Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

St. Matthias, Apostle 371
-rum ejus in the first verse with coronam of the third verse; eum in the
first verse is similar to -one of the second verse.
We might conjecture that St. Matthias, on the morning when
Christ chose His Apostles, entertained a secret desire to become an intimate
friend of the Master and be numbered among the twelve. Our
Lord tendered him a cordial invitation, and by selecting him to supplant
Judas, placed on his head a crown of precious stones.
The OFFERTORY is the same as that on the feast of the Apostles
SS. Peter and Paul (q.v.).
COMMUNION (Matt. 19: 28)
1. Vos, qui secuti estis me, sede- 1. You who have followed me
bitis super sedes, 2. judicantes shall sit on seats, 2. judging the
duodecim tribus Israel. twelve tribes of Israel.
The melody places special stress on the word vos. You, My faithful
Apostles, in company with Me shall one day judge the world. The melody
over tri-(bus) is extended over super—possibly a matter of tonepainting,
as in the Gradual of the third Sunday of Advent over the
same word. The climax of the entire melody is realized over sedes, where
there is question of the thrones of the Apostles. The word-accents over
judicantes and duodecim are well defined. Preceded by a pressus the
melody descends twice to low c, followed both times by an interval of a
fourth. This cadence is very effective wherever an independent thought
is brought to a close. This is not the case here, however, especially over
the word duodecim. With the special prominence given the dominant /
we should expect the second mode rather than the first. This melody is
not found in manuscripts 339 of St. Gall's, 121 of Einsiedeln, or H. 159
of Montpellier.
The text, with an additional dicit Dominus: "saith the Lord,"
forms the Communion for the feast of St. Bartholomew. The melody
there, in the second mode, is very simple and almost entirely syllabic;
nevertheless it accentuates the words super sedes, and particularly the
important word judicantes (by means of recitation on high g).
Christ is speaking to His faithful Apostles. He to whom the Father
hath given all judgment (John 5: 22), could not bestow a greater distinction
than to assign them thrones next to His own seat of judgment,
thus making them participants in His judicial power. He who has said:
"Who heareth you, heareth Me," promises by the mouth of His Apostles
eternal salvation to all who hear and observe their teaching, and eternal
damnation to all who despise it, because in so doing they despise Christ.