• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

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.”

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
    • Jeff’s Mom Joins Fundraiser
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Feasts Website
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Organ Accompaniments for “Lauda Sion Salvatorem” (Sequence)

Jeff Ostrowski · June 2, 2021

HE SEQUENCE for the feast of Corpus Christi was written by Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest. This prayer contains rich Eucharistic theology. Consider its twelfth verse: “Man cannot understand this, cannot perceive it; but a lively faith affirms that the change (which is outside the natural course of things) takes place.” Or what about verses 7 and 8? “At this table of the new King, the new law’s new pasch puts an end to the old pasch. The new displaces the old, reality the shadow, and light the darkness.”

I really hope you will read the entire poem; an English translation is provided alongside the musical notation:

*  PDF • “LAUDA SION SALVATOREM” (Organist)
—Organ Accompaniment by Marinus de Jong (d. 1984).

*  PDF • “LAUDA SION SALVATOREM” (Vocalist)
—With a literal English translation.

*  Mp3 Download • Rehearsal Recording (Mp3 File)
—Provided as an Mp3 in case you want to listen in your car.

Monsignor Franz Nekes: You can also try out a few more accompaniments, although none are as excellent as the one by Marinus de Jong (d. 1984) which was given above. Here’s how the Germans accompany the “Lauda Sion” Sequence:

*  PDF Download • Monsignor Franz Nekes
—Organ accompaniment by Monsignor Franz Nekes (d. 1914).

Dr. Peter Wagner: Staying with German school a bit longer, we have Dr. Peter Wagner (d. 1931), a student of Father Michael Hermesdorff at Trier. If memory servers, Wagner’s dissertation was on the secular music of Palestrina. He founded a special school for the study of Gregorian chant at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), and when his publications appeared in Francophone countries he often signed his name as Docteur Pierre Wagner, Professeur à l’Université de Fribourg or at other times as Le Docteur Pierre Wagner, Professeur de science musicale et de musique sacrée à l’Université de Fribourg. His students included: Joseph Gogniat, Father Charles Dreisoerner, and Dr. Karl Gustav Fellerer. I usually hate his organ accompaniments, but his harmonization of the “Lauda Sion” is quote nice. I just wish somebody had not vandalized it with a pencil:

*  PDF Download • Dr. Peter Wagner
—Par le Dr. P. Wagner, Membre de la Commission Vaticane de Chant Grégorien.

Dom Murray: Dom Andrew Gregory Murray (d. 1992) was a marvelous organist and composer who lived in England. Based on his many published attacks against Solesmes Abbey, he seems to have had quite an unpleasant personality—although in those days, polemics routinely got contentious. His organ compositions, however, are beautiful. Dom Gregory studied with Sir Richard Runciman Terry as a child, and later served as organist for Downside Abbey.

*  PDF Download • Dom Gregory Murray
—Organ accompaniment by Dom Andrew Gregory Murray (d. 1992).

Unknown Composer: It is not known which composer created this version. Perhaps a reader can supply this information?

*  PDF Download • Unknown Musician
—The one who created this harmonization is not known.

Henri Potiron: Henri Potiron (d. 1972) was choirmaster of Sacred Heart Basilica (Paris) and taught at the Gregorian Institute. He was friends with Dom Desrocquettes. Here is something rather peculiar: Dom Desrocquettes died the same year as Henri Potiron died, and was born the same year as Achille P. Bragers was born (viz. 1887). Potiron adheres to the Dom Mocquereau method, so he tries to make the accents: “Novúm paschá novaé legís…” Etc. etc.

*  PDF Download • Henri Potiron
—Organ accompaniment by Mæstro Henri Potiron.

Achille P. Bragers: Bragers studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium). He later taught at The Pius the Tenth School of Liturgical Music at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in New York. When Bragers studied at the Lemmensinstituut, his teachers were people like Edgar Tinel, Alfons Desmet, Aloysius Desmet and Oscar Depuydt. (By the way, Edgar Tinel was so jealous of the musicians chosen by Pius X to be part of the Editio Vaticana committee, he wrote them a very spiteful message.) When Bragers writes accompaniments, they are usually unobjectionable but somewhat dull and tedious. This might be called “prima prattica” of Lemmensinstituut. The days of Flor Peeters, Marinus de Jong, Monsignor Jules Vyverman, Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel, Gustaaf Nees, Henri Durieux, and Edgard de Laet might be called “seconda prattica” of the Lemmensinstituut. But Bragers never allowed his style to grow—that was his Achilles’ heel…

*  PDF Download • Achille P. Bragers
—This file has the “Lauda Sion” harmonized by Achille P. Bragers.

