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Cardinal (Catholicism)

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the Pope and appointed by him as a member of the College of Cardinals during a consistory. The duties of the cardinals are to attend the meetings of the Sacred College and to make themselves available individually if the Pope desires their counsel. Most cardinals have additional duties either leading many of the church's dioceses and archdioceses or running the Roman Curia. Excluding the rochet, which is always white, a cardinal wears scarlet garments when in choir, including the cassock, mozzetta, zucchetto, and biretta. His normal-wear simar is black but has scarlet sash and trim. He wears a ring which is traditionally kissed by Catholics when he is greeted. The bright red color of the scarlet symbolizes a cardinal's willingness to die for his faith. Upon a pope's death, the college runs the church during the sede vacante; those under 80 years old are also responsible for electing the next Pope. Pope Sixtus V limited the number of cardinals to 70 (six cardinal bishops, 50 cardinal priests, 14 cardinal deacons). In 1975, Pope Paul VI created the age limit on electors and raised the limit to 120 cardinal electors. But the numerical limitations have been frequently disregarded in order to make the College of Cardinals a more representative body. Pope John Paul II elevated an additional 31 cardinals in a consistory on October 21, 2003, bringing the number of cardinals at that time to 194. As of John Paul II's death, 117 of the then-current 183 cardinals were young enough to be electors. The term "cardinal" derives from the Latin cardo, or hinge, suggesting the fulcrum-like leadership role they play. Because of the red color of their vestments, cardinals are the namesakes for the bird of the same name.

Orders

bird of the same name According to Canon 350 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the College of Cardinals is divided into three orders:
- the episcopal order (Cardinal Bishops),
- the presbyteral order (Cardinal Priests), the most numerous group,
- the diaconal order (Cardinal Deacons). Most cardinal bishops are those to whom the Pope assigns the title of a suburbicarian church; that group elects a Dean of the College of Cardinals to be the head of the college, the first among equals; the election must be approved by the Pope. At the Pope's discretion, patriarchs of the Eastern Rite churches may also be appointed to the college. When appointed, they become cardinal bishops without holding a suburbicarian see, but they cannot elect the dean or be elected dean. Cardinal priests and cardinal deacons are each assigned a church or deaconry in Rome by the Pope. All cardinal priests and almost all cardinal deacons are actually bishops. Originally any Catholic male could be appointed to the College: for example in the 16th century Reginald Pole was a cardinal for 18 years before he was ordained a priest. Today, Canon 351 specifically requires that a cardinal at least be in the order of priesthood, and those who are not already bishops must receive episcopal consecration. Only bishops are normally created cardinals. A recent exception is Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., who was a priest at the time of his elevation in 2001. He successfully petitioned Pope John Paul II for a dispensation from episcopal consecration due to advanced age. Although he is not a bishop, he is still entitled to wear the episcopal vestments and regalia (miter, crozier, pectoral cross, ring) and possess a coat of arms by virtue of his status as cardinal. He is, though, restricted to the lower two orders of cardinals.

Secret cardinal

In addition to the named cardinals, a pope may name cardinals in pectore, Latin for in the breast. A cardinal named in pectore is known only to the pope; not even the cardinal so named is necessarily aware of his elevation. Cardinals are named in pectore to protect them or their congregations from reprisals if their identities were known. If conditions change such that a secret cardinal would be safe, the pope may at any time make public a previously in pectore cardinal, who ranks in precedence with those of his original consistory. If a pope dies before revealing the identity of an in pectore cardinal, the cardinalate expires. This was the case with Pope John Paul II, who named an in pectore cardinal during his tenure that remained secret even on his death on April 2, 2005. Many speculated that the Holy Father's will would contain the name of the in pectore cardinal, but it did not.

Other privileges

2005
- If the cardinal is not a bishop, he is allowed the ceremonial privileges of one.
- Cardinals place a scarlet galero with thirty tassels, the ancient symbol of their office, above their coat of arms.
- Since 1630, cardinals have taken the style Eminence, and upon elevation the word "Cardinal" becomes part of the prelate's name, traditionally coming immediately before the surname. As an example, the full style of Cardinal McCarrick is "His Eminence, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington."

