Author: Adam Bartlett

If you have been around the conversations within the Church Music Association of America for any length of time have, you have surely encountered discussion of an issue that manifests itself most often in the following question:

Why don’t the antiphons in Simple English Propers match the antiphons in our missalettes in the pews, and the ones in the Roman Missal?

(If I had a nickel for every time I have answered this question, I surely could be enjoying a comfortable retirement on a distant tropical island right now!)

The simple answer to the question is this: Simple English Propers sets to music the antiphons of the Graduale Romanum in English translation, while most popular publications (such as Magnificat, various hand missals, the ubiquitous disposable pew missals, etc.) usually print the antiphons of the Roman Missal. The antiphons of the Roman Missal and Graduale Romanum, while they are often the same, are in various cases different sets of proper texts. A neutral translation of the Graduale Romanum (from the Solesmes Gregorian Missal) was used in SEP, which could be freely shared online without copyright restriction, and as an unfortunate result, the Roman Missal translations were not used where the Missal and Graduale are in fact the same.

There are numerous further explanations and speculative analyses of the phenomenon of Roman Missal vs. Graduale Romanum propers, all of which can easily be found through a quick web search, and most of which are beyond the grasp, care or interest of those who are working in real-world, parish settings.

The conventional answer, common practice, and liturgical law

The conventional conclusion that the CMAA has maintained at for many years now is that when the 1969 Roman Missal was promulgated, the antiphons of the Roman Missal (including only the Entrance and Communion Antiphons, not the Offertory Antiphon) were intended to be spoken when the antiphon of the Graduale Romanum or Graduale Simplex was not sung. This distinction is clear in the rubrics of the universal law of the GIRM to this day.

The same rubrics, however, stated that “another suitable song” could be sung in place of the antiphons of the Graduale Romanum or Graduale Simplex, and we all know that this is the source of the proliferation of singing just about any kind of hymn or song at the Entrance, Offertory and Communion processions of the Mass in place of the antiphons that are appointed by the Church to be sung at these times.

Since we have never been given official, approved English translations of the Graduale Romanum, in practice, those who wished to sing proper antiphons in English defaulted to singing the approved translations found in the Roman Missal, and this practice has gone on for more than 40 years in certain locales in the English speaking world. In no way was this ever illicit, since the antiphons of the Roman Missal are perhaps among the best “other suitable songs” that can be imagined!

Because of the success of this practice, the Bishops of the United States of America voted to include the singing of the Roman Missal antiphons as part of the first option in the Roman Missal, Third Edition (see GIRM 48 and 87).

Thus, in particular law (which canonically trumps universal law) in the United States of America today, the antiphons of the Roman Missal form a part of the first option for the sung texts of the Entrance, Offertory and Communion processions, along side the antiphons and psalms of the Graduale Romanum, as set to music there or in another musical setting.

This is binding liturgical law for all faithful and obedient Catholics in the United States of America.

Roman Missal antiphons in Rome

It is striking to observe an unconventional but illustrative development in the papal liturgies in Rome this year: The Entrance Antiphon that is being sung in this year’s Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica is not the antiphon prescribed in the Graduale Romanum (which is Dilexisti iustitiam), but is the antiphon of the Roman Missal! Further, it appears to be in a newly composed, “neo-Gregorian” musical setting:

H/T Steven van Roode, musicasacra.com/forum

In fact, in a particular way, this effort is taking form in a brand new English chant resource that will begin shipping in two weeks.

It is the Lumen Christi Simple Gradual, edited by myself, and published by Illuminare Publications (learn more here). This resource is the true successor and fulfillment of its predecessor, Simple English Propers (which also composed and edited by myself).

There is no other resource like this. It will be available in both Assembly and Choir editions, and it contains the fully sung Order of Mass in English, eighteen Mass Ordinaries in English and Latin chant, and a complete repertoire of simple English chant settings with texts that are drawn from the Church’s primary sources for the sung liturgy—the Graduale Romanum, Roman Missal, and Graduale Simplex—and arranged for successful parish use, according to prescripts of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Musicam Sacram, and Sacrosanctum Concilium.

