The Importance of Hymns in Catechism (1890)

[179] SIXTH DISCOURSE.

THE HYMNS (Cantiques).

One of the things which can best help to give an interest and to put life into Catechisms,—as it is in all Confraternity or other religious meetings,—is the singing of hymns.

The singing of hymns makes children love the Catechism, it rests them, it charms them though still edifying them, while refreshing them it leads them to God, it gives an impulse to everything, and sometimes produces the very deepest impression upon souls.

A hymn well sung often does more for the conversion of children, and even for the greatest sinners, than the most moving exhortations.

I have been always so convinced of this, that if it had been proposed to me to conduct a Catechism without singing hymns, it would have been proposing to me an impossibility; and one year, when I had only seven children to prepare for their first Communion, three boys and four girls, yet nevertheless I made them sing hymns, and they sang them with delight.

But here I must enter into some preliminary details; I must also trace back these things to their highest source.

I shall therefore treat in succession: (1st) on sacred singing in general; (2nd) on the particular advantages of singing hymns at the Catechisms; (3rd) on the Manual of hymns for the Catechism. And first of all, on Sacred Singing.

I.

Next to the Divine sacrifice and the Sacraments, two things are all-important in religion and in public worship: the Word of God and sacred music.

[180] The one supports, animates and strengthens the other. By the one, God causes His voice to be heard by the people; by the other, the people lift up their voice to God. And thus we may venture to say that the music of the Church is equal to the Word, and that it is also inspired by God. Who, indeed, has not felt the Divine inspiration in our admirable liturgical chants?

Yes, the singing the praises of God in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, this singing being led, strengthened and improved by the organ, which seems to belong to religion, is one of the most powerful means we possess for influencing souls, and lifting them up to Heaven. If we would save them, it is not enough to speak to them of God, we must make them speak to God, and how? By prayer, by adoration, by thanksgiving, and above all by that worship which consists in singing the praises of God; there, besides the expression of our needs, we have thanksgiving and adoration; there the most lukewarm become fervent, the most fervent are lifted up yet higher; sinners are moved, subdued, they sing out their remorse, the condemnation of their faults, the happiness of repenting of them.

If you do nothing but preach, whether more or less well; if you do not let them sing, their souls will sink into weariness, and soon they will not know what to do or to say in relation to God.

You know how S. Augustine relates his experience: "What emotion I felt, how many tears did I shed when listening to the melodious concert of hymns and sacred songs which echoed in Thy Church! While my ear yielded to the charm of these Divine harmonies, my heart was sweetly flooded with the pure waves of Thy truth, with impetuous ardour [sic] it broke out in holy impulses; my tears flowed in torrents, and it was happiness to me to shed them."

This, gentlemen, is one of the secrets of nature, or to speak more rightly, of Providence. Singing is one of the noblest and strongest ways of expressing the feelings of the soul. As S. Augustine again has said, "Cantat amor!" Singing is love; thus everything sings in nature, everything sings in [181] heaven. It is the enthusiasm of the heart. When any kind of feeling within us reaches a certain degree of depth and strength, it naturally gives itself out in song, and then all at once it acquires a wonderful power of communicating itself to others. It moves souls. Whence comes it! What is the secret of this mysterious relation between musical things, cadence, rhythm, harmony, melody, and the deepest powers of our being? I know not. But it is a fact; this is why everything in the soul sings; why all that is noble, ardent, generous, passionate breaks out into song. And sacred song also, and more than all, is enthusiasm; but it is the enthusiasm of all the greatest, the purest, the best feelings of man's heart. Thus, in a Christian congregation, it affects all, it animates, it lifts up, it charms; it excites the weak, the strong, the lukewarm, the fervent, the good, and even the wicked; who has not at some time seen it? Who, for instance, has been able to listen without emotion to the united voices of the crowds under the vaulted roofs of our churches, or to a chant sweetly echoing from the deep and inaccessible retreats of a monastery? But if the singing of the Church is to produce such an effect, it must be really religious singing, as perfect as possible; and above all, it must be popular, that is to say, sung by all the faithful.

I have said to you often, gentlemen, and not without reason, that when the time comes that you have taught your parishioners to sing the Psalms and hymns, then your parishes will be won. From that time, they will love their Church and their Pastor. People who have sung joyfully and with all their heart, love what they have sung, they love the place where they have sung, the pleasant recollection attaches them to it; also they love those with whom they have sung. Would you then have them love God and virtue, and the Church, let them in the church sing the praises of God and virtue.

