All Church Documents on Music and Liturgy
  • What is the complete list of church documents on music and liturgy? I want to study them all, starting with Tra Le Sollectudini of 1903 up to the present day. Even the documents where music is only one section such as Sacrosanctum Concilium.

    1903 - Tra Le Sollectudini

    1929 - Divini cultus sanctitatem

    1947 - Mediator Dei

    1955 - Musicae Sacrae

    1958 - Instruction on Sacred Music and Sacred Liturgy

    1963 - Sacrosanctum Concilium

    1967 - Musicam Sacram

    2003 - Chirograph on the Centenary of Tra Le Sollectudini

    Please help me fill up the gaps!
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Hartley,

    I have the Daughters of St. Paul collection of papal documents on the liturgy, and there are indeed many minor documents (letters and exhortations, etc.) in between the major ones you've listed here. It would take me a while to list them all, and I don't know if they're available online.

    In addition, this handy volume has documents on the liturgy starting with Benedict XIV.( I like reading Annus qui, a 1749 encylical by Benedict XIV.)

    This volume was selected and arranged by the Monks of Solesmes and translated by the Daughters of St. Paul, copyright 1962.

    Amazon has a used copy: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=papal teachings The Liturgy daughters of st paul
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Here's the list of documents by Pope St. Pius X, for example:
    Restoration of Sacred Music (Tra le sollicitudini)
    Necessity of Musical Reform (Il Desiderio)
    Frequent Communion (Sacra Tridentina)
    The Errors of Modernists (Lamentabili)
    Foundations of Masses (Le Moment)
    The Priest: Minister of the Altar (Haerent)
    Example of St. Charles Borromeo (Editae Saepe)
    Age for First Communion (Quam Singulari)
    Holydays of Obligation (Supremi Disciplinae)
    Cultural Value of the Psalter (Divino Afflatu)
    Communion of Orientals (Tradita ab antiquis)
    The Constitution "Orientalium"
    Towards a Liturgical Reform (Abhinc duos annos)

    There are three pages of documents listed for Pope Pius XII!
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Among many other things, you'd have to include all, or almost all, of the revised ritual books and instructions relating thereto, and then the interpretive guidance relating thereto.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Psalms
    The Gospel of Luke
  • Here is a document of my own notes upon reading a number of these documents. It includes notes on all the ones that Hartley mentioned as well as the following:

    Liturgicae Instaurationes, instruction, Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, September 5, 1970.
    Letter to Artists, John Paul II, April 4, 1999.
    Liturgiam authenticam, instruction, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, March 28, 2001.
    Letter of the Holy Father Benedict XVI on the Occasion of the Study Day organized by the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, letter, Benedict XVI, December 1, 2005.
    Speaking in the Sistine Chapel following a tribute concert to Dominico Bartolucci, Benedict XVI, June 24, 2006.
    Sacramentum Caritatis, post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Benedict XVI, February 22, 2007.
    General Instruction of the Roman Missal, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC., 2011.

    (Not all of these, of course, are on the same level of teaching.)
    Church Teaching on Sacred Music.pdf
    376K
  • Papal Legislation on Sacred Music, 95 A.D. to 1977 A.D. by R. Hayburn is a great resource.
    Thanked by 3francis BruceL eft94530
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Adoremus has a helpful five-part series of articles on the 20th-century music documents callled "Buried Treasure", at http://www.adoremus.org/0301buriedtreas1.html
  • Thanks. I have decided that I need to have a systematic reading of all relevant church documents on Music and Liturgy.
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • francis
    Posts: 10,824
    Arthur is right. Get that book... ^^^it is THE resource on the entire history up until recently (perhaps VII) on sacred music.
  • I'll third the recommendation, Papal legislation on sacred music. Indispensable.
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    1903 up to the present day

    See
    Liturgical Music Document Literacy Challenge
    http://musicasacra.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=2182

    And remember ...
    Redemptionis Sacramentum (Apr 23, 2004)
    [28.] All liturgical norms that a Conference of Bishops will have established for its territory in accordance with the law are to be submitted to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for the recognitio, without which they lack any binding force.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Yeah, but a diocesan bishop still has a measure of latitude to prescribe particular law for his jurisdiction. That doesn't require a recognitio from Rome.
  • ...and unless your Pastor is interested in enforcing the documents, you will likely have no way of enacting them in full.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,824
    eft

    The difference between docs and reality is extreme which, as you see by comments, promotes an air of synicism, despair, and forfeit. Nonetheless, keep up the good work of holding high the ideal. If we are going to have any impact on the present situation to return to what is authentic sacred music and good liturgy (those who worship in Spirit and in Truth), we cannot fall prey to defeatest attitudes, or a "if you can't beat em, join em" mentality. I am going down fighting for the truth if I must. I laud you and all who uphold the ideals and thinking of MC.

    "Finally, I call on the apostles of the Last Days, the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who have lived in scorn for the world and for themselves, in poverty and in humility, in union with God, in suffering unknown to the world. It is time they came out and filled the world with light. Go and reveal yourselves to be my cherished children. I am at your side and within you, provided that your faith is the light which shines upon you in these unhappy days. May your zeal make you famished for the glory and the honor of Jesus Christ. Fight, children of light, you, the few who can see. For now is the time of all times, the end of all ends."

    Our Lady of La Salette
    Thanked by 1eft94530