As I've been fortunate enough in my current position to use the Proper chants more and more, my love and understanding of them has grown . . . but I'm still baffled by this one: Vir erat (Offertory for 27 OT--Ordinary Form)
The translation:
"There was a man in the land of Hus whose name was Job, simple and upright, and fearing God: and satan asked to tempt him; and power was given him by the Lord over his possessions, and over his flesh: and he destroyed all his substance, and his sons: and he wounded his flesh with a grievous ulcer."
WTH?!? I don't even know where to begin with this . . . it just seems so out of place. The chant is lovely, of course, but still . . . . anyway, questions:
1) Where the heck did this come from?
2) Why is it still in the GR?
3) What reasonable answer can I give to my choir for why a text like this would be stuck in the middle of the Mass?
As a side note, an Anglican colleague and I were dialoguing about certain propers a while back, and he gave an interesting anecdote in response to this Proper:
"Thereby hangs a small, probably apocryphal tale: Palestrina was charged with editing the Medicean Graduale; he was told to remove "Vir erat" (fondly known as "Job's boils, alleluia" in Anglican circles), since the OT Lesson from Job was long-gone from the Mass Lectionary. But the papal choir was fond of his five-part setting, so it remains as a little monument to the stubbornness of choir men everywhere."
The translation:
"There was a man in the land of Hus whose name was Job, simple and upright, and fearing God: and satan asked to tempt him; and power was given him by the Lord over his possessions, and over his flesh: and he destroyed all his substance, and his sons: and he wounded his flesh with a grievous ulcer."
WTH?!? I don't even know where to begin with this . . . it just seems so out of place. The chant is lovely, of course, but still . . . . anyway, questions:
1) Where the heck did this come from?
2) Why is it still in the GR?
3) What reasonable answer can I give to my choir for why a text like this would be stuck in the middle of the Mass?
As a side note, an Anglican colleague and I were dialoguing about certain propers a while back, and he gave an interesting anecdote in response to this Proper:
"Thereby hangs a small, probably apocryphal tale: Palestrina was charged with editing the Medicean Graduale; he was told to remove "Vir erat" (fondly known as "Job's boils, alleluia" in Anglican circles), since the OT Lesson from Job was long-gone from the Mass Lectionary. But the papal choir was fond of his five-part setting, so it remains as a little monument to the stubbornness of choir men everywhere."