History

The cardinals did not always elect the Pope: the Pope was originally elected by the clergy and the people of the Roman Church, but during the medieval times, as the Roman nobility gained too great an influence, as the Holy Roman Emperors interfered into the choosing of a pope and as the papacy gained importance as an international figure, the right of election was given to the cardinals in 1159. The Pope could substitute another body of electors for the College of Cardinals at any time; in fact there have been proposals in the past to have the Synod of Bishops perform this function (the proposals have not been adopted because, among other reasons, the Synod of Bishops can only meet when called by the Pope). In early modern times, English and French monarchs had cardinals as their chief ministers—Wolsey in England, Richelieu, Mazarin and Fleury in France. These men were cardinals, not because of their religious duties, but because it allowed their kings to pay them from church revenues. Rome accepted the loss of some revenue in order to protect the rest of its property and revenue.

Cardinals in popular culture

- Among others, Charlton Heston and Tim Curry have played Cardinal Richelieu in adaptations of The Three Musketeers.
- Orson Welles played Thomas Cardinal Wolsey in the 1966 screen adaptation of A Man for All Seasons.
- George Carlin played the fictional Ignatius Cardinal Glick in Kevin Smith's Dogma.

External links

- [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/cardinals.htm The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church] information on the Cardinals of the Catholic Church
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Ecclesiology

Ecclesiology, a term taken from the Greek word ecclesia, is a branch of Christian theology that deals with the doctrine pertaining to the Church: its role in salvation, and its origin, its discipline, and its leadership. The terms ecclesial and ecclesiastic, mean that the thing or action described has to do with the Christian Church. For example, an "ecclesial movement" is a movement within the Church.

Issues addressed by ecclesiology

Ecclesiology asks the questions:
- Who is the Church? Is it a visible or earthly corporation? Or is it the body of all believing Christians regardless of their denominational differences and disunity? What is the relationship between living Christians and departed Christians?
- Must one join a church? What is the role of corporate worship in the spiritual lives of believers? Is it in fact necessary?
- What is the authority of the Christian church? Is the institution itself, either in a single corporate body, or generally, an independent vehicle of revelation or of God's grace? Or is the Church's authority dependent on and derivative of a prior divine revelation, and individual institutions are the Church to the extent that they teach that message?
- What does the Church do? Is the Church's rôle primarily the performance of sacraments for the spiritual growth of believers? Or is the Church's chief duty to preach and teach the Gospel?
- How should the Church be governed? What are the proper methods of choosing clergy such as bishops and priests? Is an ordained clergy necessary?
- What are the roles of spiritual gifts in the life of the church?
- How does the Church relate to the covenants expressed in scripture to God's chosen people?
- What is the ultimate destiny of the Church in Christian eschatology?

College of Cardinals

The Sacred College of Cardinals is the body of all Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. The body plays two roles for the church:
- participating in papal elections when the Holy See is vacant, and
- advising the Pope about Church matters when he summons them to a consistory. Historically, they were also the clergy of the city of Rome serving the Pope as the Bishop of Rome and were assigned duties in parishes of the city. The College has no ruling power except during the sede vacante period, where its powers are still extremely limited according to Universi Dominici Gregis. The president and vice-president of the college are the Dean of the College of Cardinals and the Sub-Dean. Both are elected by the cardinals holding suburbicarian dioceses, but the election requires Papal confirmation. Except for presiding, the Dean has no power of governance over the cardinals, instead acting as primus inter pares. The prefects of Vatican Congregations are always Cardinals, with few, generally temporary, exceptions.

Choosing the pope

Since January 1, 1971, cardinals over the age of 80 have not had a vote in papal election, under the terms of Pope Paul VI's motu proprio Ingravescentem Aetatem. The rules for the election of the pope are now those stated in Universi Dominici Gregis, published by Pope John Paul II on 22 February 1996. It now states that cardinals over the age of 80 at the day the see become vacant do not have a vote in the papal election. Although the rules of the Conclave explicitly say the Pope need not be chosen from among the ranks of the Cardinals (in theory any male Roman Catholic may be elected Pope), that has been the norm since the election of Pope Urban VI in 1378.

