Friday, August 30, 2013

'They raped every German female from eight to 80'

By Antony Beevor, from a 2002 Guardian articleHere's the whole stunning thing, my bolding:
"Red Army soldiers don't believe in 'individual liaisons' with German women," wrote the playwright Zakhar Agranenko in his diary when serving as an officer of marine infantry in East Prussia. "Nine, ten, twelve men at a time - they rape them on a collective basis."

The Soviet armies advancing into East Prussia in January 1945, in huge, long columns, were an extraordinary mixture of modern and medieval: tank troops in padded black helmets, Cossack cavalrymen on shaggy mounts with loot strapped to the saddle, lend-lease Studebakers and Dodges towing light field guns, and then a second echelon in horse-drawn carts. The variety of character among the soldiers was almost as great as that of their military equipment. There were freebooters who drank and raped quite shamelessly, and there were idealistic, austere communists and members of the intelligentsia appalled by such behaviour.

Beria and Stalin, back in Moscow, knew perfectly well what was going on from a number of detailed reports. One stated that "many Germans declare that all German women in East Prussia who stayed behind were raped by Red Army soldiers". Numerous examples of gang rape were given - "girls under 18 and old women included".

Marshal Rokossovsky issued order No 006 in an attempt to direct "the feelings of hatred at fighting the enemy on the battlefield." It appears to have had little effect. There were also a few arbitrary attempts to exert authority. The commander of one rifle division is said to have "personally shot a lieutenant who was lining up a group of his men before a German woman spreadeagled on the ground". But either officers were involved themselves, or the lack of discipline made it too dangerous to restore order over drunken soldiers armed with submachine guns.

Calls to avenge the Motherland, violated by the Wehrmacht's invasion, had given the idea that almost any cruelty would be allowed. Even many young women soldiers and medical staff in the Red Army did not appear to disapprove. "Our soldiers' behaviour towards Germans, particularly German women, is absolutely correct!" said a 21-year-old from Agranenko's reconnaissance detachment. A number seemed to find it amusing. Several German women recorded how Soviet servicewomen watched and laughed when they were raped. But some women were deeply shaken by what they witnessed in Germany. Natalya Gesse, a close friend of the scientist Andrei Sakharov, had observed the Red Army in action in 1945 as a Soviet war correspondent. "The Russian soldiers were raping every German female from eight to eighty," she recounted later. "It was an army of rapists."

Drink of every variety, including dangerous chemicals seized from laboratories and workshops, was a major factor in the violence. It seems as if Soviet soldiers needed alcoholic courage to attack a woman. But then, all too often, they drank too much and, unable to complete the act, used the bottle instead with appalling effect. A number of victims were mutilated obscenely.

The subject of the Red Army's mass rapes in Germany has been so repressed in Russia that even today veterans refuse to acknowledge what really happened. The handful prepared to speak openly, however, are totally unrepentant. "They all lifted their skirts for us and lay on the bed," said the leader of one tank company. He even went on to boast that "two million of our children were born" in Germany.

The capacity of Soviet officers to convince themselves that most of the victims were either happy with their fate, or at least accepted that it was their turn to suffer after what the Wehrmacht had done in Russia, is striking. "Our fellows were so sex-starved," a Soviet major told a British journalist at the time, "that they often raped old women of sixty, seventy or even eighty - much to these grandmothers' surprise, if not downright delight."

One can only scratch at the surface of the psychological contradictions. When gang-raped women in Königsberg begged their attackers afterwards to put them out of their misery, the Red Army men appear to have felt insulted. "Russian soldiers do not shoot women," they replied. "Only German soldiers do that." The Red Army had managed to convince itself that because it had assumed the moral mission to liberate Europe from fascism it could behave entirely as it liked, both personally and politically.

Domination and humiliation permeated most soldiers' treatment of women in East Prussia. The victims not only bore the brunt of revenge for Wehrmacht crimes, they also represented an atavistic target as old as war itself. Rape is the act of a conqueror, the feminist historian Susan Brownmiller observed, aimed at the "bodies of the defeated enemy's women" to emphasise his victory. Yet after the initial fury of January 1945 dissipated, the sadism became less marked. By the time the Red Army reached Berlin three months later, its soldiers tended to regard German women more as a casual right of conquest. The sense of domination certainly continued, but this was perhaps partly an indirect product of the humiliations which they themselves had suffered at the hands of their commanders and the Soviet authorities as a whole.

A number of other forces or influences were at work. Sexual freedom had been a subject for lively debate within Communist party circles during the 1920s, but during the following decade, Stalin ensured that Soviet society depicted itself as virtually asexual. This had nothing to do with genuine puritanism: it was because love and sex did not fit in with dogma designed to "deindividualise" the individual. Human urges and emotions had to be suppressed. Freud's work was banned, divorce and adultery were matters for strong party disapproval. Criminal sanctions against homosexuality were reintroduced. The new doctrine extended even to the complete suppression of sex education. In graphic art, the clothed outline of a woman's breasts was regarded as dangerously erotic. They had to be disguised under boiler suits. The regime clearly wanted any form of desire to be converted into love for the party and above all for Comrade Stalin.

Most ill-educated Red Army soldiers suffered from sexual ignorance and utterly unenlightened attitudes towards women. So the Soviet state's attempts to suppress the libido of its people created what one Russian writer described as a sort of "barracks eroticism" which was far more primitive and violent than "the most sordid foreign pornography". All this was combined with the dehumanising influence of modern propaganda and the atavistic, warring impulses of men marked by fear and suffering.


The novelist Vasily Grossman, a war correspondent attached to the invading Red Army, soon discovered that rape victims were not just Germans. Polish women also suffered. So did young Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian women who had been sent back to Germany by the Wehrmacht for slave labour. "Liberated Soviet girls quite often complain that our soldiers rape them," he noted. "One girl said to me in tears: 'He was an old man, older than my father'."

The rape of Soviet women and girls seriously undermines Russian attempts to justify Red Army behaviour on the grounds of revenge for German brutality in the Soviet Union. On March 29 1945 the central committee of the Komsomol (the youth organisation of the Soviet Union) informed Stalin's associate Malenkov of a report from the 1st Ukrainian Front. "On the night of 24 February," General Tsygankov recorded in the first of many examples, "a group of 35 provisional lieutenants on a course and their battalion commander entered the women's dormitory in the village of Grutenberg and raped them."

In Berlin, many women were simply not prepared for the shock of Russian revenge, however much horror propaganda they had heard from Goebbels. Many reassured themselves that, although the danger must be great out in the countryside, mass rapes could hardly take place in the city in front of everybody.

In Dahlem, Soviet officers visited Sister Kunigunde, the mother superior of Haus Dahlem, a maternity clinic and orphanage. The officers and their men behaved impeccably. In fact, the officers even warned Sister Kunigunde about the second-line troops following on behind. Their prediction proved entirely accurate. Nuns, young girls, old women, pregnant women and mothers who had just given birth were all raped without pity.

Yet within a couple of days, a pattern emerged of soldiers flashing torches in the faces of women huddled in the bunkers to choose their victims. This process of selection, as opposed to the indiscriminate violence shown earlier, indicates a definite change. By this stage Soviet soldiers started to treat German women more as sexual spoils of war than as substitutes for the Wehrmacht on which to vent their rage.

Rape has often been defined by writers on the subject as an act of violence which has little to do with sex. But that is a definition from the victim's perspective. To understand the crime, one needs to see things from the perpetrator's point of view, especially in the later stages when unaggravated rape had succeeded the extreme onslaught of January and February.

Many women found themselves forced to "concede" to one soldier in the hope that he would protect them from others. Magda Wieland, a 24-year-old actress, was dragged from a cupboard in her apartment just off the Kurfürstendamm. A very young soldier from central Asia hauled her out. He was so excited at the prospect of a beautiful young blonde that he ejaculated prematurely. By sign language, she offered herself to him as a girlfriend if he would protect her from other Russian soldiers, but he went off to boast to his comrades and another soldier raped her. Ellen Goetz, a Jewish friend of Magda's, was also raped. When other Germans tried to explain to the Russians that she was Jewish and had been persecuted, they received the retort: "Frau ist Frau."

