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Views from the Choir Loft

Hymnal of St Pius X

Veronica Brandt · March 15, 2014

Hymnal of St Pius X Dr Percy Jones’ Hymnal of St Pius X. LD AUSTRALIAN HYMNBOOKS are rather hard to find. I’m in awe of how many cheap old hymnbooks are available in America. We don’t seem to have the same volume of print runs here. I wrote a little while ago about the Living Parish Hymnbook from the 1960s, but today I have an earlier book in a similar vein.

Dr Percy Jones, choirmaster of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, put together this hymnbook back in 1952. To quote from the foreword:

This Hymnal has been compiled and edited to make it possible to carry out the expressed wishes of the Church that congregational singing should be a constant ‘living proof of the Faith,’ whether in large cities or in small villages. In the first section, containing the Gregorian Chant for sung Masses, Benediction and other occasions, an attempt has been made to solve the difficulty of reading the notation peculiar to the Chant. By retaining the Chant notation (with modifications which clarify certain obscure groupings) but using the modern staff and key signature, the Editor hopes that the advantages of both will encourage singers and choir directors to undertake Gregorian Chant.

Above is an example of Dr Jones’ hybrid chant notation. Groups of ascending notes, like the podatus, are spread out horizontally to remove any doubt as to which note is sung first. The porrectus is changed into something like an inverted torculus. I do not have a copy of this book aimed at the congregation, but it is available at the National Library of Australia in screen resolution colour.

I bought a copy of the organ book in a thrift shop some years ago. I recognised the music from photocopies from around our piano at home. Then I found a worthy cause to donate it to, but scanned it first. It was one of my first attempts at scanning a book. In frustration I left the files to languish on a hard drive. Today I was moving files over into a new computer and had another look. They are still better for printing than those of the National Library of Australia, so I finished the job and now you can have a copy too:

      * *  Download the organ edition here.

Page 120 (hymn number 43, page 106 by the printed page numbers, ) has a hymn to St Patrick suitable for singing outside the Emerald Isle:

Patrick! from your kindling
      Lit on Slane’s green hill,
Faith’s pure fire undwindling,
      Burns, all deathless, still.
Drear days could not hinder
      Warm expanse of flame:
Travail gave new tinder,
      New flint, penal shame.

Patrick! from this firing
      Faith’s brave banners unfurled,
Borne by priests desiring,
      For Christ’s sake, the world;
Hearts throbbed to their warming,
      Hope glowed where they trod,
Exiles’ loss transforming,
      To great gain for God.

Patrick! from this glowing,
      Faith’s flame mounts and towers,
Knowledge full bestowing,
      Eire’s feast is ours!
Hear us then rejoicing,
      Rising young and strong:
Gratefully glad-voicing
      Prayerful praise in song.

(Australia’s Salute to St Patrick by George D. Walton)

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Hymnbooks Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Re: Low Mass: “It is desirable that in read Masses on Sundays and feast-days, the Gospel and Epistle be read by a lector in the vernacular for the convenience of the faithful.”

— 1958 document, issued under Pope Pius XII

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