On Sacred Scripture...

"[It has been decided] that nothing except the canonical scriptures should be read in the Church under the name of the divine scriptures. But the canonical scriptures are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, Paralipomenon, two books, Job, the Psalter of David, five books of Solomon, twelve books of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, two books of the Maccabees . Of the New Testament: four books of the Gospels, one book of the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, one epistle of the same [writer] to the Hebrews, two Epistles of the Apostle Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, one book of the Apocalypse of John. Let this be made known also to our brother and fellow-priest Boniface, or to other bishops of those parts, for the purpose of confirming that Canon. because we have received from our fathers that those books must be read in the Church. Let it also be allowed that the Passions of Martyrs be read when their festivals are kept. "
-Third Council of Carthage, Canon 47, 397 A.D.

“It is manifest that those things are not to be inquired into, which Scripture has passed over into silence. For the Holy Spirit has dispensed and administered to us all things which conduce to our profit.”
-Anastasius of Antioch, Anagog. Contemp. in Hexem. lib 8 init.

"...from the tokens of truth are more exact as drawn from Scripture,than from other sources..."
-Saint Athanasius, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Decretis, 31

“The Holy and Inspired Scriptures are sufficient of themselves for the preaching of the truth.”
-Saint Athanasius, Father and Doctor of the Church, Contra Gentiles, 1:1

"These [canonical] books are the fountains of salvation, so that he who thirsts may be satisfied with the oracles contained in them: in these alone the school of piety preaches the Gospel; let no man add to or take away from them."
-Saint Athanasius, Father and Doctor of the Church, Festal Letters 39

"For they [the Scriptures] were spoken and written by God."
-Saint Athanasius, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Incarnatione 56

"...the Scriptures...will learn from them more completely and clearly the exact detail of what we said"
-Saint Athanasius, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Incarnatione 56

"Scripture is of all things most sufficient for us."
-Saint Athanasius, Father and Doctor of the Church, Ad Epis Aeg 4

"Divine Scripture is sufficient above all things."
-Saint Athanasius, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Synodis 6

'The Scriptures are enough for instruction."
-Anthony of Egypt, Vita S. Antoni 16

“What more shall I teach you than what we read in the Apostle? For Holy Scripture fixes the rule for our doctrine, lest we dare to be wiser than we ought.”
- Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Bono Viduitatis 2

“Let us therefore give in ... to the authority of the Holy Scriptures.”
- Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Peccatorum 33

“Let us search for the church in the sacred Scriptures”
-Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, Epis 105

“He will find there in much greater abundance things that are to be found nowhere else, but can be learnt only in the wonderful sublimity and wonderful simplicity of the Scriptures.”
-Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Doctr. Christ. 2,42,63

“It believes also the Holy Scriptures, old and new, which we call canonical, and which are the source of the faith by which the just lives...”
-Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, De Civ. Dei 19,18

'The hearers taught in the Scriptures ought to test what is said by teachers and accept that which agrees with the Scriptures but reject what is foreign.”
-Saint Basil the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church, Moralia 72:1

“Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth.”
-Saint Basil the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church, Ep. Ad Eustathius

“How can we prove and certify as true something which Sacred Scripture does not attest?”
-Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Father and Doctor of the Church, Glaphyra on Genesis, PG 69,53c

“In regard to the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not the least part may be handed on without the Holy Scriptures. Do not be led astray by winning words and clever arguments. Even to me, who tell you these things, do not give ready belief, unless you receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of the things which I announce. The salvation in which we believe is not proved from clever reasoning, but from the Holy Scriptures.”
-Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Father and Doctor of the Church, Catechetical Lectures 4,17.

“Nothing must be taught without the Sacred Scriptures.”
-Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Father and Doctor of the Church, PG 33,476-7

'Therefore I beg you all that you give up what appeals to this one or that one and that you address all these questions concerning these things to the Scriptures.'
-Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church, Homily 13 on 2 Corinthians

“If anything is said without Scripture, the thinking of the hearers limps. But where the testimony proceeds from the divinely given Scripture, it confirms both the speech of the preacher and the soul of the hearer.”
-Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church, Commenting on Psalm 95

“But when Scripture wants to teach us something like that, it interprets itself and does not permit the hearer to err. I therefore beg and entreat that we close our ears to all these things and follow the canon of the Holy Scripture exactly.”
-Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church, Homily 13 on Genesis

“As a trusty door, Scripture shuts out heretics, securing us from error...”
-Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church, Joann. 58

“Everything in the divine Scriptures is clear and straightforward; they inform us about all that is necessary.”
-Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church, Epis 2 ad Thess 3,4

“Being most properly assured that the Scriptures are indeed perfect, since they were spoken by the Word of God.”
-Saint Irenaeus, Father of the Church, Against Heresies 2,28,2

