ROWING UP, I remember one of my dad’s secretaries had a coffee cup that said: “I’m so far behind, I think I’m ahead.” So many liturgical changes have been imposed during the last 70 years … can we blame congregations for being confused? To be completely honest, the sacred liturgy was plenty complicated before the vernacular was introduced. Now (before each ceremony) the conscientious choirmaster must ask: (A) Which items will be sung? (B) Will a choir, soloist, or congregation sing these—and if ‘yes’ where can the requisite musical scores be found? (C) Will each item be sung in Latin, Spanish, English, Greek, or Vietnamese? (D) Depending on what language is chosen, are current approved translations available? (E) If suitable musical scores can be obtained, are there keyboard accompaniments in the correct key? (F) And so forth.
Sprinkling Rite • But complaining won’t help. We must simply do the best we can with what we have. To that end, this morning I composed harmonizations for the SPRINKLING RITE, which is mandatory in the Ordinary Form during the Easter Vigil. Priests often choose it for use on Easter Sunday as well, although the Roman Missal, Third Edition does not require that:
* PDF Download • SPRINKLING RITE—Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
—Including organ accompaniment on pages 2-3.
Note: To make it easy to find, I added the musical score and rehearsal video for the SPRINKLING RITE to the flourishing feasts website. Simply click on: “Easter Sunday.”
Sprinkling Rite • When the 1970 Missale Romanum was released, it included four (4) options for the SPRINKLING RITE. Later on, it added another—bringing the total options to five. When it comes to the texts for the SPRINKLING RITE, they’re ‘hidden’ in an appendix toward the back of the MISSALE ROMANUM:
