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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

The first ever Graduale Romanum in English?

Guest Author · August 12, 2013

A guest article by Deacon William Patrick Cunningham.


509 GRADUALE URING THE LATE 1960s, I was a temporary professed with the Society of Mary, pursuing a degree in chemistry with a music minor at St. Mary’s University. At novitiate, we had experimented with the first texts in English for the Mass, and we thought we were God’s gift to liturgical music. When we began our college studies the following year, we found that the music director was Fr. Charles Dreisoerner, SM, who looked to our teenage eyes like he was a hundred years old, and who expected us to be able to sing Gregorian chant from the Liber Usualis. We had not picked up one of those since the English Mass was introduced early in 1965. To Fr. Charles’ credit, he was experimenting with the new English texts being forced into the given Gregorian melodies. I don’t believe any of his mimeographed work has actually survived to this day, but that might be something for an MA thesis-seeker. At any rate, we spent most of the year demanding a new music director, and we got one. I spent the next couple of years with my colleagues introducing the “folk Mass” (actually lite rock) to our Archdiocese. It caught on nationally, and I have been repenting and doing penance for my sin ever since that time.

In 1978, my wife and I learned from Col Roger Darley that the main chapel at Ft. Sam Houston was in need of a Catholic choir director and organist. We had just left a local parish, where the new pastor had tried to get us to abandon any music with a connection to the past. We were under the impression that the chapel wanted to use chant. That was not correct, but it got me thinking about taking up the challenge laid down by Vatican II and Fr. Dreisoerner almost two decades earlier.

After a couple of years, we left the Post chapel ministry and shortly afterwards got involved with the Anglicans seeking union with the Catholic Church. This was a group that later became the Anglican use community of Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio. They wanted to use the Gregorian propers with the translation from the Anglican missal, so I got to work putting them together from the 1974 Graduale Romanum, week by week. I was doing some music scribing with K&E engineering hardware for another music publication, so I transcribed the chant into five-line notation. Ultimately our little publishing company put it together in two volumes, which together were called Chants for the Church Year.

Initially, some modest advertising brought a spate of single-copy orders, and a couple of larger ones, especially from Msgr. Francis P. Schmitt of Boys Town. We left the Anglican use parish not long after it was established as a Catholic parish. Msgr. Schmidt lost the Boys Town appointment a couple of years later. The English chant Gradual project languished until CMAA and its members brought it back three decades later.

To download a 270-page “Englished” Psalter by Deacon Cunningham, click here.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Deacon Patrick Cunningham Last Updated: August 17, 2024

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    New Bulletin Article • “14 September 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 14 September 2025) discusses OFFERTORY ANTIPHONS and contains a wonderful quote by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF Download • Draft Copy (Pamphlet)
    A few days ago, I posted a draft copy of this 12-page pamphlet with citations about the laity’s “full, conscious, and active participation.” Its basic point or message is that choir directors should never feel embarrassed to teach real choral music because Vatican II explicitly ordered them to do that! We’ve received tons of mail regarding that pamphlet, with many excellent suggestions for improvement. Please feel free to chime in!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Entrance Chant” • 23rd (Ordinary Time)
    This coming Sunday, 7 September 2025, is the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). You can download the “Entrance Chant,” conveniently located at the feasts website. I also recorded a rehearsal video for it (freely available at the same website). The Communion Chant includes gorgeous verses in FAUXBOURDON. I attempted to create a rehearsal video for it, and it’s been posted at the feasts website, called by some: “church music’s best kept secret.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Karl Keating • “Canonization Questions”
    We were sent an internet statement (screenshot) that’s garnered significant attention, in which KARL KEATING (founder of Catholic Answers) speaks about whether canonizations are infallible. Mr. Keating seems unaware that canonizations are—in the final analysis—a theological opinion. They are not infallible, as explained in this 2014 article by a priest (with a doctorate in theology) who worked for multiple popes. Mr. Keating says: “I’m unaware of such claims arising from any quarter until several recent popes disliked by these Traditionalists were canonized, including John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. Usually Paul VI receives the most opprobrium.” Mr. Keating is incorrect; e.g. Father John Vianney, several centuries ago, taught clearly that canonizations are not infallible. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen would be another example, although clearly much more recent than Saint John Vianney.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Vatican II Changed Wedding Propers?
    It’s often claimed that the wedding propers were changed after Vatican II. As a matter of fact, that is a false claim. The EDITIO VATICANA propers (Introit: Deus Israel) remained the same after Vatican II. However, a new set of propers (Introit: Ecce Deus) was provided for optional use. The same holds true for the feast of Pope Saint Gregory the Great on 3 September: the 1943 propers (Introit: Si díligis me) were provided for optional use, but the traditional PROPRIA MISSAE (Introit: Sacerdótes Dei) were retained; they weren’t gotten rid of. The Ordo Cantus Missae (1970) makes this crystal clear, as does the Missal itself. There was an effort made in the post-conciliar years to eliminate so-called “Neo-Gregorian” chants, but (contrary to popular belief) most were retained: cf. the feast of Christ the King, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and so forth.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Solemn “Salve Regina” (Chant)
    How many “S” words can you think of using alliteration? How about Schwann Solemn Salve Score? You can download the SOLEMN SALVE REGINA in Gregorian Chant. The notation follows the official rhythm (EDITIO VATICANA). Canon Jules Van Nuffel, choirmaster of the Cathedral of Saint Rumbold, composed this accompaniment for it (although some feel it isn’t his best work).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“The council did not say Latin should be abolished. It said Latin should be used. […] While at Ecclesia Dei, I once received a letter from a chancery office in the United States, asking me if I didn’t know that the council had abolished Latin!”

— Cardinal Mayer, Prefect (1985–1988) of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship

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