Sing some Eucharistic Motets. That is the one thing that sets us apart from Reformed Christians (Protestants). Messiaen O Sacrum is a good idea, although it's kind of difficult. Any Ego Sum or something like that would be good, or Missa Pange Lingua by Josquin.

Another thing that sets us apart from the protestants is honor given to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Maybe you could highlight a beautiful Ave Maria by Palestrina, or his Assumpta Est Maria (which says, Gaudete et exsultate omnes recti corde. Quia hodie Maria virgo cum Christo regnat in aeternum)

Jacob deKerle's pieces written specifically for the council of Trent.

My initial suggestion would be to steer clear of motets with text taken directly from the KJV.

Oh, but they do!

(Though they couldn't be labelled specifically 'counter-reformation'.)

Good question!

It could be.
It might often be.
Anthem is not a concrete 'form' - far from it. And, it can be in any language. 'Anthem' may connote function and may, as a term, include sacred choral works that are and are not in definite musical forms or procedures. 'Anthem', after all, is a contraction of 'antiphon' and is sort of a 'catch all' word for a choral ornament to liturgy. Most any choral work that is deemed worthy of liturgical use might be listed in the service folder as an 'anthem' - even a motet.

Motet, on the other hand, implies a certain procedure, specifically exhibiting imitative writing as well as other textures that may recall late mediaeval and renaissance-baroque practice. One might even say that motet, like fugue or ricercar, is not a 'form' at all, but a procedure. With this in mind there are innumerable motets written in English as well as other languages. They often function as 'anthems', or ornaments of liturgy. Many may be familiar with the motets of Eric Thiman, who wrote many of them (as did Willan and even Hovhaness) for use in Anglican liturgy. Many of the Tudor and early Stuart sacred choral works in English are certainly English motets, Gibbons' 'Almighty and everlasting God' being a handy and well-known example. Nor, it may be noted, did the English shrink from early on to the singing of English translations to motets that were originally in Latin.

In short, a motet may be an anthem, but an anthem is not necessarily a motet.

Thanks for asking that question. Others may have germane offerings on this very interesting topic.
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It occurs to me, further, that even the word 'motet' has not maintained universally its signification of early formal procedures and structures. One thinks of the later baroque French petit motets and grand motets which hardly hie structurally to what one would traditionally have called a 'motet'. Indeed, the grand motets have far more in common with the English verse anthem (it might even be argued that they each exhibit a shared pollination) than with the historic motet structure. So, like 'anthem', the French used 'motet' as a signifer of function, a choral liturgical ornament, or even an extra-liturgical concert spirituelle, rather than of form or structural procedure.

The Coverdale Bible:

John 14:
15 Yf ye loue me, kepe my commaundementes.
16 And I wyl praye the father, and he shal geue you another comforter, that he maye byde wt you for euer:
17 euen ye sprete of trueth,

I have heard the term 'English Motet' but Anthem is more common. I agree with the idea that when referring to a Motet, we would normally be referring to a latin text. At least this is my experience in England...

At the current four-day choral workshop at Walsingham, which I have placed on another thread, we are singing a work by James MacMIllan dedicated to the Strathclyde University Chamber Choir entitled The Canticle of Zachariah, the text being St Luke 1.68-79 in English. It is from The Strathclyde Motets by Mr MacMillan. There is no end to the choral works in English which are in compositional procedure and structure motets, and they are often called just that. This is in addition to the French ceremonial 'motets' which I have 'exhibited' above, the Bach motets exhibited by Chuck immediately above, and countless other examples which, if one wished to take the time to list, would provide a catalogue of quite some length of motets in a variety of languages. Motet has long since ceased to be a Latin-tongued work featuring imitation, homophony, and hocket a la Victoria et al.

The mass is the mass, regardless of what language it is celebrated in. A madrigal is a madrigal, whether it is an Italian one or an English one. A motet is a motet, regardless of its language. It is the sacred text, and the characteristic compositional procedures and treatment of text which make it such.

JL - those sound splendid!

I have 6-8 singers. Instrumental forces are baroque violin, recorder, baroque flute, two violas da gamba, renaissance guitar, baroque guitar, lute, organ, harpsichord.

I'll message you privately about the repertoire :D