Examine the Parish Book of Chant in full
You can examine the entire contents of the Parish Book of Chant now from this special page on Musicasacra.com.
PBC 2.0 at 1,737
The PBC is now at 1,736 in Amazon rank. This is wonderful. Thanks to everyone. If you haven’t picked up yours, please do it today, so that we can move this to the 100s.
O Nata Lux
Help the PBC by ordering now
If you are thinking about buying the PBC (as you should!) now is the best time because your purchases combine with others to give the book the biggest possible boost on Amazon ranking, which in turn helps with search results and visibility to the larger community of music buyers. The book has moved from 1 million to 6,000 in a couple of days, but it would be best for it to rise to the 100s if possible. You can help that effort by buying now.
English Propers: Palm Sunday
Lumen Christi Cantor Scores for Palm Sunday have been posted for free download.
Although many of the unique musical elements of the Palm Sunday liturgy are found in the new edition of the Roman Missal, all of the chants lack musical settings of the Psalm verses which are to be sung by the cantor or choir. Similarly, many of the antiphons for the procession and entrance are found in the Missal in text only.
The Lumen Christi Missal sets all of the texts that the congregation may sing in simple English chant, and the cantor score posted here provides the complete corresponding musical complement for the cantor and choir.
Download it here:
This edition includes simple English chant settings for:
- Hosanna filio David (English and Latin)
- The two Pueri Hebraeorum antiphons (English and Latin) with English verses
- Hymn to Christ the King (English and Latin) with English verses
- The Responsory from the Missal for entrance into the Church (English)
- A full setting of the Entrance Antiphon for the Simple Entrance with congregational refrain (English)
- Chanted Responsorial Psalm from the Lectionary
- Lenten Gospel Acclamation with the Christus factus est Gospel Verse in through-composed chant (English)
- Offertory Antiphon (English, congregation-friendly)
- Communion Antiphon (English, congregation-friendly)
Similar editions for the Sacred Paschal Triduum will be posted this week.
Holy Week is full of treasures that many parishes have never experienced. This year your parish can take a step closer to singing what the Roman Rite asks us to sing, and at no cost to you.
The Latest Scandals
John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter offers a good summary and balanced assessment of the latest revelations about deep moral problems inside the Vatican. The news pains every Catholic the world over and deeply. But let’s remember that the core of Catholicism is not about worshiping men with power or believing in the personal sanctity of leadership. The Church is both human and divine and we all do well to keep in mind what is what. The human element will always disappoint. The divine is the source from where our faith derives. One reason this blog focuses on liturgy and music in particular is because they are our portal to the divine. In times of crisis we need to cling to truth and we need sensory reminders of how and where to find it. Those who are involved in the great project of uniting the ritual to its native art are helping to provide those reminders.