestic Jewish "Yigdal" melody. You did<br />
well to suggest that we sing this version of the ancient hymn<br />
with trumpet as well as organ.<br />
Since many readers of Crosier Heritage have probably<br />
never seen Mike Cotone's version of the hymn, or have not seen<br />
or heard it recently, I would suggest that you consider printing<br />
it in our journal. I feel that its poetic quality is very<br />
noteworthy.<br />
One trouble with what Mike Cotone did is that the<br />
powerful melody he used (which is one of my favorites) is not<br />
an especially well known or easy melody and almost requires a<br />
majestic accompaniment. Therefore the older translations of<br />
the hymn could still have their use, in that they can be sung<br />
either with the traditional Gregorian melody of the hymn or<br />
with a simple modern melody which everyone knows, such as<br />
"Old Hundredth." (I have read that there are more than forty<br />
English translations; but the eight hymnals on my bookshelf in<br />
which I found the hymn mostly use the same version, which<br />
goes back to John Mason Neale. We might prefer the old<br />
version by Bernard Mischke, O.S.C.)<br />
I also fear that the ancient hymn, especially in<br />
Neale's version, is not as quickly understood by an ordinary<br />
parish congregation as a modern hymn would be. When my<br />
parish was choosing music for a special Mass on September 14<br />
last year, they passed up the ancient hymn and used two<br />
contempory hymns of the Holy Cross by Bernard Mischke. At<br />
least one of these hymns, "O Cross of Christ, O Royal Tree,"<br />
has been an important part of our modern Crosier heritage in<br />
America, coming from the days when Lindusky was writing<br />
music for Bernard Mischke's texts. But in the parish we have<br />
to make things simple, so we sang this hymn with the well<br />
known tune of "O God Our Help in Ages Past."<br />
I feel like a householder who can bring forth from the<br />
storeroom things both new and old (cf. Mt 13:52). In this case<br />
the new things are easier to appropriate in a hurry; but the old<br />
hymn of the Cross, in the form which Mike Cotone created for<br />
it, would certainly be worth the time that is would take to<br />
teach it someday.<br />
Best wishes,<br />
A<br />
Rev John Hawkins, O.S.C.<br />
St Joseph Church<br />
438 Ormsby Avenue<br />
Pittsburgh PA 15210<br />
[Ed Note: You asked for it, so here it is! Thanks.]<br />
16
Vexilla regie prodeunt<br />
Trans. Michael Cotone, osc<br />
THE BANNER OF THE KING<br />
0 CROSS OUR ONLY HOPE<br />
Leoni (Yigdai)<br />
Traditional Hebrew melody<br />
1. Be- hold a shining sign:<br />
2. To wash us clean of sin,<br />
3. Ful- filled now Da- vid's song,<br />
k. Be- hold the no- ble Tree,<br />
5. 0 Beam that brings us joy,<br />
the ban- ner of the<br />
to make us sons a-<br />
once made in an- cient<br />
all flash- ing like the<br />
on you there once was<br />
6. 0 Cross our on- ly hope, we praise you well this<br />
7. 0 glo- rfous Trln- 1- ty, true source of all that<br />
1. King, the might- y Cross now<br />
2. gain, the Lord did batr tie<br />
3- rhyme, pro- claiming to all<br />
k. sun, en- wrapped In roy- al<br />
5. weighed the cost of all the<br />
6. day, and fol- Tow aT1 ter<br />
7. live, may ev- • ry voice in<br />
raised on high* whose<br />
on the Cross and<br />
men In song this<br />
pur- pie now. Its<br />
world which now the<br />
you on your trihom-<br />
age praise the<br />
^55<br />
1. praise we<br />
2. so did<br />
1. Death,<br />
2. kind<br />
3. gain<br />
h. stock,<br />
5. prlved<br />
there<br />
was<br />
set<br />
a<br />
3. marv- Mous<br />
h. vie- t'ry<br />
5- Lord has<br />
6. um-<br />
phant<br />
7- hope You<br />
sing<br />
win<br />
time<br />
won<br />
saved<br />
way,<br />
give<br />
n<br />
Hope<br />
galned<br />
all<br />
Tree<br />
all<br />
As<br />
to<br />
we<br />
share<br />
have<br />
with<br />
of<br />
6. here to sing<br />
7. reigns the vlcen-<br />
dured Des- pai rt<br />
up- on the Wood,<br />
His peo- pie free,<br />
sur- pas- sing fair,<br />
It once had claimed,<br />
our praise to you,<br />
t'ry of the Cross,<br />
r ' r a<br />
1. Death was bro - ken there and<br />
2. wa- ter from<br />
3- He in tri<br />
**. Tree who on<br />
5. you were we<br />
6. free us from<br />
7. live with You<br />
cen there and life made<br />
his wound- ed side poured<br />
umph would then reign upits<br />
bran- ches once the<br />
at last set free, once<br />
"our sins to1 3ay In3<br />
In end- less joy be-<br />
gath-<br />
Him<br />
but<br />
as<br />
how<br />
the<br />
by<br />
now<br />
to<br />
