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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

EF Divine Office Resource • Daily Recordings of Lauds

Guest Author · February 28, 2017

338 Jonathan Kadar Kallen MAGINE WAKING UP one morning and being able to listen to an mp3 of the day’s Lauds while you prepare breakfast or get ready for work. Or perhaps today you have time to spare, and can follow along with a handy translation from DivinumOfficium.com, or the chant notation from the PDF of the 1949 Antiphonale Romanum. Maybe it’s even your responsibility to get next Tuesday’s recording done and posted in time, like you signed up for. Sound unrealistic?

    * *  Dominus Regnavit Blog

You might be surprised. Since November 27th, 2016, the Dominus regnavit blog has indeed been posting daily recordings of sung Lauds, according to the liturgical books in effect in 1962. Not having a monastery on hand (and anyhow, using the Roman secular form of the office), this project is setup in such a way that everyone is encouraged to help out with providing the necessary recordings. And the great thing is, because the whole site is based on free resources, keeping the project going is quite as simple as making sure that someone will record and post the next mp3. (It could be you!)

Be that as it may, whether you incline to listen to a day’s Lauds, poke around the explanatory materials, or consider contributing a recording, I hope you may find this new blog project a useful contribution to the many great chant resources already available. Do stop by sometime!

I would like to append, as something of a footnote to the picture which accompanies this article, a passage quoted in Britt’s The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal (1922):

“Cock-crowing had for the early Christians a mystical significance. It said ‘The night is far spent, and the day is at hand.’ And thus the cock became, in the Middle Ages, the standing emblem of the preachers of God’s word. The old heathen notion that the lion could not bear the sight of the cock, easily adapted itself to this new symbolism. Satan, the roaring lion (I Peter 5, 8) fled away terrified, at the faithful preaching of God’s word. Nor did it pass unnoticed, that this bird, clapping its wings upon its sides, first rouses itself, before it seeks to rouse others.”

Thus, for example, it is still sung as part of the hymn for Sunday Lauds in the fall and winter months, “Gallo canente spes redit. / At the crowing of the cock, hope returns.”

…which is a cheering thought.


We hope you enjoyed this guest article by Jonathan Kadar-Kallen.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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President’s Corner

    (Part 2) • Did they simplify this hymn?
    Choirs love to sing the resplendent tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1929, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. Their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1929 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. As always, the Germans added an organ INTRODUCTION. For the record, I posted a different harmonization a few months ago which was downloaded more than 2,000 times.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF • “Lectionary Comparison Chart”
    Various shell corporations (in an effort to make money selling Sacred Scripture) have tinkered with the LECTIONARY texts in a way that’s shameful. It’s no wonder Catholics in the pews know so few Bible passages by heart. Without authorization, these shell corporations pervert the official texts. Consider the Responsorial Psalm for the 1st Sunday of Advent (Year A). If you download this PDF comparison chart you’ll notice each country randomly omits certain sections. Such tinkering has gone on for 60+ years—and it’s reprehensible.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Monsignor Klaus Gamber Speaks!
    An interesting quotation from the eminent liturgist, Monsignor Klaus Gamber (d. 1989): “According to canon law, a person’s affiliation with a particular liturgical rite is determined by that person’s rite of baptism. Given that the liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI created a de facto new rite, one could assert that those among the faithful who were baptized according to the traditional Roman rite have the right to continue following that rite; just as priests who were ordained according to the traditional Ordo have the right to exercise the very rite that they were ordained to celebrate.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Many declare that Vatican Council II brought about a true springtime in the Church. Nevertheless, a growing number of Church leaders see this “springtime” as a rejection, a renunciation of her centuries-old heritage, or even as a radical questioning of her past and Tradition. Political Europe is rebuked for abandoning or denying its Christian roots; but the first to have abandoned her Christian roots and past is indisputably the post-conciliar Catholic Church.

— ‘Pope Francis’ Chief Liturgist (31 March 2017)’

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