Women soon learned to disappear during the "hunting hours" of the evening. Young daughters were hidden in storage lofts for days on end. Mothers emerged into the street to fetch water only in the early morning when Soviet soldiers were sleeping off the alcohol from the night before. Sometimes the greatest danger came from one mother giving away the hiding place of other girls in a desperate bid to save her own daughter. Older Berliners still remember the screams every night. It was impossible not to hear them because all the windows had been blown in.

Estimates of rape victims from the city's two main hospitals ranged from 95,000 to 130,000. One doctor deduced that out of approximately 100,000 women raped in the city, some 10,000 died as a result, mostly from suicide. The death rate was thought to have been much higher among the 1.4 million estimated victims in East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia. Altogether at least two million German women are thought to have been raped, and a substantial minority, if not a majority, appear to have suffered multiple rape.

If anyone attempted to defend a woman against a Soviet attacker it was either a father trying to defend a daughter or a young son trying to protect his mother. "The 13-year old Dieter Sahl," neighbours wrote in a letter shortly after the event, "threw himself with flailing fists at a Russian who was raping his mother in front of him. He did not succeed in anything except getting himself shot."

After the second stage of women offering themselves to one soldier to save themselves from others, came the post-battle need to survive starvation. Susan Brownmiller noted "the murky line that divides wartime rape from wartime prostitution". Soon after the surrender in Berlin, Ursula von Kardorff found all sorts of women prostituting themselves for food or the alternative currency of cigarettes. Helke Sander, a German film-maker who researched the subject in great detail, wrote of "the grey area of direct force, blackmail, calculation and real affection".

The fourth stage was a strange form of cohabitation in which Red Army officers settled in with German "occupation wives". The Soviet authorities were appalled and enraged when a number of Red Army officers, intent on staying with their German lovers, deserted when it was time to return to the Motherland.

Even if the feminist definition of rape purely as an act of violence proves to be simplistic, there is no justification for male complacency. If anything, the events of 1945 reveal how thin the veneer of civilisation can be when there is little fear of retribution. It also suggests a much darker side to male sexuality than we might care to admit.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Sarum Office Hymns "On the Feast of One Martyr"

From Hymn melodies for the whole year from the Sarum services books:
1st Ev. & Matt.: Martyr Dei, qui unicum
At 1st Ev. (except in Xmas & Paschal-tides) ... ... 25
At 1st Ev. in Xmas-tide & М. throughout the year (except in Paschal-tide ) ... ... 26
During Paschal-tide (1st Ev. & М.) ... ... 39
On Simple Feasts of the lowest class throughout the year (1st Ev. & M.) ... ... 6 or 76

Lauds & 2nd Ev.: Deus, Tuorum Militum
At L. (except in Xmas & Paschal-tides) ... ... 25
At 2nd Ev. (& L. when no 2nd Ev.) ... ... 49
During Xmas-tide (L. & 2nd Ev.) ... ... 27
During Paschal-tide (L. & 2nd Ev.) ... ... 39
On Simple Feasts of the lowest class throughout the year (L.) ... ... ... 40



The Latin words for Martyr Dei, qui unicum are these:
Martyr Dei, qui (quæ) unicum
Patris sequendo Filium,
victis triumphas hostibus,
victor (victrix) fruens cælestibus.

Tui precatus munere
nostrum reatum dilue,
arcens mali contagium,
vitæ repellens tædium.

Soluta sunt iam vincula
tui sacrati corporis;
nos solve vinclis sæculi,
amore Filii Dei.

Honor Patri cum Filio
et Spiritu Paraclito,
qui te corona perpeti
cingunt in aula gloriæ.


Here's an English translation of this hymn, at Cyberhymnal, where it is called "Martyr of God, whose strength was steeled." Cyberhymnal notes that the hymn is by an: "Unknown au­thor, 10th Cen­tu­ry (Mar­tyr Dei qui un­i­cum); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Per­cy Dear­mer in The Eng­lish Hymn­al (Lon­don: Ox­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 180."
Martyr of God, whose strength was steeled
To follow close God’s only Son,
Well didst thou brave thy battlefield,
And well thy heavenly bliss was won!

Now join thy prayers with ours, who pray
That God may pardon us and bless;
For prayer keeps evil’s plague away,
And draws from life its weariness.

Long, long ago, were loosed the chains
That held thy body once in thrall;
For us how many a bond remains!
O Love of God release us all.

All praise to God the Father be,
All praise to Thee, eternal Son;
All praise, O Holy Ghost, to Thee
While never ending ages run.


Deus tuorum militum can be found at "Early christian hymns," listed as a "Vesper hymn, for the feast of a martyr." CPDL offers a couple of Latin versions; here's one:
Deus, tuorum militum
sors et corona, præmium,
laudes canentes martyris
absolve nexu criminis.

Hic (Hæc) nempe mundi gaudia
et blandimenta noxia
caduca rite deputans,
pervenit ad cælestia.

Pœnas cucurrit fortiter
et sustulit viriliter;
pro te refundens sanguinem,
æterna dona possidet.

Ob hoc precatu supplici
te poscimus, piissime;
in hoc triumpho martyris
dimitte noxam servulis.

Ut consequamur muneris
ipsius et consortia,
lætemur ac perenniter
iuncti polorum sedibus.

Laus et perennis gloria
tibi, Pater, cum Filio,
Sancto simul Paraclito
in sæculorum sæcula.
Amen

 Here are the English words to this hymn, noted as from an unknown author in the sixth century, with a translation by J.M. Neale:
O God, thy soldiers' crown and guard,
and their exceeding great reward;
from all transgressions set us free,
who sing thy martyr's victory.

The pleasures of the world he spurned,
from sin's pernicious lures he turned;
he knew their joys imbued with gall,
and thus he reached thy heavenly hall.

For thee through many a woe he ran,
in many a fight he played the man;
for thee his blood he dared to pour,
and thence hath joy for evermore.

We therefore pray thee, full of love,
regard us from thy throne above;
on this thy martyr's triumph day,
wash every stain of sin away.

O Christ, most loving King, to thee,
with God the Father, glory be;
like glory, as is ever meet,
to God the holy Paraclete.


Below are all the chant scores for this great variety of melodies, along with music files where I've found them.   In use again are the Christmas and Christmastide melodies (25, 26, and 27), one from Easter (as at the Most Sweet Name of Jesus), plus a few others, a couple of which we haven't seen before.



Melody #6 is used at Terce "on Feasts throughout the Year" (Nunc sancte nobis Spiritus) and at None "on Feasts throughout the Year" (Rerum Deus tenax vigor). Unfortunately, I don't have a sound file to post for it; working on that!


Here again is LLPB's recording of melody #25, as used for the familiar Christmas First Vespers hymn Veni, Redemptor Gentium.


LLPB also provides a recording of Hymn tune #26;  the cantor is singing the Christmas Evensong hymn "Jesus, the Father's Only Son."  


LLPB has a recording of melody #27here's a recording of it sung as "From East to West, from shore to shore" (A solis ortus cardine), the Lauds and 2nd Vespers hymn for Christmas Day. 


Here's an mp3 of an example of alternate melody #39 again from LLPB;  it's the same melody as that used for the Easter Mattins hymn, Aurora Lucis Rutilat ("The Day Draws on with Golden Light").
Melody #40 (mp3) is used for the (ferial) Eastertide Sarum hymn for 2nd Evensong, Ad cenam Agni providi ("The Lamb's High Banquet").

The LLPB offers this mp3 of Hymn #49, "O God Thy Soldiers Crown and Guard," as a "Hymn about the Martyrs (male)."   (Hymn #49 is also the tune used for "O Glorious King of Martyr Hosts" (mp3) at LLPB; that's sung on the feast days of several martyrs, such as the Feast of Constance and her Companions.)


I have no information about Melody #76 - nor do I know anything about Hereford hymnal.  As always, though:  I'll return to post audio of it if I find it.



