A View From The Towers: What’s in an octave of music and faith

By Julie Ferraro | FāVS News

What’s in an Octave?

Those who play musical instruments — or sing — will be familiar with the term “octave.” According to the Oxford Online Dictionary, an octave is “a series of eight notes occupying the interval between (and including) two notes, one having twice or half the frequency of vibration of the other.”

In other words, from middle C to high C is an octave.

The Octave in Catholic Tradition

The term octave also applies to dates on the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, such as the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday and the following Sunday. Similar to the musical use of the word, this type of octave is a celebration lasting a full week — eight days in total. 

For these octaves, many of the festive prayers of the original feast stay the same from day to day during Eucharistic liturgies and the Liturgy of the Hours (or Divine Office), which is prayed throughout the day by the community at the Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of St. Gertrude, as well as by religious communities of men and women around the world, along with lay people.

During the month of August, another octave was created in the 1950s by Pope Pius XII, in the aftermath of World War II, when he instituted the feast of the Queenship of Mary in his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam (“To the Queen of Heaven”). The year 1955 was designated a special Marian Year, honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary, and this was first included in the Catholic liturgical calendar as part of those celebrations.

The Queenship of Mary falls on Aug. 22 — exactly one week after the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Aug. 15. 

An octave.

Mary, who was blessed by God to become the mother of Jesus, is held in great affection by Catholics and other Christians around the globe. Prayers are addressed to her as an intercessor — she is asked to intercede on behalf of humanity with her Son, the Christ, to grant those requests, bring peace and healing, and so forth.

What son can refuse his mother’s plea, after all?

Why Pope Pius XII instituted the feast

Only a few years earlier, in 1950, Pope Pius XII — during a Holy Year, which occurs every 25 years in the Catholic Church — had defined the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: that, after her death, she was taken to heaven, body and soul. She had been born without original sin, as defined by the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and remained pure her entire life. That she reigns with her son, Jesus, is only fitting, according to the Pope.

Pius XII wrote in his encyclical: “From early times Christians have believed, and not without reason, that she of whom was born the Son of the Most High received privileges of grace above all other beings created by God.”

In instituting this feast — and the octave created by having two Marian celebrations in the course of a week — the Pope added, “We are convinced that this feast will help to preserve, strengthen and prolong that peace among nations which daily is almost destroyed by recurring crises. Is she not a rainbow in the clouds reaching towards God, the pledge of a covenant of peace?”

The community at the Center for Benedictine Life includes prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary in their daily devotions — as do millions, billions around the world. May this octave honoring her place as Mother of God and Queen of Peace remind us to work for peace in our communities, and pray for an end to the violent conflicts that continue on the planet.

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.