Dom Prosper Guéranger
Today is the 150th anniversary of the death of Servant of God Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB (1805-1875). He refounded Solesmes Abbey, from which an entire Congregation of Benedictine monasteries has since sprung. He is responsible for the restoration of monastic life in France, as well as promoting the sacred liturgy and spearheading the revival of Gregorian chant.
I have quoted from his monumental work The Liturgical Year many times.
Years ago now, Dom Philip Anderson, Abbot of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma, wrote a beautiful short sketch of Dom Guéranger called “The Unequaled Liturgist“. On this day, which God willing will someday be his feast day, it’s worth checking out. A taste:
The principle merit of Dom Prosper Guéranger, although linked to his love of liturgy and Church history, is no doubt of another order. When, in the bloody aftermath of the French Revolution, religious life had been all but snuffed out in France and in much of Europe, this man came forward to restore monastic life and impart a whole new impetus to the Church as it rose from its ashes.
And if you ever get the chance to peruse The Liturgical Year, do so! I promise you that it is a treasure chest full of gems. See if this sounds familiar:
But now for many ages past, Christians have grown too solicitous about earthly things to frequent the holy vigils, and the mystical Hours of the day. Long before the rationalism of the sixteenth century had become the auxiliary of the heresies of that period by curtailing the solemnity of the divine service, the people had ceased to unite themselves exteriorly with the prayer of the Church, except on Sundays and festivals.
During the rest of the year, the solemn and imposing grandeur of the liturgy was gone through, and the people took no share in it. Each new generation increased in indifference for that which their forefathers in the faith had loved as their best and strongest food. Social prayer was made to give way to individual devotion. Chanting, which is the natural expression of the prayers and even of the sorrows of the Church, became limited to the solemn feasts.
That was the first sad revolution in the Christian world.
(from the General Preface to The Liturgical Year)
Dom Prosper Guéranger, pray for us!