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“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

Sanctus/Benedictus: Should It Be Divided At Mass?

Jeff Ostrowski · October 29, 2014

741 Sacred Mass HROUGHOUT the Church’s history, there have been various schools of thought regarding “breaking” the Sanctus-Benedictus. (When broken, the second half is sung after the Consecration.) Pope Pius XII took a “via media” in his 1958 document, declaring:

(27d) The Sanctus and Benedictus, if chanted in Gregorian, must be sung without a break; otherwise the Benedictus is to be sung after the Consecration.

Certainly many compositions are written in a way that clearly suggests being broken. An extremist might be bothered by this. After all, didn’t Pope Pius X make the following declaration in 1903?

(11c) In the hymns of the Church the traditional form of the hymn is preserved. It is not lawful, therefore, to compose, for instance, a “Tantum ergo” in such wise that the first strophe presents a romanza, a cavatina, an adagio and the “Genitori” an allegro.

We must guard against looking at music the same way we look at speech. Someone who does might exclaim, “When we speak the Sanctus, we don’t break it, so neither should we when singing it.” Such an approach is faulty; for example, some melismas in Gregorian chant have more than 70 notes on a single syllable; that’s because it’s music not speech. To learn more, please read Thoughts on Englishing the Gradual.

Medieval Catholics avoided the SING AS YOU SPEAK error. Often, they would use a chant melody as cantus firmus and “let the chips fall as they may.” In other words, the various sections would not take into consideration individual words, so a word like BENEDICIMUS might be broken in one voice: “BENEDI” for one movement, and “CIMUS” for the next. Some people have suggested those lines were played by instruments, but scholarly opinion differs on whether this was the case.

At the same time, I would never suggest we do something merely because it happened during the Church’s history. After all, some silly medieval Church composers had multiple languages sung simultaneously! 1

Oregon Catholic Press recently sent me a book that tries to revive this custom. It is a book of hymns with Spanish and English lyrics. The editor of the book suggests that those who know Spanish sing the hymn in Spanish, while those who know English sing the hymn in English … at the same time!



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   A secular chanson in French might be placed on top, a Latin religious text in the middle voice, and so forth.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Sanctus Benedictus Split Broken Divided 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

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    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

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 unity of language in the liturgy is so great a treasure for the Church that no advantage could compensate for its demise.”

— Dom Anselmo Albareda (2 January 1953), Father Nicola Giampietro, page 249

Recent Posts

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  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

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