i£=Ei<br />
ered<br />
who<br />
17
Dear Editor, April 26, 1984 Dear Editor, March 12, 1984<br />
I just returned from the meeting of our Definitory in<br />
Rome where Abbot General van de Ven shared with me a copy<br />
of Crosier Heritage #11. During the course of the Definitory<br />
we did discuss relations between the various orders of <strong>Canons</strong><br />
<strong>Regular</strong>, and there will doubtless be further activity in this<br />
matter.<br />
I surely agree that whatever solid foundations can be<br />
laid for the understanding of the canonical life is a good<br />
enterprise. My own amateur interest has always been the<br />
history of the Order of Premontre and the <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> in<br />
general. I am not a trained historian but this interest goes<br />
back to the novitiate days. Three years ago I had the first<br />
opportunity in my life of a sabbatical. I spent that at the<br />
Medieval Institute at Notre Dame. My sole purpose was to do<br />
some research on the life of St Norbert. Unfortunately, that<br />
whole project was abruptly cut short by the election that put<br />
me in this chair, which has provided more frequently the<br />
opportunity of sharing insights and the history of the canonical<br />
ife with our community.<br />
I received your letter inviting me to the 19th<br />
International Congress on Medieval Studies, and it was most<br />
kind of you to invite me, but the Congress coincides with my<br />
final exams here at Mt Angel Seminary. I am very interested<br />
in the proceedings of this Congress.<br />
May God bless this Congress with every fruitfulness.<br />
May it serve to promote the Canonical life and most<br />
importantly, the life of the Church.<br />
With every kind regard, I remain sincerely in Christ,<br />
Brother PasqualetfVuoso, eric<br />
Mt Angel Abbey/)<br />
St Benedict OR L 97373<br />
Thank you for your kind interest. God love and keep<br />
you always and prosper all your endeavors.<br />
In<br />
Christ,<br />
Dear Editor, May 15, 1984<br />
(Rt Rev) Benjamin T. Mackin, O. Praem.<br />
Abbot, St Norbert Abbey<br />
1016 N Broadway<br />
DePere WI 54115<br />
I would like to express my thanks to you and the Crosier<br />
Heritage Association for the sponsorship of session at<br />
Kalamazoo. It was my opportunity to give a paper in those<br />
sessions, and to attend two other sessions in the series. I<br />
would have liked to get better acquainted with some of the<br />
Crosiers.<br />
Dear Editor, February 24, 1984<br />
Sincere congratulations for trying to keep vivid a<br />
knowledge and appreciation of your community's past. It is<br />
disconcerting the way so many have turned their backs upon<br />
their own heritage. I find the laity much more interested in<br />
the Church's history. This semester—my 53rd year in the<br />
classroom—I have twelve students. It is sad that young men<br />
are coming out of our seminaries with little or no knowledge of<br />
the Church's story.<br />
With renewed thanks and best wishes for the continued<br />
success of your Crosier Heritage Association, I am<br />
Faith<br />
For many years I have been working on Andrew of St<br />
Victor. His world view has been fascinating to me. There<br />
was such an intellectual curiosity about him and an openness<br />
toward the world. I believe that he represented the best of<br />
what Hugh of St Victor offered.<br />
As a sort of continuation of Hugh and Andrew's contact<br />
with Jews, I have been working with the Catholic community in<br />
Los Angeles, including the archdiocesan seminary. This work<br />
has brought me much joy.<br />
I hope that the <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> will continue to meet at<br />
Kalamazoo. If I can be of any assistance, please let me know.<br />
I would also like to become a subscriber—there are historical<br />
articles which interest me.<br />
Sincerely,<br />
My best wishes for the continued growth of your work.<br />
'.■La<br />
John-Tracy Ellis<br />
Professorial Lecturer in Church History<br />
The Catholic University of America<br />
Washington DC 20064<br />
18<br />
Michael A. Signer, Rabbi<br />
Professor of Jewish History<br />
Hebrew Union College<br />
3077 University Avenue<br />
Los Angeles CA 90007
Dear Editor,<br />
It was with much interest that I received the last<br />
number Qrosier Heritage which you graciously sent me. For a<br />
long time I've had an interest in the history and spirituality of<br />
the <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong>. I have encountered remains of the<br />
