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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download: “67 Hymns” Arranged & Translated by Rev. Adrian Fortescue (1913)

Jeff Ostrowski · March 2, 2015

199 Adrian Fortescue Hymns 1913 T WOULD BE extremely difficult to find a more powerful book than the one below. Numbering 167 pages, it was titled by Fr. Adrian Fortescue as: “Latin Hymns sung at the Church of Saint Hugh in Letchworth.”

* *  HYMNS • Arranged/Translated by Fortescue (1913)

Fortescue’s book was produced with great care. I have some experience here, since I was a consultant for the Jogues Illuminated Missal. (You can view samples of our typesetting by going here and scrolling to the bottom.) Moreover, Fortescue adds fantastic notes about the writers; notes which are extremely succinct yet valuable. And the translations by Fortescue are truly splendid. I cannot help but think of this hymn collection as his life’s great masterpiece.

Compline is included. These sixty-seven hymns represent the basis of Catholic hymnody. Among them: O Lux Beata Trinitas (St. Ambrose); Luminis Fons (Alcuin of York); Te Decet Laus (Apostolic Constitutions); Corde Natus Ex Parentis (Prudentius); Alma Redemptoris Mater (Herimann the Lame); Vexilla Regis (Venantius Fortunatus); and so many more.

An excerpt from the Introduction by Fortescue:

E HAVE ALSO a number of beautiful hymns about the Blessed Sacrament, our Lady, the Church, and so on. But if people do not understand what is sung, to them all this is lost. To find each hymn and antiphon you would need quite a large collection of books. So I have gathered together all the hymns and chants which we usually sing, with a double purpose. First, that anyone who knows the tune may join the singers; secondly, that those who do not sing may be able to follow, to know what is being sung. Every text has an English translation on the opposite page. If anyone does not understand Latin, he can use the translation as his own prayer and so join in intention with those who sing.

Here’s a photograph of Fr. Adrian Fortescue circa 1922.

Title of of Book: Father Adrian Fortescue’s 1913 “Hymnal for Saint Hugh”

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Fortescue Hymnal, Roman Catholic Hymnals, Saint Hugh Hymnal Last Updated: March 21, 2024

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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

    How Well Does ICEL Know Latin?
    This year, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June 2025) will fall on a Sunday. It’s not necessary to be an eminent Latin scholar to be horrified by examples like this, which have been in place since 1970. For the last 55 years, anyone who’s attempted to correct such errors has been threatened with legal action. It is simply unbelievable that the (mandatory) texts of the Holy Mass began being sold for a profit in the 1970s. How much longer will this gruesome situation last?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Is the USCCB trolling us?
    I realize I’m going to come across as a “Negative Nancy” … but I can’t help myself. This kind of stuff is beyond ridiculous. There are already way too many options in the MISSALE RECENS. Adding more will simply confuse the faithful even more. We seriously need to band together and start creating a “REFORM OF THE REFORM” Missale Romanum so it will be ready when the time comes.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Common” Responsorial Psalm?
    I try to avoid arguing about liturgical legislation (even with Catholic priests) because it seems like many folks hold certain views—and nothing will persuade them to believe differently. You can show them 100 church documents, but it matters not. They won’t budge. Sometimes I’m confronted by people who insist that “there’s no such thing” as a COMMON RESPONSORIAL PSALM. When that happens, I show them a copy of the official legislation in Latin. I have occasionally prevailed by means of this method.
    —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

“There are some so restless that when they are free from labour they labour all the more, because the more leisure they have for thought, the worse interior turmoil they have to bear.”

— Pope Gregory the Great

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  • Nobody Cares About This! • 1887 Rheims-Cambrai Gradual included “Restored” Plainsong
  • Is the USCCB trolling us?
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  • “Common” Responsorial Psalm?

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