Views from the Choir Loft

Jean de Brebeuf Hymnal

Jeff Ostrowski · November 6, 2018

PDF Download • “Pope Pius XII Hymnal” (1959)

Very few people have a copy of this incredibly rare Catholic hymnal.

Jeff Ostrowski · October 30, 2018

“Source Material” • The Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal

We assembled a staggering number of Catholic hymnals and selected only the very best material from each.

Jeff Ostrowski · August 27, 2018

PDF • Scottish Catholic Hymnal (453 Pages)

“Authorized by the archbishops and bishops of Scotland for use in the Scottish dioceses.”

Jeff Ostrowski · August 13, 2018

PDF Download • “Leeds Catholic Hymnal” (232 pages)

A hymnal out of print for fifty years has been scanned by Mr. Colin E. Jackson!

Jeff Ostrowski · July 22, 2018

Brébeuf Hymnal • “Behind the Scenes”

Creating a metrical translation like that, so very literal, is stupefyingly difficult.

Jeff Ostrowski · December 5, 2017

Rorate Caeli • “Very Ancient Catholic Song”

This Catholic hymnal was written by a priest named “Police.” (not kidding)

Jeff Ostrowski · September 27, 2017

Translations By Non-Catholics In A Catholic Hymnal?

The fear was that Protestant translators might distort the theology contained in the ancient Catholic hymns…

Jeff Ostrowski · October 24, 2016

PDF Download • Rare Hymnal by Organist at the Birmingham Oratory (1913)

Download all 572 pages—thanks to Peter Meggison!

Jeff Ostrowski · August 3, 2016

The “Long & Short” of Latin Hymns

Such underlay would be considered loathsome by composers like Guerrero. Indeed, it’s an impossibility!

Jeff Ostrowski · December 17, 2014

How Well Did Your Parents Know The Mass?

PDF Download: Order of Mass (Latin & English) printed in THE CROWN HYMNAL of 1911.

Jeff Ostrowski · October 7, 2014

PDF Download: Extremely Rare Catholic Hymnal From London (1948)

A 355-page collection of English hymns by musicians from Westminster and Solesmes.

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

“Yahweh” in church songs?

My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.

—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