Dom Joseph Pothier

Dom Joseph Pothier was a French Benedictine monk and scholar who devoted his life to the study and restoration of the Gregorian chant. He was born in Bouzemont, France, in 1835 and ordained a priest in 1858. He joined the Abbey of Solesmes under the guidance of Dom Prosper Guéranger, who had revived the monastic life in France after the French Revolution. Dom Pothier became a leading expert in the ancient manuscripts of the Gregorian chant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. He published several works on the subject, such as Les mélodies grégoriennes d'après la tradition (Gregorian Melodies According to the Tradition) in 1880, which became the standard reference for the chant. He also edited the Revue du Chant Grégorien (1892-1914), a journal dedicated to the dissemination of the chant, and founded the Paléographie Musicale publication for the analysis of medieval liturgical manuscripts. He was involved in the production of new editions of the choir books based on the original sources of the chant. In 1893, he became the prior of Ligugé Abbey, and in 1895, he was appointed as the superior of a group of monks sent to repopulate Saint-Wandrille Abbey, an ancient Benedictine monastery that had been abandoned since the French Revolution. He was made abbot of Saint-Wandrille in 1898 by Pope Leo XIII, who also named him as the president of a pontifical commission to oversee the Vatican edition of the Gregorian liturgical books in 1904. Dom Pothier had to leave France in 1901 due to the anti-clerical laws that suppressed religious congregations. He settled with his community in Belgium, where he continued his work on the chant until his death in 1923. He was buried at Saint-Wandrille Abbey, where his tombstone bears his motto: "In omnibus glorificetur Deus" (May God be glorified in all things). Dom Pothier is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history and revival of the Gregorian chant.