Members of the College of Cardinals

The following is the list of Cardinals as of December 2005. Cardinals are shown in order of precedence, based on seniority by date of appointment. Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan is considered the most senior member of the College by length of service, as he was listed first of those surviving from the 1969 consistory. However, Angelo Cardinal Sodano, as dean of the College of Cardinals, has the highest precedence as a Cardinal Bishop. Cardinals aged over 80 are indicated with an asterisk (
- ). All but fourteen of the Cardinals alive at the death of Pope John Paul II were appointed by him. Three of those fourteen were under 80 years old as of the day of John Paul II's death, and one of those three has since been elected Pope while another has died. There are now a total of 179 cardinals of whom 111 are aged under 80. There are three ranks of Cardinals: Cardinal Bishops, Cardinal Priests, and Cardinal Deacons. Almost all Cardinals are also bishops.

Cardinals of the Order of Bishops

Titular Bishops of seven suburbicarian sees
- Angelo Cardinal Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals (Italy) - born 23 November 1927 Cardinal Secretary of State Cardinal 28 June 1991, Cardinal Bishop of Albano since January 1994, Dean of the College (and therefore Cardinal Bishop of Ostia) since April 2005
- Bernardin Cardinal Gantin
- (Benin) - born 8 May 1922 retired as Dean and as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops Cardinal 27 June 1977, Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina since September 1986, was Dean and Cardinal Bishop of Ostia 1993-2002
- Roger Cardinal Etchegaray
- (France) - born 25 September 1922 Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, former President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Cardinal 30 June 1979, Cardinal Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina since June 1998
- Alfonso Cardinal López Trujillo (Colombia) - born 8 November 1935 President of Pontifical Council for the Family Cardinal 2 February 1983, Cardinal Bishop of Frascati since November 2001
- Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re (Italy) - born 30 January 1934 Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops Cardinal 21 February 2001, Cardinal Bishop of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto since October 2002
- Francis Cardinal Arinze (Nigeria) - born 1 November 1932 Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Cardinal 25 May 1985, Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni since April 2005 Patriarchs of Oriental Rites with dates of cardinalates
- 2/28/1994: Nasrallah Pierre Cardinal Sfeir
- (Lebanon) - born 15 May 1920 Maronite Patriarch of Antioch (lives in Beirut)
- 2/21/2001: Stephanos II Cardinal Ghattas
- (Egypt) - born 16 January 1920 Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria
- 2/21/2001: Ignace Moussa I Cardinal Daoud (Syria) - born 18 September 1930 Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and former Syrian Rite Patriarch of Antioch

Cardinals of the Order of Priests

Appointed by Pope Paul VI

Appointed by Pope John Paul II

Cardinals of the Order of Deacons

Cardinal Deacons have the right to become Cardinal Priests after ten years as Cardinal Deacons. All living former Cardinal Deacons created prior to 1998 have exercised this right. Consistory of 21 February 1998
- Jorge Arturo Cardinal Medina Estévez (Chile) - born 23 December 1926 Retired Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
- Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos (Colombia) - born 4 July 1929 Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei
- Lorenzo Cardinal Antonetti
- (Italy) - born 31 July 1922 Pontifical Delegate for the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and Retired President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
- James Francis Cardinal Stafford (USA) - born 26 July 1932 Major Penitentiary
- Giovanni Cardinal Cheli
- (Italy) - born 4 October 1918 Retired President of the Pontifical Commission for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants
- Dino Cardinal Monduzzi
- (Italy) - born 2 April 1922 Prefect of the Pontifical Household Consistory of 21 February 2001
- Agostino Cardinal Cacciavillan (Italy) - born 14 August 1926 Retired President of the Administration of the Apostolic See (succeeded Cardinal Antonetti)
- Sergio Cardinal Sebastiani (Italy) - born 11 April 1931 President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
- Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski (Poland) - born 11 October 1939 Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education
- José Cardinal Saraiva Martins (Portugal) - born 6 January 1932 Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
- Crescenzio Cardinal Sepe (Italy) - born 2 June 1943 Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
- Jorge María Cardinal Mejía
- (Argentina) - born 31 January 1923 Retired Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church
- Mario Francesco Cardinal Pompedda (Italy) - born 18 April 1929 Retired Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
- Walter Cardinal Kasper (Germany) - born 5 March 1933 President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity
- Roberto Cardinal Tucci
- (Italy) - born 19 April 1921 Priest of Society of Jesus and retired President of the Administrative Committee of R