You have difficulty in bringing them to pray; begin by giving them a taste for hymns; make them sing; for to sing is to pray, it is to pray fervently, sometimes even with transport.

[182] This is true above all with children. The singing of the hymns in well-conducted Catechisms, as also at any time, the singing of Psalms, may sometimes become, on the lips and in the heart of these dear children, the most fervent prayer.

Not only is to sing to pray; but you need only think for a moment, and you will see that even in the singing of hymns there is included the two great means of religious influence of which we spoke a few days ago, Instruction and Exhortation.

For my own part, I believe without any doubt that the singing of hymns during the Catechism is one of the most powerful means for at the same time instructing the children soundly, touching their heart, lifting up their soul, and converting them. And what I say now of the Catechisms and the children, you know that I would say the same for the parochial services provided for all the faithful.

And, in fact, all the truths of the faith, all the great moral precepts, all the most urgent motives for flying from evil and practising [sic] goodness, are to be found on every page in a collection of hymns and sacred songs. And what is also most valuable is, as S. Paul says, that in sacred singing, every one instructs and exhorts himself, without need of any other preacher: "Docentes et commonentes cosmetipsos psalmis, hymnis et canticis spiritualibus" (Col. iii. 16). Now is it not a matter of experience that the mind accepts more readily what in this way it says to itself, and that the heart is more strongly though gently impressed? Above all, if the words are helped, as in this case, by that powerful influence which music exerts over the senses, the imagination, and the feelings; that sort of influence which we call a charm.

Hymns, then, both instruct and exhort, but they have further this very great advantage, that they oblige the children at the same time to make all sorts of religious acts, acts of faith, of hope, of love, of contrition, of good resolve, &c. All these acts, in fact, are to be found in the hymns.

It will be said perhaps by several, that these acts are only on their lips. No, gentlemen, such acts cannot be only on their lips, they cannot be frequently brought into remembrance by sacred singing, without the heart gradually [183] becoming familiar with them, taking pleasure in them, and at last thoroughly entering into the feelings they express.

Besides, in the Catechism, one is not confined to having the hymns sung; they are explained; they are developed; the beauty of them is shown to the children; they are made to feel their force and unction; and there is no kind of discourse to which they are more alive.

I have had a thousand experiences of this, all more astonishing and delightful one than another. It was by the singing of the hymns that I could do something even with the most hopeless children. If a child with whom we had been able to do nothing, up to the very end of the week-day Catechism, all at once began to sing the hymns, we said: He is saved. And in fact, every day we saw the most delightful changes being worked in him. He became thoughtful, attentive, pious, very soon even penetrated with compunction, and by the end of the Catechism and the Retreat, he showed some times a fervour [sic] which was most touching.

And even when we were uneasy about an entire Catechism of first Communion, when the great work of converting all these young souls was not being accomplished according to our desires, we redoubled our zeal, not only in instructing and exhorting them, but also in making them sing the hymns well. We all sang with them.[1] The parents who were present at the Catechism often sang with us; we never allowed a single child to be there without his Manual in his hand, and without singing with all his heart; and not a week, not a fort night passed that we did not discover in them those signs of progress which made us happy again.

Thus I have always believed, gentlemen, and what I see every day in this diocese confirms me in the belief, that every Curé who knows how to organize perfectly—not only in his [184] Catechisms, but throughout his parish—the sacred music, to be sung not only by the choir but by all the people, will not have to wait long before he sees faith and piety flourishing again, together with a love for the Church and her holy offices. Several of you have already gained this result in the Catechisms of Perseverance and in confraternities, and it is most desirable that you should have the same success in the general congregations of the parish, by letting the faithful sing, whether at High Mass or at Vespers.

But if you desire that this sacred music should become altogether popular in your parishes, the way is to teach it to the children in the Catechisms. Yes, teach them to chant, in Latin, the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Psalms for Sunday, these which have been consecrated by the usage of the Church, and which are so easy to understand, and some well-known hymns.

