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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

Jaw-Dropping Liturgical Manuscripts (7,055 Pages)

Jeff Ostrowski · April 6, 2015

998 Holy Sacred MSS HY DO WE LOVE our liturgical history? Does this love of ours truly make us “partakers of idolatry,” as the founder of the Mundelein Liturgical Institute recently asserted?

I don’t believe so. Our desires are natural and pleasing to God. We wish to pray using the exact same words—on the exact same days—as so many saints did. 1

Many now recognize that the innovations of Bugnini’s Consilium have impoverished the Roman Rite and were not faithful to the decrees of Sacrosanctum Concilium. This is due in large part to the internet, which has made available ancient manuscripts. Catholics can now see with their own eyes the antiquity of our liturgy.

Download 7,055 pages of ancient manuscripts below. They were made available 2 by Heinrich Heine University, and you can obtain high resolution versions by searching. The EF liturgy matches these manuscripts 98% of the time; whereas the OF liturgy sometimes 3 does not match.

Whenever possible, we have an obligation 4 to provide excerpts of ancient manuscripts for our choirs and congregations. Remember, the books below are just the tip of the iceberg!


MS-D-1 • Sacramentary … circa 867AD

506 pages.   Click here for a screenshot showing part of a page. That green circular thing is the famous “Vere Dignum Et Justum Est” monogram.


MS-D-3 • Missale … circa 955AD

621 pages.   Click here for a screenshot. Notice the drawing of Saint Augustine, as well as the famous monogram featured in the Jogues Lectionary.


MS-D-5 • Missale … circa 1507AD

267 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-6 • Cistercian Graduale … circa 1173AD

377 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-10A • Graduale … circa 1285AD

436 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-10B • Book of Hours … circa 1466AD

285 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-11 • Graduale … circa 1372AD

1,397 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-12 • Graduale … circa 1424AD

705 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-14 • Antiphonale/Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1573AD

439 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-19 • Cistercian Graduale … circa 1491AD

317 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-20 • Graduale … circa 1507AD

241 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-27 • Graduale (Summer Section) … circa 1481AD

189 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-30 • Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1502AD

427 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-32 • Cistercian Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1552AD

431 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


MS-D-35 • Graduale (Winter Section) … circa 1545AD

417 pages.   Click here for a screenshot.


UPDATE •   From a reader:

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has made much available. Go to bsb-muenchen.de and search for e.g. Graduale, limit the search to “online resources” time to before 1600 (or whatever pleases you), and go wild. They have a wonderful policy in that whoever first asks for a digitalization of a particular manuscript pays for it and afterwards they put it online for free. Sample screenshot.

As I mentioned, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Saint Gall library also has thousands of online images.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Moreover, our hearts and minds are lifted to God by the glorious artwork & melodies of our Catholic heritage.

2   The language and website—based in Düsseldorf—can be intimidating for Americans, so a former student kindly created the Google links you see on this page. Be sure to obey usage regulations posted on the Heinrich Heine website.

3   For instance, the Ordinary Form uses the Gradual antiphons for sung Masses, but uses the Missal antiphons for spoken Masses. The Gradual antiphons are ancient, whereas many of the “spoken” propers were created in 1969.

4   The Jogues Lectionary provides stunning manuscripts for the congregation to enjoy—as does the Campion Hymnal—both in full color. Congregations love seeing these!

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Graduale Romanum Roman Gradual Propers, Medieval Manuscripts, Sung Vs Spoken Propers Novus Ordo Last Updated: May 6, 2021

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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

    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 27th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 5 October 2025, which is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). 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 spectacular feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin. Readers will want to check out the ENTRANCE CHANT posted there, which has a haunting melody (in the DEUTERUS MODE) and extremely powerful text.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Kids’ Choir Sings Thomas Aquinas
    Last Sunday, a children’s choir I’m teaching sang with us for the very first time at Sunday Mass. Females from our main choir sang along with them. If you’re curious to hear how they sounded, you can listen to a ‘live’ recording. That’s an English version of TANTUM ERGO by Saint Thomas Aquinas. That haunting melody is called GAUFESTRE and was employed for this 2-Voice Arrangement of a special hymn for 9 November (“Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome”) which replaces a Sunday this year.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Reminder” — Month of September (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Did they simplify these hymn harmonies?
    Choirs love to sing the famous & splendid tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1952, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. In other words, their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1952 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. I really like the groovy Germanic INTRODUCTION they added.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The liturgy needed reform by 1965; there was no call for dismantling it. It was intended that the vernacular would enhance the Latin, not supplant it. It was not, emphatically, the mind of the Council Fathers to jettison Gregorian Chant, or to encourage the banal secularization of Church music, so as now to surpass in crudity the worst aberrations of the Howling Pentecostals.”

— Most Rev’d Robert J. Dwyer, Archbishop of Portland (9 July 1971)

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