I went to my parents' church for the vigil mass, despite the fact that I was singing at 9AM at my own church this morning. But no place else does the Récusito (OCP #64 in the Today's Missal or the Breaking Bread.)

The light the fire at the back, and the deacon starts carrying the candle up the aisle. He pauses, sings "Lumen Christi," and everyone answers, "Deo Gratia." Then everyone* breaks into "Récusito, récusito, récusito, alleluya; Alleluya, alleluya, alleluya, récusito..." Then the deacon sings Lumen Christi again and the proceedings continue.

After they'd made it up the aisle, my mom said that next year, she'd remember to bring her camera to record a little movie and I was kicking myself, because I have a camera that takes movies, too.

Dangit.

*Yes, everyone. I grew up thinking that Catholics sang.

The Exultet is probably my favorite piece of music in the entire church year. Well, "Alleluia, Alleluia, Let the Holy Anthem Rise" rocks out - very Salvation Army, but so much fun...and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" at Christmas (which, to my dismay, seems to have been relegated to prelude music in many Catholic churches, because you always open with "O Come All, Ye Faithful", then HTHAS isn't really appropriate at Offertory or Communion, and then everyone (except me!) seems to want to close with "Joy to the World"...I would use JTTW as a postlude instrumental, but you've gotta should out HTHAS's final lines at the end of midnight mass! Nothing like watching the priest and his entarage (sp?) recess while belting out, "Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel (after all those weeks of "O Come, O Come Emanuel" during Advent), Hark, the Herald Angels since, glory to the newborn king!"

Anyway, during my career as an organist/music director, my favorite thing in the world was plain-chanting the English translation of the Exultet. Five or six minutes of deep, rich tradition...ooo...just wonderful!

Ethan, up were a organist/music director? The new things I learn every day. (And feel a bit abashed; I'm a generalist cackling about all sorts of things, and there's always some specialist out there waiting to point out my mistakes. Story of my life.)

The whole subject of church music is weird and fascinating, especially for one who grew up a Baptist, was long an Episcopalian, and is now attending a Catholic church.

And B Durbin, you grew up among singing Catholics! You all always cease to amaze me! I have no idea what the Récusito is, but it sounds neat!

Charlene and I are very lucky to have a church with great music and choir, at least at the "traditional" service. And we try to sings hymns firmly, to make up for a certain mumbly quality of those around us. (And I smile to myself when I enjoy some hymn, and notice the fine print and say, "Ah yes, that good Catholic Charles Wesley.)

Well, first I have to spell it right. "Resucitó" with the c and s reversed and the accent over the proper letter. It's actually fairly modern (written in 1972) and by Kiko Argüello, though the copyright info lists Francisco Gómez Argüello, so perhaps Kiko is merely his preferred nickname. And we only ever sang the chorus; I didn't know there were verses until a few years ago.

Egad. I just Googled for a song sample, and found one, but there's no way I'm going to list it here. Very very mariachi in sound, which is nothing like the way we sing it! (Yes, we had a trumpet. But it was a symphony trumpet, not a mariachi trumpet.)

And they didn't have the high harmony... though, to be honest, I have no way of knowing if that's a written harmony or something that just evolved. Okay, that's one MORE piece of music that needs recording.

Yeah, actually I was studying to be a Catholic priest for a couple years...finished the minor seminary, and just barely started the major seminary (like undergraduate vs. post-graduate) when I took a year off and then left for good. I don't currently attend church, or even believe in God, for that matter, but I deeply love the Catholic church...unfortunately, I grew up in the post-Vatican II era, so my exposure to the tradition is more bits and pieces cobbled together here and there, mostly from the rebellious conservative seminarians (the faculty was basically as liberal as any other grad school, and chanting in Latin was a gesture of defiance!) - but even the little I know is deeply moving. John, you're a lucky man to be falling in love with the Catholic church while backing it up with a true faith - I definitely envy you!