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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

“Proper Of The Mass” (Ignatius Press) • Part 5 of 7

Andrew Leung · April 21, 2015

CTL Sameul Weber HIS PAST SUNDAY, my schola chanted the Introit from The Proper of the Mass for Sundays and Solemnities and it was absolutely beautiful. This collection of antiphons makes the sung Propers available to people with different levels of musical abilities. What a great contribution Fr. Samuel Weber has made to modern Church Music!

As artists, we have special appreciation for the beauty: beautiful music, works of art, architecture and of course, liturgical books. This is a hard-covered book with a simple, but nice, design on the cover. The book has about one thousand pages including a guide on reading chant notation. All the antiphons are printed very clearly and the prints are slightly bigger than the ones in the Graduale Romanum. Musicians are naturally attracted to beautiful things; and a beautiful chant book encourages singers to make use of the book.

It is very important to have beautiful liturgical books. The beauty of the books will draw people into the content of the book. It is more likely that people get interested in a nice book than missalettes with cheap paper and poor artwork. It is also more likely that singers would want to read from a chant book with clear printing than from a binder with hand-written scores.

That brings up another question: Is it better to have a hard copy of the book than a soft copy? I would say YES! It is true that technology allows us to bring many books with us on a phone, iPad, etc. However, there are also a lot of other data, games or messages on these electronic devices and they can distract us and take away the sacredness of the music. Reading from a hard copy of the book also avoid problems like “low battery”, “frozen screen”, and other technological errors.

This article is part of a series on Fr. Weber’s Book of Propers:

Part 1 • Andrew Motyka

Part 2 • Richard Clark

Part 3 • Veronica Brandt

Part 4 • Fr. David Friel

Part 5 • Andrew Leung

Part 6 • Dr. Lucas Tappan

Part 7 • Jeff Ostrowski

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Propers Ignatius Press by Fr Samuel Weber Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 19th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10 August 2025). 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 feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon
    This coming Sunday—10 August 2025—is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON is really gorgeous, and two of its features are worth mentioning. First of all, the Gospel reading assigned is from Saint Luke, whereas the the antiphon—although it matches the account—comes from Saint Matthew. (If anyone can point to a similar example, please notify me.) Furthermore, if you look at the authentic Gregorian Chant version posted on the feasts website, you’ll notice that it’s MODE III but ends on the ‘wrong’ note. A comparable instance of such a ‘transposed’ chant would be KYRIE IV.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
    Using “Ye” vs. “You” is rather tricky, because it depends upon which era one is trying to recreate—if that makes any sense. In other words, the rules haven’t always been the same for these two. Nevertheless, Father Philip George Caraman (the legendary Jesuit scholar) gives us a masterclass using Saint Luke’s Gospel. Father Caraman was close friends with Monsignor Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, and Sir Alec Guinness.
    —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 choir shall henceforth sing or say no anthems of our Lady or other Saints, but only of our Lord, and then not in Latin; but choosing out the best and most sounding to Christian religion they shall turn the same into English, setting thereunto a plain and distinct note for every syllable one: they shall sing them and none other.”

— 1548 Edict of King Edward VI (a heretic) for Lincoln Cathedral

Recent Posts

  • Is this what the new “Youth Mass” looks like?
  • “Music List” • 19th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon
  • Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
  • Installment #3 • “Serious Problems with the Lectionary Translation”

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