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Corpus Christi Watershed

“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

PDF Download • SAB Setting of “Jesu Rex Admirabilis”

Guest Author · September 9, 2015

316 Rick Wheeler Church O MANY OPINIONS, so many choices; how does one format a Liturgy with so much music available? Well, in Littleton, Colorado, we have a pre-set format when it comes to chant—the Liber Usualis—and the rest is determined by a simple formula. That being said, Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s website/choir page is not a blog, but a place where soon all copyright-free music scores that the church offers (and we can edit for electronic transfer) will be available for musicians to download and use. I wanted to make sure word got out, and thanks to CCW that’s going to happen.

Before I go any further, here’s a brief sample of what Sacred music is like at our Colorado parish. As a bonus, you get a wonderful Palestrina score for SOPRANO-ALTO-BARITONE that might come in handy!

    * *  Mp3 Audio • “Jesu Rex Admirabilis”

    * *  PDF Download • “Jesu Rex Admirabilis”

I’m so very appreciative of the plethora of great traditional blogs that are online now. Some are quite radical, but many are helpful and show a great spirit of unification (real charity) in the church regarding not only in the EF but also in the post-conciliar Masses. I’d like also to offer my thanks to CCW for the great articles and blogs offered there. Many churches now resound with music due to the dedication of bloggers and musicians, all helping the faithful to raise their souls to God and Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Now, what that means is being faithful to rules regarding music for the Liturgy and there is where disagreement seems to begin.

There are lots of ideas online regarding what it takes to restore sacred music and I’ve found a great deal of those opinions helpful in planning any given Sunday. Our Lady of Mount Carmel decided to go with a very simple focus. Under the patient and holy direction of Fr. James Jackson we decided that a percentage focus on Chant/Polyphony/Hymns was necessary. Since the processional and recessional was sufficient to cover the hymns portion of the liturgy, we usually leave the hymnody to that place. Our Schola Cantorum sings the Gregorian Propers every Sunday unless there are polyphonic Propers that are part of the Mass of the day. Our Parish is supported by the wonderful priests of the Fraternity of St. Peter which means we get to have the EF Mass all the time and use the Liber Usualis for our calendar. During Holy Week we have full Gregorian Tenebrae in addition to the liturgies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday Vigil. Soon, we’ll be adding the Matins of Christmas. Recently we’ve acquired the rare and beautiful chants for that ceremony, and will soon post those for anyone to use. The treasures of the church are to be shared—we at OLMC firmly believe that—and so all our music editings are completely copyright-free, with only a Creative Commons request at the bottom. We have even had polyphony written for us in the late Renaissance style, and a CD of the live recording will be ready soon.

Here’s the choir of Our Lady of Mount Carmel singing an Ave Maria setting by Parsons:


So, chant 70% of the time, polyphony 20-25% of the time, and hymns at the ends and possibly 5% of the time during Mass. As the Second Vatican Council has asked…. chant (primacy of place) then/polyphony/hymns as commanded by Pope Pius XII and many other popes.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is located at:

5612 S. Hickory Street
Littleton, CO 80120


We hope you enjoyed this guest article by Rick Wheeler.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Last Updated: January 13, 2020

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President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —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

“In all this mediaeval religious poetry there is much that we could not use now. Many of the hymns are quite bad, many are frigid compositions containing futile tricks, puns, misinterpreted quotations of Scripture, and twisted concepts, whose only point is their twist. But there is an amazing amount of beautiful poetry that we could still use. If we are to have vernacular hymns at all, why do we not have translations of the old ones?”

— Fr. Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

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