Jeszcze o Tolkienie i liturgii

Wnuk Tolkiena, Simon, wspomina:

I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn't agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right.

Ślady miłości Tolkiena do rzymskiej liturgii, co więcej, jego szczególnej znajomości tejże liturgii, można znaleźć w jego listach. Np. w liście 54 Tolkien zachęca swego syna, Christophera, do łacińskich modlitw liturgicznych:

If you don’t do so already, make a habit of the ‘praises’. I use them much (in Latin): the Gloria Patri, the Gloria in excelsis, the Laudate Dominum; the Laudate Pueri Dominum (of which I am specially fond), one of the Sunday psalms; and the Magnificat (...) It is also a good and admirable thing to know by heart the Canon of the Mass... 

Z kolei Clyde Kilby wspomina list, który Tolkien przysłał mu na Boże Narodzenie, a w którym pojawia się parafraza antyfony na wejście z mszy o świcie w Narodzenie Pańskie:

I hope that perhaps this may reach you at or about Christmas. Lux fulgebat super nos.

Wreszcie, melodia Lamentu Galadrieli, którą Tolkien zasugerował Donaldowi Swannowi, wzięta jest z Lamentacji Jeremiasza, śpiewanych w czasie Ciemnych Jutrzni Wielkiego Tygodnia.

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J.R.R. Tolkien’s grandson Simon recalls how deeply attached his grandfather was to the liturgy of the Roman rite:

I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn't agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right.

Traces of Tolkien’s love for the Latin liturgy and of his profound familiarity with it can be found in his letters. For instance, in Letter 54 Tolkien encourages Christopher to use Latin prayers prescribed in the liturgy:

If you don’t do so already, make a habit of the ‘praises’. I use them much (in Latin): the Gloria Patri, the Gloria in excelsis, the Laudate Dominum; the Laudate Pueri Dominum (of which I am specially fond), one of the Sunday psalms; and the Magnificat (...) It is also a good and admirable thing to know by heart the Canon of the Mass...

Clyde Kilby mentions a Christmas letter from Tolkien in which there appears a paraphrase of an entrance antiphon from the Christmas morning mass:

I hope that perhaps this may reach you at or about Christmas. Lux fulgebat super nos.

Finally, the melody of Galadriel’s Lament, which Tolkien suggested to Donald Swann, was taken from the Gregorian chant, to be more precise, it comes from the Lamentations of Jeremiah from the liturgy of Holy Week. (translated by B.M.)