Hymn inspired by ‘Magnificat’ debuts at feast day liturgy
Written by LAURIE STEVENS BERTKE, Chronicle Writer
Thursday, 08 October 2009 20:09
The Oct. 7 opening liturgy for the Diocese of Toledo’s centenary celebration included the premiere of a special hymn composed by a 2001 graduate of Toledo St. Francis de Sales.
The piece by Daniel Knaggs, 26, was selected as the winning entry in a centenary hymn competition the diocese announced last February.
Listen to the Toledo Diocesan Choir sing the "Magnificat" which debuted Oct. 7 during a Solemn Mass inaugurating the Centenary Year of the Diocese of Toledo. Music for the centenary hymn was written by Daniel J. Knaggs (Copyright 2009).
The diocese received 20 submissions for the contest, and a winner was chosen through an anonymous process by a panel of judges that included Paul Monachino, diocesan director of liturgical music, Bob Batastini, a liturgical music expert and Marilyn Shrude, a composer.
The hymn debuted on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary during a Mass that was celebrated at Toledo Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral and broadcast live by Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). It is to be used as a communion processional song for all diocesan liturgies this year as well as for an ecumenical vespers service in January, and made available to parishes for use throughout the centenary celebration.
The hymn is also to be published by GIA Publications, one of the largest Catholic publishing houses in the United States.
Mr. Monachino said this is fitting since the Chicago-based publisher got its start in Toledo as the Gregorian Institute of America, which was established by Clifford Bennett. For many years the Institute held summer church music workshops on the campus of Mary Manse College and daily Mass at Rosary Cathedral. It became an active music publisher with offices on Jefferson Street in Toledo, and many of its composers worked in Toledo parishes.
The Gregorian Institute of America was sold and moved to Chicago under a new name, GIA Publications Inc., in the late 1960s.
The Diocesan Music Committee wanted the centenary hymn to be “a gift of sorts to the larger Church” that would be useful in the liturgical life of the diocese for many years, according to Mr. Monachino.
Since the “Magnificat” canticle is often the communion processional hymn specified for Marian feasts, he said the committee decided to use this text with an antiphon derived from the canticle itself, “My soul rejoices in God who has done great things for me.”
The judges selected the composition Mr. Knaggs wrote to accompany the text because they felt it was “well-written, accessible and unique,” said Mr. Monachino.
“We felt that it would be accessible to a wide variety of musicians in parishes,” he explained. “But it’s somewhat different too … it was original in its conception.”
Mr. Knaggs, a native of Michigan who grew up attending Toledo Christ the King Parish and elementary school, said he was surprised and humbled to learn his composition had been chosen.
“But I hope it fulfills its purpose and inspires hearts to be raised in worship to Our Lord,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Catholic Chronicle.
Mr. Knaggs, a member of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann Arbor, Mich., now lives in Lambertville, Mich., and teaches Spanish at Scott High School in Toledo.
He earned his master’s degree in music composition at Bowling Green State University and his bachelor’s degrees in voice performance and Spanish at the University of Michigan, and he said liturgical music is one of the focuses of his compositional work. In the past he has composed a Mass setting and various psalms, hymns and meditation pieces.
He said he believes “the ultimate goal for composing liturgical music” is “being led by the Holy Spirit to help the faithful worship in spirit and truth rather than trying to make one’s mark on the liturgical repertoire or trying to push a certain style.”
For the centenary hymn, Mr. Knaggs said he wanted to compose a piece “that was joyful and that would be conducive to liturgical worship.
“I also had to keep reminding myself what this hymn was for,” he added. “It is not a concert piece, it is not an entertainment piece, it is a Gospel canticle that welled up in the Blessed Mother at that integral moment of salvation history … when she said ‘yes’ to God.”
