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Views from the Choir Loft

Terrific Pentecost Hymn You’ve Not Heard Before!

Veronica Moreno · May 13, 2023

EFFREY OSTROWSKI, the rather idiosyncratic president of our association, often claims to be “grief-stricken” when readers fail to explore the rehearsal videos for each individual voice provided free of charge at the Brébeuf hymnal website. I suspect he’s being hyperbolic, but I would agree that these rehearsal videos are an invaluable tool. Sometimes, the voice you hear on the individual tracks belongs to yours truly! Yesterday everning, I was pleased to assist with the ALTO TRACK. My friend, Claire Coulombe, provided the SOPRANO TRACK. The hymn is found at #710 in the Brébeuf hymnal. It’s an ancient text for Pentecost called Qui procédis ab utróque. The English translation (using an astonishingly elaborate rhyme-scheme) was composed by MONSIGNOR RONALD KNOX, the famous polyglot theologian.

Here’s what we came up with:

To access this hymn’s media in the Brébeuf Portal, click here.

More About This Text • Most of the Brébeuf hymns are in English, but the original Latin is provided alongside a literal translation. Examining the text, we observe the meter of the translation by Knox is identical to the one in Latin. Therefore, it would be quite simple to interchange them, and I would urge Mr. Ostrowski to consider doing precisely that, for his “Brébeuf extension series.” I know my children would appreciate learning this tune! (Since our family is bilingual, they have no difficulty whatsoever with Latin.) According to the Brébeuf hymnal, both text and melody were written by Adam of Saint Victor (d. 1146AD) a prolific composer of hymns and sequences. There is a plain-chant version (PDF), with a more somber character than the Brébeuf melody.

Organ Accompaniment? • Our organization is by far the leader when it comes to obtaining, scanning, and uploading rare Catholic treasures of sacred music. As my daughter plays the keyboard, I wondered if there were a book of organ accompaniments that contained Qui Procédis Ab Utróque. Sure enough, our organization had provided that! It’s in a 99-page collection of accompaniments by Henri Potiron, who was a professor at the Gregorian Institute in Paris:

*  PDF • CANTUS SELECTI + CANTUS VARII, Potiron Accomp. (99 pages)
—Accompagnement du Chant Grégorien pour les Bénédictions du Très Saint Sacrement (1934).

Protestants Use This Tune • According to the Brébeuf hymnal, the metrical tune is called: Alles Ist An Gottes Segen. Research reveals that Protestant books use this melody for feasts other than Pentecost. For example, I see that a 1913 hymnal by GEORGE RATCLIFFE WOODWARD (d. 1934) uses that sprightly tune for a Passion-tide hymn. That doesn’t seem quite right to my ear:

Magnificent Capital “Q” • This ancient Sequence, used in some countries on Thursday during the Pentecost octave, can be seen in many ancient manuscripts. Here is one from the 13th century, which certainly has the most beautiful capital “Q” I have ever seen:

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

Filed Under: Articles, Featured, PDF Download Tagged With: Henri Potiron, Holy Ghost Hymn, Monsignor Ronald Knox Traditional Mass, Splendid Pentecost Hymn Last Updated: May 13, 2023

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About Veronica Moreno

Veronica Moreno is married to a teacher and homeschools five children. She has been cantor at her local Catholic parish for over a decade.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —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

Ambrose and Prudentius took something classical and made it Christian; the revisers and their imitators took something Christian and tried to make it classical. The result may be pedantry, and sometimes perhaps poetry; but it is not piety. “Accessit Latinitas, discessit pietas.”

— Fr. Joseph Connelly (1954)

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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.

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