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Views from the Choir Loft

Remarkable Quote About Low Mass

Jeff Ostrowski · July 27, 2018

HE PREFACE to the 2013 edition of the Saint Edmund Campion Hymnal discusses multifarious customs that existed in the past with regard to hymns sung during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In some places, the customs were pretty disturbing. It was important to provide verbatim quotes from actual journals before Vatican II—and our Preface did precisely that:

88109 Low Mass Hymns


URING A LOW MASS, THERE IS USUALLY TIME for four hymns—one from the beginning of Mass up to or through the Gospel, but certainly to be finished by or before the end of the Gospel Reading, so as not to interfere with or delay the making of announcements or the preaching of the sermon. A second hymn can be started at the Credo; another after the Elevation, and the last one during Communion, to end with the last Gospel for the prayers after Mass.
—Caecilia Magazine of Catholic Church Music, 64: 4 (1937)


Yikes! A Mass offered like this must have taken no more than 25 minutes. And how inappropriate to say it’s okay to “sing over” the entire Mass…just don’t delay the announcements!

This particular quote does not accurately represent the universal praxis before Vatican II. However, it’s sad to know that Mass was offered like this in some places.

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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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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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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