![Views from the Choir Loft](https://www.ccwatershed.org/wp-content/themes/carmel/images/blueheader.png")
HEODORE MARIER’S beautiful hymn book, the PIUS X HYMNAL, is now available online. You can freely download the complete PDF using the link below.
Published in 1953, it was edited by the faculty of the Pius Tenth School of Liturgical Music (Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, NY). Note: a different 1950s book called “Pius X Hymnal” was published by a group in Australia.
* * Organist & Choir Edition • 536 pages
* * Congregational Edition • 51 pages
IT’S INTERESTING TO NOTE that Marier’s Pius X Hymnal has just 58 metrical hymns for the congregation, whereas the Campion Hymnal has 140 metrical hymns for the congregation, which you can see by viewing the fact sheet.
The St. Edmund Campion Hymnal, a congregational book, cannot substitute for crucial choir materials like the Liber Usualis, Cantus Selecti, and so forth. However, those who consider 140+ English Hymns and 20+ Latin Hymns insufficient should consider the words of Msgr. Richard Schuler (1984):
“How many hymns does a parish need? Certainly not the vast number crowded into so many modern hymnbooks. If a parish has twenty-five good hymns, it can develop a great enthusiasm for singing. The people don’t mind repetition of good music; in fact, the more they sing the great hymns the more they love them.”
View a video of Dr. Marier conducting Gregorian chant by clicking here. I’m told that a DVD wherein Marier explains how to sing chant can be purchased here.
