“The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church.” With these words Pope John Paul II opened his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia.
The Second Vatican Council said that sacred music “is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as a combination of sacred music and words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 112).
In our liturgical worship, Christians unite the sacred words of chants and hymns with our human voices lifted in gratitude and praise to God. There is a close connection between this music and our contemplation of the divine mysteries through the liturgical prayer of the Eucharist. Truly sacred music, music for the liturgy, then, must always express this beauty united to truth. Musical expression of praise – by our human voices and use of musical instruments ¬– has always had the power to draw our human hearts to “the heart of the mystery of the Church”.
However, we have not always succeeded in this lofty (and necessary) union of sacred words with the sacred musical expression in our Eucharistic worship. Mistakes have been made. Secular musical style and “pop” tunes rarely convey the sacredness and solemnity the liturgy requires.
The new translation of the Missal offers all Catholics an opportunity to begin recover this “treasure of inestimable value” – of uniting the profound truth of the words of the Mass with the beauty of music that expresses this truth. Very recently there have been encouraging signs of renewed interest in genuinely sacred music — including Gregorian chant.
In order to cultivate a sacred atmosphere for worship, a hymnal — a collection of the best of sacred music, ancient and new — can provide an invaluable aid. A hymnal should help to encourage proper liturgical solemnity. It should weave together a liturgical experience whereby the individual is caught up in the mystery and beauty of the Eucharist. One hymnal that has done this is The Adoremus Hymnal.
The revised English translation of the Roman Missal, which is faithful to the original Latin and more sacred-sounding, occasioned the revised version of The Adoremus Hymnal. The newly revised hymnal retains the original three-part structure: the Order of Mass, the musical settings for the Ordinaries, and the collection of hymns.
The Order of Mass is presented in both Latin and English (on facing pages), and incorporate the liturgical music of the Mass, the acclamations and the responses. The Latin and English texts of the Mass presented together in this way helps to illuminate the linguistic wealth we have inherited from our forefathers.
The second section, the musical settings for the Order of Mass, reflects the Church’s emphasis on Gregorian Chant as “proper to the Roman Rite,” and that “steps should be taken so that the faithful, may also be able to say or sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them”. The eight traditional Latin chant settings and the four newly composed Mass settings in English—in addition to the new English chants that now appear within the texts of the Mass – provide parishes with ample choices for singing the Mass for the various liturgical seasons and occasions.
The third section, the selection of hymns, reflects the long-standing commitment of the Adoremus society to cultivate a renewal of beauty and solemnity proper to a sacrament-centered celebration of the liturgy. “The hymns were chosen on the basis of holiness, theological orthodoxy, beauty, Catholic tradition, and insofar as possible, familiarly”, we read in the Introduction to the Second Edition. by Helen Hull Hitchcock, general editor of the new edition of The Adoremus Hymnal and editor of The Adoremus Bulletin.
As with the chants for the Mass, there are hymns both in Latin and in English — including hymns by St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Ambrose, and St. Francis. The English-language hymns include classic hymns by Joann Sebastian Bach, and John Henry Newman, and works by composers such as Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst. Adoremus “has not tampered” with the English hymn texts, Mrs. Hitchcock explains, nor have they “been modified, or usages updated to conform to any contemporary sensibility or ideology”.
The Adoremus Hymnal offers a welcome and useful resource for parishes working toward liturgical excellence. Crafted in fidelity to “the heart of the mystery of the Church” — and in a spirit that seeks to raise the standard of our parish celebrations of Mass, the hymnal is a must-have for any parish seeking to revitalize its sacred worship.
In the words of the new hymnal’s Introduction: “From its inception, Adoremus has been dedicated to authentic implementation of the liturgical reformed of the Second Vatican Council in continuity with the Church’s entire history, and to the recovery of sacredness and beauty in Catholic worship”.
Helen Hull Hitchcock will be discussing the The Adoremus Hymnal on EWTN’s Bookmark program on November 27th. Bookmark airs on Sunday at 9:30am ET and then again at 11:30pm ET. If you miss these you can catch them again on Monday at 5:30am ET and then Wednesday at 5:30pm ET.
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Good news. Also please don’t forget about the new Vatican II Hymnal from Corpus Christ Watershed! Not having any affiliation with CCW, but rather as degreed composer and orthodox Catholic, I believe this to be the most exciting and faithful musical collection for the new translation.
http://www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/
Mark - The Vatican II Hymnal is a beautiful effort. Though I wouldn’t use the term “best” I wholeheartedly agree that the Adoremus Hymnal and the Vatican II Hymnal are both solid and encouraging works that will serve those well who take the music of the Church seriously.
As a pastor looking to get rid of the Gather and JourneySongs hymnals in my parish, and as one who greatly respects your opinions, I’d be very appreciative if you could say what you believe is the best hymnal, and why. I like both the V2 Hymnal and the Adoremus Hymnal, but I’m sure you know of others that are also excellent. I ask this because I’ll be needing to purchase around 700, and it’s critical that the selection have a large selection of hymns that are thoroughly orthodox and aesthetically beautiful. Thanks!
The new hymnal is the easy part. Getting the music director and the parish to agree to get rid of the old ones “Gather” and “Spirit and Song” is the problem.
