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Views from the Choir Loft

Getting Rid Of “Gree-vee-uhss” (Mispronunciation)

Jeff Ostrowski · March 10, 2013

REQUENTLY on this blog, I have mentioned that we feel called to stay positive in our postings. So-called “controversial” Catholic blogs get a lot of traffic, but often cause great harm to souls. For instance, such blogs can cause good Catholics to waste a lot of time typing on the computer instead of praying, serving others, fulfilling our obligations, and so forth. However, from time to time, I think it is OK to mention a lighthearted critique. At the moment, I am speaking of “Gree-vee-uhss.” Any Catholic who went to school in the 1950s will remember the nuns teaching children how to pronounce the word “grievous.” Many were tempted to pronounce it as “grievious,” which is incorrect.

Every time I go to Mass these days, I hear a vast majority of people saying “grievious” instead of “grievous.” What can be done about this? I suppose the priest could make an announcement. What will be done about this? Probably nothing. So why I am talking about it? I’m not sure, but every time I hear people saying “grievious” my ears burn and I break out in a sweat. Then again, what can we do in today’s world? Believe it or not, the word “irregardless” (a true abomination) has been in the dictionary for more than 100 years. And many famous public speakers cannot even correctly use the word “whom” (they usually just say “who”). Grammatically, misusing “whom” is like saying “Him went to the store” or “Her likes to go swimming.”

As long as I am breaking my normal rule, I would like to say that I will never get used to calling God “you.” What ever happened to “Thee” and “Thy” ? It seems that in the 1950s, Catholics started to address God as “you,” even in respected books like Joseph Connelly’s Hymns of the Roman Liturgy (1957). I’ve heard it said that people cannot understand what “Thee” means . . . yet we still use “Thy” in the Our Father at Mass, and nobody seems confused . . .

By the way, although our Blog is positive, that does not exclude the possibility of serious reflection upon how things can be improved. Later this week, Dr. Kwasniewski offers a reflection on “Communion in the hand” which I hope readers will prayerfully consider. It might be good for me to remind all our readers that Watershed in no way judges the motives or intentions of Catholics, whether they receive Holy Communion on the tongue or in the hand. The reflections are offered for your consideration, in case people find them to helpful in their spiritual lives. The object is for all of us to grow in love for Jesus Christ and the Church.

Where did “Communion in the hand” come from? Well, some sources would strongly seem to indicate that this was a practice of the Early Church, at least in some places. After the Council, unfortunately, a good portion of “Antiquarianism” reared its ugly head, even though Antiquarianism had been condemned by Pope Pius XII. Communion in the hand is a prime example. A friend of mine told me about a pamphlet in the 1970s which was printed in an extremely professional, expensive, “flashy” manner: color print, glossy pages, artistic design, etc. The pamphlet contained all kinds of quotes trying to prove that Communion in the hand existed in the Early Church, and (therefore) should be used today. Hearing this, I said, “Father, that must have been a pretty powerful argument for Communion in the hand.” He replied, “No, Jeff, because they forgot one thing. They forgot to mention the real and serious reasons why this practice was abandoned as the Church developed through the centuries.” Oops! (Or, as we used to say, “Duh!”) Leaving aside all the important reasons the Church has given throughout history as to why Communion in the hand is not optimal, I would add one more. Think of all the trashy stuff we touch with our hands each day. Our hands are just plain dirty. For me, it becomes almost unthinkable to receive Communion in the hand, considering this.

Finally, rather than just go on and on in a negative fashion, please allow me to share something I thought about the other day:

OW FREQUENTLY the Church uses “light” to signify Christ, Truth, and God (most notably, perhaps, on Holy Saturday). There are many reasons for this, and I won’t mention them here, but let me mention one. I was sitting in my car, and the sunlight was coming in through the window. It was very WARM and BRIGHT. But, I moved the little sun visor, and all of a sudden the light was blocked. Moving it again, the light came through again. Moving it once more, it was blocked. I began to think about the giant sun, and HOW FAR that light had to travel, just to be either blocked or allowed in. The galaxy is huge. The earth is huge. But what a difference that tiny beam of light made! Trust me, it made a big difference.

It struck me that the Church was wise to use “light” as an image of God’s love. As an aside, the office hymns are “obsessed” with this theme. I considered putting some in the Campion Hymnal [url], because Cardinal Newman translated them all, but I was afraid people would not understand the connection. They would only think about the daytime vs. night (which is what they refer to) and not the theme of “light.” I better stop here, otherwise I will start talking about too many wonderful themes, like the magnificent significance of the rooster in the office hymns, how bells represent our time on earth, etc. This blog has already gone way too long, but it’s hard to stop!

This Blog already went too long . . . but please allow me the following “P.S.” :

Have you noticed how our culture has disintegrated? Take singing: on so many of today’s kids cartoons, they don’t even sing songs anymore. The “songs” are simply goofy rhymes spoken to rhythm, like rap music. We Church musicians always act surprised at the “level of ignorance” concerning the finer points of liturgical music, but should we be surprised? Our children don’t even have nursery rhymes any more. All they have is this nasty “sprechstimme” of talking “in rhythm.” I don’t have words to describe how terrible I find this practice. Now, I realize sometimes this type of thing can work, like Rex Harrison’s songs in My Fair Lady. Rex Harrison (famously) could not sing, so none of his songs have real tunes: he just “speaks in rhythm.” Sure, that works. But this is different. This is especially evident when we consider what people went through in the Middle Ages, with disease, no modern medicine, no running water, no electricity, no penicillin, etc. Yet, musically they were eons ahead of us.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

The representative Protestant collection, entitled “Hymns, Ancient and Modern”—in substance a compromise between the various sections of conflicting religious thought in the Establishment—is a typical instance. That collection is indebted to Catholic writers for a large fractional part of its contents. If the hymns be estimated which are taken from Catholic sources, directly or imitatively, the greater and more valuable part of its contents owes its origin to the Church.

— Orby Shipley (1884)

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  • Boston Auxiliary Bishop: “In offering the Traditional Mass for the first time, after removing the vestments, I knelt in the back pew and wept.”

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