Consistory

Antiquity

Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek syn(h)edrion (from which the Biblical sanhedrin was a corruption). In the Roman empire though, it was specifically applied to a formal meeting of the Comites consistoriales, i.e. those members of the Emperor's court with the title of Comes (the translation count is rather confusing) who were assigned—and this conferred the highest rank amongst Comites—to advise him in official, important matters, suching as drafting bills and other written decisions, rather like the privy council of a feudal king. As the senate—in law still retaining the highest constitutional position, as the republic was never formally ended—lost most of its political importance, almost reducing it to a rubber stamp as a single-party state's parliament usually is, they stepped in as an official alternative power besides the throne, but real power could just as well lay mainly elsewhere, depending on the imperial favor and personal machinations.

Religion

Roman Catholic

The consistory is a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, except when convened to elect a new pope (then the name is conclave, and specific rules apply, also to its composition). Consistories are held in Vatican City for taking care of the business of the college, which usually involves advising the Pope on important matters concerning the church. Since the Pope creates new cardinals in the presence of the college, the consistory is where this takes place. The identities of the cardinals-to-be are generally announced some time in advance, but only at the time of the consistory does the elevation to the cardinalate take effect, since that is when the Pope formally publishes the decree of elevation. Some men have died before the consistory date, and if a Pope dies before the consistory all the nominations are voided. However, the cardinal himself does not have to attend the consistory for his elevation to be effective. Those new cardinals present are presented with their rings, zucchetti (small skullcaps), and biretti (four-cornered silk hats) by the Pope. Formerly they also received an elaborate broad-brimmed tasseled hat, the galerum rubrum, at the ceremony, but Pope Paul VI abolished this in 1967 and those cardinals who want these obtain them privately from a maker in Rome. The zucchetto, the biretta, and the galerum rubrum are all scarlet, the distinctive color of cardinals' vestments. When a diocesan cardinal dies, his galerum rubrum is suspended from the ceiling of his cathedral. At the consistory cardinals are generally assigned titular churches in the diocese of Rome, though Paul VI abolished their functional involvement in the governance of these churches; the cardinals formally "take possession" of these churches at a later date.

In Protestant churches

In Germany and Scandinavia, the word consistory (Konsistorium etc.) has been used for the chapter of a cathedral. In the Reformed Church, a Consistory is the board of elected church officials that include the Elders and the Deacons.

Jewish

A consistory is a somewhat comparable body of a Jewish community in an area, e.g. a country. There may be more than one sharing a territory, but defined by an 'ideological' tendency, e.g. an orthodox, a conservative one, and a liberal one in Belgium

Academic

The word consistory (konsistorium) is also used in the sense of "university board" at some universities in Germany, Scandinavia and Finland (when Swedish is used). In other countries another august assembly lends an alternative name to an equivalent body, e.g. senat in Belgium. Category:Cardinal Category:Academia

Diocese

Stephen Alencastre as fifth Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. In Catholicism, the pope is the bishop of the diocese of Rome. He creates the other dioceses throughout the world and chooses their bishops.]] In some Christian churches, the diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see, though more often the term episcopal see means the office held by the bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, an important diocese is called an archdiocese (usually due to size, historical significance, or both), which is governed by an Archbishop. As of 2003, there are approximately 569 Roman Catholic archdioceses and 2014 dioceses. Some Protestant churches, such as the Church of England, inherited this diocesan structure after the Protestant Reformation formally divided new Christian sects from the Roman Catholic Church. In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. (Latin dioecesis, from the Greek term διοίκησις meaning "administration"). The Catholic Church adopted the Roman diocesan structure of authority during the 5th and 6th centuries, as each bishop fully assumed the role of the former Roman praefectus. This transfer of authority from secular officials to ecclesiastical leaders was facilitated by the Christian practice of establishing areas of ecclesiastical administration that coincided with those of the Roman civil administration. In modern times, many an ancient diocese, though later divided among several dioceses, has preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division. See also: Bishops and civil government.

