Category Archives: beauty

Easter 2020!

Ahh, the joy of waking up on Easter Sunday morning and discovering the table magically adorned with flowers and gifts! We will let the pictures do the talking, from early morning to brunch to dinner.  Ordinarily, someone paints the Easter … Continue reading

Posted in beauty, breakfast, Easter, Feasts, Fine Arts | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Today, Sing “Ubi Caritas!”

Today, Holy Thursday, is the day for singing the ancient chant Ubi Caritas! UBI caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur. Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos … Continue reading

Posted in beauty, Easter, Feasts, Sacred Music, Sacrosanctum Consilium, The Mass, The Passion | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Passion Sunday (Fifth Sunday of Lent)

One unforeseen perk of being a parish music director is the ability to participate at Holy Mass during this strange period. I am grateful to my wife and daughters for providing the beautiful chant. In the future, I am hoping … Continue reading

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Sadness and Anxiety With William Byrd

No better way to purge anxiety and sadness than through the music of Byrd!   Tristitia et anxietas occupaverunt interiora mea. Mœstum factum est cor meum in dolore, et contenebrati sunt oculi mei. Væ mihi, quia peccavi. Sed tu, Domine, … Continue reading

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The Priest: Privileged Witness of the Reality of Grace Present in the World

On this, the eve of the Epiphany, with the Christ Child still lying in the manger, a great many Catholics everywhere are hoping and praying for a year of renewed grace. And, of course, with the turn of the secular … Continue reading

Posted in Augustine, beauty, Christmas, Feasts | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Easter 2019! Boeuf en Croute Alleluia!

Easter came a little later this year, but as a good friend likes to remind me, God is seldom early but He is never late! I am not sure how true this is, but it does seem to describe pretty well … Continue reading

Posted in beauty, breakfast, Dinner, Easter, Ex Umbris, Feasts, Fine Arts | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Palestrina and Handel March For Life!

Yes, both consummate sacred musicians George Frideric Handel and Giovanni  Pierluigi da Palestrina were at the 2019 March for Life! I am guessing that this was yet another record-setting precedent for the annual March which attracted hundreds of thousands of people … Continue reading

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Trim the Hearth and Set the Table 2018

As we have mentioned before, one of the great joys of Christmas springs from the fact that while it is renewed every year, it nonetheless is renewed precisely because it encapsulates and brings forth the things from of old. It … Continue reading

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This School Choir May Have Just Made History

In what might be a new world record, or perhaps simply a first of its kind choral accomplishment, the fifty-five voice Lyceum Choir sang back to back liturgies – one in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, celebrated by Cardinal … Continue reading

Posted in beauty, Catena Aurea, Feasts, Sacred Music, Sacrosanctum Consilium, The Mass | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Classical Catholic Education and Sacred Music!

The Catholic classical school is the proper place for the formation of students in sacred music. Every student should sing. Every student can sing. No exceptions. The Church depends on it. Lyceum students demonstrated the truth of this once again! … Continue reading

Posted in beauty, classical education, liberal education, Sacred Music, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments