Festal Eucharist

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Above: A depiction of the Last Supper from the Communion Window of Saint Thomas. From today’s Gospel according to Saint John, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”

Leaving Sunday

While this Sunday is the Feast of Corpus Christi, it is also the last day that the choristers will be at Saint Thomas for the season, and the last day that the 8th grade boys will be with us students of our beloved Choir School. The boys (sans the graduating class of 2012) will return in September. Over the summer, choral worship will continue on Sundays, thanks to visiting choirs.

The propers (including the Collect of the Day and the lessons) during this service are appropriate for Corpus Christi, as is the Mass Setting. Yet, the events of Leaving Sunday will in many ways dominate the 11am Choral Eucharist, especially during the sermon by the Headmaster of Woodberry Forest, during the Blessing of the Class of 2012 after the Postcommunion Prayer (to the singing of Ubi caritas), and during the Closing Hymn, Come, labor on.

We thank the Class of 2012 for their many good years as students, choristers, and acolytes, and we wish them Godspeed as they continue their education: William Christopher Hendershot Clark (Staten Island Academy, NY), Benjamin Bae Stackhouse Ferriby (Hamden High School, CT), Grant Andrew Klinger (Wyoming Seminary, PA), Daniel Antonio Pepe (Byram Hills High School, NY), Simon Minor Scott-Hamblen (Haldane High School, NY), Alexander Seeley (The Hill School, PA), Sidney Wright (Millbrook School, NY) and Justin Yoo (The Hill School, PA).

‚ñ∫If you desire to attend a service that will focus more fully on the Feast of Corpus Christi, consider attending the 8am Said Eucharist in the Chantry Chapel, or the 9am Sung Eucharist at the High Altar. Both services have sermons appropriate for the feast day (by Fr Spurlock at 8am; by Fr Daniels at 9am) and the 9am service has hymns for the feast day as well.

Music notes: Josquin des Prez (c. 1440-1521) was the undisputed genius of the early Renaissance musical style. His compositions attained unparalleled renown throughout Europe and he was Martin Luther’s favorite composer, who called him the ‚Äúmaster of the notes.‚Äù He held appointments at the court of Anjou, in the Papal Chapel, at the court of the Duke of Ferrara, and finally as Provost of Notre Dame, Cond√© until his death in 1521.

The Missa Pange lingua is Josquin’s last mass, written during his retirement. With its clear motivic writing, the almost hypnotic repetition of small melodic cells and tremendous rhythmic drive, it exemplifies Josquin’s mature mastery of compositional form.

The mass is a paraphrase of the Gregorian melody associated with the 13th-century hymn Pange lingua gloriosi written by St. Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi. While the hymn-tune is almost always present somewhere in the musical texture, it does not appear whole until the end of the mass when it is heard in the soprano voice.

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• Choral Services
• Worship Services