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Corpus Christi Watershed

“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Replacing the Entrance Chant With A Hymn Or Song?

Jeff Ostrowski · October 15, 2013

HE CURRENT GIRM (a.k.a. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 2011) says the Entrance Chant assigned by the Church must be sung, unless it is replaced by “another liturgical chant” approved by the Bishop or Episcopal Conference. The same rules apply for the Offertory and Communion Chants. However, in most OF parishes, it seems like the musical program is as follows:

1. Entrance Chant: Whatever song we like.
2. Ordinary: “Mass of Creation” (Haugen)
3. Offertory Chant: Whichever song we like.
4. Communion Chant: Whatever song we like.

The reality is, less than 0.05% of Catholics know what the Mass Propers are. What a loss! These beautiful, ancient texts and melodies were preserved for 1,600 years — through war, famine, and so forth — only to be (wrongly) discarded after the Second Vatican Council, in spite of the fact that the Council wanted people to “pray the Mass, not replace the Mass.”

SPECIAL ANNOUNCMENT:

Watershed’s Vatican II Hymnal was the very first pew book to contain all the Propers (in English) for the congregation. Soon, we shall release a special new pew book which presents the Mass Propers in a way you won’t believe. To make sure you hear about this book before anyone else, please join our mailing list.

WHAT DO YOU THINK when people replace the assigned Propers with “another liturgical chant” … and they choose a song? Or they choose rock music or broadway? Or they use some other style that is not really another liturgical chant? Is this obeying the spirit and letter of the law? This issue gets a bit more complicated, as you can see here. I’m not going to treat this at the moment, because it’s kind of pointless until people start realizing the Propers exist!

If you’re a lay person and you feel bad about your ignorance of the Propers … it’s OK! Only in the last decade or so have people really begun to rediscover them. Even the former director of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship (Fr. Krisman) seems “in the dark” when it comes to Mass Propers, and recently made some comments which, in my view, are open to serious criticism. In particular, he attacked Watershed for creating a pew book allowing the congregation to follow the Propers. He also didn’t like our creation of a complete book of simplified Mass Propers in English, approved by the Church. Here’s what he said (and thanks to the reader who emailed me his comments):

AM NOT AGAINST singing the propers as one of several options permitted. But sing them in Latin, please, with a trained choir. Using a Douay-Rheims translation and singing the texts to psalm tones does nothing to preserve the Church’s patrimony. I grew up with the Carlo Rossini propers and thought they were dreadful (I still do). And propers intended for a choir don’t belong in an assembly’s hymn book. […]
I meant what I said about propers in English and propers sung to a psalm tone. […] Propers intended for the use of a choir do not need to be included in participation aids intended for the use of the liturgical assembly. […] I will bite my tongue and say no more either about the literary quality of those texts or the Carlo Rossini approach to the musical settings.
—Fr. R. Krisman, former Executive Director of the USCCB
Liturgy Secretariat, currently works for GIA Publications


First of all, I’m not sure where Fr. Krisman is getting his information. Nobody I know uses the Douay-Rheims translation at Mass. More importantly, though, he seems adamantly opposed to the congregation being able to pray along with the Mass Propers. However, as far as I’m concerned, the congregation needs to see the Mass prayers to facilitate active participation. Even when the Propers are sung in English, it still helps to see the texts.

Finally, it’s important to remember that documents like the GIRM cannot be read “in a vacuum.” Knowledge of Catholic music traditions going back fifteen centuries is assumed, and anybody who knows anything about Catholic liturgy knows how important (essential?) the Propers are. As the video above implies, just because more options are permitted under current Ecclesiastical law, that doesn’t change what the Mass Propers are and have always been.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Hymns Replacing Propers 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

Using the shoddiest, sleaziest material we have for the purpose of glorifying God is not very sound theology or even very good common sense. […] (In general, when you see a diminished seventh chord in a hymn, run.) And these chords are usually used in bad hymns in precisely the same order in which they occur in “Sweet Adeline.”

— Paul Hume (1956)

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