“Quotation” • Pope Pius X on Plainsong

In a letter to Msgr. Callegari (1897), Giuseppe Cardinal Sarto—later POPE SAINT PIUS X—wrote as follows: “If I could only make the faithful sing the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei … that would be to me the finest triumph sacred music could have, for it is in really taking part in the liturgy that the faithful will preserve their devotion. I would take the Tantum Ergo, the Te Deum, and the Litanies sung by the people over any piece of polyphony.” Giuseppe Sarto, as Bishop of Mantua, personally copied (using a primitive duplicator) the sheet music necessary for the choir members, both in figured music and Gregorian chant.