Remedial Catholicism through chant

I direct you attention to an entry at The Chant Cafe:

Simple Propers for All Souls

Posted by Adam Bartlett

Download them here

Note that the chants for the Feast of All Souls are the same as the Requiem (Funeral) Mass. What if we were to sing these instead of “On Eagle’s Wings” and “Amazing Grace” at our parish funerals?

Probably would make quite a difference.

I would also love some feedback on the Offertory “Domine Iesu Christe”. This is a tricky one to handle!

This could be a part of a program of therapy for a parish, for parochial remedial Catholicism.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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3 Comments

  1. RichR says:

    Propers are very remedial…..and go a long way to re-establishing a lost limb of the Mass. Many people nowadays just look at you funny if you talk about an Introit. One of the local parishes in town has requested we start using more of the propers at Mass. While it is a small challenge to learn these for each Mass, it is worth the extra effort.

    As far as All Soul’s Day, we are looking forward to singing the Propers from theLiber Cantualis and providing the congregation with a translation.

    Most parishes in our area are well formed in the faith due, in large part, to the high standards of catechesis set by the university student parish, St. Mary’s (College Station). Msgr. Mike Sis and Fr. Dean Wilhelm got that house in order back in the 90’s, and Fr. David Konderla has carried the torch of unabashed Catholicism. The result has been a surge of vocations (over 100 now, if I’m not mistaken). Bottom line: they embrace Purgatory and Praying for the Dead. One year, the priest even wore black vestments for All Soul’s.

  2. Gregg the Obscure says:

    There’s now a commercial for that uses a snippet of Mozart’s Requiem Mass music. A boomer I know asked why that music isn’t used in funerals anymore. I explained that the folks who make decisions about liturgy don’t much like the Dies Irae regardless of the setting. I quietly prayed to St. Jude.

  3. Tina in Ashburn says:

    These simple Propers are a great idea. No, wait – its actually the wish of the Church that these be sung, not hymns! Its proscribed!

    There is a lot of work to be done in the area of sacred liturgical music at Masses. This education MUST start with pastors and bishops. Without their support and understanding, the hapless director has little power to make the needed changes.

    Many bishops, priests, and laity view music choices as irrelevant and unimportant, a way to unnecessarily stir the pot in a parish stuck on inappropriate choices. What is supposed to be sung at Mass are the prayers of the Mass. We don’t need hymnals – the official song book of the Church is the Graduale Romanum [simply the prayers of the Mass set to chant]. But who knows this if the clergy doesn’t teach this? And who is teaching this to the clergy? The very men who need to learn these things are way too busy to attend chant workshops and seminars. And they certainly didn’t learn it in the seminary [with rare exception].

    Hymns at Mass became a backwash into our liturgy with the Reformation, sort of like “competing” with Protestants. Hymns typically belong to processions, benediction, devotions and observances outside of Mass. How simple would it make all the subjective arguing about music choices if we sang the prayers of the Mass?

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