The source translation that is used is the Roman Missal, Third Edition, and new translations have been made where they are needed (e.g. the Offertory Antiphons, among others), and approved for liturgical use by the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship and by episcopal imprimatur. This assures the greatest textual continuity between the texts of the Missal and Graduale, and accords with the requirements of Liturgiam Authenticam.

It is arranged with the needs of todays parishes in mind, and it builds not only upon the experience of the past 5 years, but also upon the wisdom of the past 50 years. The musical settings that the Lumen Christi Simple Gradual contains already form a part of the core repertoire of numerous parishes across the English-speaking world, and early online releases have helped hone and perfect the chant settings and their arrangement over the course of the past three years.

Often in parish life, the hustle and bustle of preparing for the Paschal Triduum overshadows the attention given to Palm Sunday, and particularly the various forms of the entrance procession. After all, are we sure the palms have been ordered? Is the sound system going to be set up for the gospel reading outside? Are all of the parts of the passion reading assigned? The list could go on.

Further, there are very few, if any, available musical settings for the actual texts of the processional and entrance chants as they are given in the Roman Missal. That is, until now, thanks to Illuminare Publications. Here are some sample scores for Palm Sunday from the developing Lumen Christi Series, available for free download:

The Roman Missal describes the three forms of the Palm Sunday Entrance: 1. The Procession, 2. The Solemn Entrance, and 3. The Simple Entrance:

The memorial of [the] entrance of the Lord takes place at all Masses, by means of the Procession or the Solemn Entrance before the principal Mass or the Simple Entrance before other Masses. The Solemn Entrance, but not the Procession, may be repeated before other Masses that are usually celebrated with a large gathering of people.

While the Missal, thankfully, includes musical settings of the Hosanna filio David chant in English and Latin, the rest of the sung texts have no musical settings included: they are found there as text only. As a result, many parishes often default to singing the hymn All glory, laud and honor or another more generic hymn or song during the entrance procession.

In the scores provided above, all the texts for all forms of procession are set in simple, English chant settings, including the two responsories that are provided in the Missal. These are set in such a way that all of the faithful can sing the response after the intonation of cantor.

The Procession and Solemn Entrance

The Procession and Solemn Entrance both prescribe the following text for when “the procession enters the church”:

R. As the Lord entered the holy city, the children of the Hebrews proclaimed the resurrection of life. * Waving their branches of palm, they cried: Hosanna in the Highest. 

V. When the people heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they went out to meet him. * Waving their branches.

In the Lumen Christi Series sample scores, this is set in both chant notation and in modern notation with a simple organ accompaniment. The verses of the responsory should be sung by a cantor, and the response is arranged in such a way that it can be intoned by the cantor with all responding to “Hosanna in the highest”. This musical setting is simple and intuitive enough that I imagine it could be successful on the first try.

Further, the simple response allows the faithful to both take a vocal part in the singing while being able to watch the procession with palms enter the Church. It is unfortunate that many parishes require them to instead have their heads buried in a hymnal, singing multiple verses of a hymn, which keeps them from witnessing the grand procession.

The Simple Entrance

The chant for the Simple Entrance is sung in a similar way. The text provided in the Roman Missal is also in responsorial form:

Six days before the Passover, when the Lord came into the city of Jerusalem, the children ran to meet him; in their hands they carried palm branches and with a loud voice cried out: 

* Hosanna in the highest! Blessed are you, who have come in your abundant mercy!  

O gates, lift high your heads; grow higher, ancient doors. Let him enter, the king of glory! Who is this king of glory? He, the Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory. 

* Hosanna in the highest! Blessed are you, who have come in your abundant mercy!

Similar to the Solemn Entrance, this chant has a short response that all of the faithful can take up after hearing it only once. Verses can be sung by a cantor or by the choir as the procession enters the church.

