Deus creator omnium / O God, Who Made the Universe

Through the Year. Sundays 1 and 3. I Vespers. 

Deus, Creator omnium, polisque rector, vestiens diem decore lumine, noctem soporis gratia.   Artus solutos ut quies reddat laboris usui mentesque fessas allevet luctusque solvat anxios.  Grates peracto iam die et noctis exortu preces, voti reos ut adiuves, hymnum canentes solvimus. Te cordis ima concinant, te vox canora concrepet, te diligat castus amor, te mens adoret sobria.    Ut cum profunda clauserit diem caligo noctium, fides tenebras nesciat et nox fide reluceat. Dormire mentem ne sinas, dormire culpa noverit; castos fides refrigerans somni vaporem temperet. Exuta sensu lubrico te cordis alta somnient, ne hostis invidi dolo pavor quietos suscitet. Christum rogamus et Patrem  Christi Patrisque Spiritum; unum potens in omnia fove precantes, Trinitas. Amen..

O God, who made the universe, And Ruler of the sky, who dress The day with fair and gladsome light, The night with grace of restfulness; May rest our wearied limbs restore Once more to their activity; Relieve the weakness of our minds; From troub'ling sorrow set us free. With grateful prayers we sing a hymn As daylight ends and night begins; Thus we fulfill our vows to you, That you might take away our sins.   To you, may hearts in harmony, To you, their tuneful voices ring; In you may love find pure delight, Your praise the sober spirit sing.    That, when the deepest, darkest night Has closed around and covered day, May faith no doubt or darkness know, And night, by faith, true light display. Do not allow the soul to sleep, But let wrongdoing sleep again; Let faith, which keeps us chaste and cool, In sleep the warmth of sense restrain. Stripped of deception, let the heart At rest profoundly dream of you, Lest terror of the ancient foe Deceive, and evil wake anew. We pray the Father and his Christ, And Spirit, joined in unity, One God, who rules in ev'rything: Tend to us all, O Trinity. Amen.

Copyright 2020 Fr. Thomas Buffer

What He Said

Musica Sacra: Catholic World Report

Caeli Deus sanctissime

Here is another hymn for Vespers. I am not totally satisfied with the translation of the first verse. But I am stuck.

Caeli Deus sanctissime, qui lucidum centrum poli candore pingis igneo augens decori lumine.	Most holy God of heaven high, Who made the circle of the sky: You paint it now with burning light, To make it greater and more bright;
Quarto die qui flammeam solis rotam constituens, lunae ministras ordini, vagos recursus siderum,	Who, on the fourth day, set aflame The sun’s great wheel, and rule the same,  The phases of the moon you guide, And stars that wander far and wide,
Ut noctibus, vel lumini diremptionis terminum, primordiis et mensium signum dares notissimum:	To give both night and day a line Dividing dark from light: a sign Most evident to sight and sense, To mark the months as they commence.
Illumina cor hominum, absterge sordes mentium, resolve culpae vinculum, everte moles criminum.	Illuminate the hearts of men, Their unclean minds make pure again. Untie the chains of guilt within, Cast down the heaped-up hills of sin.
Praesta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, cum Spiritu Paraclito regnans per omne saeculum.	Grant it, dear Father, ever one With Christ our Lord, your only Son, And with the Spirit equally, Ruling for all eternity. Amen.

Immense caeli conditor

While I am on sabbatical I have turned my hand once more to the translation of Breviary hymns. The goal is an accurate translation that is poetic and singable. And it has to rhyme. Today's hymn, which refers to the setting up of a firmament between the waters above and waters below on the second day of creation, is fittingly sung on the second day of the week (Monday) in weeks one and three of Ordinary Time.

Immense caeli conditor, qui, mixta ne confunderent, aquae fluenta dividens, caelum dedisti limitem,	Boundless Creator, wise and great, Who made the sky to separate Waters above from those below, Lest one into the other flow,
Firmans locum caelestibus, simulque terrae rivulis, ut unda flammas temperet, terrae solum ne dissipet:	You made one place for clouds and rain, And one for river, stream, and plain, That water might the heat allay, Lest earth dry up and blow away.
Infunde nunc, piissime, donum perennis gratiae, fraudis novae ne casibus nos error atterat vetus.	Into our hearts with kindness pour The gift of grace forevermore, Lest ancient wrong find some new way To snare your flock and make them stray
Lucem fides inveniat, sic luminis iubar ferat; haec vana cuncta terreat, hanc falsa nulla comprimant	So may our faith discover light, And bear aloft its lantern bright. This light deceit cannot abide, Nor empty words its splendor hide.
Praesta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unice, cum Spiritu Paraclito regnans per omne saeculum. Amen	Grant it, dear Father, ever one With Christ our Lord, your only Son, And with the Spirit equally, Ruling for all eternity. Amen.
	Copyright 2012 Thomas Buffer

See You at the Concert

The Five Priests Concert
Sunday, September 18, 3 p.m.