The most beautiful sacred hymns have been inspired by the real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist: the Ave Verum, O Salutaris, Tantum ergo, Adoro Te, supplex, Lauda Sion; if possible, let your children learn these by heart; let them learn also the Litanies of the Blessed Virgin, the Inviolata, and even our admirable Stabat; and besides all these, some of the hymns in the vernacular from the Manual: thenceforth, the spirit of grace and of prayer will not be slow to descend upon them, and through them on all your parishioners. The parish in Paris, where the congregational singing is best, is Saint-Sulpice, for it is the parish where for so long a time sacred singing has flourished in the Catechisms.

Besides, nothing is more easy than to teach the children to sing all this. I see, in the greater number of parishes, if the Curé only throws a little zeal into it, that not only the children, but the whole congregation, sing gladly and very well, if the choir and the ophicleides [i.e. a brass instrument] allow them.

[185] II.

Singing hymns has, besides, gentlemen, other advantages, less exalted apparently, but yet greatly valued by those holy and famous Catechists whose example I have set before you.

And first, if well arranged, and alternating with the other parts of the Catechism, the singing prevents weariness in the children, it refreshes them, it rests them after the more serious exercise which has just finished, and it prepares them for that which is about to follow. And with these young natures, nothing is more necessary, in a Catechism which ought to last two hours, and in which so many serious and important things have to be said.

"It must be considered," says Fénélon, "that children's heads are weak, that at their age they are only alive to pleasure; and yet people expect from them an exact propriety and seriousness which they themselves would not be capable of."

The admirable S. François de Sales was quite alive to this, when desiring, by singing hymns, to rejoice the hearts of the children whom he was catechising [sic].

"The hour over, a devout hymn was sung, either to a tune, or simply intoned, or with the organ, the hymn itself being composed by the blessed man, or some other; certainly he did sometimes, as a sort of recreation, give his mind to this sort of poetry; or else he would choose some psalm of David, and give it to the musicians to set to a tune."

Fénélon has remarked that it was by the pleasure of poetry and music that maxims of virtue and polish of manners were introduced among the Hebrews and the Greeks. "Little as one knows of history, we cannot doubt that it was the common practice for many centuries." It is at least certain that, from Apostolic times, it has been the practice of the Church, which has desired, by means of sacred music, to offer to the faithful, and specially to children, an easy way of being instructed in religion, and also to excite earnest and sublime feelings after virtue in their souls.

We read in the Life of Saint François Xavier that he composed hymns for his Catechumens, and that he went so far as [186] to set to music the Lord's Prayer, the Angelic Salutation, and the Apostles' Creed. His historian relates that not only did he by this means banish all the bad songs which the new Christians had sung before their baptism, but that he also supplied this Christian community with a new means of edification. "For the hymns of the holy missionary so pleased men, women, and children, that they sang them day and night, both at home and out in the country." S. Charles Borromeo produced similar effects at Milan, by the hymns which he caused to be sung at his Catechisms. M. Alain de Solminihac, Bishop of Cahors, also put into verse the Ten Commandments and the Apostles' Creed, so that his people might be able to sing them.

Finally, and this last advantage is not unimportant, singing the hymns helps to keep up order and silence, and prevents the distraction of the children, at certain moments when it is almost inevitable. For instance, those who are accustomed to Catechisms know that when an exercise comes to an end, the children make a confused noise, such as one hears in churches after the first point of a sermon; they take their books, they hastily open their hymn-books, sometimes they will ask their neighbours [sic] a question, or even the Catechists; as if, wearied with the attention they have been giving, they are trying now to make up for it. The same sort of thing happens when they are going away after the Catechism; one form after another gets up all together, they defile [sic] into the aisles while other children are leaving their places to follow them, and others again to follow on. Well, if the precaution has been taken to make the children sing at that time, the sound of the music will cover the noise; they will not be aware of the noise which their movement must cause, and by this pious device you accustom them to feel that calmness and quiet are never absent from the Catechisms.

I borrow these practical observations, which are of real importance, from the excellent Méthode de S. Sulpice.

But, I ought to add, if the singing of hymns is to be really profitable, the Head Catechist, ought to give it his greatest attention, he ought frequently to remind the children that [187] their hymns are prayers, and he should explain them in such a manner that the children will understand the sense and enjoy the words. One very necessary point is that they should never be allowed to scream in singing, the youngest are certain to do it. It must be stopped at once. It should be immediately and very severely rebuked and warned against. Neither must there be any hurry in the singing, though at the same time it must not be allowed to drag—slowness is sometimes unbearable to children. It is easier, particularly for boys, to sing a little fast than too slowly.