In the Roman Empire

The earliest use of 'diocese' as an administrative unit was in the Greek-speaking East. Three districts— Cibyra, Apamea and Synnada— were added to the province of Cilicia in the time of Cicero, who mentions the fact in his familiar letters (EB 1911). The word 'diocese', which at that time was equivalent to a tax-collecting district, came to be applied to the territory itself. The reorganization of the Empire, which began under the rule of Diocletian, divided the Empire's vast lands into twelve dioceses. The largest, Oriens, included sixteen provinces, and the smallest, Britain, was comprised of only four provinces. A list of Roman dioceses as they existed in 395 CE can be found at the entry for Roman provinces. Each diocese of the Empire was governed by a praetor vicarius who in turn served an imperioal praefectus. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, as the older administrative structure began to crumble, the role of the bishops in the western lands of the Empire enabled those lands and their peoples to maintain a semblance of civilisation as the authority of Rome vanished. The senatorial aristocracy, especially in the provinces, continued in many places to serve as sources of local authority to complement the authority assumed by the Church. At that time, ecclesiastical political power was often vested in the spiritual offices of the bishops in each region. It is, therefore, unsurprising that, as the Catholic, and later the Eastern Orthodox, churches began to define their respective administrative structures, they relied on the older Roman terminology and methods to describe administrative units and hierarchy, which caused the division between ecclesiastical and secular authority to often disappear. In the Eastern Empire, this became fundamental doctrine: see Caesaropapism.

Christian hierarchy

Modern Christian usage of 'diocese' tends to refer to the sphere of a bishop's jurisdiction. This became commonplace during the self-conscious "classicizing" structural evolution of the Carolingian empire in the 9th century, but this usage had itself been evolving from the much earlier parochia ("parish"), dating from the increasingly formalised Christian authority structure in the 4th century (see EB 1911). In English-speaking countries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses the term ward, rather than parish, to refer to the jurisdiction of the bishop and his counselors. However, the ward is not equal in size to a Catholic diocese; rather, a stake is.

External links

- [http://5.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DI/DIOCESE.htm Encyclopedia Britannica 1911]
- [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/ Virtually complete list of current and historical Catholic dioceses worldwide]
- [http://www.katolsk.no/utenriks/index_en.htm Another such list, in English and Norwegian]
- [http://anglican.org/domain/admin/bydiocese.html List of current Anglican/Episcopalian dioceses] Category:Christian group structuring

Archdiocese

In the Roman Empire

Christian hierarchy

External links

Rochet

This is an article on the religious vestment; for an article on the French bicycle manufacturer, see Rochet A rochet is a vestment generally worn by a Bishop in choir dress.

Roman Usage

In the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinals, Bishops and certain other dignitaries use a rochet, a garment similar to the surplice that is worn over the cassock for non-eucharistic functions. Also made of white linen, the rochet is differentiated from the surplice mainly by the narrower sleeves, and is frequently trimmed with lace.

Anglican Use

The Anglican Church also makes use of the rochet, where it is worn by bishops in choir dress. However in Anglican use it more resembles the alb, being made of white linen and reaching almost to the feet, though it has (usually) baggy 'lawn' sleeves that are gathered at the wrists with a band of black or scarlet cloth. It is generally worn with the chimere, or with a cope and mitre for more dignified occasions. Exceptions to the normal Anglican-style is the rochets worn by the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Frank Griswold. Both of their rochets have open-ended narrow sleeves in the same manner as that of the Roman rochet. category:Vestments

Choir

A choir or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. singer A vocal ensemble which sings in a church, or sings exclusively sacred music, is called a choir, whereas an ensemble which performs the non-soloist parts of an opera or musical theatre production (or sometimes an oratorio) is called a chorus. For most other ensembles those two words may be used interchangeably. Other equivalent terms, often used in the names of choirs to provide variety, include chorale. There are also terms for more specific types of choir, such as glee club, barbershop quartet, and Madrigal group. A choir usually has eight or more singers, typically with two or more singers on each part; a chorus is typically larger still, with many singers on each part. Smaller vocal ensembles are usually called trios, quartets, quintets, etc. (e.g., barbershop quartet), or a vocal group or singing group.

