A Hymn We’re Singing This Lent—In English!

AVE YOU NOTICED what’s happening? Each week, rehearsal videos are being added to this website, so people can hear each line individually. Hymns can be sung SATB without organ accompaniment, or “German Style” (unison+organ), but can you keep a secret? Hymns also sound really good SATB with organ accompaniment, which is why the Brébeuf Choral Supplement matches the Brébeuf organ harmonies.

During Lent, my choirs have been singing #217 from the Brébeuf hymnal:

Hear each individual voice by visiting the Brébeuf website and scrolling to #217.

That hymn is Ex More Docti Mystico—an ancient, powerful Catholic hymn—translated into English by a talented Catholic priest from England. (You can also see what the plainsong version looks like.)

OME PEOPLE SAY the most wonderful thing about the Brébeuf hymnal is how it uses “common melodies.” These simple tunes make life easy on your congregation! Needless to say, anyone who wishes to add more tunes will have no troubles, since the Brébeuf hymnal contains hundreds. But other Catholic hymnals use common melodies as well. Have you heard of the People’s Mass Book (1964) published by Omer Westendorf? [Omer Westendorf used “J. Clifford Evers” as a pen name.] That book uses tons of common melodies—many of which appear in the Brébeuf hymnal, such as Ad Perennis Vitae Fontem, Dulce Carmen, Oriel, and tons more.

For example, do you recognize this tune?

That’s a page from the People’s Mass Book (1964). So the Brébeuf is hardly the first Catholic hymnal to utilize common melodies!