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Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian Chant • Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel

Jeff Ostrowski · September 28, 2021

OPE LEO XIII—“the Pope of the Rosary”—had an exceptionally long reign. In fact, it lasted twenty-five years; the third longest in the history of the Church. He composed a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel (sometime around 1884) and ordered that all priests recite it after Low Mass as part of the “Leonine” prayers: Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host—by the power of God—cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

I never knew this prayer had been set to plainsong, but while working on the Brébeuf Hymnal, a member of the production team emailed me a 700-page book of Franciscan chants (see below), which contains a remarkable setting:

* *  PDF Download • Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel


Here’s a holy card drawing of Pope Leo XIII.

Be careful, because a “TI” becomes “TE” as shown here:

85030 Flat TE

After Vatican II, it became quite trendy to denigrate something called “Neo-Gregorian” chants. Since this setting was probably composed circa 1890, it would be surely be considered Neo-Gregorian. I can’t deny that some of the Neo-Gregorian melodies are pretty terrible compared to authentic chant. On the other hand, many scholars of chant were dismayed when the Graduale appeared in the early 1970s. It did eliminate the Neo-Gregorian melodies, certainly; but too often the “authentic” replacements were ill-suited to the great feasts of the Church. In other words, for powerful and bright feasts, the antiphons assigned were frequently rather “somber” and “ferial.” These same scholars, therefore, had their choirs reintroduce the Neo-Gregorian melodies, since doing so is explicitly permitted “ad libitum” by the rules of the Ordo Cantus Missae (1970). But let’s face it: Gregorian chant de facto disappeared after the Second Vatican Council, so it seems rather silly to argue about “Neo-Gregorian” vs. “authentic” melodies.

THE FULL TITLE of that Franciscan chant book mentioned earlier is: Cantus Varii In Usu Apud Nostrates Ab Origine Ordinis, Aliaque Carmina In Decursu Saeculorum Pie Usu Parta. You can download all 700 pages, and I encourage you to do so. It contains loads of cool stuff:

* *  PDF Download • Book of Franciscan Chants (21.1MB)

I wish I had this book in 2009, when I was presenting on the “white notes” (as Professor Joseph Lennards dubbed them), because it speaks about them in a lengthy introduction:

85033 MORA VOCIS

On the other hand, it might have been confusing, since that same Introduction does not adhere strictly to the “Pothier” treatment of morae vocis.

By the way, at the very end of the book, you’ll notice excerpts from the “corrupt” Reims-Cambrai edition of 1895. This reminds us what monks had to do when certain feasts were not available in the “reformed” chant, and was quite common. Dom Pierre Combe says Guéranger and Pothier initially sang from the Reims-Cambrai because “it was the least corrupt.” That is true…but it’s also possible they chose it because it was quite popular in France in those days.

This article was originally published on 6 April 2019.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Editio Vaticana Preface, Saint Michael the Archangel Last Updated: September 28, 2021

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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

    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)
    I stumbled upon this live recording of a PROCESSIONAL I played on the pipe organ in 2002. It’s an excerpt from a much longer composition by Sebastian Bach. In those days, there weren’t sophisticated recording devices allowing one “fix” wrong notes. (Perhaps they existed, but we didn’t have machines like that.) So it was necessary to play the entire piece from beginning to end. If you’re a church organist, feel free to download the PDF score. I suppose it’s only a matter of time until some joker uses “artificial intelligence” to play music at church … but there’s something so satisfying about playing an organ in real life.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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

Random Quote

“Young people have entrusted me with their absolute preference for the Extraordinary Form… […] But, above all, how can we understand—how can we not be surprised and deeply shocked—that what was the rule yesterday is prohibited today? Is it not true that prohibiting or suspecting the Extraordinary Form can only be inspired by the demon who desires our suffocation and spiritual death?”

— Cardinal Sarah to Edward Pentin (23 September 2019)

Recent Posts

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  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension
  • “Breathtaking Photographs” • First Mass of Father Michael Caughey, FSSP (Muskegon, MI)

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