David Clayton, well regarded as a sacred artist and Artist-in-Residence and professor at Thomas More College in New Hampshire, has written an wonderful and detailed piece on his work in English chant psalmody at the Notre Dame Sacred Music blog.

Anyone who has sung Gregorian chant in addition to chant in English knows that the two are very different. The genius of the Gregorian tradition is its sensitive and masterful treatment of the Latin liturgical text, and it has done this so well that Pope St. Pius X named it the “supreme model for sacred music”—a sentiment that was reiterated at the Second Vatican Council and beyond.

The challenge of adapting this genius to vernacular languages is great, however, and some do not think that it can be done. I believe that it can, and so do the many who have seen some of the great successes of recent years in the area of English chant. There perhaps is still time for us to see which methods will be the most effective and long-lasting. Many of us have established our methods and convictions. The time has never been greater, though, to explore the possibilities in vernacular composition which making use of the Church’s great musical heritage as a point of inspiration and as a guide.

David Clayton has responded to the challenge in his own unique way. Here’s some of what he has to say about his task of composing psalm tones for use with English texts:

Adapting the Gregorian Psalms tones to English text is very difficult because the patterns of emphasis in the two languages are different: tones that flow naturally in Latin seem unnatural and awkward when forced onto English. I felt that in order to develop tones that could consistently be applied smoothly to all lines, I would do better to treat English as though it conformed more to its Germanic roots. This leads to a form of chant that tends much more towards having one note per syllable, which is called ‘syllabic’ chant. If you were to characterize one major difference between Latin and English, it would be that Latin floats on the vowels while English punches on the consonants. (When singing, choirs should be aware of this and make sure that they don’t punch so aggressively that they kill it!) 

Those who delve deeply into what I have done will find that some tones have some simple neums of just two notes per syllable. However, even these cannot be universally applied without occasionally sounding awkward, so I had to develop a rule which allows the singers to decide whether to drop the second note depending on the flow of text at that point. The instruction on how and when to do that is in the score. 

To begin adapting the melody, I analyzed the characteristics of the original tone that made it beautiful: is it melody or the rhythm, or aspects of both? In the end, I think it is the combination of the two, but I decided that I would focus first on melody and make my priority to retain the key melodic intervals. The rhythm of the tone does not emanate from the music first, but matches the rhythm of speech for each line of text. Therefore, I decided that the rhythmic pattern of the tone be dictated by the English language, which means that it will have a different rhythmic feel than its Latin root tone. Sometimes this method worked well, but other times the melodic phrasing is so closely linked to the rhythmic pattern of the original language that it does not carry over into English. In these cases it was necessary for the character of the tone to change partially. I found this particularly in the Mode VIII tones. In some cases I decided that I would have to go where the pattern of the English language was taking me and, in effect, compose new tones to fit it. 

This process has to be more than a systematic process of adaptation. While what I have explained so far does sound somewhat coldly methodical, at the end of the process I always take a step back and ask myself if that particular tone “works”. When I hear it sung does this sound holy? Does it have goodness of form? Does it seem to participate in something that is universal to chant? From here, I modify the tone further based on these qualifications if needed. 

[…] 

You can read the rest there.

The Church is nine days away from burying the Alleluia for the Season of Lent, and most parishes will sing in its place the Verse Before the Gospel as it is found in the Lectionary, paired with a Lenten Gospel Acclamation.

It may be a nice opportunity to introduce your parish to some new settings that are deeply inspired by the Gregorian chant tradition, and that are composed in the Gregorian modes.

Here are three settings from Illuminare Publications:

Mode II:

A cantor/choir edition containing all of the Gospel Verses for the entire Lenten Season, in addition to an accompaniment edition can be downloaded for free at the Illuminare Score Library.

These settings can be found in the Lumen Christi Missal, and in other forthcoming additions to the Lumen Christi Series. You can learn more here.