Crosier Fathers in my travels, and I have seen their ancient<br />
manuscripts which are saved in the libraries of Belgium.<br />
Under separate cover I'm sending you two volumes of<br />
our journal, "Ordo Canonicus", which contain several of my<br />
articles, as well as a recent bibliography on canonical life<br />
assembled by a young French canon regular, Father Sicard, and<br />
which I helped to put together.<br />
I am sorry that I cannot attend the symposium as I am<br />
especially interested in the Victorines, but am happy that<br />
Father Brendt who is working on the complete works of Hugh<br />
of St. Victor will be there to present a paper.<br />
Wishing you well with your project, and your<br />
sincerely.<br />
Canon Jean Chatillon<br />
Institute Catholique<br />
17, Rue des Galons<br />
92190 Meudon<br />
France<br />
[translated from French by the Editor.]<br />
©clalitafes<br />
A Series of Articles from the jubilary album of the Canonical Order<br />
published at the Sixteen Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of St. Augustine at Stift Vorau, Austria, in 1954<br />
and edited by Pius Fank, C.R.<br />
The<br />
Lateran Congregation<br />
by Dom Alois van Ette, C.R.L.<br />
In 1401 or 1402 two <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong>, wishing for a<br />
stricter observance of the canonical life, withdrew to the<br />
abandoned Priory of Fregionaia, near the town of Lucca. The<br />
little community rapidly increased and in 1405 it was large<br />
enough to send a band to Casoreto near Milan. This was<br />
followed by several other foundations and by 1421 the canons<br />
were settled in six houses.<br />
Up till then their system of government had been rather<br />
primitive, but on the 20th of June 1421, Pope Martin V erected<br />
the six houses into a Congregation, gave permission to elect a<br />
General, convoke General Chapters and to introduce their kind<br />
of life into other monasteries.<br />
Providence, through the intermediary of Pope Eugene IV,<br />
had a glorious future in store for this congregation, one of the<br />
first of the canonical Order of St Augustine. At his election,<br />
Pope Eugene IV was very distressed by the lamentable state of<br />
his Cathedral, the Basilica of the Lateran. He decided that<br />
the best way of remedying this situation was to re-establish<br />
the common life which had been established at the Gregorian<br />
Reformation and suppressed in 1299. He accordingly sent for<br />
a group of <strong>Canons</strong> from Fregionaia, and, though the people<br />
incited by the secular clergy ruthlessly expelled them three<br />
times, they served the Basilica intermittently until Sixtus IV<br />
finally secularized the Lateran Chapter in 1471. Meanwhile<br />
the Pope had given them the title of <strong>Canons</strong> <strong>Regular</strong> of the<br />
Lateran.<br />
The Lateran Congregation separated herself quite<br />
perceptibly from the traditions of the Order. By way of<br />
reaction to the disorders of the canons at that time, she<br />
radically opposed the ancient customs. The religious of<br />
Fregionaia put down the existing abuses to the practice of<br />
electing superiors for a life-term and to the stability of the<br />
subjects. Henceforward the Statutes of the new<br />
Congregation decreed the changing of superiors at least every<br />
three years and stated that the canon was a member of the<br />
whole Congregation and not simply of his chapter. The<br />
exterior mark of this new life was the white habit which<br />
clearly proclaimed the intention of breaking with the past of<br />
the black canons.<br />
Another innovation made by the Lateran Congregation<br />
was the introduction of the Abbatial office into the<br />
Augustinian Order, with a view no doubt to increasing the<br />
lustre of these prelates who governed a religious Order<br />
important on account of her title, her privileges and her<br />
numerical strength. As a result of these advantages the<br />
Abbot General appears sometimes as the Primate of the whole<br />
Order.<br />
The Congregation does not seem to have had a spiritual<br />
doctrine of its own. Its aim was to re-establish regular<br />
discipline. That it kept its fervor so long is undoubtedly due<br />
to its Constitutions, General Chapters and canonical visits.<br />
The numerous vocations made the Lateran <strong>Canons</strong> able to fill<br />
nearly 70 monasteries. In 1606 the Congregation was divided<br />
into five provinces. iQ
The decline of the Congregation began in the 17th<br />
century and was accentuated in the 18th. A decrease in<br />
