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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

Barack Obama & Catholic Sacred Music

Jeff Ostrowski · September 1, 2014

907 Nos Autem HE UNITED STATES has three coequal branches of government—Legislative, Executive, and Judicial—which prevent tyranny by means of checks and balances.

Similarly, the postconciliar liturgy has three “coequal” books: (1) Lectionary; (2) Gradual; and (3) Sacramentary. 1 Therefore, it’s necessary to know WHICH BOOK contains WHICH PART of the Mass. Suppose someone exclaimed: “I’ve looked carefully but cannot locate any Supreme Court rulings by Barack Obama.” The correct answer would be: “You won’t find any. You’ve mixed up the branches of government.” Likewise, someone might say: “Having looked carefully, I can’t find any Eucharistic Prayers in the Lectionary.” Again, the correct answer would be, “You’re looking in the wrong book.” 2

EARLIER THIS MONTH, OCP PUBLICATIONS made an announcement both thrilling and troubling. The exciting part is that OCP will publish, before the end of 2014, more than 400 musical settings for Proper antiphons. But here’s the troubling part:

The OCP editions will be available by the end of the year. The original intent of OCP was to create an English Gradual, but ultimately they chose not to include the Offertory Antiphons since they do not exist in the current Missal.   [source]

The statement by OCP is bizarre. It’s like saying: “We’d planned to include the Prefaces but didn’t, because they do not exist in the current Lectionary.”

The fact is, the Prefaces are not found in the Lectionary. Similarly, the Offertory antiphons are not found in the current Missal: they’re found in the Roman Gradual. While it’s true that some Entrance & Communion antiphons are found in the Missal, those are intended for use in Masses without music. If you don’t understand, read this article. (If you don’t have time to read it, just glance at the amusing image!) When questioned further, the same person added:

I can tell you that this project has been a learning process for all involved. […] The concept and understanding of the Gradual was new to many of the OCP editors.

I admit this subject can cause confusion. For instance, here are eleven different collections of the Propers in English, and each is slightly different:

      * *  Eleven Electrifying Collections — Mass Propers in English

Anyone trying to make sense of the Ordinary Form Propers should obtain the Jogues Missal, which presents each Proper in a beautiful & clear way. Moreover, the formatting of every single page is absolutely unique:

905 Jogues IMAGE



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   The Sacramentary is often called a “Missal,” but that’s not an accurate term.

2   I wish somebody had explained this to me in 2005, when I began working for the Ordinary Form. The Extraordinary Form has just one book—the priest’s red Altar Missal—containing all texts necessary for the celebration of Mass.

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

Filed Under: Articles 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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 July 2025). 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 the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”
    All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser
    To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “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

Random Quote

In the United States, Archbishop Kenrick had said in his “Moral Theology” that it was acceptable to sing the “Véni Sáncte Spíritus” before the sermon.

— Monsignor Schmitt (1977)

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