This LP on Serving the Mass is helpfully dated as December 15, 1954. It doesn't say where it was recorded, but it certainly seems to have been somewhere in Washington, D.C.
The album is supposed to be instructive for prospective altar boys (and they were all boys at that time), although I can't imagine that hearing a few songs, a potted version of the Mass, some quick Latin phraseology, and a set of directions would be very helpful to the novice. At that time, the altar boy had many duties, including standing in for the congregation in providing many responses to the celebrant in Latin, moving things around the altar, ringing bells, and assisting with holy communion, with all activities connected by some fairly stylized movements, bowing, etc.
Those who are not familiar with the Catholic lingo may wonder about the terms "Nihil Obstat" and "Imprimatur" on the LP cover. The Nihil Obstat is provided by a religious person who acted as a censor who made sure there was nothing in the item proposed for publication that was against church teachings. The Imprimatur is then the bishop's approval for the item to be published.
This record will give you a fair sense of what the Latin rite sounded like back then. The celebrant has what I think is a very Italianate pronunciation of the Latin words. Perhaps he trained in Rome. He sounds impatient with the altar boy's respondents. Probably in a hurry to get to the sermon.
This record was not an inexpensive item, by the way. It cost $5 in 1954, which would be almost $40 today.
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2 comments:
This is EXACTLY the way it was. "I REMEMBER"! This piece shows what all we did and learned - wonderful to remember those days.
Thank you so much for the enlightening trip!
PEACE,
Bri
Bri,
Yes, I was an altar boy myself and could probably still do the Latin responses almost 50 years later!
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