Structure of choirs

Choirs are often led by a conductor or choirmaster. Most often choirs consist of four parts but there is no limit to the number of possible parts: Thomas Tallis wrote a 40-part motet entitled Spem in alium, for eight choirs of five parts each; Krzysztof Penderecki's Stabat Mater is for three choirs of 16 voices each, a total of 48 parts. Other than four, the most common number of parts are three, five, six and eight. Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing without accompaniment is typically called a cappella singing (although this usage is discouraged by the American Choral Directors Association^{[http://acdaonline.org/cj/stylebook.shtml]}). When singing with instrumental accompaniment, the accompanying instruments can consist of practically any instruments, one, several, or a full orchestra. In Anglican church music the accompanying instrument is almost always an organ. For rehearsals, a piano accompaniment is often used even if a different instrumentation is planned for performance, or for rehearsing a cappella music. Choirs can be categorized by the voices they include:
- Mixed choirs (i.e., with male and female voices). This is perhaps the most common type, usually consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices, often abbreviated as SATB. Often one or more voices is divided into two, e.g., SSAATTBB, where each voice is divided into two parts, and SATBSATB, where the choir is divided into two semi-independent four-part choirs. Occasionally baritone voice is also used (e.g., SATBarB), often sung by the higher basses.
- Male choirs, with the same SATB voicing as mixed choirs, but with boys singing the upper part (often called treble or boy soprano) and men singing alto (in falsetto), also known as countertenor.
- Female choirs, usually consisting of soprano and alto voices, two parts in each, often abbreviated as SSAA.
- Men's choirs, usually consisting of two tenors, baritone, and bass, often abbreviated as TTBB (or ATBB if the upper part sings falsetto in alto range, as is common in barbershop music).
- Children's choirs, often two-part SA or three-part SSA, sometimes more voices. Choirs are also categorized by the institutions in which they operate:
- Church choirs
- College choirs
- School choirs
- Community choirs (of children or adults)
- Professional choirs, either independent (e.g., Chanticleer) or state-supported (e.g., Netherlands Chamber Choir) Netherlands Chamber Choir Finally, some choirs are categorized by the type of music they perform, such as
- Symphonic choirs
- Vocal jazz choirs
- Show choirs, in which the members sing and dance, often in performances somewhat like musicals

Layout on stage

musical There are various schools of thought regarding how the various sections should be arranged on stage. In symphonic choirs it is common (though by no means universal) to order the choir from highest to lowest voices from left to right, corresponding to the typical string layout. In a cappella or piano-accompanied situations it is not unusual for the men to be in the back and the women in front; some conductors prefer to place the basses behind the sopranos, arguing that the outer voices need to tune to each other. More experienced choirs often sing with the voices all mixed together. Proponents of this method argue that it makes it easier for each individual singer to hear and tune to the other parts, but it requires more independence from each singer. Opponents argue that this method loses the spatial separation of individual voice lines, an otherwise valuable feature for the audience. For music with double (or multiple) choirs, usually the members of each choir are together, sometimes significantly separated, especially in performances of 16th-century music. Some composers actually specify that choirs should be separated, such as in Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.

Skills involved in choral singing

Choral singers vary greatly in their ability and performance. The best choral singers possess (among others) the following abilities:
- to sing precisely in tune and with a pleasing vocal timbre which blends with the other singers;
- to sing at precisely controlled levels of volume, matching the dynamics and expression marked in the score or prescribed by the conductor, and not sing so loudly as to be markedly detectable as an individual voice within the section;
- to sight-read music fluently;
- to sing solo passages when required;
- to memorize or near-memorize the music, and thus be able to keep eyes on the conductor as much as possible;
- to read and pronounce the sounds of foreign languages accurately and in the pronunciation style specified by the leader;
- to remain completely alert for long periods, monitoring closely what is going on in a rehearsal or performance;
- to monitor one's own singing and detect errors. In British choirs, it is often the custom for a singer to raise a hand to indicate awareness of having made a mistake;
- to accept direction from others for the good of the group as a whole, even when the singer disagrees esthetically with the instructions;
- to arrive at rehearsals and performances consistently on time, mentally and physically prepared to sing. Singers who have perfect pitch require yet another skill:
- to sing music in keys other than that in which it is written, since choirs often sing music in transposed form.

