Quigley Preparatory Seminary - La Petit Seminaire Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Father Thomas V Llske moderator of the Le Petzl Semznczzre As a part of the pageant, the chanters sang the devotlonal Salve Regma Later ln the program after Solemn Pontliical Benedlctlon the chanters lntoned the recesslonalplece PCYOSI sgrandlose Te Deum Laudamus PIUS X had to lxsten to those who became excesslvely enthus1ast1c about the reform of sacred muslc those who wlshed to banlsh all mus1c that was not Gregonan An exaggerated 1dea he exclalmed At the same t1me he pomted w1th pr1de to the Golden Age of polyphony of the seventeenth century to the composltlons of Pales trma whlch proved that polyphony could truly be sacred and hturglcal when based on sp1r1tual foundat1ons By l1sten1ng to the Cardlnal s Cathe dral Chorlsters g1VC beaut1ful rellgious rend1t1ons of the hturglcal polyphony ofPalestr1na Perosx, Refice Montanl Yon Franck V1ttor1a Slngenberger and countless others one can easlly see how wrong were these too ardent ob jectors of polyphony Such composl tlons are for the cho1r members a form of prayer for the hsteners, an ald to worshxp The Cardmal s Cathedral Chorlsters are under the 1nsp1r1tual leadershlp of the h1ghly gxfted and d1st1ngu1shed Monslgnor Charles Meter who re CC1VCd h1s muslcal background at the Pontlfical Instltute of Sacred MUSIC ln Rome from Msgr Lxcmxo Refice Un der the masterly baton of Msgr Meter the chorxsters have proceeded m golden age all the1r own Thexr h1story conslsts of one tremendous suc cess upon another The publlc Holy Hours at Soldlers Fleld the numerous rad1o appearances the s1lver jub1lee of the Cardlnals Eplscopate the trxple consecratlon of three Blshops the cen tennxal of Holy Name Parlsh the dec larat1on ofthe dogma of the Assump t1on and countless other appearances have made the cholr and 1tS dlrector mternatlonally renowned Th1s fame IS certamly warranted by the tlreless efforts of Msgr Meter who besldes dlrectlng the chorrsters IS also charge of the Archdloceasan Prlests Choxr the Cathedral Symphony Or chestra and the Qulgley Semmary Glee Club and Orchestra Th1s year, as usual the true culm1n at1on of the1r act1v1t1es occurred IH the magmlicent l1tl1l'glCal ceremonles of Holy W eek At Easter Sunday lNlass Msgr Meters chorlsters thrrlled the entlre natlon V13 rad1o and televlsxon w1th the1r muslcal program especlally Wlth the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel s lmmortal zlffessuzlz From the Wednesday 1n Holy Week to Easter Sunday 1nclus1ve the cholr served erght dlfferent occaslons and sang over one hundred composltlons The materlal reward for such frult ful eH'orts takes place when the chor lStCfS depart for a one day V1Slt to St Mary ofthe Lake Semlnary 1n Munde le1n Ill1no1s There they are treated as royal guests by the major sem1n ar1ans who earnestly look forward to thls v1s1t In return the chorlsters en terta1n w1th an mformal concert The true reward of the chorlsters IS achleved rn the fulfillment of the1r functlon l1ft1ng the1r vorces 1n prayer and a1d1ng the llsteners ln the worship of Hlm VX ho IS the object of all pralse 41 . , , ' 3 . , . . 3 ' KK ' n ' ' ' u , - J 3 , .. . . ., . U . 3 3 H . . . . . 3 ' 7 , 1n ' K4 ' as ' ' 1 ' x . , , ' . . . H - - 3 n J ' D ' . . . 1 1 . - 9 . . . , , - - - . 3 ' ' ' ' u ' n N , 3 3 3 . . . , - . 3 3 3 3 ' . 7 - 3 ' J . . - - , - , - . - . , . . . . - n , . 0 - . . - . ' 9 2, H H . . . . . . . . 0 1 . . , . . .