Five priests of the Diocese of Columbus who are also fine musicians will open the 2011-2012 Cathedral Concerts series. Msgr. Stephan Moloney of Immaculate Conception Church, Columbus, Fr. Kevin Lutz of Holy Family Church, Fr. Thomas Buffer of Saint Stephen the Martyr Church, and Fr. Ty Tomson of Saint Andrew Church will play a program to include works of J. S. Bach, Cesar Franck and others. The Cathedral's musicians will also perform a work composed by Fr. David Poliafico.

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Top choral director calls modern Church music 'ecclesiastical karaoke' :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Bad Christmas Music 2009

A few years back I started a new holiday tradition of compiling a mix CD of bad Christmas Music. The search for previously unknown nativity lows is always exciting. Last year, a chance visit to a thrift store yielded three CDs containing some real gems, including one featured in this year's CD: "The Reindeer Shuffle." Discount retailers sometimes make helpful contributions as well, such as the supremely annoying CD "Kidzbop Christmas" (don't look for it; you will be turned into stone). Why "Bad" Christmas Music? Here is a quick analysis. Much of these songs are bad because they try to do something well but fail. One laughs at them, but in the laughter a trace of pity remains, a sort of "there-but-for-a-microphone-go-I" holiday spirit. At the karaoke bar they would have earned their applause, and maybe a beer. Not so with the top tier of trash; namely, the Christmas songs performed, or deformed, by today's top-rated recording artists: e.g. Christina Aguilera and Lauryn Hill who made the cut for this year's CD. For these singers we have no pity, only a kind of wordless fear no longer capable of being described in writing since the death of H. P Lovecraft. Behind these songs lurks the invisible hand of way too much money. A children's choir singing Brian Wilson's "Little St. Nick" (cf. Kidzbop) is pure silliness, soon forgotten, a mere curiosity to be trotted out at parties when conversation lags, but Aguilera, backed by professionals, wailing and grunting her way through "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" -- this track alone could destroy what is left of Western civilization. Keep Christina out of Christmas is my motto.

Catholic Men's Conference

Today I traveled by car to a far-flung suburb to hear confessions at the annual Columbus Catholic Men's Conference.The place was packed and it was inspiring to see how many men devoted their Saturday to growing in the Faith. It would have been the first good golfing day of 2009, too. After confessions it was time to get back to my parish for, well, confessions, but the conference organizers (who really know their stuff) insisted I take some lunch first. In keeping with the manly atmosphere of the conference I was hoping for raw meat but they had some very civilized sandwiches instead. As I picked up my sandwich I could hear that Mass was already underway in the adjoining church. That was the only jarring note of the day -- literally. The music selected was deplorable. Moreover, every song I heard included the accompaniment of a bell tree (click here to find out what a bell tree looks and sounds like). Who was thinking what? I felt sorry for the men who had volunteered to be in the choir. Not that you asked, but my advice is: if you want to sing bad Catholic music in a manly way, do it full-bore, like this. Hoo-ah!
It was a great blessing to return to my little parish where the music at the vigil Mass was dignified and lovely. And not a bell tree in sight.

A Hymn for the Faithful Departed

As others may have noted, Christians have been dying for about two thousand years now. Given this fact, one would think there would be more hymns suitable for All Souls Day. But I have found very few. In 2008 All Souls Day fell on a Sunday and this help to focus my mind on the theme. I found a suitable text, written by an Anglican missionary (onetime chaplain to the Bishop of Zanzibar) who first composed the lyrics in Swahili before making his own translation into English. A setting of the beautiful text to a tune of my own devising may be found here.

Jesus, Son of Mary, fount of life alone,
here we hail thee present on thine altar-throne.
Humbly we adore thee, Lord of endless might,
in the mystic symbols veiled from earthly sight.

Think, O Lord, in mercy on the souls of those
who, in faith gone from us, now in death repose.
Here 'mid stress and conflict toils can never cease;
there, the warfare ended, bid them rest in peace.

Often were they wounded in the deadly strife;
heal them, good Physician, with the balm of life.
Every taint of evil, frailty and decay,
good and gracious Savior, cleanse and purge away.

Rest eternal grant unto them, after weary fight;
shed on them the radiance of thy heavenly light.
Lead them onward, upward, to the holy place,
where thy saints made perfect gaze upon thy face.

Words: Edmund S. Palmer, 1902, 1906
based on the author's original text in Swahili

They Really Do Sing That!

Here is actual proof. And it was not my idea.