Wednesday, August 28, 2013

"Watch Martin Luther King Jr. go on 'Meet the Press' in 1963"

Very interesting video here:


Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
 
HT Lee.

On the Feast of the Decollation of S. John the Baptist (Aug. 29)

August 29 is the day the church (most all of it, although some on the old Orthodox calendar use September 11) observes the beheading of John the Baptist; this is one of the few occasions when a saint's primary feast day is not the day of his death.   (John's major feast day is June 24, the Feast of his Nativity.)

Here's what Hymn melodies for the whole year from the Sarum service books prescribes for today, short and sweet:
On the Feast of the Decollation of S. John the Baptist (Aug 29), as on the Feast of one Martyr.
So, let's back up and talk about the hymns for "the Feast of one Martyr"; again from Hymn melodies for the whole year from the Sarum services books:
1st Ev. & Matt.: Martyr Dei, qui unicum
At 1st Ev. (except in Xmas & Paschal-tides) ... ... 25
At 1st Ev. in Xmas-tide & М. throughout the year (except in Paschal-tide ) ... ... 26
During Paschal-tide (1st Ev. & М.) ... ... 39
On Simple Feasts of the lowest class throughout the year (1st Ev. & M.) ... ... 6 or 76

Lauds & 2nd Ev.: Deus, Tuorum Militum
At L. (except in Xmas & Paschal-tides) ... ... 25
At 2nd Ev. (& L. when no 2nd Ev.) ... ... 49
During Xmas-tide (L. & 2nd Ev.) ... ... 27
During Paschal-tide (L. & 2nd Ev.) ... ... 39
On Simple Feasts of the lowest class throughout the year (L.) ... ... ... 40

Follow along with the Offices for this feast at Breviary Offices, from Lauds to Compline Inclusive (Society of St. Margaret, Boston) (published in 1885). You can get all the Psalms, the collect, Chapter, antiphons, etc., for each of the offices of the day at that link, although no music is provided; check the iFrame look-in at the bottom of this post.

The Latin words for Martyr Dei, qui unicum are these:
Martyr Dei, qui (quæ) unicum
Patris sequendo Filium,
victis triumphas hostibus,
victor (victrix) fruens cælestibus.

Tui precatus munere
nostrum reatum dilue,
arcens mali contagium,
vitæ repellens tædium.

Soluta sunt iam vincula
tui sacrati corporis;
nos solve vinclis sæculi,
amore Filii Dei.

Honor Patri cum Filio
et Spiritu Paraclito,
qui te corona perpeti
cingunt in aula gloriæ.


Here's an English translation of this hymn, at Cyberhymnal, where it is called "Martyr of God, whose strength was steeled." Cyberhymnal notes that the hymn is by an: "Unknown au­thor, 10th Cen­tu­ry (Mar­tyr Dei qui un­i­cum); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Per­cy Dear­mer in The Eng­lish Hymn­al (Lon­don: Ox­ford Un­i­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 180."
Martyr of God, whose strength was steeled
To follow close God’s only Son,
Well didst thou brave thy battlefield,
And well thy heavenly bliss was won!

Now join thy prayers with ours, who pray
That God may pardon us and bless;
For prayer keeps evil’s plague away,
And draws from life its weariness.

Long, long ago, were loosed the chains
That held thy body once in thrall;
For us how many a bond remains!
O Love of God release us all.

All praise to God the Father be,
All praise to Thee, eternal Son;
All praise, O Holy Ghost, to Thee
While never ending ages run.


Deus tuorum militum can be found at "Early christian hymns," listed as a "Vesper hymn, for the feast of a martyr." CPDL offers a couple of Latin versions; here's one:
Deus, tuorum militum
sors et corona, præmium,
laudes canentes martyris
absolve nexu criminis.

Hic (Hæc) nempe mundi gaudia
et blandimenta noxia
caduca rite deputans,
pervenit ad cælestia.

Pœnas cucurrit fortiter
et sustulit viriliter;
pro te refundens sanguinem,
æterna dona possidet.

Ob hoc precatu supplici
te poscimus, piissime;
in hoc triumpho martyris
dimitte noxam servulis.

Ut consequamur muneris
ipsius et consortia,
lætemur ac perenniter
iuncti polorum sedibus.

Laus et perennis gloria
tibi, Pater, cum Filio,
Sancto simul Paraclito
in sæculorum sæcula.
Amen

 Here are the English words to this hymn, noted as from an unknown author in the sixth century, with a translation by J.M. Neale:
O God, thy soldiers' crown and guard,
and their exceeding great reward;
from all transgressions set us free,
who sing thy martyr's victory.

The pleasures of the world he spurned,
from sin's pernicious lures he turned;
he knew their joys imbued with gall,
and thus he reached thy heavenly hall.

For thee through many a woe he ran,
in many a fight he played the man;
for thee his blood he dared to pour,
and thence hath joy for evermore.

We therefore pray thee, full of love,
regard us from thy throne above;
on this thy martyr's triumph day,
wash every stain of sin away.

O Christ, most loving King, to thee,
with God the Father, glory be;
like glory, as is ever meet,
to God the holy Paraclete.


Below are all the chant scores for this great variety of melodies, along with music files where I've found them.   In use again are the Christmas and Christmastide melodies (25, 26, and 27), one from Easter (as at the Most Sweet Name of Jesus), plus a few others, a couple of which we haven't seen before.



Melody #6 is used at Terce "on Feasts throughout the Year" (Nunc sancte nobis Spiritus) and at None "on Feasts throughout the Year" (Rerum Deus tenax vigor). Unfortunately, I don't have a sound file to post for it; working on that!


Here again is LLPB's recording of melody #25, as used for the familiar Christmas First Vespers hymn Veni, Redemptor Gentium.


LLPB also provides a recording of Hymn tune #26;  the cantor is singing the Christmas Evensong hymn "Jesus, the Father's Only Son."  


LLPB has a recording of melody #27here's a recording of it sung as "From East to West, from shore to shore" (A solis ortus cardine), the Lauds and 2nd Vespers hymn for Christmas Day. 


Here's an mp3 of an example of alternate melody #39 again from LLPB;  it's the same melody as that used for the Easter Mattins hymn, Aurora Lucis Rutilat ("The Day Draws on with Golden Light").
Melody #40 (mp3) is used for the (ferial) Eastertide Sarum hymn for 2nd Evensong, Ad cenam Agni providi ("The Lamb's High Banquet").

The LLPB offers this mp3 of Hymn #49, "O God Thy Soldiers Crown and Guard," as a "Hymn about the Martyrs (male)."   (Hymn #49 is also the tune used for "O Glorious King of Martyr Hosts" (mp3) at LLPB; that's sung on the feast days of several martyrs, such as the Feast of Constance and her Companions.)


I have no information about Melody #76 - nor do I know anything about Hereford hymnal.  As always, though:  I'll return to post audio of it if I find it.


Here's a peek-through to the SSM Breviary; rather than clicking the link above, you can just scroll through the day's offices here, if you'd rather:





There are, as you can imagine, many paintings and other works that deal with this subject; some in Western art are quite gruesome.   Here's one, painted in 1869 by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes , that's not, so much:



Here's a very complicated icon of the beheading of St. John the Baptist; I'm assuming it's Greek (the artist is given as "unknown") because it's today in the Benaki Museum in Athens.  The Wikipedia page says that it's from the 18th Century:



A standard iconographic representation of this event, though, presents John as carrying his own head in a basket (or perhaps on a platter?):

  


The Wikipedia description says that this is "Russian: John the Baptist, Angel of the Desert, with Life in 16 marginal scenes.  School or bad. center: Yaroslavl XVI century. 142 × 96 cm Yaroslavl Art Museum, Yaroslavl, Russia."

I didn't know he was referred to as "the Angel of the Desert"; it's a beautiful name.


