St Andrews Seminary - Mapav Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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1 9 3 9 PONTIFICAL CREW Seated, left to right: Francis Donovan, Harold Bestor, john LcVeque, tlvlastcr of CTt'I'ClUfJI1lC5,1 Edward Buckley, fAssistantj1 john Leicht. Standing, left to right: Rohert Meiig, Thomas Could, .Icrome Schifferli, Raymond Ivioore, john Kennedy, Donald Leahy. Ceremonies of The Church The word ceremony, applied to the church service, may he defined as an external action, gesf ture, or movement which accompanies the prayers and public exercises of divine worship. The Counf eil of Trent further defined it as that with which the prayers are pronounced, eg. hlessings, lights, incense, vestments, and so forth. Ceremonies are, therefore, the accompaniment to the prayers of Holy Mcitliei' Church. Ceremony is the necessary outcome of the twoffold nature of man, intellectual and sensihleg on account of this, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, he must pay Cod a twoffold adoration, one spirf itual, which consists in the interior devotion of the soul, the other corporal, which manifests itself in the outward form of worship, There is no inward sentiment or feeling which man is not accustomed to express outwardly hy some suitahle gesture or action, Ceremonies are employed to emhcllish and adorn sacred functions: to excite in the faithful sentiments of respect, devotion, and religion, hy which the honor of Cod is increased, and the sanctification of the soul is ohtained. To lead the unlearned more easily to a knowledge of the 'Ions LEViioiui, '39 mysteries of religion: to indicate the dispositions necessary to receive the Sacraments worthily, and to induce the faithful to fulfill with greater dof cility the ohligations which the reception of the Sacraments imposes on them all these constif tute the principal ohject of all liturgical acts. Some ceremonies owe their institution to purely physical reasons or necessity, e.g. the lights used in the catacomhs, which were retained hy the Church for the mystical reason that they represent Christ, the Light of the Vsforld. Others are founded on mystical or symholical reasons, e.g. all the ceremonies at Baptism which precede the pouring of the water on the person to he haptized. Finally, many are founded on historical, natural, and mystical reasons at the same time, eg. the mixing of wine and water at lvlass ref calls to our mind what Christ did at the Last Supper, and represents the hlood and water that flowed from His side on the Cross, as well as the union of the faithful with Christ. Catholic ceremonies, therefore, are not super' stitious practices, meaningless ohservances, or relics of heathen or jewish customs, hut regula' tions of Divine, Apostolic, and ecclesiastical inf .XCl't'llfvV'UllC

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S A T 0 R despite such able accompaniment, we invariably went wretchedly flat on the alternate phrases of the Crcdog when the student director would wave his arms with much gusto and wear a desperate countenance because we never produced the proper volume. Today, we no longer occupy the stalls behind the altar of Saint Patrick's Cathe' dral, for that venerable edifice is no moreg inf stead, our schola cantorum is relegated to a choir' loft, and a few voices are made to do what once a whole student body did. But, no matter where we sing, whether it is a Gothic chancel or a bal' cony transformed into a choirfloft, we are making progress. Today, we are adding to the musical inheritance of our predecessors in this seminary. Cn every Sunday of the past two school years, a few select members of the schola cantorum have sung High Mass at Saint Patricks Church. Cn special occasions, when it was necessary to prepare music on short notice, the schola has successfully carried the entire burden successfully and ade' quately. Such was the case on four closelyfoccurf ring occasions when we sang the Te Deum, and the Introits Statuit, Vultum Tuum, and Resurf rexi. Today we enjoy a more than passing ac' quaintancc with Sunday Vespers, having sung them for the past two years. And during this last year, a few members of the choir were introduced to the singing of another part of the Divine Office, Cornpline. All these accomplishments should be a source of pride to our number and should encourage the future scholae of Saint An' drew's Seminary. And whom have we to thank for our musical advancement? Father Ehmann, for his constant effort to improve the quality of our singing and for the work he has done to restore Sunday Vesf pers to the seminary, holds the Hrst claim to our gratitude. Nor can we let go unmentioned our student director of these past two years, Vincent Porter. Upon his able shoulders were thrust num' erous responsibilities, such as conducting weekly rehearsals, providing music for the Sunday High Mass at Saint Patricks, preparing the choir for Holy Week services, and directing Vespers every Sunday. And not an insignificant part of the sue' cess of the choir was that played by our student organist, Charles Langworthy. Suflice it to say that we should have missed his accompaniment sorely. Eschewing any further mention of personal' ities, let me say that the