Views from the Choir Loft

The Importance Of Gestures

Jeff Ostrowski · November 2, 2012

ERY SOON, Watershed will be releasing a special pew book for the traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form). We’re so excited: the book is extremely complicated and jam packed with amazing stuff, and I’m certainly not able to go into the details in a short little blog entry like this. However, one of the most singular things (to quote Sherlock Holmes) about the St. Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal is that it pays special attention to the elaborate gestures in the traditional Latin Mass. I’m speaking here of the numerous instances where the priest bows, genuflects, kisses objects, makes the Sign of the Cross, holds his hands a certain way, etc. These gestures are fantastically ancient and truly beautiful: I’m glad our book goes to great lengths to show them.

It just so happens that these physical gestures of reverence and adoration play a huge part in Catholic worship . . . because it just so happens man is made of both body and soul. If man were soul only, physical gestures would, indeed, be unimportant. These gestures really do become wedded to the prayers in a way I never realized until I stopped attending the traditional Mass. I will speak more of this as time goes on.

As we know, the Reforms following Second Vatican Council got rid of almost all these gestures (the Council itself did not), and I have to wonder if this was a mistake. I sometimes wonder if the feeling of the time was akin to: “Modern Man does not need medieval feudal gestures like kissing and bowing and genuflecting. These are not essential to the prayer of Modern Man, who has progressed to such a level he can pray just as well without such gestures.” As time goes on, perhaps “mutual enrichment” will return some of the ancient gestures. Pope Benedict, a Peritus (special expert advisor) at the time of the Council, has called for a re√´valuation of how well the Reforms called for by the Council were realized by Pope Paul VI’s Consilium.

Now I see that I have typed too much (which usually happens) so I will have to continue my thoughts in another Blog entry.

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

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).

“Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

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

After ordering the bishops to appoint in each diocese “special commission of persons who are really competent in the matter, to whom they will entrust the duty of watching over the music performed in the churches in whatever way may seem most advisable,” Pope Pius X continues—“this commission will insist on the music being not only good in itself, but also proportionate to the capacity of the singers, so that it may be always well executed.”

— Dom Alphege Shebbeare (Downside Review)