Vreugde, gebed, ontferming en musiek: Oor Oratoriaanse Spiritualiteit.

Die Oratoriaanse kerkgebou in Birmingham (Newman)

Die pous, sien ek, is groot nuus in Engeland. Hy is tans op ‘n vierdaagse staatsbesoek daar.

Op die televisie sien ‘n mens orals om die pous ‘n klomp ampsdraers, almal mans. In die gehoor en so af en toe sien ‘n mens die nonne sit of wanneer, by uitsondering, ‘n non vir ‘n slag die woord kan voer. Die Rooms-Katolieke Kerk is in sy topstruktuur duidelik ‘n manne-kerk.  En dit terwyl vroue verreweg in die meerderheid is as dit gaan oor priesters en nonne.

Maar die pous is veral nuus omdat hy Kardinaal John Henry Newman, een van die bekendste Engelse kerkleiers,  tydens sy besoek salig gaan verklaar.

Newman is ook een van die bekendste lede van die Oratoriane. Hulle is ‘n hoogs interessante groep binne die Rooms-Katolieke kerk.

Hulle stigter, Philip Neri (1515-1595), gebore in Florence in ‘n bekende en gerekende familie, het op 18 jarige ouderdom tot bekering gekom en ‘n lewe van vreugde, armoede, ontferming en musiek opgesoek. En dit alles op ‘n hoogs ontspanne, informele manier.

Sy bekering was dus die groep se “bronervaring.”

Spoedig na sy bekering kom daar, en ook nie onverwags nie, a la Waaijman se model, ‘n klomp volgelinge by. Neri leef in armoede as ‘n hermiet saam met ‘n groep jongmense. Hulle fokus op geestelike oefeninge en gesprekke  met mekaar.  Ek hou van die prentjie wat Sheldrake van hierdie groep teken: In hulle byeenkomste van toewyding, bekend as “oratorie” (oratiwiteit!), het hulle geestelike boeke bespreek. Daarna volg ‘n wandeling, of ‘n aandgebed in ‘n kerk, of ‘n byeenkoms van musiek of besoek aan siekes.  

Die Oratoriane is dus duidelik mense wat op ingeligte geestelike groei ingestel is, maar wat ook nie die praktyk wou verwaarloos nie.

Rondom 1564 ontstaan dan informeel die Kongregasie van Oratorie as ‘n klein gemeenskap.  Tipies van skoolvorming en oos die tyd aanstap, word die leke meer passief en neem die priester die leiding alleen waar. Die leke moet nou maar net luister en sing.

Oratoriaanse oefeninge was intens. Dit het dikwels, skryf Sheldrake, vir ure aangehou. Uiteindelik is dit afgesluit met musiek. En, hier is nou ‘n interessante stukkie geskiedenis – hierdie musiek het later bekend geraak as ‘n “oratorium.”

Die formele stigting en institusionalisering van die groep vind plaas in 1574. Neri word die leier van die gemeenskap. Hulle begin, soos te wagte is vir hierdie fase van ‘n skool, in 1583 hul Constitutiones (grondreëls) finaliseer en kry pouslike goedkeuring daarvoor in 1612. Alles was nie altyd so maklik, vredig en vreugdevol nie. Hulle het reeds toe onder mekaar begin stry oor hoe hulle moet funksioneer. Dit was veral Neri wat dinge informeel, intiem en klein wou hou – ‘n karaktertrek wat nogal tot vandag toe behoue gebly het. ‘n Tydgenoot, Antonio Talpa, het egter groot drome gehad om van hulle ‘n orde te maak soos die Jesuïete, maar sonder sukses. Neri en hy het nie eintlik regtig langs dieselfde vuur gesit nie.