Father Green: Father Andrew Green (d. 1950) assisted Father Herman Koch with a 1942 collection called “Laudate Hymnal.” Dr. Horst Buchholz—Director of Sacred Music at the Cathedral and the Archdiocese of St. Louis—has expressed admiration for this hymnal, which uses many German melodies. Father Andrew was famous as a poet, musician, composer, author and teacher. He was part of St. Benedict’s Abbey in Atchison, Kansas. Father Green marks the “ictus” with little dots, but often ignores it, unlike Henri Potiron.

*  PDF Download • Father Andrew Green
—Organ accompaniment by Father Green, OSB.

Mr. Julius Bas: Julius Bas was engaged by Solesmes Abbey to compose accompaniments for the entire Editio Vaticana (“Vatican Edition”). He served as editor of the famous Rassegna Gregoriana.

*  PDF Download • Julius Bas
—Accompaniment by Julius Bas, who follows the Dom Mocquereau rhythm.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Corpus Christi Sequence, Dom Gregory Murray, Lauda Sion Salvatorem, Monsignor Franz Nekes, Organ Accompaniments Last Updated: June 2, 2021

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

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).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    New Bulletin Article • “21 September 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 21 September 2025) discusses some theological items—supported by certain verses in ancient Catholic hymns—and ends by explaining why certain folks become delirious with jealousy when they observe feats by Monsignor Ronald Knox.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!
    It’s always amusing to see old diocesan newspapers—in huge capital letters—advertising the Cheapest Catholic Paper in the United States. The correspondent who sent this to me added: “I can think of certain composers, published by large companies in our own day, who could truthfully brag about the most tawdry compositions in the world!” I wonder what she could have meant by such a cryptic comment…
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF Download • Dom Murray Harmonies
    Along with so many others, I have deep respect for Dom Gregory Gregory Murray, who produced this clever harmonization (PDF) of “O SANCTISSIMA.” It’s always amazed me that Dom Gregory—a truly inspired composer—was so confused when it came to GREGORIAN CHANT. Throughout his life, he published contradictory statements, veering back-and-forth like a weather vane. Toward the end of his life, he declared: “I see clearly that the need for reform in liturgical music arose, not in the 18th and 19th centuries, but a thousand years earlier—in the 8th and 9th centuries, or even before that. The abuses began, not with Mozart and Haydn, but with those over-enthusiastic medieval musicians who developed the elaborate and flamboyant Gregorian Chant.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Karl Keating • “Canonization Questions”
    We were sent an internet statement (screenshot) that’s garnered significant attention, in which KARL KEATING (founder of Catholic Answers) speaks about whether canonizations are infallible. Mr. Keating seems unaware that canonizations are—in the final analysis—a theological opinion. They are not infallible, as explained in this 2014 article by a priest (with a doctorate in theology) who worked for multiple popes. Mr. Keating says: “I’m unaware of such claims arising from any quarter until several recent popes disliked by these Traditionalists were canonized, including John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. Usually Paul VI receives the most opprobrium.” Mr. Keating is incorrect; e.g. Father John Vianney, several centuries ago, taught clearly that canonizations are not infallible. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen would be another example, although clearly much more recent than Saint John Vianney.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Vatican II Changed Wedding Propers?
    It’s often claimed that the wedding propers were changed after Vatican II. As a matter of fact, that is a false claim. The EDITIO VATICANA propers (Introit: Deus Israel) remained the same after Vatican II. However, a new set of propers (Introit: Ecce Deus) was provided for optional use. The same holds true for the feast of Pope Saint Gregory the Great on 3 September: the 1943 propers (Introit: Si díligis me) were provided for optional use, but the traditional PROPRIA MISSAE (Introit: Sacerdótes Dei) were retained; they weren’t gotten rid of. The Ordo Cantus Missae (1970) makes this crystal clear, as does the Missal itself. There was an effort made in the post-conciliar years to eliminate so-called “Neo-Gregorian” chants, but (contrary to popular belief) most were retained: cf. the feast of Christ the King, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and so forth.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Solemn “Salve Regina” (Chant)
    How many “S” words can you think of using alliteration? How about Schwann Solemn Salve Score? You can download the SOLEMN SALVE REGINA in Gregorian Chant. The notation follows the official rhythm (EDITIO VATICANA). Canon Jules Van Nuffel, choirmaster of the Cathedral of Saint Rumbold, composed this accompaniment for it (although some feel it isn’t his best work).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“The idea that the Roman basilica is the ideal design for a Christian church building because it made it possible for the priest and the people to face one another is complete nonsense. That would have been the last thing that the early Christians had in mind.”

— Father Louis Bouyer

Recent Posts

  • New Bulletin Article • “21 September 2025”
  • How do you pronounce this word in Latin?
  • Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!
  • Children’s Repertoire: “3 Recommendations”
  • PDF Download • Dom Murray Harmonies

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.