Monday, August 26, 2013

"Werner Herzog’s Public Service Announcement"

A powerful post at Mockingbird today; the video's below.
Maybe you’ve heard, but AT&T approached Mbird favorite Werner Herzog to do a public service announcement on the dangers of texting while driving. Rather than a short commercial-length announcement, Herzog made a 36-minute short film, interviewing both the victims and the guilty. It is not an easy watch by any stretch, but worth it. As always, what Herzog is so adept at is the direct emotional resonance he pulls from all of his subjects. He levels these stories into the inner-lives of us all. This is also why he chose not to use graphic imagery in his PSA, as he tells NPR’s David Greene:
What was proposed to me immediately made sense. It immediately gave me the feeling I’m the right person because I don’t need to show blood and gore and wrecked cars. What I wanted to do was show the interior side of the catastrophes…It’s a deep raw emotion — the kind of deep wounds that are in those who were victims of accidents and also in those who were the perpetrators.Their life has changed and they are suffering forever. They have this sense of guilt that pervades every single action, every single day, every single dream and nightmare.
One of the more powerful moments is the story of Chandler Gerber (around the 7-minute mark), who killed three in an Amish family while texting “I love you” to his wife. The mother and two children were killed. Herzog captures both the acceptance of Gerber’s culpability, the weight of a perpetrator’s guilt, as well as an impossible letter from the father in the family. As Herzog says of one of the perpetrators, the man saying, “Look at me, look at me, no one should have this on their shoulders,” there is an inner-landscape to these people that make them like you or me:
Originally I was supposed to do four spots, 30 seconds long, but I immediately said these deep emotions, this inner landscape can only be shown if you have more time. You have to know the persons. You have to allow silences, for example, deep silences of great suffering.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Why I continue to love Sunday mornings....

Why "Sunday shakes the world," in other words:
  • Where else can you hear stories from thousands of years ago - stories that are still vibrantly alive and still speaking to the deepest parts of the human psyche?    Where else can you finally cast off the oppression of the narrow mindset of what's happening now and what I feel like thinking about - and spend some time thinking in a different way, about a different reality, and a different kind of world and its people?   Where else can you get the big picture and the wide view - the huge picture, in fact, and the long view through the eyes of eternity?  

    Where else can you hear things like this, the call to remember and attend to the needs of the world:
    Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
        you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

    If you remove the yoke from among you,
        the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
     if you offer your food to the hungry
        and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
    then your light shall rise in the darkness
        and your gloom be like the noonday.
     The Lord will guide you continually,
        and satisfy your needs in parched places,
        and make your bones strong;
    and you shall be like a watered garden,
        like a spring of water,
        whose waters never fail.
     Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
        you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
    you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
        the restorer of streets to live in.

     If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
        from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
    if you call the sabbath a delight
        and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
    if you honor it, not going your own ways,
        serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
    then you shall take delight in the Lord,
        and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
    I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
        for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

    Where else can you hear from the prophet Jeremiah, called to speak the word of the Lord despite his protestations and feelings of inadequacy:
    Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
     “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    and before you were born I consecrated you;
    I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

     Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”  But the Lord said to me,
    “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
    for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
    and you shall speak whatever I command you.
     Do not be afraid of them,
    for I am with you to deliver you,
    says the Lord.”

     Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
    “Now I have put my words in your mouth.
     See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
    to pluck up and to pull down,
    to destroy and to overthrow,
    to build and to plant.”
    Where else can you hear - again! - about the Great Physician and his continuous work of healing?
    Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.  And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.  But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”  But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?  And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”  When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
  • The range of emotion you can experience during worship is quite literally endless - including some very fine and subtle shades and gradations of feeling.  That's because both repetition and variety work together to evoke the entire range of human experience, in infinite combinations.  For instance:  today we sang Hymn #8, "Morning Has Broken": it's a beautiful hymn that everybody knows (thank you, Cat Stevens) and can sing (almost) by heart.  It's warm and beautiful and evocative of things deeply human - and of things deeply holy:
    Praise for the sweetness
    Of the wet garden
    Sprung in completeness
    Where his feet pass
     And:
    Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
    Born of the one light, Eden saw play

    When the cross passes, I always bow; today it was with an easy, grounded feeling of being blessed to be alive in this beautiful created world;  it's a beautiful day here.  I'm sure anybody, believer or not, could have experienced the same feeling while singing that song.  (That's the wonderful thing about Christianity:  no special knowledge is required.  It can speak to anybody who's ever been born and lived in this world;  God himself has been here.   Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto; "I am human; nothing human is alien to me.") 

    For me, though, the music and the words of the song got mixed up with the bow to the cross, and I actually experienced it fully, and was aware of it, because that was the marker.  The music and the gesture - a gesture I've repeated thousands of times, but never in combination with this music and on this beautiful day - then combined to create and evoke a feeling different from any I've had before:  a particular fine and subtle shade of easiness with living the life of faith that I'd never experienced till now.   Other days, I experience feelings of deep reverence when the cross passes; at still other times - depending on the day or the season or the music - it might be a feeling of awe or surprise or confidence or sorrow.
  • Where else can you look forward to hearing - for the first of many times this week - the special collect for the day:  "Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."   Where else can you hear, immediately first thing in the morning, about power and glory and the mysterious and glorious Most Holy Trinity?
  • Two young women sang Monteverdi at the Offertory:  Salve Regina:



    Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae,
    Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, Salve!
    Ad te clamamus, exsules filii [H]evae,
    Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes,
    In hac lacrimarum valle.
    Eja ergo, Advocata nostra,
    Illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte
    Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
    Nobis, post hoc exilium, ostende,
    O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.


    Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,
    [Hail] our life, our sweetness and our hope!
    To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve,
    to thee do we send up our sighs,
    mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
    Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
    thine eyes of mercy toward us,
    and after this, our exile,
    show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
    O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

    So we get to hear some of the really beautiful music of the world - and two young women get a chance to sing the same great stuff publicly.  Where else does this happen as if it were the most natural thing in the world, for worship and the benefit of everybody involved - and for the rest of the world, too, if they wanted to be there? 

    (This Monteverdi anthem was immediately followed, BTW, by the congregational singing of "Rock of Ages"!   I actually laughed out loud - but dove right in and sang along anyway.)

    Marian devotions are an interesting thing to me; I don't really necessarily understand it - but I've learned to love the praying of the Angelus several times during the course of the day.  I first experienced this at monasteries and convents; people would stop and say the prayer wherever they happened to be at 6am, noon, and 6pm - and then just pick up their work again.  I loved hearing the bells; it really did seem to me as if the heavens had cracked open and there were angels all around.  I've added the Angelus to my Daily Office prefs, too, and it does make a difference in how the prayers feel.

  • Then, during Communion, it was Taizé:



    Wonderful to have something simple to sing on the way to the altar and on the way back; you can make your own harmonies easily, too. The whole church fills with the sound of chant and footsteps and the murmurings of the priests and ministers as they whisper the prescribed words to each communicant. (Interestingly, the Taizé website gives the last line of the refrain as "Bless the Lord my soul, He leads me into life."  But today we sang, "Bless the Lord my soul, He rescues me from death."  I like the latter better.)

All of this - free for the taking, to anybody who wants it.  And you could go home later and spend hours, if you had them, investigating all the parts of the liturgy:  you could re-read the Scripture selections and then you could try to find commentaries on them; you could look up the old readings in the 1928 BCP if you wanted, to see what the differences might be; you could check out more Monteverdi online, and read his biography and what kinds of things he was trying to do with his music; you could go the Taizé website and find other chants you might like.  That's 2,000 years worth of history, and of things you might not know that you could learn - all of which will probably point you to other things you don't know and want to find out.

It's really quite amazing, actually; I'm very  sorry that more people don't find a way to lay hold of this and to have and use it as a base of operations - a place to return weekly for strength and solace, and simply for the sheer splendor of it all.  Because what a relief to have this way to learn, to experience and understand the world and your own life through this lens, and to detoxify!  What a wonderful and miraculous thing it is to be able to get beyond yourself to the real life - the fuller, larger life - and all set there right before you, the result of thousands of years of worship and thinking and writing and music.  It's part of your own system now, a way to investigate the world in its entirety, and an endless source of fascination and cause for admiration and amazement....