Uiteindelik het die gemeenskap net uit priesters bestaan en het dit uitgebrei na lande soos Spanje, Engeland, Duitsland, Latyns Amerika en die V.S.A. Daar is in Suid-Afrika ‘n Oraterium in Oudsthoorn en in Port Elizabeth. (Een van drie Oratoriane uit Birmingham, Engeland, wat groot opspraak verwek het, is so pas na Port Elizabeth “ontplooi” – sien berig hier onder). Daar is tans ongeveer 500 Oratoriane in 70 Oratoria. Van die bekendste Oratoriane was Francis de Salis van Switzerland en, soos hierbo genoem, kardinaal John Henry Newman van Engeland.

Vandag is ‘n Oraterium ‘n klein, informele gemeenskap van priesters wat saam in ‘n huis bly en ‘n paar eenvoudige reëls volg. Hulle eet saam en voel sterk oor gemeenskaplike gebed (wat nie verpligtend is nie), maar hulle het ‘n musiek liturgie wat ingestel is op leke, eerder as wat dit vir hul self as priesters geld. Prediking, bediening van die sakramente, onderwys, geestelike begeleiding en oratorie-byeenkomste vir leke is onder hul aktiwiteite.

Pous Johannes Paulus het in 1994 met die 400-jarige herdenking van Philip Neri se geboortedag, die volgende oor hom as “die profeet van vreugde” te sê gehad:

Leafing through the biography of St Philip, in fact, one is surprised and fascinated by the cheerful and relaxed method he used to educate, supporting each person with fraternal generosity and patience. As is well known, the saint used to put his teaching into short and wise maxims: "Be good, if you can"; "Scruples and melancholy, stay away from my house"; "Be simple and humble"; "He who does not pray is a speechless animal"; and, bringing his hand to his forehead, "Holiness is three fingers deep". Behind the cleverness of these and many other "sayings", we are aware of the acute and realistic knowledge he had acquired of human nature and the dynamics of grace.

He did not choose the life of solitude; but, in exercising his ministry among the common people, he also wished to be "salt" for all those who met him. Like Jesus, he was equally able to enter into the human misery present in the noble palaces and in the alleys of Renaissance Rome. He was, at the same time, a Cyrenean and a critical conscience, an enlightened adviser and a smiling teacher.

Ek is veral geïnteresseerd in die volgende opmerkings:

It was in the Oratory that St Philip, together with cultivating piety in its traditional and new expressions, undertook to reform and elevate art, restoring it to the service of God and the Church. Convinced as he was that beauty leads to goodness, he brought all that had an artistic stamp within the realm of his educational project. And he himself became a patron of various artistic forms, promoting sound initiatives that led to truth and goodness.

The contribution made by St Philip to sacred music was incisive and exemplary; he urged it to be elevated from a source of foolish amusement to being a re-creation for the spirit. It was due to his initiative that musicians and composers began a reform that was to reach its highest peak in Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Hier volg ‘n berig oor die twis in Engeland:

One of the three Oratorians ordered to leave the Birmingham Oratory earlier this year has called for protests over his removal to end.

Brother Lewis Berry, one of the “Birmingham Three” removed from the community in May, has issued a statement distancing himself from the protests.

Brother Lewis, who is being moved to South Africa, said in a statement: “I would like to dissociate myself completely from recent reporting which has made criticisms of the exercise of legitimate authority, and made uncharitable and even defamatory statements about those involved in the present Visitation of the Birmingham Oratory. I fervently ask that now such attacks come to an end.

“I welcome the opportunity of spending time at the Oratory of Port Elizabeth in South Africa, and I am looking forward to arriving there,” he added.

As a result of his move, Brother Lewis will miss the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, founder of the Birmingham Oratory. Until leaving the Oratory, Brother Lewis ran the website of the Cause of Cardinal Newman.

In his statement he said Cardinal Newman’s beatification was “a sign of the unity of the Church”.

His removal, along with that of Fr Philip Cleevely and Fr Dermot Fenlon, followed an apostolic visitation of the community by Fr Felix Seldon. It provoked protests from parishioners, who said in a letter that it was a “grave matter of personal injustice”.