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Views from the Choir Loft

Essential Resources for Holy Week

Fr. David Friel · March 29, 2015

REPARING TO CELEBRATE a Sunday liturgy is a lot of work. The preparation requires several books, and it takes a bit of expertise to make them work together. The major books necessary are: the Roman Missal, the Lectionary, and the Graduale Romanum. Without all three of these resources, something will be missing in the Sunday celebration.

The preparation required to celebrate Holy Week well is even more extensive. In addition to the basic three essential books, Holy Week further requires the RCIA ritual book and a lesser-known document called Paschalis Sollemnitatis. This document is also known as the Circular Letter Concerning the Preparation and Celebration of the Easter Feasts, and it was published by the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1988.

The purpose of this Circular Letter is “to recall certain elements, doctrinal and pastoral, and various norms which have already been published concerning Holy Week” (#5). The Preface of the document makes clear that all the norms of the liturgical books for Holy Week retain their full force and that the contents of the letter are intended to deepen the understanding of those charged with preparing these liturgies.

The full letter is available HERE, in case you need it for a last-minute tune-up of what you have planned for this week. At the very least, save the link to reference it next year when the Paschal Triduum comes upon us again.

Knowing how to navigate all the required resources for celebrating the liturgy is hard work, but it is part of being a sacred musician. All the resources that are available through CCW and so many other organizations are welcome & valuable, but they can never replace the essential documents that govern the liturgy.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Holy Week, Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, RCIA Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Why do we never sing “De Spiritu Sancto” (St. Athenogenes) in our churches? There are a dozen translations in English verse. Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.

— Rev’d Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

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