"School Clerk In Georgia Persuaded Gunman To Lay Down Weapons"

At NPR. Listen:



Tuesday's terrifying incident at an elementary school near Atlanta — in which a gunman with an assault rifle and other weapons entered the building — ended with no one being hurt after a school clerk apparently spent about an hour talking to the young man. She says she persuaded him to put down his gun and surrender.

 "I just started praying for him," Antoinette Tuff tells Atlanta's Channel 2 Action News. "I just started talking to him ... and let him know what was going on with me and that it would be OK. And then [I] let him know that he could just give himself up. ... I told him to put [the guns] on the table, empty his pockets. He had me actually get on the intercom and tell everybody he was sorry, too. But I told them, 'He was sorry, but do not come out of their rooms.' ... I give it all to God, I'm not the hero. I was terrified."

In an interview with ABC-TV's World News With Diane Sawyer, Tuff says "[I saw] a young man ready to kill anybody that he could and take any lives he wanted to." According to ABC:
"The school clerk said she tried to keep the assailant calm by asking him his name but, she said, at first he wouldn't tell it to her. Then, he began listening to her tell her life story. She said she told him about how her marriage fell apart after 33 years and the 'roller coaster' of opening her own business."
Tuff says she told 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill that "OK, we all have situations in our lives. I went through a tragedy myself."

Then, ABC writes, "Tuff made the request that she said helped end the standoff. She said she asked the suspect to put his weapons down, empty his pockets and backpack and lay on the floor. 'I told the police he was giving himself up. I just talked him through it,' she said."

During the incident, the 870 or so pre-kindergarten to fifth-graders at the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur were safely evacuated. At one point, the gunman exchanged some shots with police. But no one was struck.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Anglican Chant XXVIII: Psalm 63 (Jones)

From the YouTube page:
The Schola Cantorum sings Psalm 63, "Deus, Deus meus," at Choral Evensong on 15 May 2011 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Highland Park, Pittsburgh, PA. Chant: Jones. Alastair Stout, organ; Peter J. Luley, choirmaster.


 
Here's the 1662 BCP (Coverdale) Psalter text:
1  O God, thou art my God *
 early will I seek thee.
2  My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee *
 in a barren and dry land where no water is.
3  Thus have I looked for thee in holiness *
 that I might behold thy power and glory.
4  For thy loving-kindness is better than the life itself *
 my lips shall praise thee.
5  As long as I live will I magnify thee on this manner *
 and lift up my hands in thy Name.
6  My soul shall be satisfied, even as it were with marrow and fatness *
 when my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips.
7  Have I not remembered thee in my bed *
 and thought upon thee when I was waking?
8  Because thou hast been my helper *
 therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
9  My soul hangeth upon thee *
 thy right hand hath upholden me.
10  These also that seek the hurt of my soul *
 they shall go under the earth.
11  Let them fall upon the edge of the sword *
 that they may be a portion for foxes.
12  But the King shall rejoice in God; all they also that swear by him shall be commended *
 for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

Monday, August 19, 2013

"Sunday shakes the world"

For next Sunday, from Living Church:

First reading and psalm: Jer. 1:4-10 • Ps. 71: 1-6

Alternate: Isa. 58:9b-14 • Ps. 103:1-8 • Heb. 12:18-29 • Luke 13:10-17


Formed in the womb, elected for words to the nations, the preacher is not a man of his own word. He, a mere boy, is the bearer of celestial speech put into his mouth and seared upon his lips. Whether he roars or whispers, he is either pulling down or raising up. Plucking, pulling, destroying, overthrowing, he unsettles by his well-timed truths (Jer. 1:4-10). He names the oppressive yoke, the pointing of the finger, evil speech, a trampled Sabbath, all of which the hearers, though troubled, acknowledge as the truth (Isa. 58:9b-14). His accusations are a “just word” (Walter Burghardt, SJ), a summons to the proper ordering of communal life and shared responsibility, and thus they carry seeds of new life. Speaking, the preacher is building and planting.

A more excellent way is open to the hearer. Offer your food to the hungry, satisfy the needs of the afflicted, honor the Sabbath. Do not neglect the holy day in the name of “your own interests” (Isa. 58:13). The key is this. The happiness and strength of the community is linked irrevocably to the two great commandments. Sabbath rest underscores the claim of divinity upon every earthly and human detail. God calls, says our Morning Prayer Jubilate, “omnis terra,” the whole earth. The whole earth, on this holy day, rests before the creating God. From this rest come grace and power and virtue, such that the disciple is awakened to feed the hungry and help the afflicted. And it is never simply a question of the privileged giving to the disadvantaged because God so orders the community that each is a gift to the other. A blessed dependency prevails; cords of love and affection, responsibility and service, trial and joy, all work together to create one body.

The preacher is sometimes difficult. “See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking,” he says in his long introduction, trying to awaken deaf ears (Heb. 12:25). When he speaks, the world seems to shift and shake until the only things remaining are those strong enough to withstand the mighty word of God. A kingdom which cannot be removed sits secure (Heb. 12:28). The preacher speaks of God, humanity, the world. He looks, and waves his hands, looks deeply with his eyes, laughs at human folly, always opening the inscrutable mystery of the God who creates, redeems, sustains, sanctifies, and glorifies. Though the preacher is demanding, he leaves the hearer with that strange sense, an emotional reverberation deeper than fleeting thought. The hearer thinks — no, feels — that God has breathed new life over dry bones.

Jesus heard the preacher. A mere boy, he went to the synagogue again and again with his observant family. He knew the call to observe the sacred day. Love and holy fear fixed his heart to his heavenly father. Rising from the dead on the first day of the week, Jesus gave his followers reason to shift their weekly gathering to Sunday. He did not, it must be said, suffer and die and rise again to release his followers from following the sacred rite of a Sunday morning. On Sunday, the Lord’s Day, we Christians enter into a mystery which passes show. For the procession, lessons, gospel, preaching, creed, prayers, peace, bread of heaven, and wine of joy all proclaim, invoke, and exhibit the Living God. Sunday shakes the world, and a living church will ever be amazed at the wonderful things he has done (Luke 13:17).

Look It Up

Read Ps. 103:2. Do not forget.



Think About It

The preacher could say, “I am only a girl.” And God could say, “You are Fleming Rutledge, and you will go to all to whom I send you, saying what I say with your burning lips.”

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Anglican Chant XXVII: King's College Cambridge Psalm 23 (Goss)



Here's the 1662 BCP (Coverdale) Psalter text:
1 The Lord is my shepherd *
therefore can I lack nothing.
2 He shall feed me in a green pasture *
and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.
3 He shall convert my soul *
and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his Name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death , I will fear no evil *
for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me.

5 Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me *
thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full.
6 But thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life *
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

This is from the YouTube page:
Anglican Chant by Sir John Goss (27 December 1800 -- 10 May 1880) was an English organist, composer and teacher.

Born to a musical family, Goss was a boy chorister of the Chapel Royal, London, and later a pupil of Thomas Attwood, organist of St Paul's Cathedral. After a brief period as a chorus member in an opera company he was appointed organist of a chapel in south London, later moving to more prestigious organ posts at St Luke's, Chelsea and finally St Paul's Cathedral, where he struggled to improve musical standards.

As a composer, Goss wrote little for the orchestra, but was known for his vocal music, both religious and secular. Among his best-known compositions are his hymn tunes "Praise my Soul, the King of Heaven" and "See, Amid the Winter's Snow". The music critic of The Times described him as the last of the line of English composers who confined themselves almost entirely to ecclesiastical music.

From 1827 to 1874, Goss was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, teaching harmony. He also taught at St Paul's. Among his pupils at the academy were Arthur Sullivan, Frederic Cowen and Frederick Bridge. His best-known pupil at St Paul's was John Stainer, who succeeded him as organist there.
wikipedia

There are 17 other Anglican Chant videos on this playlist, too.  Have fun! 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

In Assumptione Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, ad II vesperas

From the website of the Brazilian Benedictines, here are (mp3) recordings of Second Vespers of The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin (Assumption, August 15); I added the image.  You can follow along with the service at Divinum Officium; enter 8-15-2013 in the date box, hit "Enter," then click Vesperae.

