Views from the Choir Loft

Mass in the Ancient Form at a Basilica

Andrew Leung · October 1, 2015

NE of the greatest experiences I had this past year in the South is meeting some new friends. I had the privilege to visit the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this past weekend. Fr. David Carter, the rector of the basilica, and Maria Rist, the Director of Liturgical Music, are two of those amazing people I met. (And by the way, Fr. Carter was the keynote speaker for the Summer Sacred Music Workshop.)

Fr. Carter started to offered Masses according to the 1962 Missale Romanum when he was assigned to the basilica. And recently, he started to celebrate monthly Sung Masses and I was invited to sing with the choir a few times. It has been great to see the growth of the parish and the choir, especially the children’s choir. If you are in the area and would like to attend a Extraordinary Form Mass, Fr. Carter celebrates a Low Mass every Monday at 7am and a Sung Mass on the fourth Sundays of the month at 5pm.

Making connections is very important, especially now that people are starting to rediscover true Sacred Music. Even though we might still be the minority and are spread out, but try to find a “partner in crime”! Trust me! It is a joyful and encouraging experience when you collaborate with priests and musicians who share passion for the Liturgy and Sacred Music.

This visit was my last visit before I move to Ohio. I sang the Missa Cantata with the schola and the choristers on Sunday afternoon. And we had a simple Sung Mass on Monday morning, a Requiem Mass for Fr. Patrick J. Ryan. I was the cantor for that Mass and below is an excerpt of the Offertory, Domine Jesu Christe.

The video was taken by Maria Rist and you can see Fr. Carter on the right. And please pardon me for my mistakes, it was 7am in the morning and I was reading from my phone. More videos of the Basilica Choirs can be found on their Facebook Page.

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

About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

Music List • (2nd Sunday of Lent)

Readers have expressed interest in seeing the ORDER OF MUSIC I created for this coming Sunday—1 March 2026—the 2nd Sunday of Lent (Year A). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are available at the flourishing feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Particularly Beautiful

The 2nd Sunday of Lent has magnificent propers. Its INTROIT is particularly striking—using a haunting tonality—but the COMMUNION with fauxbourdon verses is also quite remarkable. I encourage all the readers to visit the feasts website, where the Propria Missae may be downloaded completely free of charge.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Which Mass?

In 1905, when the Vatican Commission on Gregorian Chant began publishing the EDITIO VATICANA—still the Church’s official edition— they assigned different Masses to different types of feasts. However, they were careful to add a note (which began with the words “Qualislibet cantus hujus Ordinarii…”) making clear “chants from one Mass may be used together with those from others.” Sadly, I sometimes worked for TLM priests who weren’t fluent in Latin. As a result, they stubbornly insisted Mass settings were ‘assigned’ to different feasts and seasons (which is false). To understand the great variety, one should examine the 1904 KYRIALE of Dr. Peter Wagner. One should also look through Dom Mocquereau’s Liber Usualis (1904), in which the Masses are all mixed up. For instance, Gloria II in his book ended up being moved to the ‘ad libitum’ appendix in the EDITIO VATICANA.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Extreme Unction

Those who search Google for “CCCC MS 079” will discover high resolution images of a medieval Pontificale (“Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 079”). One of the pages contains this absolutely gorgeous depiction of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

PDF Chart • “Plainsong Rhythm”

I will go to my grave without understanding the lack of curiosity so many people have about the rhythmic modifications made by Dom André Mocquereau. For example, how can someone examine this single sheet comparison chart and at a minimum not be curious about the differences? Dom Mocquereau basically creates a LONG-SHORT LONG-SHORT rhythmic pattern—in spite of enormous and overwhelming manuscript evidence to the contrary. That’s why some scholars referred to his method as “Neo-Mensuralist” or “Neo-Mensuralism.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

PDF • “O Come All Ye Faithful” (Simplified)

I admire the harmonization of “Adeste Fideles” by David Willcocks (d. 2015), who served as director of the Royal College of Music (London, England). In 2025, I was challenged to create a simplified arrangement for organists incapable of playing the authentic version at tempo. The result was this simplified keyboard arrangement (PDF download) based on the David Willcocks version of “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Feel free to play through it and let me know what you think.

—Jeff Ostrowski