Views from the Choir Loft

“Pope Francis Hymn Book” … (Published 2014)

Corpus Christi Watershed · July 10, 2014

Important Update: In 2018, the Brébeuf hymnal was published:

* Brébeuf Hymnal • “What Experts Are Saying”
(Testimonials from authorities on Sacred Music.)

The Brébeuf hymnal is sold by SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS.

The blog of the Church Music Association of America in 2019 said the Brébeuf hymnal is “hands down, the best Catholic hymnal ever to be published. […] Its copious selection of hundreds of tunes and texts, including favorites, forgotten gems, and new commissions, all beautifully formatted and presented in a surprisingly compact hardcover volume, is not only unparalleled by any other current hymnal, but well exceeds that of any hymnal I have seen from any period. […] It is such a fantastic hymnal that it deserves to be in the pews of every Catholic church.”

HE POPE FRANCIS HYMN BOOK consists of every hymn found in the Vatican II Hymnal, plus an additional forty-five (45) new hymns. Also included are nineteen (19) Gregorian Masses and six Creeds.

* * Sample Pages, Hymn Listing, & Preface (PDF)

Pope Francis Hymnal

Purchase the Pope Francis Hymn Book:

PEW EDITION: Softcover (White Pages) — $9.50

PEW EDITION: Softcover (Cream Pages) — $9.50

ORGAN EDITION : Spiral Bound (368 pages) — $28.95

6042 Catholic Book Replace Missalette H

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

Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!

A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)

I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Yahweh” in church songs?

My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Hybrid” Chant Notation?

Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt