Thoughts of Pope Pius XI on Church Music

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 28, 19 July 1923, Page 17

Thoughts of Pope Pius XI on Church Music

In Catholic musical circles the question is often asked, "What is the mind of the present Pope on Church music?" A Motu Proprio dated November 22 (Feast of St. Cecilia), 1922, will give a satisfactory answer. The subject of the document is the Papal Ratification of a Higher Pontifical School of Sacred Music in Rome. Founded originally in 1910 in Rome by the Ceciliau Society of Italy as the Higher School of Sacred Music, under the directorship of the late Father de Santi, S.J., the school was so successful that in 1914, by a letter from the Curia, it was given the title ''.Pontifical" and the power to confer degrees. Pope Benedict XV., greatly impressed by the work done despite the lack of proper accommodation, showed bis interest and appreciation by securing for the Schola much larger and better equipped buildings and engaging additional prolessors. Degrees in music are granted to pupils who.reach a determined standard of theoretical and vocal or instrumental proficiency in Gregorian (the word used by his Holiness) and sacred music in general, and may also be conferred honoris causa. Two regulations in the Motu. Proprio will indicate the mind of the Holy Father:—(l) "Whatever was prescribed in the Motu Proprio of Pius X. on Sacred Music (1903) must, in all the exercises of this school, be observed as of most inviolable law." (2) "All subjects taught in the school must be fundamentally dependent upon Gregorian. Therefore it will not be possible for anyone to obtain a degree in any other subject unless he has been pronounced satisfactory in Gregorian Chant." >