Author: Ben

Click here for PDF | Practice Recording (from NPM)

A very blessed Christmas from all of us at the Chant Café. Let the power of our newborn king touch you this year, and may you have a blessed Christmas season with your families.

Andrew Motyka and I recently typeset the versions for the 2014 Epiphany Proclamation for your use on the Feast of the Epiphany. There are two versions in the file, depending on which day your Diocese celebrates the Ascension, and the file also includes both modern notation and chant notation (neumes).

Just one of the many great things coming out of the CMAA forum!

Click here for PDF | Practice Recording (from NPM)

Altar boys prepared for the cold in procession

Recently at Franciscan University of Steubenville, a group of students organized a Eucharistic procession for the Feast of Christ the King (OF) this past Sunday.

Despite the cold, there was a good turn out of over 500 people (mostly college students). The schola, made up of the music students at the college, was singing chants throughout the procession, including: Adoro te devote, Ave Verum Corpus, Credo III (for the closing of the Year of Faith), Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Veni Jesu, Salve Regina, and also Kevin Allen’s Panis Angelicus.

However, here’s the best part: virtually the entire congregation was singing many of the chants along with the schola, which is very encouraging. It’s encouraging to see fellow young people doing something like this with such success, both in the congregation singing the music of the church, as well as the massive turnout. In the pictures, we can see there’s even some younger boys assisting in the procession as well.

It’s fantastic to see other young people taking up the traditions of our church joyfully!

Schola chanting in procession

Students kneeling as the procession passes

A happy feast day of St. Cecilia (OF) to all musicians out there.

Continue your evangelization through beauty!

Though it is not strictly a liturgical event to be observed, many parishes in the US still like to have music at their Thanksgiving morning Masses, and the new Roman Missal provides a set of prayers and antiphons for this day that many priests use.

That being said, the music books of the Roman Rite do not provide proper chants for that day, leaving parishes regularly singing propers without them. However, in the USA, the GIRM provides us the option of having the antiphons from the missal chanted as proper chants.

For those who use Simple English Propers, I’ve adapted the missal antiphons to the melodies found in SEP. You can find the entrance and communion antiphons below:

While the missal does not contain the offertory antiphon (therefore, this PDF does not either), you could chant any offertory antiphon you wish under. One antiphon I would put forward for consideration is the offertory from the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, In te speravi, which seems appropriate thematically appropriate.

In you have I put my trust, O Lord;
I said: “You are my God,
my destiny is in your hands.”

For those of you working in parishes with sung Masses or Masses with music on Thanksgiving morning, what are you planning on using?