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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

The Responsorial Psalm: What You Never Knew!

Guest Author · September 1, 2015

347 Replace Psalter ERE’S SOMETHING I bet you never realized: the Ordinary Form rubrics allow the responsorial psalm found in the Lectionary to be replaced by any other psalm. If this coming Sunday has psalm 25, you can replace it with psalm 56. If the following Sunday has psalm 68, you can replace it with psalm 104. Here’s the proof:

“In the Dioceses of the United States of America, instead of the Psalm assigned in the Lectionary, there may be sung … an antiphon and Psalm from another collection of Psalms and antiphons—including Psalms arranged in metrical form—providing that they have been approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop.”

—§61d of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal

I WANTED TO MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE, so I recently wrote to the USCCB. Here’s what they said (with their emphasis):

It seems pretty clear to me: “instead of the Psalm assigned…”. It appears that, yes, an entirely different Psalm can be chosen, so long as it comes from an approved source.

As someone who has labored—with very little success—to introduce the propers at my parish, this whole thing came as quite a shock. Why does almost every Catholic parish replace the propers each Sunday, but never the Responsorial Psalm? Whenever I try to promote the propers, people inevitably say, “The GIRM allows us to replace the propers; it’s called fourth option.” Yet, the GIRM also allows us to replace the Responsorial Psalm…

I was prepared to present my theory about why this is, before I submitted this guest blog. I was going to say that the liturgical books only give certain options, and not others. I was going to say something like, “Why isn’t there a book which provides the traditional Gradual psalm as an option? What about that?” However, before posting, the editor at CCW pointed out that the Jogues Missal does provide the Gradual as an option, although somehow my eyes never noticed this before:

349 Gradual


It turns out the Gradual is specifically listed by the GIRM as an option; sometimes it’s listed as 1st option, while other documents place it as 2nd, behind the Lectionary psalm. Perhaps I’m the only one who never knew about all this stuff…

If so, feel free to ignore my article!   🙂


We hope you enjoyed this guest article by J. Michael Ney.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Responsorial Psalm Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 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 Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”
    All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser
    To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.
    —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

Saint Phillip Neri founded a religious congregation called the Oratory. Animuccia was involved from early on and remained “maestro di capella” of the Oratory until his death. The Oratory was able to attract many musicians who volunteered their services, including the famous singer Francesco Soto de Langa from the Capella Sistina, the composer Palestrina, and probably the composer Tomás Luis de Victoria who lived in the same house as St. Phillip Neri for five years.

— Source Unknown

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