Views from the Choir Loft

New Website! • “Restore The 1954 Holy Week”

Corpus Christi Watershed · March 31, 2021

The following is a guest article by Miss Lydia Friedmann.

OT TOO LONG AGO, a Facebook page called “Restore the 54” was launched to educate the public about Holy Week prior to the 1955 reforms. The Facebook page is run by Mr. Gregory DiPippo (a Roman tour guide who currently edits the NLM blog after Jeffrey Tucker retired) as well as an Australian gentleman, Mr. Ronan Reilly (who currently teaches at Saint Philomena, an SSPX grade school). I readily admit I spend way too much time on Facebook, and I need to consider reducing. Anyway, they have recently launched an interesting website which provides free PDF files related to the sacred liturgy:

* New Website • “Restore The ’54” .com

It seems many of our PDF files (several of which I helped to meticulously scan) have been added to their website:

Others besides myself, such as Susan Rodriguez, Kristen Ostrowski, and Sarah Halas, have assisted in scanning our PDF books.

Examples of books which were scanned and uploaded by Corpus Christi Watershed:

ANTIPHONALE MONASTICUM (1934)

The scanned copy they uploaded to their website is a scan we made of a book which formerly belonged to Monsignor Robert A. Skeris.

FATHER LASANCE HAND-MISSAL (1937)

This was one of the very first books Corpus Christi Watershed scanned, and we hope someone will “clean” what we have done.

GRADUALE ROMANUM (1908)

About thirteen years ago, Corpus Christi Watershed provided the first online copy of the 1908 Graduale Romanum by the Vatican Press. In January of 2020 we scanned and uploaded the extremely rare and magnificent Solesmes 1908 edition, which was as scarce as hen’s teeth.

Note: We place unique “identifiers” on certain PDF pages so we can always know which scans belong to us—in order to better know the areas in which we are assisting the Catholic Church.

We are glad they are helping to promote the sacred liturgy. At the same time, perhaps those who created the website could mention that Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity which has no endowment and no major donors. We can only continue to scan books like that if more Catholics pledge $5.00 per month.

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

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“Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 5th Sunday of Easter (18 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The Communion Antiphon was ‘restored’ the 1970 Missale Romanum (a.k.a. MISSALE RECENS) from an obscure martyr’s feast. Our choir is on break this Sunday, so the selections are relatively simple in nature.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)

This coming Sunday—18 May 2025—is the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C (MISSALE RECENS). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON “Ego Sum Vitis Vera” assigned by the Church is rather interesting, because it comes from a rare martyr’s feast: viz. Saint Vitalis of Milan. It was never part of the EDITIO VATICANA, which is the still the Church’s official edition. As a result, the musical notation had to be printed in the Ordo Cantus Missae, which appeared in 1970.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker