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“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

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

    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 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 propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —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

It is clear the Church is facing a grave crisis. Under the name of “the new Church” and “the post-conciliar Church,” a different Church from that of Jesus Christ is now trying to establish itself: an anthropocentric society threatened with imminent apostasy which is allowing itself to be swept along in a movement of general abdication under the pretext of renewal, ecumenicism, or adaptation.

— Cardinal Henri de Lubac (29 August 1967)

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