Views from the Choir Loft

Praying for Our Dead

Andrew Leung · September 10, 2015

ROVIDING MUSIC for funerals is an essential part of a church musician’s life. And usually, we have to prepare the music with very short notices. The nice part about funerals is the extra money we get. They negative side is that funerals can mess up your daily schedule, especially if you have to prepare some rehearsals for the evening or the funeral falls on your day off.

I don’t know if you have this experience, but sometimes the music request of the family of the deceased drives me crazy! So, I created a list of hymns, hymns that can be found in common of the American Catholic hymnals, for Catholic funerals.

* * PDF • 32 HYMNS FOR CATHOLIC FUNERALS

My friend, Bridget Scott, music director at Our Lady of the Mountains Roman Catholic Church (OLM) in Jasper, GA, also contributed to the list. I am very happy to announced that we will be collaborating again in October. A workshop called “Praying for Our Dead: Essential Music of the Catholic Funeral Mass” will be held at OLM on October 3. Fr. Charles Byrd will be giving a keynote on the theology of the Mass of the Dead and Funeral Music. Resources and guide on funeral planning will also be included in the music packet. More information is available on the website of the newly established St. Ambrose School of Chant.

Finally, I just want to share a beautiful hymn that is perfect for Catholic funeral. Abide With Me sung by the famous King’s College Choir:

And a concert version arranged by Dr. Paul Weber sung by the Schola Cantorum Franciscana (This video was taken when I was an undergrad, good luck finding me in the choir!). This setting is available on Choralife.

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” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Easter

You can download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. The English adaptation matches the authentic version (Misericórdia Dómini), which is in a somber yet gorgeous mode. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I tried to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Music List • “Repertoire for Weddings”

Not everyone thinks about sacred music 24/7 like we do. When couples are getting married, they often request “suggestions” or “guidance” or a “template” for their musical selections. I created this music list with repertoire suggestions for Catholic weddings. Please feel free to download it if you believe it might give you some ideas or inspiration.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker

“We must say it plainly: the Roman rite as we knew it exists no more. It has gone. Some walls of the structure have fallen, others have been altered—we can look at it as a ruin or as the partial foundation of a new building. Think back, if you remember it, to the Latin sung High Mass with Gregorian chant. Compare it with the modern post-Vatican II Mass. It is not only the words, but also the tunes and even certain actions that are different. In fact it is a different liturgy of the Mass.”

— Fr. Joseph Gelineau (1978)