Thursday, March 14, 2013

For the Holy Father

In honor of our new Holy Father, Pope Francis, and in gratitude to our Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, we offer musical tribute from our common Catholic tradition, as adapted by the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite.

A Papal Hymn is included on pages 186-187 of Father Stefan Papp's collection, Duchovňi Pisňi (1969), entitled De Petra Svjata Mohila (On Peter's Holy Mound). This hymn from common tradition of the Universal Church has been traditionally sung as a recessional hymn in our own churches at the conclusion of Hierarchical Divine Liturgies, as an expression of our unity with the Holy See of St. Peter. Of note, this hymn was heard at the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy of last year's annual Litmanová pilgrimage, hosted by Metropolitan Ján Babjak, with His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as main celebrant. Regrettably, the YouTube video including this rendering is no longer available (see our blog post from 8 August 2012).

+Professor John Kahanick had set the Slavonic verses of this hymn to four part harmony in 1953, later offering a translation to English in 1981 while serving at the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in Passaic, NJ. A copy of these choral settings, the last known use of which was the occasion of the enthronement of +Bishop Andrew J. Pataki as third Bishop of the Eparchy of Passaic on 8 February 1996, is available via this link => Kahanick: St. Michael's Cathedral Choir "Red Book" - Papal Hymn [59].

May God grant Pope Francis many happy, healthy and blessed years! Na mnohaja i blahaja l'ita, Vladyko!

No comments:

Post a Comment