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Reviews
Bach’s Christmas and Epiphany Oratorio
Between 1734 and 1735, J.S. Bach composed six Oratorios - or six parts of one long Oratorio - for the Christmas season, which the Lutherans still celebrated with gusto and devotion, each part commemorating...
Nota in Brevis
T.S. Eliot’s Epiphany
The English poet T.S. Eliot - a high Anglican, with strong Catholic sympathies - wrote numerous religious works (including the life of Saint Thomas Becket in his Murder in the Cathedral). He also has...
Nota in Brevis
Cupich, Custom and Communion
Anthony Esolen spares few punches in his opinion on Cardinal Cupich’s recent directive for Catholics in his diocese to receive Communion standing, effectively forbidding kneeling. I agree with their sentiments – a Catholic has...
Editor's Corner
Saint Sylvester, the Last Saint of the Year and Praising God
On this last day of the calendar year, we celebrate in muted tones the mysterious and shadowy Pope Saint Sylvester I, who reigned from 314, the year after Constantine made Christianity legal after his...
Editor's Corner
Of Mascots, Saints and Pilgrims
Why do we need a Jubilee mascot? When I think of a mascot, what comes to mind is someone dressed up in an animal suit – no, not a ‘furry’; a mascot is more...
Nota in Brevis
Christmas Hymns
A fine compilation of Christmas hymnody, done in harmonic parts with men and boys - and they could hardly be sung better. Enjoy on this day of great joy! Christus natus est, alleluia!
https://youtu.be/zIQBBNIo1Hc
Featured
Haec Dies by William Byrd and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio
A festive, rousing motet for this Christmas Day - or twelve days - by William Byrd, composed in 1591, here performed by the incomparable Voces8.
Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: exultemus et laetemur in ea,...
Nota in Brevis
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol was first published on December 19, 1843, and it has been a much beloved classic ever since. Sure, it has some Protestant undertones - why was Scrooge, presumably...