In Assumptione Beatæ Mariæ Virginis
ad II vesperas


Our Lady of Vladimir, one of the holiest
medieval representations of the 
Theotokos
Introitus - organum (2m27.1s - 2012 kb)

Deus, in adiutorium (55.5s - 759 kb)

Hymnus: Ave, Maris stella (2m39.4s - 2181 kb)

Psalmus 109, antiphona Assumpta est Maria (2m42.3s - 2219 kb)

Psalmus 112, antiphona Maria Virgo assumpta est (2m29.6s - 2046 kb)

Psalmus 121, antiphona In odorem unguentorum (2m31.2s - 2068 kb)

Psalmus 126, antiphona Pulchra es et decora (2m31.8s - 2076 kb)

Lectio brevis (21.9s - 301 kb)

Responsorium: Assumpta est Maria (1m48.9s - 1490 kb)

Magnificat, antiphona Hodie Maria Virgo cælos ascendit (5m33.3s - 4558 kb)

Kyrie, eleison; Pater noster; Dominus vobiscum (2m46.5s - 2227 kb)

Benedicamus Dominum; Sit nomen (1m07.5s - 924 kb)

Ecce panis (1m35.6s - 1308 kb)

Tantum ergo VII (1m10.4s - 964 kb)

Panem de cælo, Deus qui nobis (1m15.4s - 1031 kb)

Te laudamus, Domine (1m31.3s - 1249 kb)

Finalem - organum (3m22.8s - 2774 kb)

Saturday, August 10, 2013

"Sacrifice": something to think about....

And about which I am thinking at the moment.

The word "sacrifice" is used 285 times in the English Standard Version:  243 times in the Old Testament and 42 times in the New.

It's used thirteen times, in total, in the four Gospels and in the Book of Acts - and never once in any of these books in reference to Christ.

It is used that way, in fact, exactly twice in Paul (once in 1 Corinthians and once Ephesians) and once in Hebrews (after 17 other instances discussing the sacrificial system in the Temple).   Every other use of the word in the New Testament is a historical reference or else in the "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" vein.

So why has the Eucharist  - in the West at least, as I'm not sure about the East - been described for two thousand years as a "sacrifice" in which Christ is offered as an "oblation"?  This is, as far as I can see, an utterly minor theme in the Bible, and to my eyes at least merely a literary device.

I suppose there many be other references that don't use the word itself, and I'll have to take a look at that too.  But this is really quite puzzling to me so far....

Friday, August 9, 2013

"Perseid meteor shower peaking Sunday and Monday nights"

From the San Jose Mercury News (my bold):
Dim the lights, grab a blanket and hope for clear skies -- an annual magic show, the Perseid meteor shower, can be seen Sunday and Monday nights [August 11/12 and 12/13].

You don't need tickets to view nature's free show. And no binoculars are needed, because the flashes may be anywhere in the sky though they will seem to come from the northeast.

"The crucial issue is that meteors are faint, so you need a location where the sky is dark," according to Andrew Fraknoi, chairman of the astronomy department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. "The darker your site, the more you will see."

Your best views come after midnight -- so it is an event most appreciated by night owls. That's because the Earth turns after midnight to face the shower, so the meteors come more directly at us. And the crescent moon has set, immersing us in darkness.

At its peak, it is possible to see up to sixty shooting stars per hour. The shower actually started in July and will extend for most of August, but with less drama.

The stars are called the sons of Perseus, because they seem to shoot from that constellation, named after the Greek demi-god famed for saving Andromeda from a sea monster. They were first recorded 2,000 years ago.

But they're not really stars -- just meteoric dust, no bigger than the size of a dime. They burn as they careen into the Earth's atmosphere at 7 to 44 miles per second.

"They are cosmic 'garbage' left over from a regularly returning comet, called Swift-Tuttle," after its discoverers, Fraknoi said. Leftovers from the early days of our solar system, the flashes are the last gasp of cosmic material that formed about 5 billion years ago.

To enjoy the event, get away from city lights and coastal fog. State or city parks or other safe, dark sites are your best bet. Dress warmly for night-time temperatures.

Once you have settled at your observing spot, lie back so the horizon appears at the edge of your peripheral vision, with the stars and sky filling your field of view. Meteors will grab your attention as they streak by.

Be patient -- because they are more subtle than fireworks, it may take up to 15 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. Several minutes might pass without a single flash.

If it's cloudy, don't despair: another meteor shower, the Leonids, will spark the nigh sky on Nov. 16.

More about the Perseids at EarthSky.org:
From mid-northern latitudes, the constellation Perseus,
the stars Capella and Aldebaran, and the Pleiades
cluster light up the northeast sky in the wee hours
after midnight on August nights.
When is the best time to view the Perseid meteor shower? Don’t wait until the peak nights to watch for the Perseid meteors. You can start watching a week or more before the peak nights of August 11-12 and 12-13, assuming you have a dark sky. The Perseid shower is known to rise gradually to a peak, then fall off rapidly afterwards. So as the nights pass in the week before the shower, the meteors will increase in number.

As a general rule, the Perseid meteors tend to be few and far between at nightfall and early evening. Yet, if fortune smiles upon you, you could catch an earthgrazer – a looooong, slow, colorful meteor traveling horizontally across the evening sky. Earthgrazer meteors are rare but most exciting and memorable, if you happen to spot one. Perseid earthgrazers can only appear at early to mid-evening, when the radiant point of the shower is close to the horizon.

As evening deepens into late night, and the meteor shower radiant climbs higher in the sky, more and more Perseid meteors streak the nighttime. The meteors don’t really start to pick up steam until after midnight, and usually don’t bombard the sky most abundantly until the wee hours before dawn. You may see 50 or so meteors per hour in a dark sky.

How to watch the Perseid meteor shower. You need no special equipment to enjoy this nighttime spectacle. You don’t even have to know the constellations. But you’ll definitely want to find a dark, open sky to fully enjoy the show. It also helps to be a night owl. Give yourself at least an hour of observing time, for these meteors in meteor showers come in spurts and are interspersed with lulls.

An open sky is essential because these meteors fly across the sky in many different directions and in front of numerous constellations. If you trace the paths of the Perseid meteors backward, you’d find they come from a point in front of the constellation Perseus. But once again, you don’t need to know Perseus or any other constellation to watch this or any meteor shower.

Enjoy the comfort of a reclining lawn chair and look upward in a dark sky, far away from pesky artificial lights. Remember, your eyes can take as long as twenty minutes to truly adapt to the darkness of night. So don’t rush the process. All good things come to those who wait.

Meteor seen at Acadia National Park during the 2012 Perseid meteor shower. Photo from EarthSky Facebook friend Jack Fusco Photography. See more from Jack here.

On the Feast of the Assumption of the B. V. Mary (August 15)

I'm continuing the completion of my Office Hymn listings.  Here are the hymns for the Feast of the Assumption listed at Hymn melodies for the whole year from the Sarum service books:
On the Feast of the Assumption of the B. V. Mary:
1st Evensong:  O quam glorifica ... ... ... ... 66
Mattins:  Quem terra, pontus, ethera ... ... ... ... 63
Lauds O gloriosa femina ... ... ... ...63
2nd Evensong: Letabundus ... ... Sequence, p. (11)
(But within the 8ve & on the 8ve day, O quam glorifica,  as above.)


(This feast is called "The Repose of the Blessed Virgin Mary" at Breviary Offices, from Lauds to Compline Inclusive (Society of St. Margaret, Boston); that book was published in 1885.  You can get all the Psalms, the collect, Chapter, antiphons, etc., for all the offices of the day at that link, although no music is provided - or check the iFrame look-in at the bottom of this post. )

And the 1979 Book of Common Prayer calls this day simply "The Feast of  St. Mary the Virgin"; it is a Major Feast in the Episcopal Church.