Today in a press conference the Holy See announced the symposium

(Photo: Wikimedia)

“Sacrosanctum Concilium. Gratitude and commitment for a great ecclesial movement”, organized by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments which will take place five days from now, February 18-20, in Rome. The symposium will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Council Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,

Cardinal Canizares Llovera, who was appointed prefect of the CDWDS by Pope Benedict in 2008, was quoted heavily in the report:

Fr. Douglas Martis, director of The Liturgical Institute, offers a powerful reflection:

Everytime I’m at Mass, I can’t help but think that we have the most beautiful, poetic prayer possible, but if what we say does not resonate in our hearts, then it is empty and meaningless.
It is lip service.

There are three things that we must always remember:
1. Who God is.
2. Who we are.
3. What Mass is. 

WHO IS GOD? Thinkers have for centuries tried to describe, to put into words what God is like. 

What is especially unique to Christianity is that we believe in a triune God, a Trinity who is a relationship of persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Everyone knows St. Patrick’s image for the Trinity: the clover leaf. 

Pope Benedict describes the Trinity as a song of love. He says that essential to God is the quality of communication, communion.

The Trinity is a dialogue, an eternal song of love. And what is song but a combination of word and breath. Here we have the most perfect word: Jesus. And the sweetest breath, the Holy Spirit. 

WHO ARE WE? Another thing that we have got to remember, that we often forget, is that WE NEED NOT BE. 

We are contingent.
We do not have to exist. 

It is only God who keeps us in existence at every moment. And that is something we ought to be grateful for all the time. 

WHAT IS THE MASS? Why do we have Mass? What’s its purpose? We answer this question at every Mass. At the Orate fratres, we say the purpose of Mass: For the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church. 

That’s it. We come to Mass to praise God (for what he’s done for us in Christ—and for keeping us in existence) and to pray for our needs (ultimately that we will be united with him forever in heaven). The Mass isn’t so much about what we can get out of it, but what we give in praise to God.

Here’s more about the Liturgical Institute:

Today marks the first anniversary of the abdication of the Chair of St. Peter by Pope Benedict XVI. This event came as a shock, especially to those of us who had been working so hard in the liturgical apostolate during the past pontificate, and who excitedly followed the Holy Father’s lead and example daily.

When the Pope announced that he would be stepping down, and we soon realized that there would be a conclave within a matter of weeks, a certain anxiety began to set in.

Would his successor carry on according to the same mind? Some optimists thought that the resignation effectively doubled the life of Benedict’s papacy.

Or would his successor instead somehow reverse the legitimate progress made by Benedict XVI in the area of liturgical renewal? This latter concern, it must be admitted, struck many of us between the eyes when we saw Papa Bergolio step out on the balcony for the first time. Something didn’t seem to be quite right. Signs were indicating that significant changes could be coming.

And changes definitely have come.

Pope Francis has been a worldwide sensation, and he clearly is setting an example for the Church on what it means to roll up your sleeves and be the New Evangelization.

But is Pope Francis’ style and approach to the papacy a rejection of Pope Benedict’s focus on the dignity and sacredness of the liturgy?

After being with Francis for nearly a year now, and in light of his recent exortation and daily reflections, we can most certainly say that it is not.

This can be seen most clearly in Pope Francis’ papal liturgies. Sure, there are things that strike us as odd after seeing the grand ceremonial and ars celebrandi of Pope Benedict XVI, such as the plain vestments, black shoes, lack of singing from the priest celebrant, among other curiosities.

But there is something that we haven’t seen in Francis’ celebration of the Mass that some might have expected.

Where is Francis’ palpable joy? Where is his glowing smile? Where is the Pope Francis that we all know and love? The one who jumps out of his Ford Focus on the street to kiss babies and greet the poor?

Where is the Pope Francis who once said in a daily homily that “Often Christians behave as if they were going to a funeral procession rather than to praise God”. Or, similarly, that “We aren’t used to thinking about Jesus smiling, joyful. Jesus was full of joy, full of joy… Joy is true peace: not a static peace, quiet, tranquil. Christian peace is a joyful peace, because our Lord is joyful.”

Shouldn’t we be seeing the bubbly Pope Francis during his celebration of the liturgy that we see in the news and all over the web?

