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

Corpus Christi Watershed

We’re a 501(c)3 public charity established in 2006. We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and run no advertisements. We exist solely by the generosity of small donors.

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • 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
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • 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
Views from the Choir Loft

Update (25 April) • “Forthcoming Spanish Hymnal”

Jeff Ostrowski · April 25, 2024

HE FOREMOST scholar of the early 20th century was FATHER ADRIAN FORTESCUE—England’s “PPP” (Peerless Polyglottic Polymath). Fortescue died in 1923, the same year as Abbat Joseph Pothier, the greatest Gregorianist since Guido d’Arezzo. When it comes to the subject of vernacular hymnody, it’s said that Abbat Pothier was shocked and dismayed when shown the doggerel found in some American hymnals. For his part, Father Fortescue wrote on 25 March 1916: “In nothing are English Catholics so poor as in vernacular hymns. The real badness of most of our popular hymns, endeared, unfortunately, to the people by association, surpasses anything that could otherwise be imagined. When our people have the courage to break resolutely with a bad tradition, there are unworked mines of religious poetry in the old hymns that we can use in translations. If we do, there will be an end of the present odd anomaly, that, whereas our liturgical hymns are the finest in the world, our popular ones are easily the worst.” And Father Francis Brunner 1 wrote something similar in 1953: “Catholics in America have been the heirs of a sentimental and subjective hymn tradition that, for some reason or other, has taken a deep and fast hold on the fancy of the average person. And no one has yet had the courage to do anything about the problem that is thus created.”

New Spanish Hymnal (1 of 3) • When the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal appeared, the problem of good hymns in English was solved—once and for all. One of the main authors for the Church Music Association of America Blog declared (6/10/2022) that the Brébeuf Hymnal “has no parallel and not even any close competitor.” But what about good hymns in Spanish?

New Spanish Hymnal (2 of 3) • We believe that Latino Catholics have been treated—broadly speaking—with contempt by the Catholic Church. They have been given “garbage” music with shoddy lyrics and uninspired, tedious, syncopated melodies. Indeed, many Spanish songs used in Catholic churches mindlessly repeat the same words over and over again.

New Spanish Hymnal (3 of 3) • Recently, we revealed details vis-à-vis a new Spanish hymnal. I won’t repeat everything that has already been said. As of this moment, the collection has not been given a title. Nor has any “date of publication” been announced—but exciting progress is being made each day. Indeed, this Spanish hymnody project has been decades in the making!

Consider this example, recorded yesterday morning:

Here’s the direct URL link.

English Translation for that Hymn:

1. Eternal king of the blessed,
creator of all things and the Father’s
co-equal Son from all eternity,
when the world was at its beginning

2. You created Adam and gave him
the image of Your own likeness,
joining a soul of noble destiny
with slime of the earth.

3. But when an envious, deceitful enemy
had covered mankind with the filth of sin,
You clothed Yourself in man’s flesh
and, a creator once again, gave man back
the beauty he had lost.

4. Once You were born of a virgin.
Now from from the tomb,
You command us, buried in sin,
to rise with You from the dead.

5. As our eternal shepherd
You wash Your flock in the
waters of baptism, where souls
are cleansed and sins are buried.

6. And as our redeemer, fastened to the
cross that we ought to have suffered,
You gave Your blood to the last drop
as the price of our salvation.

7. That You, O Jesus, may be
the unending paschal joy of their minds,
from the dreadful death of misdeeds
free those reborn to life.

8. To God the Father be glory,
and to the Son who from the dead
arose, and to the Paraclete,
unto everlasting ages.

Archbishop Bagshawe • One of the translators featured in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal was an Oratorian priest who became a bishop: viz. Edward Bagshawe (d. 1915). Verse six is particularly beautiful, and here’s how it was rendered by Bagshawe:

Thou—though to us the Cross was due—
Wast nailed upon its sacred wood,
And for salvation’s price didst give,
Unsparingly Thy Precious Blood.

1 Rev. Francis A. Brunner, C.SS.R. was Professor of Theology at Saint Joseph’s College in Kirkwood, Missouri. This priest-musician is remembered primarily for his English translation of Father Josef A. Jungmann’s enormously lengthy Missarum Sollemnia. Ten years ago, CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED scanned that book and made it available as a free PDF file.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Archbishop Bagshawe Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, Carmen Gregorianum, Josef A Jungmann Missarum Sollemnia, Missarum Sollemnia, Rev Fr Adrian Fortescue Liturgy, Spanish Hymnal for Catholics Last Updated: April 17, 2025

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

    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

“Dom Pothier does not belong to the dim past, as the silence which surrounds his name would lead one to believe. Only a few years separate us from the time when—growing old and heavily burdened by trials—Dom Pothier was concentrating his ever keen attention on the study of manuscripts in the Belgian place of retreat where his community had found refuge. For he was the abbot; and there can be no doubt that the cross he wore during those days was a cross of sorrow, though he bore it with a smile.”

— Dom Ermin Vitry, OSB (31-OCT-1936)

Recent Posts

  • Hidden Gem: Ascendit Deus (Dalitz)
  • PDF Download • Soprano Descant — “Hail, Holy Queen Enthroned Above”
  • “Dom Jausions had a skilled hand. His transcriptions are masterpieces of neatness & precision.”
  • Pope Leo XIV pays tribute to Palestrina
  • PDF Download • Palestrina’s “Ave Maria”

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.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up