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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • St. Cecilia Hymnal (1937)

Jeff Ostrowski · July 20, 2016

297 SAINT CECILIA HYMNAL AM CURRENTLY working on a hymnal project, which—among other things—entails pouring through thousands of pages from old Catholic hymnals. Some hymns I discover are sentimental and low quality, while others are quite inspiring. Whenever possible, I’ll share these books with our readers.

Some of our planned releases will astound you! On the other hand, some books are interesting primarily from a Catholic historian’s point of view, and the following probably falls into that category:

    * *  PDF • SAINT CECILIA HYMNAL (1937)

Like all the books we release, this extremely rare hymnal was previously unavailable until we placed it online. If you appreciate books like those we’ve placed in the Lalande Library or our Hymnnal Tome, please consider donating $5.00 per month, using the button on the upper right called “DONATE.”

I WAS TOUCHED by the inscription J. Alfred Schehl placed inside his 1927 (1937) hymnal:

In loving memory of My Mother
who first taught me many of the melodies
contained in this volume,
and whose love of the true and beautiful
was always an inspiration,
this work is dedicated.

My favorite hymns are often those I learned as a child; and I’m sure most of you feel the same!

Schehl’s book certainly contains hymns I had not previously known, such as the following text:

294 O Lord Who Dares To Smite Thee


You might want to explore the (somewhat bizarre) “Short and Easy Mass” purportedly arranged from a Saint Gall chant by Oswald Joos:

293 Short And Easy Mass Oswald Joos St Gall


Like most other hymnals from this period, the book contains a fair amount of plainsong with accompaniment, such as “Asperges Me,” Mass VIII, etc.

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Hymnbooks, Roman Catholic Hymnals 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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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

“At the hour for the Divine Office, | as soon as the signal is heard, | let them abandon whatever they may have in hand | and hasten with the greatest speed, | yet with seriousness, so that there is no excuse for levity. | Let nothing be preferred to the sacred liturgy.”

— Rule of St. Benedict (Chapter 43)

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