Perhaps some think that we should. But we don’t.

Watch any papal liturgy to see the stark contrast to this image. You will find a man with a stone cold face, breathing heavily, almost panting, appearing in mild discomfort, speaking the prayers of the Mass softly and without much definition, often gazing longingly upward and outward, and then with eyes closed in silent prayer. At the same liturgy you will also hear sacred music that is more solemn and beautiful than we ever heard it under Pope Benedict.

Why do we not instead see this Pope Francis when he celebrates the Mass?

“We would do well today to ask the Lord to give to each of us [a] ‘sense of the sacred,’ this sense that makes us understand that it is one thing to pray at home, to pray in Church, to pray the Rosary, to pray so many beautiful prayers, to make the Way of the Cross, so many beautiful things, to read the Bible… The Eucharistic celebration is something else. In the celebration we enter into the mystery of God, into that street that we cannot control: only He is the unique One, the glory, the power… He is everything. Let us ask for this grace: that the Lord would teach us to enter into the mystery of God.”

(Emphasis added)

This echos the statement of the Pope in his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium:

“Evangelization with joy becomes beauty in the liturgy, as part of our daily concern to spread goodness. The Church evangelizes and is herself evangelized through the beauty of the liturgy, which is both a celebration of the task of evangelization and the source of her renewed self-giving.”

The effect evangelization has on the liturgy is different from the role of evangelization on the street corner. The joy of the Gospel, as it is spread in the happenings of daily life, becomes something entirely different when it enters the liturgical sphere for Pope Francis. It is not ecstasy, it is not feverish elation, it is not unbridled energy and glowing smiles of happiness.

In the Eucharistic liturgy, according to Francis, we enter a different realm: A realm where evangelization with joy becomes beauty, where a life of private devotion leads into a participation in the “theophany”, where we “really enter into the mystery of God” and “allow ourselves to be brought to the mystery and to be in the mystery”.

This dichotomy is clear in the life of Pope Francis. He clearly is in the world, but is not of the world.

In the liturgy, the Church steps out of the realm of the world, and steps into the realm of the sacred, where there is true, substantial, and transcendent contact with the divine. This is as true for Pope Francis as it was for Pope Benedict, and remains equally true for the entire Church – as it always has been and as it always will be.

The gaze on the face of those who fully and actively participate in the sacred mysteries of the liturgy is one of contemplation. It is the face as it is portrayed in an icon, not on the cover of Time Magazine. It is the face that encounters the real, substantial and beautiful presence of Christ. It is not a face of gloom or misery; it is not the face of a Christian lacking joy. It is the face of a Christian who’s joy is complete.

The work of bringing a sense of the sacred into our parishes and dioceses is not over, one year following the abdication of Pope Benedict. In many ways it is only beginning.

Pope Francis is showing us that beauty in the liturgy is central to, though distinct from, the task of evangelization. As the source and summit of the life of the Church, without the liturgy the Church would have no source for its missionary zeal. The world is hungry for Christ, and it is hungry for beauty – The world is hungry for the liturgy, beautifully celebrated.

This is why we must continue our diligent work in the liturgical apostolate. The success of the New Evangelization depends upon it.

This is why efforts for the renewal of sacred music have continued, and are gaining momentum. It is what is driving efforts like the Lumen Christi Series, which is about to see the addition of the Lumen Christi Simple Gradual, the natural successor and fulfillment of Simple English Propers. These efforts must continue, and the work on the ground in parish life must continue, and they are continuing. Signs of this are all around us.

As today we remember the legacy of the great liturgical pope, let’s be reinvigorated by its mission. As Benedict once said, and surely Francis would agree: “Concern for the the proper form of worship…is not peripheral but central to our concern for man himself” (Feast of Faith, p. 7). If evangelization with joy is to be successful, we must worship God well, we must allow beauty in the liturgy to transform, and we must draw our missionary zeal from its true and authentic source. Let’s not let the work of liturgical renewal slip away – we must carry forward the work that Pope Benedict has begun, and that Pope Francis is relying upon.