Pothier, Joseph

POTHIER, JOSEPH. - Benedictine of the Congregation of Solesmes, b. at Bouzemont (Vosges) on 7 Dec. 1835, d. at St-Wandrille on 8 Dec. 1923.

Dom Guéranger entrusted him with the teaching of theology and then gave him as an assistant to Dom Jeaussions for the compilation, for the community's use, of a text of choral chant more in conformity with ancient tradition, and for establishing the rules of a good execution of Gregorian chant, which was then in full decline. Relieved of teaching in 1860, Fr. Pothier was able to devote himself entirely to the twofold undertaking, full of difficulties. The collaboration of the two monks led to very important results for the Gregorian reform later carried out: the work Les mélodies grégoriennes d'après la tradition, published later in 1880, which among other things gives the explanation of the ancient neumes and establishes the place of the Latin accent in the melodic phrase, met with great success and procured him ample praise at the Congress of Arezzo (1882). The two monks had also prepared an edition of the Graduale Romanum, completed in 1868, which was later the basis of the Liber Gradualis printed by Fr. Pothier in 1883. Among Fr. Pothier's numerous publications, besides those mentioned, are the Liber Antiphonarius (1891), the Processionale monasticum (1888), and the Variae Preces (1888). In 1892 Fr. Pothier left Solesmes to devote himself to the restoration of the ancient abbey of St-Wandrille (Seine-Inférieure), of which he was elected abbot in 1898. In 1904 Pope Pius X entrusted to the Solesmes monks the mandate to establish the official text of the liturgical chant, which he had decided to restore to its primitive purity, and Fr. Pothier was appointed president of the Commission charged with approving the texts. Making use of all the work done at Solesmes, he assumed responsibility only for the published texts: the Graduale (1907) and the Antiphonarium (1912), which earned him letters of praise from the Supreme Pontiff. Fr. Pothier published many articles in the Revue de chant grégorien and in other journals.

Eugenio Cardine