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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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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

    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 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 propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —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

The People’s Hymnal suffers from a too literal and awkward translation. And even in the lovely Slovak “Memorare” in The Saint Gregory Hymnal we are still asked to sing “that anyone who sought thee, or made to thee his moan.” Why not “groan” or “bone” or even “phone?” The only thing necessary, it seems, is that it rhyme with “known.”

— Mons. Francis P. Schmitt (1958)

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