Historical overview of choral music

A great number of composers have written choral works. However, composing instrumental music is an entirely different field than composing vocal music. The requirements of including text, making it intelligible, and catering to the special capabilities and limitations of the human voice makes composing vocal music in some ways more demanding than composing instrumental music. Due to this difficulty, many of the greatest composers have never composed choral music. Naturally, many composers have their favourite instruments and rarely compose for other types instruments or ensembles, and choral music is in this sense not a special case. On the other hand, many composers of all eras have specialized in choral music, and for the first thousand years of western music history choral music was one of the only types of music to have survived intact.

Medieval music

The earliest notated music of western Europe is Gregorian Chant, along with a few other types of chant which were later subsumed (or sometimes suppressed) by the Catholic Church. This tradition of a cappella choir singing lasted from sometime between the times of St. Ambrose (4th century) and Gregory the Great (6th century) up to the present. During the later Middle Ages, a new type of singing involving multiple melodic parts, called organum became predominant for certain functions, but initially this polyphony was only sung by soloists. Further developments of this technique included clausulae, conductus and the motet, which was to become a predominant Renaissance form. The first evidence of performance with more than one singer per part comes in the Old Hall Manuscript (1420, though containing music from the late 1300s), in which there is occasional divisi (where one part divides into two different notes, something a solo singer obviously couldn't handle).

Renaissance music

During the Renaissance, sacred choral music was the principal type of (formal or 'serious') music in Western Europe. Many of the greatest composers of the time composed hundreds of masses, motets and other works for singing by choirs--mostly a cappella, though there is some dispute over the role of instruments during certain periods and in certain areas. Some of the names of composers of this time include Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and William Byrd; the glories of Renaissance polyphony were choral, sung by choirs of great skill and distinction all over Europe. Choral music from this period continues to be popular many choirs throughout the world today. Madrigals are a particularly popular form dating from this period. Initially dramatic settings of unrequited-love poetry or mythological stories in Italy, they were imported into England and merged with the more upbeat balletto, celebrating often silly songs of spring, or eating and drinking. To most English speakers, the word madrigal now refers to the latter, rather than to madrigals proper. The interaction of sung voices in Renaissance polyphony influenced Western music for centuries. Most of the secular forms of music of the Baroque period derive in some way from the flowering of music during this intensely creative time. Composers routinely studied the style of composition well into the 20th century, especially as codified by music theorist Johann Joseph Fux, and the language of music analysis (which describes instrumental parts as "voices" and their melodic motion as "voice-leading") has its roots in the Renaissance style. Composers of the early twentieth century also endeavored to extend and develop the Renaissance styles. Herbert Howells wrote a Mass in the Dorian mode entirely in strict Renaissance style, and Ralph Vaughan Williams's Mass in G minor is an extension of this style. Anton von Webern wrote his dissertation on the Choralis Constantinus of Heinrich Isaac and his development of serial music techniques was informed by this study.

Baroque music

The sudden developments which mark the beginning of the Baroque period around 1600 (instrumental music, opera, chords) were only introduced gradually into choral music. Madrigals continued to be written for the first few decades of the 17th century. Contrapuntal motets continued to be written for the Catholic church in the Renaissance style well into the 18th century. One of the first innovative choral composers of the Baroque was Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), a master of counterpoint, who extended the new techniques pioneered by the Venetian School and the Florentine Camerata. Monteverdi, together with Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), used the new harmonic techniques to support and reinforce the meaning of the text. They both composed a large amount of music for both a cappella choir as well as choirs accompanied by different ensembles. Independent instrumental accompaniment opened up new possibilities for choral music. Verse anthems alternated accompanied solos with choral sections; the best-known composers of this genre were Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell. Grand motets (such as t

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