fervor and financial embarrassment, caused principally by the<br />
contributions exacted by the Roman Curia for the Turkish war,<br />
induced the Holy See to intervene. The General Chapter took<br />
severe measures, among which may be mentioned the disastrous<br />
decision to restrict the recruitment, so as to reduce the size of<br />
the Communities and to increase the surplus of the revenues.<br />
The century preceding the Revolution might well be<br />
called the epoch of false values. On account of the prestige<br />
and prerogatives attaching to the title of Canon <strong>Regular</strong> of the<br />
Lateran the latter became a most desirable luxury which, for<br />
want of real influence was distributed liberally over the whole<br />
of Europe and especially wherever the German language was<br />
spoken.<br />
The number of monasteries began to diminish toward the<br />
end of the 18th century. At the request of Charles-Emmanuel<br />
IV of Savoy, Pius VI suppressed seven in 1798. The French<br />
Revolution and Napoleon achieved its destruction; when peace<br />
was restored, the Lateran Congregation possessed not a single<br />
monastery, but only scattered members.<br />
The man chosen by Providence to put new life into the<br />
Congregation was Vincent Garofali. A canon regular of St<br />
Augustine of the Rhenish Congregation, Garofali undertook, in<br />
1800 and in 1814, to re-assemble the religious of his<br />
Congregation.<br />
The journeys undertaken by Garofali while negotiating<br />
the restitution of churches and good brought him in contact<br />
with a little group of ancient canons of the Lateran attached<br />
to their church of Piedigrotta at Naples. He immediately set<br />
to work to obtain the re-establishment of their monastery, but<br />
Cardinal Caracciolo, Papal Legate in Naples, made him realize<br />
that it would be much better to unite the Lateran and Rhenan<br />
in one Congregation. The Pope favored the idea and charged<br />
Garofoli with its execution, giving him the title of Apostolic<br />
Delegate with the result that on September 7th 1819 nine<br />
priests and seven brothers of the old Congregation of the<br />
Lateran once more put on the religious habit and renewed their<br />
profession into the hands of Garofali.<br />
Thus the fusion of the two Congregations was complete,<br />
there only remained to draw up the Constitutions. The Pope<br />
appointed Cardinal Pacca to convoke and preside over a "Diet"<br />
composed of three representatives of each Congregation who<br />
were to meet in Rome on May 26th 1823. This assembly<br />
promulgated a decree approving the union on June 28th of the<br />
same year.<br />
The next few years were difficult for the new<br />
Congregation of the Lateran, chiefly on account of the lack of<br />
members. Its normal growth was all too soon thwarted by the<br />
political events of the time. Everyone knows of the painful<br />
crisis which preceded the unification of Italy. Already<br />
before 1860 it had become impossible to convoke a General<br />
Chapter. By the law of July 7th 1866 all the monasteries in<br />
the kingdom of Piedmont were confiscated. The canons had<br />
by now begun to seek refuge abroad but an attempted<br />
foundation at Orleans came to nothing. The annexation of the<br />
Papal States by the Piedmontese which extended the law of<br />
1866 to the conquered territory made their situation still more<br />
precarious. By the end of 1872, there only remained two<br />
monasteries in Rome: that of St Peter's Chains and St Agnes.<br />
It was this same year (1872) that the Congregation once<br />
more settled in France. This foundation at Beauchene<br />
(Cerizay-2 Sevres) was more successful than the previous one<br />
at Orleans. Though they were turned out twice by a sectarian<br />
government, the canons were able to maintain their position.<br />
The persecution even proved a blessing as it sent them to<br />
England, Spain, and Belgium and was the starting point of the<br />
present state of prosperity.<br />
The Lateran Congregation has no canonized saints, but<br />
the number of its religious who have died exceptionally holy<br />
deaths is remarkably high, especially during the first century<br />
of its existence. Two ascetical writers deserve to be<br />
specially mentioned: Peter of Lucca who died in 1522 and<br />
Seraphin of Fermo whose death occurred in 1540. Their works<br />
are still much studied even today; and finally there is the<br />
apostle of the blessed Eucharist, Salvatore Luigi Zola, who<br />
died a most meritorious death as Bishop of Lecce in 1898.°<br />
sier heritage<br />
associat;<br />
-100 Onamia, MX