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Views from the Choir Loft

Sound the Bell of Holy Freedom

Fr. David Friel · December 7, 2014

HE EXCITEMENT brewing over the next World Meeting of Families (WMOF) intensified a few weeks ago when Pope Francis confirmed that he will be attending the event. This will be the Holy Father’s first visit to the United States of America, and preparations are well underway. Our local church here in Philadelphia is already being energized by the plans for what organizers hope will be a very memorable week of activities.

Local coverage here in Philadelphia has been largely positive, calling to mind the memories of John Paul II’s historic visit to our city in 1979. Plans for the coming World Meeting & papal visit have also stirred up memories of the Eucharistic Congress held here in the bicentennial year 1976. Although I wasn’t alive to experience either of those events, I have listened many times as people—both Catholics & non-Catholics—have recalled the impact that one or both of those occasions had on their faith. We are hopeful that this World Meeting of Families will have the same sort of profound & lasting impact, not only in Philadelphia, but throughout our nation and the Americas.

Just over a week ago, the staff for the World Meeting rolled out the official hymn for the event, entitled Sound the Bell of Holy Freedom. You can go to the WMOF homepage to view the LYRICS of the hymn. You can also go to YouTube to listen to a VIDEO recording. Take note, also, of the WMOF 2015 Icon, pictured above.

The text of the hymn was written by a priest from Saint Norbert College, Fr. Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem. The hymn tune has been given the appropriate name PHILADELPHIA, and its meter is 87.87.87 (like PANGE LIGUA, ST. THOMAS, GRAFTON, PLEADING SAVIOR, etc.). Its composer is a very capable artist named Normand Gouin, who formerly served as music director of Old St. Joseph’s Church in Old City, Philadelphia (America’s “most historic square mile”). Recently, Norm took the position of Assistant College Chaplain & Director of Liturgical Music at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.

Gouin has a number of excellent published compositions for the sacred liturgy. Two of his best pieces are given an excellent review HERE. Among his compositions are several commissioned works, together with a few collections of choral antiphons appropriate for certain seasons (Lent, Advent, Easter, etc.). His Mass of Ss. Peter & Paul is one of the finest & sturdiest settings of the new translation of the Roman Missal I have encountered.

The idea of having an official hymn for a massive event like the WMOF makes sense, just as in the case of World Youth Days and similar occasions. In fact, it makes eminently more sense than the incorporation of hymns into Mass, since the native home of hymns, in the Catholic tradition, is not the Mass, but devotions & other non-liturgical settings. Popular religious hymnody has a great power to draw people together, to catechize, and to foster genuine piety. Hopefully this new hymn will serve those purposes well.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Hymns Replacing Propers, Marriage Synod, Pope Francis Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    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

Quick Thoughts

    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
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“If he converses with the learned and judicious, he delights in their talent—if with the ignorant and foolish, he enjoys their stupidity. He is not even offended by professional jesters. With a wonderful dexterity he accommodates himself to every disposition. As a rule, in talking with women (even with his own wife) he is full of jokes and banter.”

— ‘Erasmus on St. Thomas More (England’s 1st lay Chancellor)’

Recent Posts

  • Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?

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