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You couldn't make it up dept. no.30: the true value of a Jesuit education
For some reason quite unknown to me, when the Mass was translated from its original Greek into Latin (which was then the common language of the Western Roman Empire and some parts of the East as well), the opening call on the mercy of the Trinity was apparently left in Greek. At least, we can certainly say that after 1500 years or more of liturgical development, change, augmentation, diminution, and translation, those simple six words have remained in Greek: Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy. Apart from the Aramaic Amen, this is certainly the best-known Catholic formula in a language other than Latin or the local. Virtually every good Catholic, certainly every priest, knows what it means. It is the first of the five great hymns which composers set to music when composing a "Mass" - Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.
I recently was given a Jesuit's collection of classical music tapes, a quarter of which were of music by Bach. (Don't ask me why he was giving it away, I don't know. Probably he had got hold of CDs.) Most of the tapes were recorded by the man himself and had the titles of the work either in illegible hand script or in type. On the cover of the first part of Bach's mighty Mass in B, the word KYRIE had been spelled once KYRIA, once KYRRIE and never correctly.
I recently was given a Jesuit's collection of classical music tapes, a quarter of which were of music by Bach. (Don't ask me why he was giving it away, I don't know. Probably he had got hold of CDs.) Most of the tapes were recorded by the man himself and had the titles of the work either in illegible hand script or in type. On the cover of the first part of Bach's mighty Mass in B, the word KYRIE had been spelled once KYRIA, once KYRRIE and never correctly.
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