Views from the Choir Loft

Holy Thursday (Years ABC)

Holy Thursday (Years ABC)

Readings & Propers from the SAINT ISAAC JOGUES PEW MISSAL.

Entrance Chant • (Years ABC)
Nos autem gloriári opórtet in Cruce Dómini nostri Jesu Christi: in quo est salus, vita et resurréctio nostra: per quem salváti et liberáti sumus. 1. Deus misereátur nostri, et benedícat nobis: illúminet vultum suum super nos, et misereátur nostri. 2. Ut cognoscámus in terra viam tuam: in ómnibus géntibus salutáre tuum. 3. Confiteántur tibi pópuli, Deus: confiteántur tibi pópuli omnes. (Gal 6: 14; Ps 66: 2-4)
(Score in English) • (Organ Accompaniment) • (Latin Rehearsal Video) • (Carmen Gregorianum)

Responsorial Psalm
Calix benedictiónis communicátio sánguinis Christi est.
(Responsorial Psalm in English) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Official Latin)
(Responsorial Psalm in Spanish) • (Rehearsal Video) • (USCCB Spanish)

Gospel Acclamation
Mandátum novum do vobis: ut diligátis ínvicem, sicut diléxi vos, dicit Dóminus. (Jn 13:34)
(Gospel Acclamation in English) • (Gospel Acclamation in Spanish) • (Official Latin)

After the Homily, there will be the MANDATUM (“Washing of the feet”).
During the Washing of the Feet, we will sing Ubi Caritas.

Offertory Antiphon • (Years ABC)
The traditional OFFERTORY for Holy Thursday is Psalm 117, and this is still an option according to the ORDO CANTUS MISSAE (with approval by Archbishop Bugnini dated 24 June 1972). • Therefore, we will sing Psalm 117.

Communion Antiphon • (Years ABC)
Hoc corpus, quod pro vobis tradétur; hic calix novi testaménti est in meo sánguine, dicit Dóminus: hoc fácite, quotiescumque súmitis, in meam commemoratiónem. (I Cor 11: 24-25)
(Score in English) • (Organ Accompaniment) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Carmen Gregorianum)
(Communion Antiphon in Spanish)

Procession to the Place of Repose

During the procession, “Pange Lingua”
by Saint Thomas Aquinas (not Fortunatus)
is page 348 in the Brébeuf Hymnal.

The same is printed in modern notation
on page 193 of the Saint Isaac Jogues
Illuminated Missal, Gradual, and Lectionary.

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).

“Truly Great Processional” • (Pipe Organ)

I stumbled upon this live recording of a PROCESSIONAL I played on the pipe organ in 2002. It’s an excerpt from a much longer composition by Sebastian Bach. In those days, there weren’t sophisticated recording devices allowing one “fix” wrong notes. (Perhaps they existed, but we didn’t have machines like that.) So it was necessary to play the entire piece from beginning to end. If you’re a church organist, feel free to download the PDF score. I suppose it’s only a matter of time until some joker uses “artificial intelligence” to play music at church … but there’s something so satisfying about playing an organ in real life.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Proof Which All Can Immediately See!

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” as the famous maxim goes. Over the years, I’ve observed malicious attacks on the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal. Rather than scoring a ‘hit’ on the Brébeuf Hymnal, its attackers often reveal profound ignorance. I’ve been advised never to reply … but I break that rule today. Certain voices online assert that the Brébeuf Hymnal is “untraditional” because it includes both the Urbanite and pre-Urbanite versions of the hymns. But if only they would glance at a copy of the 1913 VESPERALE (printed by order of Pope Saint Pius X) they would see how mistaken such statements are.

—Jeff Ostrowski

New Bulletin Article • “8 June 2025”

My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for the parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article includes a few anecdotes about Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Abraham Lincoln.

—Jeff Ostrowski

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