O quam glorifica is a beautiful hymn; I was not familiar with it previously.  Melody #66 is never used at any other office on any other day; it's a really lovely tune with an unusual meter (11-11-11-11):


Here it is sung by the Trappist monks of Gethsemani in Kentucky (Thomas Merton's monastery - and he actually might have been singing here, because the YouTube page says this recording is from 1958):



Here are the Latin words (verse 3 is not included on the video above):
O quam glorifica luce coruscas,
Stirpis Davidicæ regia proles.
Sublimis residens, Virgo Maria,
Supra cæligenas ætheris .

Tu cum virgineo mater honore,
Ang(e)lorum Domino pectoris aulam
Sacris visceribus casta parasti;
Natus hinc Deus est corpore Christus.

Quem cunctus venerans orbis adorat,
cui nunc rite genuflectitur omne;
A quo te, petimus, subveniente,
Abjectis tenebris, gaudia lucis.

Hoc largire Pater luminis omnis,
Natum per proprium, Flamine sacro,
Qui tecum nitida vivit in æthera
Regnans, ac moderans sæcula cuncta.
Amen. 
It's quite beautiful in English, too:
O how glorious art thou, dazzling with light,
stock of David, royal offspring!
Thou dwellest in a sublime height, O Virgin Mary,
Looking down on all the heavenly regions.

Thou, with the honor of being a virgin and mother,
hast prepared for the Lord of Angels thy bosom
as a sacred palace, thy most holy womb,
from whence God took flesh, and was born Christ.

Thou, whom the whole world venerates and pays homage,
before whom all now rightfully bend the knee,
To whom we humbly beseech in our misery and darkness,
coming before thee surrounded by the joy of pure light.

O Father of all lights, through this sacred Flame
give unto us thy only Begotten Son,
who with Thee reigns brilliantly in the heavens,
ruling and governing for all ages.
Amen.


Here is the chant score for melody #63 from Hymn Melodies:; this melody is used for both the Mattins and Lauds hymn on Assumption.




Here's an mp3 the cantor from LLPB singing melody #63; it's the Mattins hymn Quem terra, pontus, ethera, called "The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky" in English.  This hymn is also sung at Mattins on Purification (Candlemas).

Here are the words from Oremus; the note says "Words: attributed to Fortunatus, sixth century; trans. John Mason Neale, 1854."
The God whom earth and sea and sky
adore and laud and magnify,
whose might they own, whose praise they swell,
in Mary's womb vouchsafed to dwell.

The Lord whom sun and moon obey,
whom all things serve from day to day,
was by the Holy Ghost conceived
of her who through his grace believed.

How blessed that Mother, in whose shrine
the world's Creator, Lord divine,
whose hand contains the earth and sky,
once deigned, as in his ark, to lie.

Blessed in the message Gabriel brought,
blessed by the work the Spirit wrought;
from whom the great Desire of earth
took human flesh and human birth.

O Lord, the Virgin-born, to thee
eternal praise and glory be,
whom with the Father we adore
and Holy Ghost for evermore.

The Lauds hymn, O gloriosa femina (sometimes "O gloriosa domina"), is sung to the same melody today;  O gloriosa domina is also sung at Lauds on Purification (Candlemas)

This set of words comes from the SSM Breviary mentioned above (p.291);  it uses the same meter as Quem terra, pontus, ethera, so just sing it to the same tune, as prescribed.
O GLORIOUS Virgin, throned in rest
Amidst the starry host above,
Who gavest nurture from thy breast
To God with pure maternal love:

What we had lost through sinful Eve
The Blossom sprung from thee restores.
And granting bliss to souls that grieve.
Unbars the everlasting doors.

O gate, through which hath passed the King:
O hall, whence light shone through the gloom;
The ransomed nations praise and sing,
Life given from the virgin womb.

All honour, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete. Amen.

CPDL has the words to O gloriosa Domina, in Latin and English; the words above are clearly taken from the same original Latin text, so it's definitely the same song:
O gloriosa Domina
excelsa super sidera,
qui te creavit provide,
lactasti sacro ubere.

Quod Eva tristis abstulit,
tu reddis almo germine;
intrent ut astra flebiles,
Caeli fenestra facta es.

Tu regis alti janua
et porta lucis fulgida;
vitam datam per Virginem,
gentes redemptae, plaudite.

Gloria tibi, Domine,
qui natus es de Virgine,
cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu
in sempiterna secula. Amen.



O Heaven's glorious mistress,
elevated above the stars,
thou feedest with thy sacred breast
him who created thee.

What miserable Eve lost
thy dear offspring to man restors,
the way to glory is open to the wretched
for thou has become the Gate of Heaven.

Thou art the door of the High King,
the gate of shining light.
Life is given through a Virgin:
Rejoice, ye redeemed nations.

Glory be to Thee, O Lord,
Born of a Virgin,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
world without end. Amen.

Here's a page from the Poissy Antiphonal that includes both of these hymns - but the melodies seem quite different:




And here again is Letabundus, the Christmas Sequence Hymn, sung today at Second Vespers, as it is on Candlemas also. Here's a lovely version, sung by the Gregorian Singers of the Cremona Church of Sant’Abbondio:



Here's the score, from Hymn Melodies for the whole year from the Sarum service-books:





Here's an image of the score from the same source:





Here's the entry for this feast from the wonderful website Full Homely Divinity:

The Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin - Marymas
August 15th
 O God, who hast taken to thyself the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of thy incarnate Son: Grant that we, who have been redeemed by his blood, may share with her the glory of thine eternal kingdom; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the feast, 1979 BCP)
The feast days of the saints are often referred to as their "heavenly birthdays" since they ordinarily celebrate the day when the saint died and thus passed into the new life of the Kingdom of Heaven.  No one illustrates this better than the Blessed Virgin Mary. Tradition relates that, when the time of her death drew near, all of the apostles gathered in Jerusalem to be with her--all except Thomas, who was preaching the Gospel in India and was unable to return to Jerusalem in time. The apostles gathered around her in a house on Mount Zion, near the Upper Room where they had shared the Last Supper with Jesus and had also received the Holy Spirit with Mary on Pentecost. In the charming medieval carving at the left, John still appears quite youthful, standing on the near side of her bed. Peter is wearing glasses and is reading to her. When she died, the apostles carried her to a tomb in the Garden of Gethsemane, which, tradition says, belonged to Mary's family.

Some time later, the apostles discovered that Mary's tomb was empty. This was not like the Resurrection of Jesus: Mary was not raised from the dead and did not appear to the apostles after her death; nor did an angel announce the news. Rather, her tomb was simply empty and they concluded that she had been taken directly into heaven ("assumed"), in much the same way that scripture and tradition attest that the greatest saints of the Old Testament--Enoch, Moses, and Elijah--were taken up bodily. In time, Thomas returned from India and the apostles told him what had happened, together with their conviction that Mary had been assumed into heaven. According to this tradition, Thomas once again played the role of the doubter and insisted that he would have to see the evidence before he would believe. At this point, we may perhaps be forgiven for thinking that the tradition is a bit unfair to Thomas. It hardly seems possible that this apostle who had traveled far and risked much to share his faith would make the same mistake twice. Nevertheless, the tradition has him going to the tomb of Mary where, instead of her body, he found the tomb full of fragrant flowers--one version of the tradition says the flowers were roses and lilies. And then, looking up, he saw Mary herself, going up to heaven. Looking back, she saw Thomas and dropped the girdle which had tied her robe and an angel delivered it into the hands of Thomas.

It was not until 1950 that the Assumption of Mary was defined as a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, when Pope Pius XII proclaimed that "the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven." In reality, however, this dogma was nothing new. It simply made it a matter of obligation for Roman Catholics to believe what many Christians have always believed, namely, that God had "taken to himself," for eternity, the blessed woman who had borne his incarnate Son in time. All believers look forward to "the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come." At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the emperor asked the patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople so that they could be enshrined at what was then the center of the world. The patriarch replied that there were no relics because, as he said, the apostles had found that her tomb was empty and her body had been assumed into heaven: she had already gone where we all hope to go.

