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Corpus Christi Watershed

“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

PDF Download • “Label Your Luggage”

Jeff Ostrowski · July 17, 2020

N THE OLDEN DAYS, books and monographs were often added to other books, being bound together. For example, I posses copies of the 1851 Reims-Cambrai edition of Gregorian Chant bound together with supplements printed decades later. (Perhaps an expert in bookbinding could explain why this was done.) In any event, bound together with CHURCH MUSIC, by Sir Richard Runciman Terry, was this article by Father Robert Nash, SJ, with an IMPRIMATUR from 1943:

*  PDF Download • “Label Your Luggage” (1943)
—Religious instruction by Father Robert Nash, SJ.

While it doesn’t deal directly with church music, it does mention figures important to our readers: Cardinal Wiseman, Saint Noël Chabanel, and so on.

It also deals with being “known” by God—something many readers will remember Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen speaking about in his inimitable and powerful way:

Now the Judge, our Blessed Lord, looks into the soul in the state of Grace. He sees there the resemblance of His Nature, and just as a mother knows her child because that child shares her nature, so, too, God knows His own children by resemblance of Nature. If we are born of Him, He knows it. Seeing in that soul the Divine Likeness, the sovereign Judge says to us, “Come, ye blessed of My Father. I have taught you to pray Our Father. I am the Natural Son, you the adopted son. Come into the Kingdom I have prepared for you from all Eternity.” (Matthew 25:34)

Now let us look at the other soul. It does not possess the family traits of the Trinity, and as a mother knows that her neighbor’s son is not her own, because there is no sharing in her nature, so, too, our Lord, seeing in the sinful soul no likeness of His own can only say those words—terrible words, which signify non-recognition—“I know you not.” (Matthew 25:12) And it is a terrible thing not to be known by God.

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

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: 1887 Reims-Cambrai Graduale, Sir Richard Runciman Terry Last Updated: May 23, 2025

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    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
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —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

Nothing should be allowed that is unworthy of divine worship, nothing that is obviously profane or unfit to express the inner, sacred power of prayer. Nothing odd or unusual is allowable, since such things, far from fostering devotion in the praying community, rather shock and upset it—and impede the proper and rightful cultivation of a devotion faithful to tradition.

— Pope Paul VI • 10/13/1966

Recent Posts

  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars
  • Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
  • Pope Saint Paul VI to Consilium (14 October 1968)

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