Sunday, November 9, 2008

Bruckner & Dedication of St John Lateran

To-day is the feast of the Dedication of "the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour, St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist on the Lateran" (otherwise called for short the Lateran, or St John Lateran; sometimes, Our Saviour's or St Saviour's) - the Cathedral of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, and therefore "the Mother and Head of all churches in the City and the world".

The Proper of the Mass for the Dedication of a Church is marvellous, and I'm looking forward to singing it at Mass in just over an hour; here is Bruckner's celebrated setting of Locus iste, the first part of the Gradual of this feast:

Locus iste a Deo factus est, inæstimabile sacramentum, irreprehensibilis est.

(This place has been been made by God; it is a mystery beyond measure, it is free from all stain.)

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