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Views from the Choir Loft

In This Regard, The EF Cannot Compare To The OF

Jeff Ostrowski · May 1, 2015

N THE ORDINARY FORM, the “sung propers” don’t always match the “spoken propers.” In this regard, the EF cannot compare to the OF. However, some trivial differences do exist between the “sung” and “spoken” versions in the Extraordinary Form.

For example, the “spoken form” is CUM VENERIT:

841 Cum Venerit Paraclitus


However, the “sung version” in the Graduale—which often comes from a more ancient version called the Itala—has DUM VENERIT:

840 Dum Venerit


That’s the Communion for this Sunday. If you look at the Offertory verses for last Sunday, you’ll notice three possible versions:

Carl Ott’s Offertoriale: “Qui custodit veritatem in saeculum; faciet judicium injuriam patientibus; dat escam esurientibus.”

Rupert Fischer’s Offertoriale: “Qui custodit veritatem in saeculum; faciens judicium injuriam patientibus; dat escam esurientibus.”

St. Jerome’s Vulgata: “Qui custodit veritatem in saeculum; facit judicium injuriam patientibus; dat escam esurientibus.”

They all mean basically the same thing:

«Who will execute judgment for them that suffer wrong.»

«Who is executing judgment for them that suffer wrong.»

«Who executes judgment for them that suffer wrong.»

To view a meme about sung vs. spoken, click here.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Sung Vs Spoken Propers Novus Ordo Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

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 Los Angeles.—(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

They were not ashamed to lay their hands on Sedulius, on Prudentius, on St. Ambrose himself. Only in one or two cases does some sense of shame seem to have stopped their nefarious work. They left “Ave maris stella,” “Jam lucis orto sidere,” and St. Thomas Aquinas’s hymns alone (they would have made pretty work of “Sacris solemniis”). In 1629 their mangled remnants were published.

— Rev’d Adrian Knottesford Fortescue (25 March 1916)

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