The Head Catechist should be constantly occupied in making those sing who are not singing, in moderating the voices, in directing the whole; and for this purpose, his great duty is to arrange, prepare, and study the hymns well which he means to be sung at the Catechism, and to have the list, of which he gives a duplicate to the organist, quite ready. Without this precaution, the chances are that the same hymns will be always sung, perhaps two or three which do not suit either the circumstances,[2] or the festivals which are being celebrated, or the needs of the children. The Manual of which I have already spoken to you is a great help, gentlemen, in this respect, not only for the children, but also for the Catechists. In conclusion, I will say a few words concerning this book.

III.

The Manual for Catechisms has been composed chiefly with the view of helping such of the parochial Clergy as have the charge of the important ministry of Catechising. It sets forth to the Catechists and to the children the whole thing, the order and course of all that is done in the Catechisms of first Communion and of Perseverance, and serves as a guide to their piety through the whole course of the year; it is like a Paroissien, like a book of offices, where every meeting, every festival, every solemn time is presented in succession with [188] everything which belongs to it, and which helps to teach the spirit of it, and grasp its special object, as Billets, Admonitions, Hymns, Prayers, &c.

It is easy to see how useful all this order is, and what interest it gives to the different parts of the Catechism. How different, for instance, it is on the day of first Communion, when you are desiring to stir up the piety of the children, and make them feel the beauty of the services, if they have to look out in a collection, in the midst of a thousand different things, for here a prayer, there a hymn, for the acts of thanksgiving, &c., in another place; or on the other hand, everything which goes to make up this great and touching function is given to them in order and completeness!

I need not say, gentlemen, that in well-arranged Manuals the first Communion, Confirmation, and the week-day Catechism which prepares for them, have always been the object of very special care, and they form the most interesting part of the Manual. The first Communion is there treated as a great event, the approaches to it being gradually unfolded. The children are followed step by step, from the first meeting of the week-day Catechism, from their consecration to the Blessed Virgin, up to the important day on which, after most serious self-examination, they make their general confession. Then begins the immediate preparation for the first Communion. And then come the solemn meetings in Retreat, up to the great and happy days of Absolution, of first Communion, and of Confirmation. Finally, all this is crowned by the Renewal of Baptismal vows in the first Communion, by the festival devoted to perseverance, and by the gathering for farewell; and all so well combined that one feels the powerful influence of that Divine Spirit, Who, in the Church, has inspired the men of God, to whom we owe all the present beautiful organization of our Catechisms.

In the Manual upon which I was engaged, and which I can venture to recommend to you, because of the extreme care which was bestowed on it, I was afraid at first that we had given too many prayers for this particular time; but we could only congratulate ourselves when we saw how eagerly the [189] children seized on them as food for their devotion, and what fervour they kindled in them; never had our first Communions been so happy, above all never had the Confirmations been so edifying and so devout.

We also inserted, at the end of the morning prayer, a method for meditation, simple, short, and within the children's grasp. At the end of the work also there are a considerable number of meditations composed solely for them, and we have had the opportunity of seeing how easily children of all classes understand and practise this form of devotion, which is the foundation of all Christian living and the most certain guarantee for perseverance.

We hope also that we have made a happy choice of festivals for the Catechism, and that they may be suitable in all parishes. For the first festival in the little Catechisms for boys and girls, we have those of S. Joseph and the Childhood of the Blessed Virgin, and for the more solemn festival, the Love of Jesus for children; as the first festival of the Catechisms of Perseverance, we have that of S. Louis of Gonzaga for the boys, and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin for the girls; and for the more solemn festival, the Holy Childhood of Jesus. 

The repetition and explanation of Billets is undoubtedly one of the most interesting features of our meetings. It pleases the children wonderfully; instruction is conveyed in the most pleasant manner, sometimes even so playfully as to excite a smile, and it reaches their hearts with all the greater ease. At one time this exercise was very rare, and often lost a great deal of its interest, because the children, whose place it was to repeat, could hardly be heard. We have brought it back into more frequent use, and upwards of a hundred Billets, written for all the important festivals of the year, supply the children with a consecutive course of useful instructions; and since, by the help of the Manual, they have been able to follow the recitations, we have observed the quite new interest which they take in them. We have also added for each festival an act of consecration, suggested by the festival itself, and likely to lead the children on to form generous resolutions.