“The apostles at that time first preached the Gospel but later by the will of God, they delivered it to us in the Scriptures, that it might be the foundation and pillar of our faith.”
-Saint Irenaeus, Father of the Church, Against Heresies 3,1

“Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in the Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scriptural proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, and that no lie is in Him.”
-Saint Irenaeus, Father of the Church, AH 3,5,1

“Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ.”
-Saint Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church, In Is. Prologue

“It is necessary to take the Holy Scriptures as witnesses; for our comments and statements without these witnesses are not trustworthy.”
-Origen, In Jerem 1,7

“For he knows that Scripture, as a whole, is God's one perfect and complete instrument, giving forth, to those who wish to learn its one
saving music...”
-Origen, In Matt. tom 2

“It is right that His conduct be investigated according to the rule of Scripture.”
-Tertullian, Ad Marcion 3,17

"I would give up my life a thousand times, not only for each of the truths of Sacred Scripture, but even more for the least of the ceremonies of the Catholic Church."
-Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, Life - Thirty-three, 3.

"Saint Paul tells us, "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life" [2 Cor 3:6]. A man has been killed by the letter of the Sacred Scripture when he wants to quote it only so that people will think him to be very learned, . . . when he has no desire to follow the spirit of Sacred Scripture, but wants to know what it says only so he can explain it to others."
-Saint Francis of Assisi

On Sacred Music...

"Let the sober banquet resound with Psalms. And if your memory by good and your voice pleasant, approach this work according to custom. You give more nourishment to those dearest to you if we hear spiritual things and if religious sweetness delights the ears."
-Saint Cyprian of Carthage [A.D. 190-258], Letter to Donatus (Letter 1, n. 16) PL, IV, 227.

"Music, that is the science or the sense of proper modulation, is likewise given by God's generosity to mortals having rational souls in order to lead them to higher things."
-Saint Augustine, Epis. 161. De origine animae hominis, 1, 2; PL XXXIII, 725.

"I feel that our souls are moved to the ardor of piety by the sacred words more piously and powerfully when these words are sung than when they are not sung, and that all the affections of our soul in their variety have modes of their own in song and chant by which they are stirred up by an indescribable and secret sympathy."
-Saint Augustine, Confessions, Book X, chap. 33, MPL, XXXII, 799ff.

"They [Bishops] shall also banish from churches all those kinds of music, in which, whether by the organ, or in the singing, there is mixed up any thing lascivious or impure; as also all secular actions; vain and therefore profane conversations, all walking about, noise, and clamour, that so the house of God may be seen to be, and may be called, truly a house of prayer."
-Pope Pius IV, The Council of Trent, Sesion XXII, Sptember 17th, 1562

"Gregorian Chant, which is, consequently the Chant proper to the Roman Church, the only chant she has inherited from the ancient fathers, which she has jealously guarded for centuries in her liturgical codices, which she directly proposes to the faithful as her own, which she prescribes exclusively for some parts of the liturgy, and which the most recent studies have so happily restored to their integrity and purity. On these grounds Gregorian Chant has always been regarded as the suprememodel for sacred music, so that it is fully legitimate to lay down thefollowing rule: the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple. The ancient traditional Gregorian Chant must, therefore, in a large measure be restored to the functions of public worship, and the fact must be accepted by all that an ecclesiastical function loses none of its solemnity when accompanied by this music alone. Special efforts are to be made to restore the use of the Gregorian Chant by the people, so that the faithful may again take a more active part in the ecclesiastical offices, as was the case in ancient times."
-Pope Saint Pius X, Tra le Sollecitudini, November 22, 1903

"Although the music proper to the Church is purely vocal music, music with the accompaniment of the organ is also permitted. In some special cases, within due limits and with proper safeguards, other instruments may be allowed, but never without the special permission of the Ordinary, according to prescriptions of the Caeremoniale Episcoporum. As the singing should always have the principal place, the organ or other instruments should merely sustain and never oppress it. It is not permitted to have the chant preceded by long preludes or to interrupt it with intermezzo pieces. The sound of the organ as an accompaniment to the chant in preludes, interludes, and the like must be not only governed by the special nature of the instrument, but must participate in all the qualities proper to sacred music as above enumerated. The employment of the piano is forbidden in church, as is also that of noisy or frivolous instruments such as drums, cymbals, bells and the like. It is strictly forbidden to have bands play in church, and only in special cases with the consent of the Ordinary will it be permissible to admit wind instruments, limited in number, judiciously used, and proportioned to the size of the placeprovided the composition and accompaniment be written in grave and suitable style, and conform in all respects to that proper to the organ. In processions outside the church the Ordinary may give permission for a band, provided no profane pieces be executed. It would be desirable in such cases that the band confine itself to accompanying some spiritual canticle sung in Latin or in the vernacular by the singers and the pious associations which take part in the procession.
-Pope Saint Pius X, Tra le Sollecitudini, November 22, 1903

