The Power of Hymns to Refresh (1890)

[552] We were delighted with the hymns, we sung them with all our heart, and gradually, by the sweetness or the energy of the singing, the thoughts and the maxims, and the most noble sentiments of the faith, were grafted in our souls. To say the truth, it was the life of the Catechism. Without the hymns, in spite of the zeal and the skill of our Catechists, it would all have been very cold. When, at the signal given by M. Lacombe, we all began to sing, it was like a revival of zeal and energy throughout the Catechism. After a very serious Instruction, which had kept us closely attentive for half an hour, and bent down, pencil in hand, over our note-books, we sometimes felt wearied and our thoughts began to wander; but all at once some beautiful hymn was given out, which cheered us up and at the same time made us attentive again, which often touched us, and always interested and rested us. Certainly, for me, it was the hymns more than anything which converted me and bound me for ever to religion.

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Source: Félix Dupanloup, The Ministry of Catechising, trans. by E. A. Ellacombe (London: Griffith Farran Okeden & Welsh, 1890), 552.

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In a book called The Ministry of Catechising, which originally appeared in French in 1868 (an English translation appeared in 1890 in London), Bishop Felix Dupanloup recalled memories of his First Communion:

We were delighted with the hymns. We sung them with all our heart, and gradually, by the sweetness or the energy of the singing, the thoughts and maxims of the faith were grafted in our souls. To say the truth, it was the life of the Catechism. Without the hymns, it would all have been very cold. For me, it was the hymns more than anything which converted me and bound me forever to religion.

While we know that the Mass itself is not the optimal place for hymns, which belong more correctly in the Divine Office (with the exception of the Gloria and, if one considers it a hymn, the Sanctus), nevertheless there is an important truth to which Dupanloup bears witness: the value of singing together beautiful vernacular religious songs that have the power to shape the senses, imagination, and memory, and through them, to shape the heart and mind.

We are so blessed with a rich repertoire of famous Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany carols, hymns, and songs, and we should use them abundantly in our homes, in youth groups, in prayer meetings or Adoration, when caroling in the neighborhood, visiting a nursing home or prison, or any other appropriate setting. Let us not surrender the world of sound to secular content, but fill it with joyful singing! It is, in more ways than one, a corporal and spiritual work of mercy.

Children, especially, deserve to have glowing memories of carols, just as Dupanloup recounts. This is a preaching of the Gospel “before the age of reason,” a preaching to all the powers of the soul, not just to the intellect, which has been excessively emphasized in recent decades. Catechesis begins with the senses and the imagination.

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Source: Peter Kwasniewski, "Happy 200th Birthday, 'Silent Night' — and Why Singing Carols is So Important," New Liturgical Movement (Dec. 24, 2018), http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2018/12/happy-200th-birthday-silent-night-and.html.