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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Is ‘Chant’ a Generic Word for ‘Sing’ ? • No!

Mark Haas · September 5, 2025

FEW YEARS AGO, I was reading an article by a prominent Catholic music publisher, authored by a prominent Catholic composer about the meaning behind the term “chant.” The article was attempting to reduce the term “chant” to a generic label, simply meaning “to sing.” According to this interpretation, any sung text—from folk tunes to contemporary praise songs—could be called “chant.” But this is a grave mischaracterization. In the context of the Catholic liturgy, “chant” has historically and consistently referred to a particular form: Gregorian chant, the musical treasure of the Church’s tradition. It is not merely a generic mode of vocal expression but a defined, sacred musical language formed and fostered within the heart of the Church.

Obscuring the Meaning • To call any form of liturgical singing “chant” is to obscure the meaning the Church has always attributed to Gregorian chant. This sacred repertory developed during the first millennium of Christian worship, shaped by monastic prayer, Roman liturgical practice, and the solemnity of the Latin rite. It is the fruit of contemplation and the intimate pairing of sacred text with sacred melody. Far from being one option among many, Gregorian chant is the liturgical music that the Church has most clearly and consistently privileged.

This point is not speculative or interpretive; it is affirmed in magisterial texts and conciliar documents. The Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, declares unequivocally: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as proper to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services” (SC, 116). This is not an offhanded remark but a doctrinal directive embedded in a key conciliar constitution. The phrase “pride of place” (or “principal place”, principem locum) indicates not merely preference but primacy—Gregorian chant is to be the normative sound of the Roman rite.

Comments from Popes • Pope Pius X, often considered the modern father of Catholic liturgical renewal, echoed this in his 1903 motu proprio, Tra le sollecitudini, writing:

“Gregorian chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music… [and] is the chant proper to the Roman Church, the only chant she has inherited from the ancient Fathers, which she has jealously guarded through the centuries in her liturgical books.”

For Pius X, chant was not simply a historical style but a living, central tradition—the standard by which all other liturgical music should be measured. Pope Paul VI continued this emphasis in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. In his 1974 document Jubilate Deo, he issued a small booklet of basic Gregorian chants and encouraged all parishes to learn them. This was not an act of nostalgia but of renewal.

“Would you therefore take steps to ensure that at least the minimum repertory of Gregorian chant is learned by the faithful and used in liturgical celebrations?”

He asked bishops around the world. Clearly, for Pope Paul VI, Gregorian chant was not an optional relic of the past but a necessary expression of the Church’s present worship. More recently, Pope Benedict XVI, in Sacramentum Caritatis (2007), reaffirmed this same teaching:

“The liturgical action is imbued with music… Certainly as far as the liturgy of the Latin Church is concerned, I desire, in accordance with the request of the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy.”

Again and again, the Church does not refer to chant in general but Gregorian chant in particular, as the ideal form of sung worship. Why this insistence? Why this specific focus on one style? Because Gregorian chant, more than any other form of music, is wedded to the liturgical text. It arises organically from the Latin language of the Roman Rite and serves to elevate the Word of God and the prayers of the Church without drawing undue attention to itself. Its melodic contour and rhythmic fluidity reflect the natural cadence of the sacred text, making it not merely music set to words, but music born from words. The Church prizes it not only for its antiquity, but for its fittingness, its sacrality, and its capacity to draw the worshiper into deeper contemplation.

Don’t Mince Words • To reduce the term “chant” to a generic synonym for “singing” is to flatten this rich heritage into a vague abstraction. Gregorian chant is not merely one option in a musical buffet. It is the musical voice of the Roman Rite, carefully cultivated over centuries, and held up by the Church as the most authentic and spiritually fruitful way of singing the liturgy. In an age of musical pluralism and personal taste, it is tempting to treat all sacred music as equally appropriate for Mass. But the Church does not share this relativism. She continues, even in the 21st century, to “beg” her musicians—not to quote one liturgist too strongly—to return to chant, not as a rejection of the new, but as a re-centering on the sacred. As Pope Pius X wrote, sacred music must “possess in the highest degree the qualities proper to the liturgy, especially holiness and goodness of form.” Gregorian chant exemplifies these qualities. It is with caution that we label everything “chant” and start recognizing, preserving, and singing what chant truly is: the preferred musical palette of the heavenly banquet.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: September 5, 2025

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About Mark Haas

Mark Haas is a composer and speaker whose music has been sung in over 600 parishes and 10 countries. He serves as the Music Director at Ave Maria Parish in Ave Maria, Florida where he lives with his wife and seven children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    (Part 2) • Did they simplify this hymn?
    Choirs love to sing the resplendent tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1929, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. Their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1929 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. As always, the Germans added an organ INTRODUCTION. For the record, I posted a different harmonization a few months ago which was downloaded more than 2,000 times.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF • “Lectionary Comparison Chart”
    Various shell corporations (in an effort to make money selling Sacred Scripture) have tinkered with the LECTIONARY texts in a way that’s shameful. It’s no wonder Catholics in the pews know so few Bible passages by heart. Without authorization, these shell corporations pervert the official texts. Consider the Responsorial Psalm for the 1st Sunday of Advent (Year A). If you download this PDF comparison chart you’ll notice each country randomly omits certain sections. Such tinkering has gone on for 60+ years—and it’s reprehensible.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Monsignor Klaus Gamber Speaks!
    An interesting quotation from the eminent liturgist, Monsignor Klaus Gamber (d. 1989): “According to canon law, a person’s affiliation with a particular liturgical rite is determined by that person’s rite of baptism. Given that the liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI created a de facto new rite, one could assert that those among the faithful who were baptized according to the traditional Roman rite have the right to continue following that rite; just as priests who were ordained according to the traditional Ordo have the right to exercise the very rite that they were ordained to celebrate.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Many other things most justly keep me in the bosom [of the Catholic Church]. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep, down to the present episcopate.”

— Saint Augustine (Epistle against Manichaeus)

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