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Cor, Sanctuarium novi Intemeratum foederis, HISTORY of Quis Non Amántem — By Jeff Ostrowski I got to know my dear wife, Cynthia, while singing Catholic Sacred music in a choir. Since we both appreciate the sacred liturgical traditions of the Catholic Church and especially sacred music, we decided we would like to have as splendid a Nuptial Mass as we could manage. In the past, I had been responsible for the music for large Catholic Masses (especially the first Masses of priests I knew). I therefore had some idea of the work it would entail. I share these thoughts, not as a prideful type of "look what we did," but as a reflection on the rebuilding that is required in our current age.
It is time to rebuild the Church. What has been bulldozed must be replaced. What has been vandalized must be restored. A priest told me of his rector, who took it upon himself after the Second Vatican Council to destroy all 90 sets of High Mass vestments (chasubles, tunics, dalmatics, maniples, stoles, etc.). The rector told my priest friend, "I had to burn those chasubles, because I didn't want any lay people to see them in the landfill." My priest friend simply could not believe the evils at that time. But now our periods of mourning are over: we must rebuild. Let us start sewing new chasubles, to replace the ones that the evil rector burned. A parish priest once said in a sermon, "What a great blessing that God does not show us our future! We seminarians always knew that we might be assigned to be the assistant of a grumpy old priest after ordination. Well, as it happened, I was assigned to assist a grumpy old priest. I am grateful that God did not show me my future, because I might not have chosen to be a priest, had I known what was in store for me." I can say the same thing as the priest! If I had known all the details that would come pouring down on Preparation started months in advance. One of the first things I had to do was try to see how many singers were interested. I sent out many letters, made phone calls, and sent E-mails all over the place. Then, when I got a When all these things had been accomplished, I set about composing, harmonizing, planning, and editing the music books. It is a strange feeling to be agonizing over breath marks and voicing that singers will not be able to start learning for months. But I knew that all those decisions have to be made before the books are even printed. "Write it in, or rehearse it in," my composition teacher used to say, and rehearsals were pretty much out of the question for many of the singers, who would be coming in from different states. Preparing the music was the most difficult thing of all. After all the music had been chosen and composed/edited, I set about recording each piece, each line, each voice. I then set burned practice CD's. Then I could do some more recruitment of singers, because I could show them what we were going to do. I set up appointments at the local colleges and went and spoke to several choirs, trying to recruit members. I met some wonderful people, but I have to say it was a little uncomfortable. That is, I am rather shy, and going into secular colleges and asking folks I've never met to sing Latin polyphony . . . well, it was interesting. Everyone was very welcoming.
Dr. Daniel Varholy, head of Corpus Christi Watershed, noticed the preparations I was undertaking early on, and he offered his help, for which I owe him a great deal. Dr. Varholy was particularly taken by how much effort went into preparing for the ceremony. For example, I had to have special altar cloths sewn, I had to mail away to Kansas for the altar frontal, we built from scratch conducting platforms, singer platforms, reredos stand, credence table, and I even constructed a High Altar, specifically for this ceremony (and all had to be taken down after the ceremony). The only funding I had to work with was what I could scrap together from my part-time salary as a high school teacher and church musician. Dr. Varholy noted that this was spiritual preparation for the ceremony. That is to say, so many of today's weddings are only concerned about the materialistic aspects: the wedding dresses, the earings, the plates for the rehearsal dinner, the bows on the invitations, the groom's shoe color, etc. Then, at the last second, people get a priest, find a Church, and call a musician. Our wedding was different, in that the Church ceremony came first, and then all those other arrangements. Cynthia and I are also glad that the Catholic Church has never allowed divorce, because it was so much work, we wouldn't want to do it again!
I have never been much of a carpenter, and I didn't even know the correct measurements for length, breadth, and depth. So, I started to do research. Several of my priest friends got odd phone calls or E-mails saying, "Hi, Father. Can you do me a favor? Can you go measure the proportions of the altar on which you say Mass? Thanks!" I only had permission to have the altar in place for about thirty hours, so it had to be able to be put up and taken down easily, yet still sturdy. I didn't want the altar to be wobbling around while Mass was being offered on it. It was difficult to find a place to store it, since it was wider than 99% of doors. The "theme" of the wedding centers on love, and was taken from a beautiful Latin Hymn of the Office. Here are two verses of this holy poem: Quis non amantem redamet? Quis non redemptus diligat, Cor, Sanctuarium novi Intemeratum foederis, The melody that was the compositional basis for many of the polyphonic pieces sung was a love Chanson by Josquin Deprez called Mille Regretz. Gombert (like Morales and some other masters) wrote a lovely version based (brilliantly) on this Chanson, and I edited the text of "Quis Non Amántem" into it. When we consider how much our Savior did for us, how is it possible that we do not return His love? When we consider how much our Savior suffered for our sakes, how is it possible that we can ignore Him over and over again? One of the reasons I feel Quis Non Amántem to be a landmark project is that it proves once and for all that great sacred music is not the exclusive property of scholars in an Ivory tower. Many of the singers had never even heard of Renaissance polyphony before they sang on Quis Non Amántem. Actually, most of them are not professional musicians at all. The great majority of the polyphonic singers were under the age of 25. They are carpenters, high school students, grade school students, secretaries, college students, clerical workers, etc. They are the Church !!! And they can sing the Church's music. And they love the Church's music. And I can say something else, as well. What they produced is so beautiful, and I recommend it with all my heart. It is great music. It is a great performance. The fact that the singers met one another for the first time literally minutes before they had to perform together does not matter. The fact that they had less than 40 minutes of rehearsal time together before the recoding was made does not matter. They did so well. And the same can be said for the Schola Cantórum, which sounded like they had been singing together for years! In reality, they met one another for the first time the morning of the Mass. I am now seeing that some of the "errors" of the Mass will live in my memory as happy memories! For example, less than 48 hours before the ceremony, my worst nightmare came true: the organist who had been booked for over six months backed out. I was a nervous wreck, and did not know what to do. My brother Mark (a theologian/historian) stepped up to the plate and sight-read everything. It all worked out fine, although I've never seen Mark sweat so much while playing! The same was true of several of the other singers who had agreed to sing. I literally got several calls from professional musicians (who had agreed to help months before) while I was eating the rehearsal dinner! So there was never a dull moment. And it was not just me: others were also under unbelievable stress, which we look back upon now and laugh! Some will notice that incense is not used at the Quis Non Amántem Nuptial Mass, while it is used at the Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving the night before. This decision was due to a medical emergency affecting one of the Sacred Ministers, and it was the right choice, because God does not require incense at the Mass in cases where it might cause serious physical harm.