choir and especially the chanters have shown a great amount of interest in their work and in the improvement of their own technique. In this they have met with conf siderable success. Indeed, I do not think it would be rash to say that their rendition of Gregorian Chant is superior to that of most choirs in' our diocese. Saint Andrews may well be proud of them. May we look to all future choirs to perpetf uate the noble task so well enhanced by the efforts of the choir of 19584939. CLOUDS I love to see the clouds A beautiful milky whiteg They seem to change to shrouds During the deep blue night. Beautiful during the day While grazing through the sky, They never chance to stay, But always seem to fiy. Of the clouds I am very fond, And I love to sit and view, Knowing they are a bond 'Twixt heaven and me and you. seventy DONALD MILLER, '41

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S A T O R Catholic Literature Society One of the leading forces in shaping the policies of a nation, particularly if that nation is ruled by 'a democratic form of government, is public opinion. But the public is really quite an ignorant group, everything being taken into conf sideration, since it follows whatever line of thought it considers fashionable fe. g. technocf racy completely absorbed the oneftrack mind of the nation just a few years agoj. Government, law, and, in general, most of the important things in this country are left to Congressmen, whose activities are guided to a great extent by the publicity given them in the newspapers and magazines, an inadequate but effective indicator of their grasp on the public sentiment. lt seems inconceivable that a nation even as great as our own United States could be conf trollcd by such a factor, but that is actually the case. Whcii we turn to the consideration of religf ious declining position in the eyes of the state, it is with only a mild surprise that we note that the majority of newspapers ni this country, if not violently antifCatholic, are nonpartisan and owned and operated, as many of them are, by gentlemen whose political credos are a deep pink. These publications present viotal current facts through rosefcolored glasses-to make the facts match their editor's distorted political and social ideals. It is to rectify this situation then, that Cathof lic Literature Societies have been established in most Catholic Schools and Universities. These organizations hold the key to the dissemination of Catholic thought in America: it is their re' JoH'N MCCAFFERTY, '39 sponsibility to blow the dust off Catholic truth and place it before the public gaze in the form of books, pamphlets, and papers to be made available for a nominal sum, it is their responsif bility to read Catholic literature and themselves become informed on the modern problems of the Church and thus be prepared to meet intelli' gently any criticism to which their faith may be subjected. And yet, this is still not enough,--for if the Catholic Press is to be really effective, it must contrive to present its case to the opposif tion in a manner forceful enough to jolt them into thinking, and convincing enough to arouse in them at least a mild curiosity which, if inf telligently and intelligibly satisfied, may easily lead to a better understanding between the Church and her enemies and thus further the kingdom of Christ upon the earth. lt was our privilege in the middle of the current school year to see the beginning of a Catholic Literature Society in Saint Andrews which at present boasts ot about thirty members. As the first meeting Mr. James Collins was elected vicefpresidentg Mr. James Callan, treasf urerg and Mr. Vincent Porter, secretary. The president of this society, the author of this acf count, had been selected previously to organize the society. The chief activity of the year has been the inauguration of a plan whereby two pamphlets a month are placed in both the High School and College Libraries. We sincerely hope and justly expect that this is the beginning and the begin' ning only of an organization destined to become a vital part of Saint Andrew's Seminary. Ceremonies of the Church fContinued from Page 711 stitution. Underlying the performance of each function is the beautiful symbolism, which brings home forcefully to the Catholic mind the fact that his Church is the real representative of Christ on earth. The Church, following her Founder's example, encourages exterior as well as interior worship, As priests, we hope some day to perform many of the sacred functions of the Church-f offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, conf ferring the Sacraments, and many other ceref .SC'UCTlfy'flUO monies which attend the performance of the priestly office. As seminarians, we can prepare for this in two ways. First, we can gain a true appreciation of the meaning of the ceremonies by research. This may be accomplished with very little effort, because our Catholic libraries furnish us easy access to such information. Secondly, we can perform the ceremonies required of us in the seminary, accurately and reverently. There can be no excuse for any carelessness in the perform' ance of ceremonies, since ceremonies form an important part of the priest's duties for which we should prepare.