Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Liturgy and Music Page

Looking forward to our monthly Candlelight Adoration, tonight at 7 PM: scriptures; Gregorian chant; choral treasures by Issac, Morley, Farrant, Anerio and S.S. Wesley; and organ music by Bach and Mendelssohn. Prayer, transformation and beauty by candlelight!

Our Holy Hours are not live steamed, but there is plenty of room to socially distance in the Co-Cathedral.

First Sunday Of Lent

First Sunday Of Lent

First Sunday Of Lent

First Sunday Of Lent

Archdiocese of Galveston - Houston

Congratulations to all permanent deacons ordained this morning, especially our own Joe Millhouse!

https://www.facebook.com/archgh/videos/2945012912491712/

Ordination to the Permanent Diaconate

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Parish, Houston

The 7am Mass on Thursday and Friday are cancelled. We are still planning on having the 12:10pm daily Mass.

We pray that you are staying warm and safe.

Worship

Mass livestream:

https://www.sacredhearthouston.org/worship

sacredhearthouston.org

[02/16/21]   Updated Mass schedule for Ash Wednesday: 12:10 PM and 5:00 PM only due to inclement weather.

First Mass of the day will be 12:10 PM with Cardinal DiNardo with church opening at 11:00 am.

5:00 PM will be trilingual English/Vietnamese/Spanish and (planned) livestreamed.

We hope you are safe and warm with power, 🤗 friends. A recent CCSH children’s choir Zoom was devoted to SNOW in Ps. 51. It is more than white, but covers everything brightly. We chanted Psalm 51, because it mentions snow. Then we had an out of town friend Zoom in from up north to show us her snow, but today they can see it for themselves. The image that Psalm 51 evokes is that God will make our sins disappear and our souls become whiter than snow.

We will hear Psalm 51, Miserere Mei (Have Mercy on Me O God) on Ash Wednesday, and again on Lent V. Then it reappears in the Asperges or sprinkling rite of Easter in the new rite, or more often in the old rite.

There are many beautiful sacred settings of Psalm 51! One sublime enough for Pope Urban’s Sistine Chapel is Gregorio Allegri’s 1630 Miserere Mei. Wanna hear what our choir kids heard? The link is in the first comment.

Photo: Pueri Cantores Festival 2019

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

Please see our website for the livestream today. Worship/livestream

Www.sacredhearthouston.org

sacredhearthouston.org This is the website for the Co-cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Houston.

This weekend will be the last we’ll sing Alleluia for awhile, since Lent is just around the corner. Join us in savoring that moment! In chant, we do that with a melisma - all the black dots over one syllable in the last “aleluya.” Even the smallest detail has a teaching function for the listener. :)

O Señor, Guíame

In a time when it’s harder to access live sacred music, we are grateful to connect with you here! Here is a beautiful song heard in church recently, complete with a babbling baby that wanted to sing along!

Guíame, ¡oh Señor! 🎶

https://youtu.be/nCikbSyrYeI

youtube.com A well-loved hymn with an arrangement written for the occasion of Sunday Mass on January 17, 2021. The piano accompaniment includes quotations from two othe...

Today is the Feast of St. Scholastica, twin sister of St. Benedict and a patroness of education.

A true/false Trivia question for you: More than one person integral to music making at recent Co-Cathedral liturgies had advanced keyboard training under the Benedictine sisters of the St. Scholastica monestary. True or false?

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Pope Francis hails musicians’ ‘new creativity’ amid pandemic disruption

Pope Francis addressed musicians yesterday at the 4th International Convention on Music, an initiative of the Pontifical Council, in collaboration with the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy.

“Many texts and compositions, through the power of music, stimulate everyone’s personal conscience and also create a universal fraternity,” he said. “Voices, musical instruments and compositions continue to express, in the present context, the harmony of God’s voice, leading towards ‘symphony,’ that is, universal fraternity.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-hails-musicians-new-creativity-amid-pandemic-disruption-32332

catholicnewsagency.com Pope Francis praised musicians on Thursday for showing “new creativity” despite severe restrictions imposed on their work by the coronavirus pandemic.

Happy Feast of the Presentation in the Temple! Today is also called Candlemas, since the during this Mass the year’s liturgical candles were blessed. Here is our display of candles from last year.

There is also special music affiliated with this feast. (Did you know that the Church prescribes specific texts to be set to music for near every celebration?) When Jesus was presented in the temple after Mary’s time of purification, his parents encountered the prophet Simeon. Simeon realizes he has spied the promised Messiah, and says, Lord, now you can let your servant go in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation. He declares also that Jesus will be a light to the Gentiles, saving all.

Here in comment #1 is our choir singing a setting of this text recorded in Mass on February 2, 2020.

Throughout history, in every time and place, there is so much music that teaches us the richness of our faith!

