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Views from the Choir Loft

Whence Came The New Eucharistic Prayers?

Jeff Ostrowski · February 5, 2014

824 Roman Missal HEN THE NEW CANONS were first published, the Consilium sent out a letter to the Bishops’ conferences. Dated 2 June 1968, this letter was meant “to assist catechesis on the anaphoras of the Mass.”

Another term for Anaphora or Canon is “Eucharistic Prayer.” Folks who read Fr. David Friel’s article as well as the “Addendum” at the bottom of my post have requested that we post this landmark letter:

      * *  “To assist catechesis on the Anaphoras of the Mass” — 6/2/1968   (©1982 ICEL)

That letter was first published in Notitiae 4 (1968) 146-55.

NOW IS NOT THE TIME to repeat what has been said regarding the unprecedented creation of “ad libitum” Eucharistic Prayers during the 1960s. However, two sections of that 1968 letter are (perhaps) worth highlighting, for thoughtful consideration by our readers:

“Because of its conciseness and comparative simplicity, Eucharistic Prayer II can be used to advantage on weekdays and in Masses with children, young people, and small groups.”

[ … ]

“Why this new departure? To consider the variety of anaphoras in the tradition of the universal Church is to realize that one anaphora alone cannot contain all the pastoral, spiritual, and theological richness to be hoped for. A multiplicity of texts must make up for the limitations of any one of them. This has always been the course taken by all the Christian Churches, the Roman alone excepted; they have all had and continue to have a variety of anaphoras, sometimes a great variety. In adding three new anaphoras to the Roman Canon, the Church’s intent here too has been to enrich the Roman liturgy pastorally, spiritually, and liturgically.”

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Annibale Bugnini Reform, History of the Roman Canon Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“There are no hymns, in this sense, till the fourth century; they were not admitted to the Roman office till the twelfth. No Eastern rite to this day knows this kind of hymn. Indeed, in our Roman rite we still have the archaic offices of the last days of Holy Week and of the Easter octave, which—just because they are archaic—have no hymns.”

— Adrian Fortescue (25 March 1916)

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