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

Corpus Christi Watershed

Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”

  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • 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
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Professionally-Scanned “Missale Romanum” (1957) with American Feasts

Jeff Ostrowski · August 7, 2023

HERE’S AN OLD SAYING: “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.” Are you someone who constantly makes mistakes? I am. Do you learn from your mistakes? That’s the key. I constantly make mistakes, but it’s okay because I learn from them. For example, I created an organ accompaniment for VESPERS on the Feast of the Transfiguration. During the process of creating it, I tried tons of new techniques. Some worked; many didn’t. Then, while I was accompanying VESPERS yesterday, the organ broke halfway through! But it’s all fine, because the booklet will be ready for next year—and everything I learned will be helpful next time I make a booklet:

*  PDF Download • TRANSFIGURATION BOOKLET (25 pages)
—Organ Accompaniment Booklet • 6 August • VESPERS.

Hymn for the Transfiguration • Moreover, I was able to add a Latin version of “Quicúmque Christum Quǽritis” at the bottom of this website for choirs forbidden to sing in English. I have often declared that the Vespers hymn for the Sacred Heart contains more hyper-metric syllables than any other—but I see that “Quicúmque Christum Quǽritis” is a close second. Indeed, there’s something funky about its hyper-metric syllables, in particular the word “óculos.” Most occur in the same spot, which leads me to believe its “original” melody might have something to do with this. You can see how “Quicúmque” appeared in the edition by Abbat Pothier’s student if you click here. The Gregorian melody is not one of my favorites. I find it hard for congregations to sing well and a little too “dark.”

Historic Release! • Today, we release something quite remarkable. It’s a special edition of the “Missale Romanum” printed in Turin—with North American feasts in a supplement—by the MARIETTI PUBLISHING COMPANY in 1957:

*  PDF Download • MISSALE ROMANUM (Turin, 1957)
—Beware! This file is 1.58GB.

39122-Missale-E
39122-Missale-k
39122-Missale-F
39122-Missale-l
39122-Missale-C
39122-Missale-G
39122-Missale-B
39122-Missale-A
39122-Missale-H

Liturgical Changes! • I feel bad for the MARIETTI PUBLISHING COMPANY. They went to immense trouble in order to include the Pius XII Holy Week, which was first used in 1956. However, just a few years later the entire book would become obsolete. The amount of liturgical changes made during the 20th century are staggering. Pope Saint Pius X made many liturgical changes. In my humble opinion, the way he restored the ancient TEMPORALE was praiseworthy. After Pius X, you had new prefaces and feasts added. Pope Pius XII then made innumerable changes to the liturgy. The 1960s brought more changes, as did the 1970s. Indeed, the Abbey of Solesmes refused to incorporate the 1961 rubrical changes made by Pope Saint John XIII in their famous LIBER USUALIS. I believe the reason they refused is because it would’ve required enormous effort, and everything was about to change again! It’s almost as if Solesmes Abbey (given charge of all official Vatican plainsong editions beginning in 1913) was saying to the Vatican in 1961:

“Let us know when you get your house in order. Only then will we begin laboriously implementing these incessant ‘improvements’ you are constantly making to our liturgical books.”

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Tagged With: Quicumque Christum Quæritis Last Updated: August 8, 2023

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

    “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
    “Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Easter
    You can download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. The English adaptation matches the authentic version (Misericórdia Dómini), which is in a somber yet gorgeous mode. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I tried to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music List • “Repertoire for Weddings”
    Not everyone thinks about sacred music 24/7 like we do. When couples are getting married, they often request “suggestions” or “guidance” or a “template” for their musical selections. I created this music list with repertoire suggestions for Catholic weddings. Please feel free to download it if you believe it might give you some ideas or inspiration.
    —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

After ordering the bishops to appoint in each diocese “special commission of persons who are really competent in the matter, to whom they will entrust the duty of watching over the music performed in the churches in whatever way may seem most advisable,” Pope Pius X continues—“this commission will insist on the music being not only good in itself, but also proportionate to the capacity of the singers, so that it may be always well executed.”

— Dom Alphege Shebbeare (Downside Review)

Recent Posts

  • “Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
  • Cardinal Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) “Privately Offered the TLM in His Private Chapel”
  • “Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Easter
  • Reader Feedback • Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” at a Nuptial Mass?
  • Music List • “Repertoire for Weddings”

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.