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Meter, who was then beglnnlng hxs first year as a member of the school s fac ulty and Father Franc1s Chambers Later, at Mundelem the 1ntr1cac1es of chant were taught h1m by MOHSlgHOf Kush present dlrector of muslc at the Major Semmary Shortly after h1s or d1nat1on Father NVojc1k was appoxnted dxrector of chant at Qu1gley succeed mg Father oseph MfOCZkOWSkl who went to Rome to further h1s studles on the subject VX hen Father XVoJc1k takes charge of the chanters at the beg1nn1ng ofthe school year he IS confronted w1th ob v1ous handlcaps F1rst he must IH struct a new group of boys each year he must start w1th the rudlments of chant and gradually lntroduce the fmer pomts Then when the group has at tamed a dellcate sklll the end of the school year approaches and the class wlth the labor1ous task of bu1ld1ng up another group the next year only to have the same thlng occur Then too srnce plam chant IS the finest church musxc lt demands and all too rarely gets great muslcal sens1b1l1ty and vocal sklll allled to a prayerful Splflt The great majorlty of them, exghteen or mneteen years of age are far from havlng matured vo1ces Naturally, a dlrector must be able to cope wlth these dlflicultxes Father Wojcmk wlth h1s suavzter but fortzter pol1cy has to a large degree overcome them, brlnglng out lI'ldlVldl1al qual1t1es correctlng 1n dxvrdual weaknesses and moldlng the ent1re group 1nto one unlfled smgmg volce All th1s demands a great amount of tlme devoted to pract1ce The chanters 40 SHCFIFICC a half hour of thexr lunch perlod three t1mes a week and have regular forty Hve mmute classes IWICC each week In addrtlon, they are some t1mes called upon to pract1ce after school for some lmportant celebratlon ln the near future Some of the more lmportant occa sions to whlch the chanters contrlbuted success were the followlng the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral for the Cathollc lawyers of the archdloceses at whxch Father ohn Cavanaugh PYCSI dent of Notre Dame Unlverslty gave the sermon the Forty Hours Devotxon at whlch the Lltany of the Samts was chanted the beautlful Mldnlght Mass w1th all lts solemn grandeur and the Solemn Hlgh Mass on Easter Sunday The work of the chanters culmmates m the penltentral ceremonles IH the Cathedral dur1ng Holy VS eek mentous occaslon ln whmch the Qulgley Chant Cholr was so very proud to par t1c1pate was the Nlnth Nat1onal Con gress of the Confraternlty of Chrlstlan Doctrlne, held IH Chicago from Novem ber 7 to 11 at whlch nlnety blshops and archblshops were present, mclud mg the Apostollc Delegate to the Unlted States, Archblshop Clcognanl Thls meetlng was the largest of 1ts kmd SIHCC the EUChaf1StlC Congress IH 1926 On Sunday November 11 the Congress drew to a close w1th a mag mficent expresslon of fa1th before a huge gallery of 25000 people nn the Chlcago Stadlum In add1t1on to ad dresses by Cardmal Strltch and Blshop Sheen, the program lncluded a pageant entltled Dedlcatlon to God and Country wr1tten and produced by , . . , . D - . 9 ' ' J . , . . . - , - ' . KK !Y . 7 . .7 . J .- D I Q ' 5 . , - S 5 3 . , - 3 - 1 is graduated. The director is then faced During this past year the most mo- s l ' C , - . , . . . . - Q 7 , . . u . , . . i , , , - . . . , . . Q , J ' ' . 9 1 .K l u . . ,, . ' 9

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C90 fke sS?el95 of 3 3al't0 HE canons of the Cathedral of San Pxetro 1n Trevlso Italy are a group of pr1ests asslgned to try cases IH Church law, somewhat hke our own Chancery Ofhce The neces sary requlrement for such a posltlon IS the possesslon of profound w1sdom and extenslve experlence Small won der then that ln 1875 the clty of Trevlso was startled when thelr blshop appomted a young country prlest to thls lmportant post Stlll more Father Sarto the new canon was also made a professor and sp1r1tual d1rector at the dlocesan semmary Blshop Zmelh belleved 1n glVlI'lg the best of hxs clergy to teach ln h1s sem mary He knew full well that there the maklng of good prlests But why should he choose an unknown countr prlest for such an elevated pos1t1on The answer IS clear The blshop was avs are of the fact as was anyone who ever came ln contact w1th Father Sarto that thls country priest possessed that perfect comb1nat1on unpretent1ous knowledge and sol1d plety What better teacher, thought B1shop 71nell1 could a semmarlan have than one who con Hrmed by hls da1ly l1fe what he taught ln the classroom And so IH 1875 TTCVISO had a new lawyer for her Catholxc courts, a new professor for her semmary, and a new spmtual dlrector to steer the souls of her sem lH3I'1aIlS The newly appolnted canon had a dlfhcult task ahead of hlm but anythlng that IS worthwh1le IS dllhcult Y P 42 Fr Sarto could look ahead and foresee worrles anxletles and fatlgue from a grlndmg routlne he felt a llttle fearful and greatly unworthy at havmg such a noble task lald 1n h1s incapable hands he saw the grave responslblllty the welghty commlssxon entrusted to hlm of moldmg lmmature boy1sh mlnds mto the sensus Chr1st1 But when a soul IS eager and w1ll1ng to do the Masters wxll Cod always glves the splrltual stlmulus and encouragement to fulfill the seemlngly lnsurmountable tasks The l1fe of Fr G1useppe IS l1ved over and over agaln day after day by the prlest teachers of Qu1gley The story of the holy prlest of Trevlso can well the story of the Chlcago prxest at ulgley for the l1ves of each are so closely allled that to tell the story of one IS to tell the story of the other Blshop Z1nell1 chose Fr Sarto as a professor 1n the dlocesan semmary only after he had found 1n h1m the requlslte fitness to hold such a responslblllty In Fr G1useppe the bxshop dlscovered a man possessed of a deep sense of holmess sol1d plety requlslte knowl edge and devot1on to work Such are the qual1t1es that every blshop looks for 1n selecting professors for h1s sem 1nary such are the qual1t1es that are found 1n every Qu1gley professor By becom1ng a semmary professor a prlest does not leave behxnd h1s job of car1ng for souls ln the world outslde the semmary lt IS not an exchange 0,1 . . . , , . , . . , . 3 . I . . . . S D i - . . , . . ' ' ' as ' ' ay , l ' ' , v p Q A 3 I ' Q 3 l ' . . 3 3 was no more fundamental work than be used to furnish the framework for Q ' , ' , . C , . . J J Q o u B , , - s s , . ' ! 3 S 5 . . .