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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 Mystery of Missal vs. Gradual has been solved!

Jeff Ostrowski · May 25, 2014

467 graduale OUR PRIEST HAS FINALLY agreed to let you sing the Mass Propers! Your choir practices for weeks. Finally, the big day arrives, and you feel Mass went well.

However, the Parish Liturgist summons you to his office afterward, demanding to know why you didn’t sing the “correct” Communion chant. Dumbfounded, you consult the relevant sources:

GRADUAL: 2nd Sunday of Lent
Tell no one about the vision you have seen
until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.

MISSAL: 2nd Sunday of Lent
This is my beloved Son, with whom
I am well pleased; listen to him.

Your mind races, and you feel weak at the knees. You vaguely recall learning the difference between “spoken” and “sung” antiphons, but referring him to Google seems risky. The following dialogue ensues:

“Everything after 2011,” he continues, “must correspond exactly to the texts printed in the Altar Missal. That’s what they said at a diocesan workshop. Do you understand?”

Regaining your senses, you reply, “OK, then we’ll take the readings from the Altar Missal, too.”

PL: “No, the readings aren’t found in the Missal. Those come from the Lectionary.”

You respond, “The same thing is true of the Sung Propers, which come from the Roman Gradual. That’s why, for example, the Offertory antiphons aren’t printed in the Altar Missal.”

Whoever created the image on the upper right seems to understand that confusing subjects are best treated with a healthy dose of humor.

WHEN MISSAL ANTIPHONS DIFFER from the Roman Gradual, it’s not forbidden to sing the Missal text. Liturgical law has allowed this since 1970, and no one disputes this. 1 Both texts come from the Bible, which is the inspired Word of God. Surely, then, one text is not to be preferred, right? In fact, there are reasons to prefer the Graduale. For example:

(1) Before setting a text, qualified musicians examine the piece’s history. How have composers treated this text in past centuries? The Sung Propers often go back to the 7th century, whereas the Spoken Propers came into existence in 1969.

(2) Bishop Donald Trautman has pointed out that the Spoken Propers “were never intended to be sung,” and Archbishop Bugnini said the same thing.

(3) Tradition is very important to Catholics, so preferring prayers in use for 1500 years is natural.

(4) The Gradual Propers are given in the Jogues Missal, and we have an obligation to make it as simple as possible for our people to participate in the liturgy.

Why would our bishops create such a confusing situation? The complete documentation fails to provide a plausible motivation.

      What’s the answer to this mystery??

The Spoken Propers were most likely created to add variety to daily Masses. 2 Before the Second Vatican Council, some daily propers — Os Justi, Justus ut palma, Dilexisti, and so forth — were used with great frequency, and this lack of variety bothered some priests (while others found such repetition beautiful and edifying).

SPOILER ALERT!   Book 3 of the Jogues Series is a “Daily Mass Companion” containing every Spoken Proper that could ever be used — more info will be revealed soon!

A great deal of the confusion over “sung” vs. “spoken” propers stems from the fact that we call the big red priest’s book a Missal. (It ought to be called a Sacramentary.) In any event, the following chart helps:


SOME COMPOSERS CHOOSE the Sung Propers, while others set the Spoken Propers. Still others compose settings for both. The following examples use the Gradual texts exclusively:

Lalemant Propers (CCW, 2013)

Graduale Parvum (Birmingham Oratory, 2012) …courtesy CMAA

Arbogast Propers (St. Joseph’s College)

American Gradual (Bruce E. Ford, 2008)

Simple English Propers (CMAA, 2011)

Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons (Motyka, 2012)

Needless to say, parishes which sometimes sing the official Latin melodies will want to use only the Sung Propers, since no official Latin melodies exist for the Spoken Propers. As the President of the CMAA has reminded us:

The texts in the Graduale Romanum are not the same as those of the Missale Romanum, and it is those of the missal which are printed in the disposable missals used in the parishes. I have often been asked, “Where can I find the Gregorian chants for the introits and communions in the missal?” The answer is, you cannot find them, because they were provided for use in spoken Masses only.

TO SUM IT ALL UP: The Roman Gradual is the Church’s official Song Book, and was revised following the Second Vatican Council. However, for Masses without singing, special “spoken propers” were added to the priest’s Altar Missal. Sometimes they match the Gradual, and sometimes they don’t.

FOR THE RECORD: Our current Missal contains 2,509  “spoken” antiphons. Some clown will doubtless joke: “That’s not enough variety for me. I require 2,678.”



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   To my knowledge, no author has ever denied that Missal antiphons can be sung.

2   Incidentally, Spoken Propers for daily Masses seldom correspond to the Sung Propers for daily Masses.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Graduale Romanum Roman Gradual Propers, Hymns Replacing Propers, Missal Antiphons Dont Match Roman Gradual, THE ADALBERT PROPERS Last Updated: January 18, 2025

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 27th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 5 October 2025, which is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the spectacular feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin. Readers will want to check out the ENTRANCE CHANT posted there, which has a haunting melody (in the DEUTERUS MODE) and extremely powerful text.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Kids’ Choir Sings Thomas Aquinas
    Last Sunday, a children’s choir I’m teaching sang with us for the very first time at Sunday Mass. Females from our main choir sang along with them. If you’re curious to hear how they sounded, you can listen to a ‘live’ recording. That’s an English version of TANTUM ERGO by Saint Thomas Aquinas. That haunting melody is called GAUFESTRE and was employed for this 2-Voice Arrangement of a special hymn for 9 November (“Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome”) which replaces a Sunday this year.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Reminder” — Month of September (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?
    Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

The Latin language, “far from being held in little regard, is certainly worthy of being vigorously defended.”

— Pope Saint Paul VI (15 August 1966)

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