March 14, 2012

A New “Soft Spot”: The Structure and Placement of Baptismal and Marriage Rites In Post-Vatican-II Eucharistic Liturgy

by Prof. Christian McConnell, PhD.  (Faculty of Theology - St. Michael’s College)

The rites of baptism and marriage are often celebrated within the context of Eucharistic liturgies. Since Vatican II, a frequent feature of Roman Catholic structures for these rites has been the compression of multiple moments into a single moment, and the placement of the whole rite after the homily. This presentation will critically examine the structure of these rites in Sunday Eucharist, occasional celebrations, and the Easter Vigil, in comparison with historical precedents, and assess the ritual effectiveness of different structures.

February 29, 2012

The Ladder of a Soul's Ascent: the Structure and Use of Liturgical Music in the Coptic Orthodox Church

by Bishoy Dawood, Hon. B.A., MTS, PhD student in the Faculty of Theology (St. Michael’s College)

In the three surviving liturgies of the Coptic Orthodox Church, namely the Anaphoras of St. Basil, St. Gregory, and St. Cyril, the entire liturgical service is chanted, and the majority of hymns for each part of those liturgies have been handed down from cantor to disciple as an oral tradition for centuries. While the Coptic Church did pray other Anaphora’s in the past, the hymns for those Anaphora’s did not survive, and it is only because the hymns did not survive that those liturgies are no longer prayed in the Coptic Church, even if the texts of those liturgies exist. This demonstrates the fact that in the Coptic Church, liturgical music is essential for liturgical prayer -- and even the survival of the liturgies themselves.

In this presentation, Dawood will present some pieces of the liturgical hymns of the Anaphora of St. Basil, and using those pieces as examples, he will argue that the music of the Anaphora is designed in such a way as to resemble the act of raising a sacrificial offering of praise. The hymnology, he will argue, takes the souls of the persons praying the liturgy up a ladder, allowing the priests, deacons, and congregation to ascend higher in musical scales until they all together work their way to heights of praise before partaking of communion.

The hymns used in this presentation will be from the CD production of: “The Rite and Hymns of the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil” by the Heritage of the Coptic Orthodox Church choir, available in the link below: 

http://www.copticheritage.org/productions/the_rite_and_hymns_of_the_liturgy_of_saint_basil

January 11, 2012

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and the Villancico: Poetry at the service of liturgy in seventeenth century Mexico

by Rev. Marcos Ramos, O.P., B.A., M.A., MDiv, ThM, PhD. cand. (St. Michael’s College)

Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) was a Mexican nun and poet who was not only an important writer of the Baroque period, but also considered the first great Latin American writer. Her remarkable life and work was praised during her lifetime, being called The Tenth Muse in a time when scholarship in women was not encouraged nor appreciated. Sor Juana has been praised for centuries for her literary skills, with recent scholarship dedicated to the theological nature of her work and her contribution to feminist issues.

This presentation will concentrate on Sor Juana's villancicos (carols), a literary form very popular in the New Spain and used in the Church as a didactic tool to evangelize through poetry and music. We will present different examples of Sor Juana's villancicos in order to analyze her theology and her views about the Christian tradition as well as her views as a woman and a Mexican. The discussion about Sor Juana's works will also be related to the importance of art in liturgy and the unique and fascinating poetry and music of colonial Latin America.