Patriotic Songs at Mass

[Shiphrae]

I fail to see how ‘Immaculate Mary’ a hymn to our Blessed Mother - the Mother of God, is even faintly connected with a patriotic song like The Star Spangled Banner. If we’re singing hymns of praise to Mary, we are praising God. Jesus told us to accept Mary as our Mother when He gave His Mother to His apostle - John. He made His Mother the mother of His Church and thus mother of us all. He obviously wants us to go to her and to love and honour her.

Singing hymns to Mary is honouring and praising God and therefore totally appropriate in Mass.

Peace of Christ to you all,

Shiphrae

 

[PacoG]

I fail to see how ‘Immaculate Mary’ a hymn to our Blessed Mother - the Mother of God, is even faintly connected with a patriotic song like The Star Spangled Banner.

First, Mary as the Immaculate Conception is the Patron Saint of the United States. So we invoke her as our Patroness.

Second, the third verse clearly asks Mary to protect our country. (You could argue that the is only patriotic when it is sung by native born Americans. But that’s splitting hairs.)

We pray for the Church, our true mother on earth,
and we ask you to watch o’er the land of our birth.

 

[Shiphrae]

Asking God to protect the country is not the problem with singing patriotic songs. The problem comes in when the song’s main theme is about the country or something else. When the song’s main theme is praise or honour to God, some petition can be added without changing the purpose of the song.

As I mentioned before, Immaculate Mary is a hymn of honour to God.

 

[PacoG]

Interesting side nite: I have an old (I am assuming early-to-mid 1960s) hymnal that used to belong to our parish. I have no idea when its from because the cover and the copyright page are both gone. It used to be hardcover (I know that). I know it is pre-1970 because it has the Tridentine Mass in side-by-side English-Latin.

Anyway, hymn 171 is
Our Fathers’ God Whose Every-Mighty Hand
Space Hymn

Is this Catholic version “God of our fathers?” I know that there was a tradition of slightly rewording Protestant hymns for Catholic use.

Also interestingly enough, the second stanza is different from the God of Our Fathers that is in the current hymnal:

1. And as we Float along through outer space,
   Past galaies algow in dark’s embrace,
   Toward other worlds where brothers may await,
   Do care for us now in our weightless state.