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Views from the Choir Loft

The Phrasing of the Sanctus

Fr. David Friel · February 7, 2016

E DISCUSS the Propers of the Mass often on these pages. Today’s first reading in the Ordinary Form, though, draws our special attention to part of the ordinary of the Mass: the Sanctus.

The reading is from Isaiah, chapter 6, wherein we read about Isaiah’s call to become a prophet. The story is recounted in terms of a vision that Isaiah experiences, which places God upon “a high and lofty throne.” In the midst of this sight, the Seraphim begin crying out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts!” This vision from the 8th century before Christ has been part of Jewish and Catholic worship ever since.

The grammar of this sentence is important, and it is one of the 2011 Roman Missal’s numerous improvements over the former Sacramentary. The Roman Missal gives this for the text of the Sanctus:

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts.

Formerly, the Sacramentary had given the text as follows:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might.

Leaving aside the imprecision of the translation, “God of power and might,” the more important correction in this text concerns the comma. Take note that there is no comma between “Lord” and “God of hosts.” This is not by accident. The Hebrew original is: Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh Adonai Tz’vaot. While the Hebrew language does not include punctuation such as commas, it is clear from context that the words Adonai Tz’vaot constitute a single title for God.

The comma between “Lord” and “God” in the Sacramentary, therefore, changes the sense of what is being prayed in the Hebrew original. On the rendering of the Sacramentary, “holy” is reduced to a mere adjective, describing “Lord.”

In the new missal, however, “Lord God of hosts” is understood as a unit, a single appellation for the Mighty One. The word “holy,” then, can also be understood not just as an adjective, but also as a sort of proclamation of God’s intrinsic otherness. It is a statement that the Lord God of hosts is sacred, sacred, sacred.

This understanding is also reflected in the NABRE Scripture translation: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts.” The inclusion of the verb to be brings out more fully the proclamational nature of the triple “holy” and the sense of “LORD God of hosts” as a single unit.

Attention should be given to the grammar of this statement by any composer who sets out to write music for the Sanctus. The musical phrasing should treat “Holy, holy, holy” as a unit distinct from “Lord God of hosts.” The same attention should be paid by singers, who should take the grammar of this sentence into consideration for proper phrasing and breathing.

This was not done in many of the published Mass settings that were quickly (and often clumsily) reworked to fit the 2011 re-translation of the Missal. Music directors, therefore, should be careful to consider this point when evaluating which setting of the Sanctus to sing.

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

Filed Under: Articles, Featured Tagged With: ICEL New Translation of the Roman Missal, Propers, Roman Missal Third Edition Last Updated: December 6, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —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

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— The Second Vatican Council (SC §31)

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