Sacramentum caritatis

Pope Francis' recent Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium caused me to wonder whether his predecessor had issued similar documents. I was familiar with the three Encyclical Letters written by Pope Benedict, and through most of his papacy I read with pleasure and spiritual profit his weekly Angelus messages, plus most of his homilies.

But I missed his four Apostolic Exhortations.

So far, I have had time only to dip my toes into the first of them, Sacramentum Caritatis (2007). It is a meditation on the Holy Eucharist: its theology, practical applications for its celebration in the church, and its ramifications for life in the world. In many respects, it appears to build on the excellent book he wrote as Cardinal Ratzinger: The Spirit of the Liturgy.

There is one paragraph in the section on practical applications that is explicitly about church music, and I wish to quote it in full:

Liturgical song
42. In the ars celebrandi, liturgical song has a pre-eminent place. Saint Augustine rightly says in a famous sermon that "the new man sings a new song. Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider the matter, an expression of love". The People of God assembled for the liturgy sings the praises of God. In the course of her two-thousand-year history, the Church has created, and still creates, music and songs which represent a rich patrimony of faith and love. This heritage must not be lost. Certainly as far as the liturgy is concerned, we cannot say that one song is as good as another. Generic improvisation or the introduction of musical genres which fail to respect the meaning of the liturgy should be avoided. As an element of the liturgy, song should be well integrated into the overall celebration. Consequently everything – texts, music, execution – ought to correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons. Finally, while respecting various styles and different and highly praiseworthy traditions, I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy.

This is all very sensible, and I have sought to exercise my ministry in these ways, especially in regard to the correspondence of text and music with “the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons.” It has often been a struggle, when working with others who see no need for such correspondence and place higher value on the music being "uplifting" or "easy to sing" or "familiar." These three characteristics are indeed important, but they are secondary to music's role in the proclamation of the Gospel, the whole Story, over the course of the three-year lectionary cycle. Over time, the congregation comes to understand what is happening, and comes to expect that the music work in harmony with the Scriptural texts and the liturgical seasons.

The comment on “generic improvisation” is food for thought. I have occasionally played free improvisations in the liturgy, especially as evensong preludes. I have never felt comfortable about it, and I suspect that Benedict is right; liturgical improvisation should be based on the musical materials elsewhere in the service: hymn tunes, chants, chorales.


Benedict's second Exhortation, Verbum Domini (2010) also looks very interesting.