"To this lofty dignity of the Church's prayer, there should correspond earnest devotion in our souls. For when in prayer the voice repeats those hymns written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and extols God's infinite perfections, it is necessary that the interior sentiment of our souls should accompany the voice so as to make those sentiments our own in which we are elevated to heaven, adoring and giving due praise and thanks to the Blessed Trinity; "so let us chant in choir that mind and voice may accord together."[140] It is not merely a question of recitation or of singing which, however perfect according to norms of music and the sacred rites, only reaches the ear, but it is especially a question of the ascent of the mind and heart to God so that, united with Christ, we may completely dedicate ourselves and all our actions to Him."
-Venerable Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei #145, November 20, 1947

"As regards music, let the clear and guiding norms of the Apostolic See be scrupulously observed. Gregorian chant, which the Roman Church considers her own as handed down from antiquity and kept under her close tutelage, is proposed to the faithful as belonging to them also. In certain parts of the liturgy the Church definitely prescribes it;[171] it makes the celebration of the sacred mysteries not only more dignified and solemn but helps very much to increase the faith and devotion of the congregation. For this reason, Our predecessors of immortal memory, Pius X and Pius XI, decree -- and We are happy to confirm with Our authority the norms laid down by them -- that in seminaries and religious institutes, Gregorian chant be diligently and zealously promoted, and moreover that the old Scholae Cantorum be restored, at least in the principal churches. This has already been done with happy results in not a few places."
-Venerable Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei #191, November 20, 1947

"St. Paul showed us clearly that sacred chant was used and held in honor from the very beginning in the Church founded by the Divine Redeemer when he wrote to the Ephesians: "Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."[Eph. 5. 18ff; cf. Col. 3. 16.] He indicates that this custom of singing hymns was in force in the assemblies of Christians when he says: "When you come together each of you has a hymn."[I Cor. 14. 26.]
-Venerable Pope Pius XII, Musicae Sacrae #8, December 25, 1955

"The choral chant began to be called "Gregorian" after St. Gregory, the man who revived it. It attained new beauty in almost all parts of Christian Europe after the 8th or 9th century because of its accompaniment by a new musical instrument called the "organ." Little by little, beginning in the 9th century, polyphonic singing was added to this choral chant. The study and use of polyphonic singing were developed more and more during the centuries that followed and were raised to a marvelous perfection under the guidance of magnificent composers during the 15th and 16th centuries."
-Venerable Pope Pius XII, Musicae Sacrae #14, December 25, 1955

"Thus, with the favor and under the auspices of the Church the study of sacred music has gone a long way over the course of the centuries. In this journey, although sometimes slowly and laboriously, it has gradually progressed from the simple and ingenuous Gregorian modes to great and magnificent works of art. To these works not only the human voice, but also the organ and other musical instruments, add dignity, majesty and a prodigious richness."
-Venerable Pope Pius XII, Musicae Sacrae #16, December 25, 1955

"It must be holy. It must not allow within itself anything that savors of the profane nor allow any such thing to slip into the melodies in which it is expressed. The Gregorian chant which has been used in the Church over the course of so many centuries, and which may be called, as it were, its patrimony, is gloriously outstanding for this holiness."
-Venerable Pope Pius XII, Musicae Sacrae #42, December 25, 1955

"We are not unaware that, for serious reasons, some quite definite exceptions have been conceded by the Apostolic See. We do not want these exceptions extended or propagated more widely, nor do We wish to have them transferred to other places without due permission of the Holy See. Furthermore, even where it is licit to use these exemptions, local Ordinaries and the other pastors should take great care that the faithful from their earliest years should learn at least the easier and more frequently used Gregorian melodies, and should know how to employ them in the sacred liturgical rites, so that in this way also the unity and the universality of the Church may shine forth more powerfully every day."
-Venerable Pope Pius XII, Musicae Sacrae #46, December 25, 1955

"The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services."
-The Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium #116, December 4th, 1963

"The singing of the Church comes ultimately out of love. It is the utter depth of love that produces the singing. “Cantare amantis est”, says St. Augustine, singing is a lover’s thing. In so saying, we come again to the trinitarian interpretation of Church music. The Holy Spirit is love, and it is he who produces the singing. He is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit who draws us into love for Christ and so leads to the Father."
-Pope Benedict XVI, "The Spirit of the Liturgy", (SF, CA: Ignatius, 2000), p. 142.

" 'Rock' . . . is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the experience of being part of a crowd and by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe."
-Pope Benedict XVI, "The Spirit of the Liturgy", (SF, CA: Ignatius, 2000)