[190] As to the hymns, we have bestowed great pains on them; the greater part have been corrected, and moreover:

1. We have distributed them according to the festivals, the periods or times to which they belong; and thus, joined with the Billets, the Admonitions, prayers, &c., they form so many complete offices.

2. We have placed a title at the head of each hymn, which marks and explains its subject sufficiently to draw the attention of the children to it beforehand, and thus prepares them to enter into the spirit and feeling of the hymn.

I have now given you the contents of this book, which is called the Manual for Catechisms.

IV.

I will only now add two very important practical observations, and with these I shall conclude:

1. If you wish the children to sing, and to sing well, I cannot too often repeat, you must sing with them; every Catechist must also have his Manual, and use it. I have known children who for half an hour have not sung a verse, all at once begin to sing delightfully; simply because their Catechist had turned to them, looked at them, and said, " Sing, my children"; then singing himself, they were incited to sing too.

2. You must also know how to give out the hymns well, always saying the page as well as the hymn, so that the children may never be uncertain, nor the singing feeble. These simple words, well pronounced, with an audible voice, are enough: "Hymn p. 273, 'Mon bien-aimé ne paraît pas encore,'" or perhaps, "We are going to sing the 'Laudate, pueri,' p. 29." Having said this, then immediately begin to sing with vigour [sic] and boldness.

But for all this, I repeat, the Priests who support the singing, and above all the one who leads it, must stand, conversâ facie ad pueros, facing them, like the leader of an orchestra, who does not stand behind his musicians, or at the side, but at their head and facing them.

3. Hymns à refrain have an excellent effect, and are [191] generally very popular. The alternating of voices sung by the choir, with the refrain sung by the whole body, is sometimes exceedingly good.

The effect is not the same if the voices are alternated by the organ. The interruption of the voices by the organ playing alone, nearly always stops all ardour [sic] or enthusiasm. The choir, with the refrain, on the contrary, keeps it alive.

I have never had a single experience favourably [sic] to the use of the organ in this way. I have, on the contrary, always found that the organ played between the couplets or verses had an undoubtedly bad effect. It stops all enthusiasm.

4. It must be an understood thing, the organ is only really of use for accompanying the singing, and strengthening the voices, unless it may be during the coming in or going out, or possibly that the voices may rest on occasion of any great fatigue. An organ playing alone and alternating with the voices is a thing never known but amongst ourselves. Besides, who has not heard complaints against these organs, on which are sometimes played such unsuitable tunes? What is wanted is, that the organ shall accompany all the verses to strengthen the voices, and that the children and the congregation shall sing everything themselves from one end to the other, without any interruption from the organ breaking in alone.

In this discourse, gentlemen, I have entered into many practical details; but I do not think any man of experience can regret it. Theory is necessary, and first of all I set myself to show you the theory of the Catechisms, in all its truth and all its beauty; but the more beautiful the theory, the more is it necessary, if it is to be realized, that we should be thoroughly instructed in practical details; for in this case the details alone contain a real teaching, they have an undoubted use of their own.

In our next discourse, gentlemen, we shall treat on a subject which is again of very chief importance for the great work of the Catechism, and for the Christian education of the children: we shall speak of Prayers at the Catechism.

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Footnotes:

1. It is needless to say that all Catechists ought to sustain and lead the children's singing. A Catechist who docs not sing with the children surprises them, does them no good, and with reason, for evidently he is not a man who understands his business. Either zeal or piety is wanting in him, or health. If it is his health, the children ought to be told of it. We never allowed ourselves even to say our Breviary during the singing of the hymns.

2. I have seen deplorable examples of this; I have known a hymn on the Last Judgment sung at the beginning of Mass, and the hymn which should precede Communion, "Mon bien-aimé ne paraît pas encore," ["My Beloved does not appear yet"] sung as the hymn for an act of thanksgiving.

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Source: Félix Dupanloup, The Ministry of Catechising, trans. by E. A. Ellacombe (London: Griffith Farran Okeden & Welsh, 1890), 179–191.