So many people were so very kind to us and gave us so much help that I am afraid I cannot mention them all. However, I do want to thank, in particular, Jeffrey Tucker (a name uttered in awed tones by all American church musicians), who, along with his wonderful assistant, Mrs. Arlene Oost-Zinner, made great sacrifices to come and sing in the wedding. I also thank David Pedersen, for the tremendous sacrifices he made. I thank Lucas Tappan and his wife Katie, who were essential to the project's success, and who made great sacrifices. I thank Eddy Fernandez and Austin Riddle from my heart for all they did. I thank Watershed for all they do and have done. And I thank, from my heart, the Sacred Ministers: His Excellency, Bishop René Gracida; Fr. Valentine Young, O.F.M.; Fr. Paul Roman; and Fr. James Fryar, FSSP.
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As one priest said to me about six months before the Wedding (as I described to him the rubrics I had been studying and researching), "Jeff, you realize that a Tridentine Solemn Pontifical Mass was complicated even before the Council, when it was much more prevalent . . . . What you want is very difficult, and who will even know the difference?" However, all who were involved took the attitude that we must do our absolute best to follow every rubric and make it as splendid as possible. No one involved in the Wedding had an "I don't care" attitude. This was a great blessing.
me: for example, the necessity of acquiring silver plates for the Bishop's rings, carrying pews on my own back into the Chapel to replace the broken ones, writing letters to obtain carpet scraps and cutting them out for the Communion rail, writing letters to obtain birettas, arranging hotel reservations, arranging plane reservations, drawing and printing maps (to the restaurant, Chapel, reception, and hotels for out of town singers), searching for pictures of the liturgy to go inside booklets, searching for pictures to help my mother draw sketches for booklets, preparing the Propers for the Mass of Thanksgiving (in addition to the actual Propers at the Wedding), ordering away to Canada for special incense, setting Dr. Varholy's special verses for the Exit Hymn, adding every accent of every Latin prayer in the 56-page booklet, adding in modern and Gregorian notation every exchange between celebrant and congregation (always with translation in musical and congregation booklets), getting help with (and then recording and burning to CD) the sung orations for the clerics who needed assistance, marking every breath mark in every single line of polyphony and chant in the 85-page musical booklets, working with the scholas and singers in different states to learn the music, building a Credence table at the last second, the extreme heart-ache caused by people who did not show up (at the last minute) to assist after they had agreed to do so months in advance, or the stress of trying to train some of the singers who had never sung Latin before, and 100 other things—and these things in addition to the normal preparations that go along with a Wedding and reception (which I will not list here)—if I had known all the details, I am not sure I would have had the willpower to be able to go through with it. So that priest was right: we can be glad God does not reveal our futures to us!
rough idea, I started to choose the music that would fit the individual singers' range and ability, but still with respect to the music Cynthia had requested (in particular a Morales piece she enjoyed). This meant I had to acquire certain CD's and try to get scores through Interlibrary loan. After several months, it became apparent that Interlibrary loan could not get the correct scores, and I searched in the music libraries of San Antonio, TX. Those libraries were missing the volume I needed, so I finally had to drive all the way to Kansas and take digital pictures of the scores from my Alma Mater library at the University of Kansas.
I had to obtain permission to use the Chapel, canonical permission to be married outside my parish, permission to have the Tridentine Rite, permission to erect a temporary altar (so Mass could be celebrated Ad Orientam), etc. Then, too, I contacted the Sacred Ministers, and was delighted that they agreed to help with the ceremony. Cynthia and I will never forget the day we received word that His Excellency, Bishop Gracida, would gladly celebrate our Nuptial Mass! In so many different ways, Bishop Gracida is a hero of the Faith, and we can never repay His Excellency for the honor he bestowed upon us. The other Sacred Ministers also made great sacrifices. For example, Fr. James Fryar, the assistant priest, had to drive to San Antonio immediately after the ceremony and catch an all night flight to be in Pennsylvania to celebrate Masses starting early the next morning. 
One of the most time consuming things (besides all the music preparation and the wedding booklets) was building the High Altar. My friend, Fr. Fryar, brought a portable Altar Relic with him (required by the liturgical laws), but I was responsible for building the wooden frame and getting the altar cloths.
Fr. Valentine Young's sermon (included on the "Composer's Edition" CD) touches on this very point. 
Relating all these things, I am trying to show that good liturgy requires preparation, but even with preparation, one never knows what will happen! We prepare, we pray, we offer our efforts to God, and when the ceremony begins, we realize that the Mass is infinitely bigger than a "production" and therefore simply leave everything in the hands of God. 
