St Thomas of Canterbury

[Peter]

In my neck of the woods the feast of St Thomas of Canterbury takes precedence over that of the Holy Family this year, so I need to find some appropriate hymns for Mass. I've come across this one but don't know its author or copyright status. Can anyone help, please? I've quoted only a few snippets of text in case it is still in copyright.

1. Hail the love and power amazing
of the incarnate living Word!
....

2. Sing we now, for naught esteeming
Tyrant’s rage, saint Thomas dies,
....

3. How he lived a life laborious,
be the wondrous story told;
how he died a martyr glorious,
....

4. ....

Similarly if anyone has any other suggestions (congregational hymns, not chants) I'd be delighted to see them.

[JW]

Are you sure that St Thomas of Canterbury takes precedence over the Holy Family? He's our church's patron saint in Rainham and for us, the feast is moved to the Monday, we could be wrong though!

'Hail the Power of Love Amazing' is claimed to be out of copyright by Google who have scanned it in the book "Hymns: chiefly for the minor festivals". There is also the hymn wot I rit in the Hymn to St Thomas of Canterbury thread in the 'Sounds Off' section of the SSG forum. I hadn't been able to find a hymn to St Thomas so I had a go myself. You may freely alter words or phrases (i.e. re-write it if you like!) and it may be freely reproduced. Our congregation seemed to like it, I have had a few "Who wrote that hymn, I've never come across it before".

Wasn't aware of 'Hail the Power' - that could apply to Oscar Romero as well, whose blood was also spilled on his cathedral sanctuary.

[Southern Comfort]

Are you sure that St Thomas of Canterbury takes precedence over the Holy Family? He's our church's patron saint in Rainham and for us, the feast is moved to the Monday, we could be wrong though!

Yes, you're wrong.

If he is your patron, St Thomas of Canterbury has the status of a proper solemnity and takes precedence over the Holy Family, which is a Sunday of the Christmas season. Even if you counted HF as a feast of the Lord, St Thomas would still take precedence. (See General Norms for the Liturgical Year, Table of Liturgical Days, nos. 4, 5 and 6.)

On the Saturday you should be using Evening Prayer I of Martyrs with the proper prayer of the saint. 1st Mass of Sunday on Saturday evening, and all Sunday Masses, should use the Proper prayers of St Thomas, with Gloria and Creed as usual for a Sunday, Preface of Martyrs, insert of Nativity for EP I (if used), and adding one extra reading from the Common of Martyrs (because St Thomas only has a 1st Reading and Gospel).

Hope this helps.

[Peter]

Many thanks, JW. I'd forgotten about your hymn and the fact that I'd even contributed to the thread mentioning it! I'll see if my PP can fit the third verse to the tune: even though dropping the "turbulent" will make the line scan perfectly well you clearly don't want me to do that!

[JW]

Thanks SC, I will raise this in the appropriate quarters. It's great that all our churches dedicated to St Thomas will be celebrating him with a full congregation this year!

As for the "turbulent", this was the quote I remember from boyhood history lessons but do feel free take it out if you want to. For me it's such a memorable quote that I let the words take precedence over the music. If singing to 'Rockingham' in D, it works best if you change the 1st minim in bar 10 to 2 quavers for "rid me", then use a crotchet dropping to the note A for "of", then as written for the rest of the phrase.

[Peter]

If singing to 'Rockingham' in D, it works best if you change the 1st minim in bar 10 to 2 quavers for "rid me", then use a crotchet dropping to the note A for "of", ...

Wouldn't it be better to use two crotchet C#s on "rid me" and two quaver As on "of this"?

[JW]

See the attachment for how I set the words for this verse, but do feel free to apply the words as you prefer. ( I think you may need to be signed in to view attachments?)

[Peter]

Thanks, JW, that is how I had inferred it from your description. I just feel that "rid me" are important words and so need longer notes than "of this" and that putting them on crotchet C#s and the less important words on quaver As achieves this; it also matches the notes if not the rhythm that the organist would be playing in the normal harmony and hence what the congregation would naturally expect. Putting "rid" on a C# and the rest on As could emphasise it even more, and that C# coud be either a crotchet or even a dotted crotchet with quavers on all the As, but that might be tricky for a congregation to pick up as a one-off. Either of those options would require the organist to play something different from what's in the hymn-book. Conversely, you could argue that the quavers on "rid me" give them more bite but I still think that the crotchets on "of this" sound comparatively lame afterwards.

In any case thanks for the words and the freedom to adapt them.

[Nick Baty]

While we're on the subject, what is the status of a patronal feast when it falls on a Sunday in Advent?

We are/were the parish of Our Lady Immaculate – Feast Day 8 December which, this year fell on Advent 2. We're now part of the parish of St Sylvester – but still the church of the Immaculate Conception.

Planning was done with Priest 1 who went for Advent 2 with procession to Lady shrine afterwards to sing the parish anthem, "Mary Immaculate, star of the morning".

On the day, Priest 2 was the celebrant (last-minute switch) and was most unhappy about the decision and, despite what was on the service sheet, insisted on Immaculate Conception readings – so none of the music matched. What a mess!

The following day there was a parish Mass in school to celebrate the Immaculate Conception!

[Peter]

According to my local Ordo, the school had it right, as it gives 9th December as the date of the "Solemnity (Office Proper) (transferred)" of the Immaculate Conception. That suggests Priest 2 was wrong and even Priest 1 was on rather dubious ground.

A similar case occurred earlier this year, when the Fifth Sunday of Lent fell on 17th March. The Ordo says:

The feast of St Patrick is not celebrated liturgically this year, except in churches dedicated to him (where it is a Solemnity) where it is observed on the morning of Monday Mar 18, before giving way to Evening Prayer I of St Joseph in the afternoon.