I agree: the Vatican II Hymnal is out of this world. Complete Propers, complete readings for all three years, Mass settings galore, including two settings by Richard Rice and one by Fr. Samuel Weber, beautiful pictures, Gregorian chant, etc. The Chant Cafe recently ran this: www.ccwatershed.org/youtube/
Good news indeed. At last we can go back to having hymns that correspond with the Liturgical Season rather than the confusion we have been suffering under. Though I have nothing against Protestant Hymns, we have been made to agonize as wrong Hymns are sung during celebrations of Holy Mass, completely desecrating the sacredness and beauty in Catholic Worship. I also pray that the pop musical instruments will be removed from our Churches and the Solemn Church Organs appropriate for Sacred Worship
It sure would be nice if our parish would buy these and burn the Gather hymnals we currently have.
Our Parish Council begged for this.
The entire congregation begged for this - with the exception of THREE lone individuals who worship Dan Schutte and call themselves the “music ministry.”
The priest took the side of the 1970’s brainwashed musicians and overruled the unanimous vote of the Council and the pleas of his parishioners and ordered…OCP!
We are in the archdiocese of OCP. Apparently pleasing the bishop and adding money to his coffers is more important to our priest than reverent music which is also the preference of the congregation.
We have a new Mass with beautiful, sacred words. It will be ruined, altered, disregarded by priests and so-called “musicians” like this who are not trained, not skilled, and have no education in proper church music. And the archbishop is laughing all the way to the bank.
I hope you are right Mary42. I thought I had left Protestant hymns behind when I was converted in 1949. Then traditional Catholic hymns enhanced the spiritual nature of the liturgy that disappeared after the advent of the social Novus Ordo Mass of The Second Vatican Council. Guitars have encouraged a discordant musical dissidence to the liturgy that compounded the dissident element that pervaded the sanctuary after the council’s tragic decision to bring the Church into the modern world – instead of bring the modern world into the Church. The new Missal seeks to recover the lost spirituality. Speaking as a former musician, Guitars can never be compatible with that.
I was rather disappointed in the first edition of Adoremus. It looked like three differently deigned books pieced together, which was rather amateur. It also did not have the service music for Holy Week and the Triduum, or other special feasts and services of the year (Candlemas, weddings, funerals). The result was well-intentioned and outstanding ONLY as a hymnal, but fell short as a complete service book. Any parish using it will simply have to supplement it with something else at any give time.
Unless, of course, they figured this out for the second edition.
That is to say “three differently DESIGNED books ...”
Connie - I feel your pain.
Fr. Frank - Adam Bartlett (Simple English Propers) and Corpus Christ Watershed are those to watch for hymnals. The Chant Cafe ( Jeffery Tucker) keeps everyone informed on that “front”.
I am sad to hear your predicament, Connie Grassini. But the Faithful have a route to change the hearts of your Priests and the Bishop. Just jointly send a Petition to the Apostolic Nuncio and what the Holy Spirit has decreed Mother Church should do when He inspired the new Roman Missal will be implemented in your Diocese. Yes, Bob Rowland, I feel your disappointment of the discordant changes that came into the Church after Vatican II. But believe me, that was not what the Council intended. The Implementers took liberties and brought in all sorts of changes which were never intended, thereby diluting the Sacredness of the Divine Catholic Worship. The Catholic Church must always remain faithful to Her Tradition particularly pertaining to Her Divine Worship and the Celebration of the Sacraments. The dilution of our Hymns by crashing our Liturgical Celebrations with discordant Protestant Hymns must be one factor the Holy Spirit wanted removed from our Divine Worship. As I have advised Connie, where the Bishops or the Priests insist on not changing the Hymnals, the Faithful have recourse to petitioning the Apostolic Nuncio who will ensure that the Ordinary and his Priests implement what the Holy See has approved and given to the Universal Church in the New Missal to the full. The Catholic Church must always and everywhere remain “Catholic” and all of us are called upon to ensure this is respected and observed.
Bob Rowland, another important point the Implementers of the Vatican II ignored with disastrous results, is that the purpose of Catholic Divine Worship is to draw us closer to God, not to reduce Him to our level. In attempting to translate the celebration of the Holy Mass into everyday language, the introduction of pop musical instruments and inclusion of inappropriate Protestant Hymns into our Hymnals which are totally unsuitable to our Liturgical Seasons, they desecrated the Holiness and the Devotional dimension of the Holy Eucharistic Celebration. And it is precisely to reverse this erosion of the Holiness of the Catholic Worship that the Holy Spirit inspired Blessed Pope John Paul II to institute revision of the Roman Missal which we now begin to use from this coming 1st Sunday of Advent.
Bob, further to what I have stated above, you will note from the Quotation from the Vatican II Document on Divine Liturgy, it was never the intention of the Council to introduce discordant Hymns, pop musical instruments or Protestant Hymns into the Liturgy. “Liturgical action is given a more noble form when sacred rites are solemnized in song, with the assistance of sacred ministers and the active participation of the people…. Choirs must be diligently promoted, but bishops and other pastors must ensure that, whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful may be able to contribute that active participation which is rightfully theirs…. Gregorian chant, other things being equal, should be given pride of place in liturgical services. But other kinds of sacred music, are by no means excluded…. Religious singing by the people is to be skillfully fostered, so that in devotions and sacred exercises, as also during liturgical services, the voices of the faithful may ring out” (Constitution on the Liturgy, 112-118).”
You will not the emphasis the Council placed on the importance of retaining the Latin Mass (Gregorian Chants) in the Eucharistic Celebration. However, the Implementers had their own agendas, hence the agony we have lived with these many years, until Blessed Pope John Paul II came to our aid and instituted the reversal and removal of the inappropriate elements in the Celebration of the Holy Mass.
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