Is it permitted to sing Federico Caudana's "Lauda Sion" as Corpus Christi sequence?
  • AnthonyFok
    Posts: 8
    Hello all,

    This may be a bit of an odd question to ask, and I supposed no one has considered the possibility of singing Caudana's Lauda Sion as the Corpus Christi sequence because no one ever sings Caudana's melody in English? :-)

    I see that singing the short form of verses 21, 22, 23 and 24 is allowed, e.g., a rendition may be found at http://www.ccwatershed.org/pdfs/8517-lauda-sion-short-form-sequence-pdf-print/ .

    However, are we permitted to sing the Cantonese translation the Caudana's Lauda Sion, which instead contains verses 1, 5, 21 and 23?

    Some backgrounder:

    The old Chinese Sunday Missal published in Hong Kong (circa 1985) does not even mention the optional sequence for Corpus Christi, so I bet most parishioners growing up in Hong Kong are not even aware of the existence of such a sequence for Corpus Christi.

    However, 西雍讚揚救主, the Chinese (Cantonese?) version of F. Caudana's Lauda Sion, has been in Hong Kong's Chinese Catholic hymnals since 1969. This hymn is well loved by the Hong Kong parishioners and very well known.

    Thankfully, the situation with the Hong Kong Chinese Sunday Missal improved since the revisions inspired by Liturgiam Authenticam several years ago (2007? 2011?). After the second reading for Corpus Christi, a line says:
    可唱「基督聖體聖血節讚歌」：「西雍讚揚救主」。
    which means, in English,
    The 'Corpus Christi sequence': 'Lauda Sion Salvatorem' may be sung.
    But the actual text of the sequence is not printed, see http://catholic-dlc.org.hk/lk160529.htm

    However, the Hong Kong English Sunday Hymnal does include the full text of the sequence, beginning with "Laud, O Zion, your salvation", and also with a short form printed separately, starting at "Lo! the angel’s food is given". (See http://catholic-dlc.org.hk/2013Full-OrdinaryII.pdf or http://catholic-dlc.org.hk/2013-bodyblood.doc)

    I guess this discrepancy is partly because there does not yet exist a good musical setting for the full Lauda Sion Salvatorem in Cantonese, especially because Cantonese is a tonal language and its speakers expect the music to match the 6 tones. The closest thing matching Lauda Sion Salvatorem in the Hong Kong Chinese Catholic Hymnal is the aforementioned Caudana's setting. (There is a Cantonese version of O esca viatorum, but not Ecce panis Angelorum, in that hymnal).

    (Meanwhile, I know that some parishes in Mainland China and in Taiwan do sing the full sequence. I was pretty awestruck by it when I first arrived in Beijing and heard the choir sang the full sequence to the tune of traditional Gregorian chant in Chinese. :-) )

    So, I guess the Hong Kong Diocese made an exception to implicitly allow Caudana's version to be sung as the sequence during Corpus Christi because of the lack of a better musical setting.

    Now, would a Chinese Catholic parish in North America, especially in Canada, be allowed to do the same thing, i.e. singing verses 1, 5, 21 and 23 instead of the prescribed short form of verses 21–24?

    Thank you all!
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    The Church has defined two choices:
    the full text;
    a specific subset of the full text.
    We are not given the option to swap texts or verses with other texts or verses.

    Is the Caudana melody long and through-composed across four verses
    or is the melody short and repeated for each verse?

    Can you put the specific subset one way or the other under the Caudana melody?
    Thanked by 1AnthonyFok
  • AnthonyFok
    Posts: 8
    The Church has defined two choices:
    the full text;
    a specific subset of the full text.
    We are not given the option to swap texts or verses with other texts or verses.

    Thank you for your straight answer. I have the same gut feeling, though a bit difficult to admit because initially I thought a short rendition of Lauda Sion would be better than nothing at all! But on closer examination, the verses of Caudana's version do not fit the prescribed short form of the text for the sequence.

    It would be interesting to see what the Hong Kong Cathedral would actually do for Corpus Christi this year: there is a YouTube channel with videos of Mass broadcast from the HK Cathedral. But I do understand that, whatever special exception the Hong Kong Diocese may have made for the Corpus Christi sequence, the special exception only applies in Hong Kong and would not extend to North America.

    Is the Caudana melody long and through-composed across four verses
    or is the melody short and repeated for each verse?

    If you are interested, please have a listen at: https://youtu.be/F-oyduxFGgE

    I guess it fits your second description: "the melody short and repeated for each verse":
    1. (v1) Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem,
    lauda Ducem et pastorem,
    in himnis et canticis.

    Refrain:
    (v5) Sit laus plena, sit sonora,
    sit iucunda, sit decora
    mentis iubilatio.
    Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.
    Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat.

    2. (v21) Ecce panis angelorum,
    factus cibus viatorum:
    non mittendus canibus.

    Refrain

    3. (v23) Bone Pastor, panis vere,
    tu nos bona fac videre,
    in terra viventium.

    Refrain

    (I think a phrase or two is trimmed from each of verses 21 and 23 in order to fit the 3-phrase music.)

    Can you put the specific subset one way or the other under the Caudana melody?

    I think it is somewhat possible. It seems someone has tried to fit more verses to this song, as listed here: http://spazioinwind.libero.it/palermo21/canti/chiesa/lauda_sion.htm

    Of course, my problem is that we are not singing it in Latin, but in Cantonese. Furthermore, verses 22 and 24 are longer, having 8.8.8.7 and 8.8.8.8.7 meters rather than the 8.8.7 in Caudana's music, so it would take some effort to fit everything in. While nothing is impossible, I would say it is a rather daunting task best left to a professional Cantonese lyricist, and whatever new lyrics are produced probably need some ecclesiastical verification and approval.

    Anyhow, I guess Caudana's Lauda Sion is better suited for other places in Mass. For example, I believe I have seen a video of Papal Mass of Corpus Christi where Caudana's Lauda Sion is used as the entrance hymn. And of course, the traditional Gregorian chant is used for the sequence, and was sung in full.

    Thanks again for your helpful insight! Let's hope that the somewhat dire situation with (non-)singing the Lauda Sion Salvatorem sequence would improve in future years to come, if God wills it. ;-)

    God bless!
    Thanked by 1eft94530
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