[01/31/21]   “I know who you are - the Holy One of God!” The final music heard at Mass today is written to illustrate today’s gospel. The music gets louder and louder as Jesus takes his rightful authority Further notes can be found in today’s worship aid.

Respect Life Mass

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Resilience in a time of Covid! Beautiful wedding today. Here are some behind the scenes shots of outside festivities and what’s on the music rack! Happy Sacrament!

JAV Recordings, Inc.

Here’s a piece of organ music that was written to specifically reference this upcoming Sunday’s gospel of Jesus casting out demons. Video was taken by JAV Recordings on a visit from 2018 - note there’s not a recital today, but this is a sampling of music that will appear on Sunday morning!

Here w/ Dr. Crista Miller, Director of Music at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Houston Archdiocese. Check out their classical music concerts at 12:45 PM every First Friday & Third Thursday of the month. More at facebook.com/cocathedral/

Today the Church Calendar remembers St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Doctor of the Church and philosophical writer of beautiful Eucharistic poetry. Many of his texts appear in our repertoire at the Co-Cathedral. One of our favorites is Ave Verum Corpus, or Hail True Body (of Christ) found set to music by William Byrd (1542-1623) in the link blow.

William Byrd: "Ave verum corpus"

Ave verum corpus,
Natum de Maria virgine;
Vere passum immolatum
In crucis pro homine.
Cuius latus perforatum
Unda fluxit sanguine.
Esto nobis praegustatum
In mortis examine.
O dulcis, o pie,
O Jesu Fili Mariae,
Miserere mei. Amen.

Hail, true body,
Born of the virgin Mary;
Who has truly suffered, slaughtered
On the Cross for humanity.
Whose side was pierced,
Pouring out water and blood.
Be a foretaste for us
During our ordeal of death.
O sweet, o holy,
O Jesus Son of Mary,
Have mercy on me. Amen.

Respect Life Mass

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

As was announced at 11 AM Mass this morning, we pray for the repose of the soul of Bishop Vincent Rizzotto. May he Rest In Peace. Bishop Rizzotto had a wonderful influence in the Co-Cathedral design, especially many musical implements like the pipe organ, and the Resurrection Window and much of the art.

If you want to pray in sung with us, remember that Ubi Caritas - where charity and love are, God is.

The link below was a musical greeting card from Cor Jesu, the Co-Cathedral choir, to Bishop Rizzotto and Archbishop Fiorenza, who both were living in our Archdiocesan retirement center at the time.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord, BWV 684

Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord! A great instrumental expression for today’s feast comes from J.S. Bach’s Organ Mass, called the Clavierubung, Part III. An excerpt of that work is this illustration of the flowing waters of the Jordan River underneath the hymn tune with the text below. You can hear the deep moving water in the bass, the melody on long trumpet notes in the feet, and some sparkling white caps in the right hand.

To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord

To Jordan came the Christ, our Lord,
To do His Father's pleasure;
Baptized by John, the Father's Word
Was given us to treasure.
This heav'nly washing now shall be
A cleansing from transgression
And by His blood and agony
Release from death's oppression.
A new life now awaits us!

Crista Miller recorded this in January 2020 while practicing at Christ the Light Cathedral in Oakland, CA while at CRCCM. The Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians meets annually in the week after Epiphany at a sister cathedral. She also played “BWV 684” at Mass today.

NEW! Spanish Mass is now at 1:00 PM! Hope you can join us.

Co-Cathedral Live Stream

Co-Cathedral Live Stream

Did you notice the Epiphany Proclamation sung by the cantor yesterday at 11 AM Mass? Here is what the USCCB says about that tradition:

The proclamation of the date of Easter and the other moveable feasts on Epiphany dates from a time when calendars were not readily available. It was necessary to make known the date of Easter in advance, since many celebrations of the liturgical year depend on its date. The number of Sundays that follow Epiphany, the date of Ash Wednesday, and the number of Sundays that follow Pentecost are all computed in relation to Easter.

Although calendars now give the date of Easter and the other feasts in the liturgical year for many years in advance, the Epiphany proclamation still has value. It is a reminder of the centrality of the resurrection of the Lord in the liturgical year and the importance of the great mysteries of faith which are celebrated each year.

Each year the proper dates for Ash Wednesday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, and the First Sunday of Advent must be inserted into the text. Those dates are found in the table which is included with the introductory documents of the Roman Missal. The form to be used for announcing each dates is: the date of month, e.g., "the seventh day of April."

On the Epiphany of the Lord, after the singing of the Gospel, a Deacon or cantor, in keeping with an ancient practice of Holy Church, announces from the ambo the moveable feasts of the current year according to the following text.

The Epiphany of the Lord

The Epiphany of the Lord

Happy New Year from Co-Cathedral Music! Here are photos from the last two Masses of 2020, the two Vigils of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Praying for God’s blessings on all in 2021!

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

The Nativity of the Lord

The Feast of the Holy Family

The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord