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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Josquin’s Beautiful “Missa Pange Lingua” In Minnesota

Guest Author · May 4, 2013

The following is a guest article by Sandra Eller.

AINT BENEDICT Catholic Church in Duluth, Minnesota, will be hosting a Solemn High Mass (traditional Latin Mass), celebrated by the parish pastor, Father Eric Hastings, for the Ascension on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. The choir will be singing the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei from Missa Pange Lingua by de Prez, a beautiful Mass we have done a few times in the past, in addition to Masses by Byrd and Victoria. The Duluth Men’s Schola will be singing the Gregorian propers.

The choir, which will have about a dozen voices, is comprised of members of my parish choir at St. Ben’s and members of the Duluth Men’s Schola, a group my husband founded several years ago and which is now directed by Kevin Pilon, who will also conduct the polyphony Thursday evening.


It will be our third Solemn High Mass, the first with both deacon and subdeacon from our diocese. It’s sort of the latest stage in an ongoing exploration of what’s possible in liturgy and particularly liturgical music in continuity with tradition, accompanied by a lot of catechesis from Father Hastings. Musically, things have grown from simple chants to more ornate Gregorian ordinaries and Gregorian propers and finally polyphony. We have also included new compositions inspired by the Church’s sacred music tradition, such as pieces by Kevin Allen and various projects of setting English translations of the propers to plainchant, something we use routinely. After the new translation of the Mass, the parish moved to the Adoremus hymnal, as well. The congregation is now fairly comfortable with singing the Gloria in Latin and a few other more ornate chant ordinaries.

The extraordinary form plays a relatively small role in parish life, celebrated Sunday afternoons twice a month and sometimes on special occasions like this one, ranging from low Masses to the full blown Solemn High Mass. Two of our regular weekend Masses, Father celebrates ad orientem.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Quick Thoughts

    William Byrd • Simple “Agnus Dei” Canon
    Time flies! Back in July, I posted a PDF setting of a perfect canon by William Byrd (d. 1623) arranged as an AGNUS DEI for three voices. Last Sunday, we sang that arrangement with our volunteer choir. To hear a ‘live’ recording of it, click here (Mp3). In my humble opinion, this would be a perfect piece for a choir just beginning to experiment with polyphony.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
    I wish to thank everyone for the nice comments I received vis-à-vis my Glory To God setting for Choir & Congregation. A gentleman with a musical doctorate from Indiana University wrote: “Love this setting so much. And I will pray, as you asked, for your return to composition more fully. You are very very good.” A female choir director wrote: “I love your harmonizations, your musicality, and the wonderful interplay you have with dissonance and consonance in your music. So fun to listen to, and great for intellect, heart, and soul!” A young woman from California wrote: “Thank you for releasing your new Glory To God in honor of Saint Noel Chabanel. I'm enjoying reading through the various parts and listening to your recordings.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    William Byrd • “Mass for Five Voices”
    Our volunteer choir is learning the “Sanctus” from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. You can hear a short excerpt (recorded last Sunday) but please ignore the sound of babies crying: Mp3 recording. We still have work to do—but we’re on the right track. Once we have some of the tuning issues fixed, I desire to use it as an example proving volunteers can sing complicated polyphony. — One of our volunteer choirs also sang that SANCTUS on 24 September 2023, and you can listen to how that came out.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Let us ponder the incontrovertible fact that Eucharistic Adoration in the Ordinary Form (“Novus Ordo”) is always and everywhere celebrated “ad orientem.” Why, then, is there such opposition to Mass being celebrated in that way, which is actually stipulated by the 1970 Missal rubrics?

— A Benedictine Monk (2013)

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