Some Christians have difficulty with this idea because it is not in the Bible (though, as we have already noted, the Bible does tell of others who have been assumed, body and soul, into heaven). Nevertheless, Mary's role in our salvation, and her particular relationship with God is a pivotal one on our behalf. Her "yes" to the Archangel Gabriel opened the way for God to take on our humanity, to become fully one with us in the flesh. As an ancient prayer says, God humbled himself to share our humanity in order that we might share in his divinity. In the moment that Mary said "yes" to God's plan, she was already one with God in a unique way, bearing within her body God himself. A connection such as this transcends by far the intimacy of human relationships. Indeed, it reaches beyond death--and so the Church believes.

At the Council of Ephesus in 431, Mary was given the title "Theotokos"--"God-bearer" or "Mother of God." Nestorius taught that the divinity and humanity of Jesus were distinct and never mingled, so that Mary was "Christotokos," the mother of the man Jesus, but not the mother of God incarnate. The teaching of Nestorius was rejected by the Council and Mary has been known ever since as Theotokos, in token of the fact that she carried God himself in her womb, and continued ever after to share a special union with him, both in life and in death. In the West, Mary's feast on August 15th is called the Assumption. In the East it is called Koimesis--"Dormition" or "Falling Asleep." Both titles are somewhat vague about the details. Indeed, in spite of the tradition concerning Thomas's vision of her ascent into heaven, the Church is officially silent on the way in which she got there. What is clear is that, as our Collect says, God took Mary to himself, to be with him and one with him for ever. And that is what we celebrate on this day.

There are two places in Jerusalem associated with the end of Mary's earthly life. One is the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane (above) which houses her tomb. The other is a monastery on Mount Zion on the traditional site of her falling asleep. Dormition is the name the community of German Benedictines have given to the Abbey that crowns Mount Zion. A life-sized sculpture of the Theotokos in the crypt of the Abbey church shows the influence of traditional Byzantine iconography. In the traditional Orthodox icon, Jesus himself is depicted, standing by his Mother as she falls asleep, and holding her soul, like a child, in his arm.

Taking its cue from the experience of Thomas at the tomb of Mary, the celebration of this feast includes the blessing of fragrant flowers and herbs. Flowers have always been associated with Mary in a particular way. She is the Mystical Rose and many flowers are named for her or have popular names that relate to her. Here is a link describing many of Mary's flowers. And here is another link to a slide show with more information about Mary's flowers and Mary Gardens. A Mary Garden is a place to honor the Mother of God, as well as a place to go for quiet reflection and prayer. It could also provide a setting for your Easter Garden.  Mary Gardens may be found on the grounds of monasteries and churches, and also in the gardens of private homes. They are planted with flowers, herbs, and trees that are named for Mary or associated with her and her Son in scripture and tradition. They may also have statuary, icons, and other art and symbols that provide a focus for prayer and contemplation. Ideally, a Mary Garden is enclosed to provide a place truly set-apart, but even a dish garden can serve the purpose if properly used as a means of focusing prayer.

August is the wrong time to plant any kind of garden, but Marymas would be a good day to begin planning and marking out a Mary Garden. Some plants and seeds and bulbs do best if planted in the fall, and others can be added in the spring. Here is a link that will help you choose appropriate plants for your Mary Garden. In addition to the online resources linked above, Vincenzina Krymow's book Mary's Flowers is a beautifully illustrated text about the flowers associated with Mary and their legends. It includes information about how to create your own Mary Garden. Krymow has also written a companion volume, Healing Plants of the Bible. (Click here to find both of these books in our Bookshop.)
Llandaff Cathedral in Wales has a unique variation on a Mary Garden which we like a lot: each of the niches in the reredos of the Lady Chapel has a sculpture of a flower named in Welsh in honor of Mary.

From ancient times, in every culture, herbs and various flowers have been known to have healing properties. The blessing of herbs and flowers on Marymas is a way of "baptizing" the wisdom of traditional healing and combining it with the Christian wisdom that recognizes that God is the true source of healing and that salvation (wholeness) is ultimately found only in the Son of Mary, Jesus Christ. Thus, it was customary for the faithful to bring bunches of herbs and wild flowers to church on this day. They were blessed at the beginning of the Eucharist and then taken home to be used for healing and protection through the coming year. For the renewal of this tradition, an abbreviated form of the traditional prayers are found on ourMarymas Prayers page (click on the title).

In many parishes and especially at shrines, this is a day for processions and for celebrations that continue after the liturgical observances have been completed. Traditionally, working people had a holiday from work, so that there were also family celebrations. Today, we must be more creative about marking these holidays in our homes, and it may be necessary to transfer some of the celebration to the weekend in order to keep the spirit of a fully homely divinity alive and healthy. If your parish does not have a procession on this day, or if you are unable to attend, why not have a family procession? Hymn singing does not require an organ for accompaniment, and does not need to rival the Kings College Choir in order to praise God in joyful song. (You will find an assortment of good hymns on our Sing of Mary page.) Homemade banners can be as simple as strips of cloth waved by children, or as elaborate as those with greater skills can make them. Our homes can be filled with fragrant flowers and herbs. In the northern hemisphere, this is an outdoor feast. If you do not have a Mary Garden, any garden or park will serve--even the back porch, fitted out with potted plants and cut flowers and herbs, will serve quite well.

An especially good, yet relatively simple way to celebrate this feast is to have a tea party. A festive table can be set in your version of a Mary Garden, which is already full of flowers. Perhaps a few Mary flowers could be put in a small vase on the table. For drinks, we suggest teas that are scented with herbs or made entirely with herbs, as well as a fruit and herb punch from our friends at Catholic Culture that children will enjoy. For those who like old fashioned black teas, there are teas that are flavored with roses--a natural for the feast of the Mystical Rose. Earl Grey tea is another good choice as it is infused with Bergamot, a variety of Monarda, or Bee Balm, which is also known as Sweet Mary. For food, at the tea party, we suggest nasturtium sandwiches and strawberry shortcake. It is a little late in the season for local strawberries but, with modern refrigeration and transportation, it seems that almost any fresh fruit or vegetable can be obtained year-round. The strawberry was known as the "Fruitful Virgin" because it blooms and bears fruit at the same time. Another lovely European tradition says that the strawberry is sacred to Mary who accompanies children to keep them safe when they go strawberry picking on St. John's Day. The nasturtium is known as "St. Joseph's Flower." It is an edible flower and can be combined with cream cheese to make tea sandwiches. Tea should be accompanied by prayers appropriate to the occasion, such as the Collect of the Day which begins this article. Children should be told the story of Mary's heavenly birthday--how else will they learn it? Tomie de Paola's beautifully illustrated book Mary: The Mother of Jesus (available in our Bookshop) tells the story reverently and well. Finally, everyone will enjoy a walk in the garden which could easily be made into a game, with an award, such as a Mary-blue ribbon, for the person who identifies the most flowers and herbs that are named for Mary.
 
For more information about Mary on FHD, click on the links below and also visit our pages on Marymas Prayers and Sing to Mary.


Feasts of Mary
Here is a list of some of the Feast Days which celebrate Mary and her role in our salvation:
December 8th - The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

December 12th - Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 18th - Santa Maria de la O
December 25th - The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

February 2nd - The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple,
also known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Candlemas

March 19th - Saint Joseph (Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

March 25th - The Annunciation of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Blessed Virgin Mary

May 31st - The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

July 26th - The Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Joachim and Anne

August 15th - Saint Mary the Virgin
(The Assumption, or The Dormition of the Mother of God)

September 8th - The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Our Lady of Glastonbury)
September 24th - Our Lady of Walsingham
October 1st - The Protecting Veil of the Mother of God
November 1st - All Saints' Day (formerly Saint Mary and All Martyrs)


And here's a peek-through to the SSM Breviary; rather than clicking the link above, you can just scroll through the day's offices here, if you'd rather: