4th Sunday after Easter
Processional hymn: Christ the Lord is Ris’n Again,
Recessional hymn: Love’s Redeeming Work Is Done, 850
Kyriale: Mass I, 696; Creed III, 776
Marian Antiphon: Regina Cœli, Antonio Lotti (1667–1740)
Communion Motet: O quam metuendus est, Tomás Luis de Victoria
Antonio Lotti’s Regina Cœli was first published nearly 100 years after its creation by German Catholic Priest, Fr. Karl Proske in 1859. The composition is perhaps the most well known choral setting of the Marian Antiphon. Lotti sets the four voices together rhythmically which allows for the text to be heard clearly, and the bright major key highlights the joyful tenor of the prayer.
The motet O quam metuendus est by Tomás Luis de Victoria is a setting of the Magnificat antiphon for the dedication of a church. The text is taken from the description of Jacob’s Ladder in Genesis: “How awe-inspiring is this place! Surely this can be nothing else but the house of God and the gate of heaven.”
Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548–1611), along with Palestrina and de Lassus, is one of the greatest composers of the 16th C., famous for its ethereal polyphony. Ordained a priest at age 27, he lived in Rome for years, and assisted St. Philip Neri as chaplain of San Girolamo della Carità.