[Anne]

I am now living in Ireland and I am slowly getting used to a different way of looking at the Liturgy. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is normally a Holy day of Obligation here. On the parish News Letter it said 'This year the feast of the Immaculate Conception is being celebrated on Monday December 9th because December 8th is a Sunday. Therefore, it is not a Holy Day of Obligation and you don't have to go to Mass.' What is wrong with encouraging people to go to a Weekday Mass to celebrate a feast day?

[Southern Comfort]

The thing about Holydays of Obligation when they transfer to another day is that although they travel the obligation does not travel with them. That does not, of course, mean that you shouldn't encourage people to come to celebrations of Mass on the transferred day.

Although a solemnity, the Immaculate Conception is not a Holyday of Obligation in England and Wales. It is a Holyday of Obligation in the USA, where this year (as in Ireland) the celebration but not the obligation was transferred to 9 December.

In some dioceses the Immaculate Conception is a diocesan patronal feast, but that is even lower down in the pecking order of precedence. Sundays in Advent are very high up the list — the next category from the top, in fact.

[Nick Baty]

Sundays in Advent are very high up the list — the next category from the top, in fact.

Does that put them on a par with Lent and second only to Easter?

[Southern Comfort]

I suppose I should have posted the Table of Liturgical Days from the General Norms for the Liturgical Year (the full document is available as a PDF on the Liturgy Office website):

59 Precedence among liturgical days relative to their celebration is governed solely by the following table.

TABLE OF LITURGICAL DAYS
(according to their order of precedence)

I

1. Easter triduum of the Lordʼs passion and resurrection

2. Christmas, the Epiphany of the Lord, the Ascension of the Lord, and Pentecost
Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter
Ash Wednesday
Weekdays of Holy Week from Monday to Thursday inclusive
Days within the octave of Easter

3. Solemnities of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and saints listed in the General Calendar
Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

4. Proper solemnities, namely:
1. Solemnity of the principal patron of the place, that is, the city or state
2. Solemnity of the dedication of a particular church and the anniversary
3. Solemnity of the title of a particular church
4. Solemnity of the title, or of the founder, or of the principal patron of a religious order or congregation

II

5. Feasts of the Lord listed in the General Calendar

6. Sundays of the season of Christmas and Sundays in Ordinary Time

7. Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saints in the General Calendar

8. Proper feasts, namely:
1. Feast of the principal patron of the diocese
2. Feast of the anniversary of the dedication of the cathedral
3. Feast of the principal patron of a region or province, or a country, or of a wider territory
4. Feast of the title, founder, or principal patron of an order or congregation and of a religious province, without prejudice to the directives in no. 4
5. Other feasts proper to an individual church
6. Other feasts listed in the calendar of a diocese or of an order or congregation

9. Weekdays of Advent from 17 December to 24 December inclusive
Days within the octave of Christmas
Weekdays of Lent

III

10. Obligatory memorials in the General Calendar

11. Proper obligatory memorials, namely:
1. Memorial of a secondary patron of the place, diocese, region, or provnce, nation or wider territory, or of an order or congregation and of a religious province
2. Other obligatory memorials listed in the calendar of a diocese, or of an order or congregation

12. Optional memorials; but these may be celebrated even on the days listed in no. 9, in the special manner described by the General Instructions of the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours.

In the same manner obligatory memorials may be celebrated as optional memorials if they happen to fall on Lenten weekdays.

13. Weekdays of Advent up to 16 December inclusive
Weekdays of the season of Christmas from 2 January until the Saturday after the Epiphany of the Lord
Weekdays of the season of Easter from Monday after the octave of Easter until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive
Weekdays in Ordinary Time


60 If several celebrations fall on the same day, the one that holds the highest rank according to the preceding Table of Liturgical Days is observed. But a solemnity impeded by a liturgical day that takes precedence over it should be transferred to the closest day not listed on nos. 1-8 in the table of precedence; the rule of no. 5 remains in effect. Other celebrations are omitted that year.


61 If the same day were to call for celebration of Evening Prayer of that dayʼs office and Evening Prayer I of the following day, Evening Prayer of the day with the higher rank in the Table of Liturgical Days takes precedence; in cases of equal
rank, Evening Prayer of the actual day takes precedence.

In para 60, the "rule of no. 5" refers to para 5 of the GNLY:

5 Because of its special importance, the Sunday celebration gives way only to solemnities or feasts of the Lord. The Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, however, take precedence over all solemnities and feasts of the Lord.
Solemnities occurring on these Sundays are transferred to the following Monday except in the case of their occurrence on Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday) or on Easter Sunday.

[FrGareth]

Sundays in Advent are very high up the list — the next category from the top, in fact.

Does that put them on a par with Lent and second only to Easter?

Exactly so, Nick, as in the table SC posted.

Now that more and more parishes are in clusters, as in the case of your church of the Immaculate Conception within the parish of St Sylvester, it is noteworthy that the Titular of the Church is in the table (at rank 4) but there is no mention of the patron of a parish or cluster. There is no obligation to mark St Sylvester in any way higher than the universal calendar demands; however, this is a case where GIRM, no. 376 can be considered:

On days when there occurs an Obligatory Memorial or on a weekday of Advent up to and including 16 December, of Christmas Time from 2 January, and of Easter Time, votive Masses, in cases of serious need or pastoral advantage, can be celebrated at the discretion of the rector of the church or the priest celebrant.

St Sylvester's Day is not eligible, since the Octave of Christmas ranks too highly; but if you were in a parish named after a saint whose day fell in March you would be able to celebrate a memorial even though it was Lent. GIRM 53 and 68 give permission to use the Gloria and Creed respectively at celebrations of a "more solemn" character.