MOTU PROPRIO" ON SACRED MUSIC

Among the cares of the pastoral office, not only of this Supreme Chair, which We, though unworthy, occupied throu the inserutable disposition of Providence, but of every local church, a leading one is without question that of maint: üning and promoting proper order in the House of God, w here the august mysteries of religion are celebrated, and where the Christian people ass mble to receive the grace of the Sacrements. to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the altar, to adore the most august Sacrament of the Lord's Body and to unite in the common prayer of the Church in the public and solemn liturgical offices. Nothing should have a place, therefore, in the temple that is likely to disturb or even merely to lessen the piety and devotion of the faithful, nothing that may give reasonable cause for disgust or scandal, nothing, above all, which directly offends the decorum and the sanctity of the sacred functions and is thus unworthy of the House of Prayer and of the Majesty of God. We do not touch separately on the abuses in this matter which may arise. To-day Our attention is directed to one of the most common of them, one of the most difficult to eradicate, the existence of which is sometimes to be deplored in places where everything else is deserving of the highest praise—the beauty and richness of the temple, the splendour and the exact performance ot the ceremonies the attendance of the clergy, the gravity and piety of the officiating ministers, Such is the abuse affecting sacred chant and musie. And indeed, whether it is owing to the very nature of this art, fluctuating and variable as it is in itse If, or to the succeeding changes in tastes and habits with the course oi time, or to the fatal influence exercised on sacred art by profane and theatrieal art, or to the pleasure that musie direetiy produees, (and that is not always easily contained within the right limits), or finally to the many prejudices on the matter, so lightly introduced and so ten: aciously upheld even among responsible and pious persons, the faet

remains that there is a venaral tendency to deviate from the right rule, preseribed by the end for which art is adinitted to the service of publie worship, and which is set forth very clearly in the eeelesiastieal ( anorns, in the Ordinances of the general and provincial Councils, in the directions which have at various times issued from the Sacred Roman Congregations, and from Our Predecessors the Soverelen Pontitls

[t is pleasing to us to be able to acknowledge with real satisfaetion the large amount of good that has been eflected in this respect during the last ten years in this Our watchful and eareful City of Rome, and in. many churches in Our country, but ina more especial way among some nations, in which illustrious men, full of zeal for the worship of God, (with the approval of the Holy See and under the direetion of the Bishops) have united in flourishing’ Societies, and have restored sacred musie to the fullest honour in all their churches and chapels. Still the goo work that has been done is very far indeed from being common to all; aud when We consult Our own personal experience and take into account the great number of complaints that have reached Us during the short time that has elapsed. since it pleased the Lord to elevate Our humility to the supreme summit of the Roman Pontitieate, We consider it Our first duty, without further delay, to raise Our voice at once in reproof and condemnation of all. that is seen to be out of harm 1) with the right rule above indieated, in the funetions of the publie worship and in the performance ol the ecclesiasticol offices. Filled as We are with the most ardent desire to see the true Christian spirit Hourish in every respect and be preserved by all the faithful, We deem it nec SSary to provide before aught else for the sanetity and dignity of the churches, n which the faithful assemble for nho other objeet than that of aequiring this spirit from its chief and indispensable source, which is the active participation in the most holy mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer

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ate from ch art is which is is, 1n the Is, in the rom the lecessors

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of the Chureh.And it is in vain to hope that the blessing of heaven will descend abundantly upon us, when our homage to the Most High, instead of ascending in the odour of sweetness, puts into the hand of the Lord the seourges wherewith of old the Divine Redeemer drove the unworthy profaners from the Temple,

Hence, in order that no one for the future may be able to plead in excuse that he did not clearly understand his duty, and that all vagueness may be elimitated from the interpretation of matters which have already been commanded, We have deemed it expedient to point out briefly the principles regulating sacred musie in the functions of publie worship. and to gather together in a general survey the principal prescriptions of the Church against the more common abuses in this subject. We do therefore publish, motu proprio and with certain knowledge, Our present Jnstruction to which, as 40 a judicial code of sacred music ( quasi (t codice qiaridoce le lla matsied scie ru), We will, with the fullness of Our A postolie Authority, that the foree of law be given, and We do by Our present handwriting impose its serupulous observance on all.

General Principle N

l. Sacred music, being a complementary part of the solemn liturgy, has a share in the general scope of the liturgy, which is the glory of God and the sanetitieation and edifieation of the faithful, It contributes to the proper order and. the splendour of the ecelesiastiea! ceremonies; and sinee its principal office is to elothe with suitable melody the liturgical text proposed for the understanding of the faithful, its proper aim is to add greater efficacy to the text, in order that through it the faithful may be the more easily moved to devotion and better disposed for the reception of the fruits of grace belonging to the celebration of the most holy nvsteries,

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the highest degree, the qualities proper to the liturgy and precisely sanetity and good ness of form, Porn which its other character of wniversality sponti ously springs.

It must be Loly, and must, therefore, exelude all profanity not only in itself, but in the manner in which it is presented by those who exeeute it.

[t must be true art, for otherwise it will be i impossible for it to exercise on the minds of those who listen to it that power which the Church aims at obtaining, in admitting into her liturgy the art of musical Sounds,

But it must, at the same time, be universal in. the sense that while every nation is perinitted to admit into its ecclesiastical compositions those special forms which muy be said to constitute its native music, still t ese forms must be subordinated in such a manner to the general characteristics ot sacred musie that nobody of any nation may receive an impression other than good on hearing them.