Vigil of Pentecost: canticles?
  • CGM
    Posts: 741
    I'm preparing music for the "extended form" of the Vigil of Pentecost. This liturgy is a little like the Easter Vigil: there are several OT readings (four, instead of six at EV), followed by the Gloria and then Epistle and Gospel (after which, unlike the EV, Mass proceeds as usual).

    The current Roman Missal (2011) indicates that the OT readings are to be followed by psalms (and then priestly orations):

    — the first reading (On Babel: Gn 11: 1-9) and the Psalm (33 [32]: 10-11, 12-13, 14-15; R. v. 12b)
    — the second reading (On God’s Descent on Mount Sinai: Ex 19: 3-8, 16-20b) and the canticle (Dn 3: 52, 53, 54, 55, 56; R. v. 52b) or the Psalm (19 [18]: 8, 9, 10, 11; R. Jn 6: 68c)
    — the third reading (On the dry bones and God’s spirit: Ez 37: 1-14) and the Psalm (107 [106]: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; R. v. 1 or Alleluia)
    — the fourth reading (On the outpouring of the Spirit: Joel 3: 1-5) and the Psalm (104 [103]: 1-2a, 24, 35c, 27-28, 29bc-30; R. v. 30 or Alleluia)


    My question is whether there are canticles that could be used instead of the psalms, in the manner of the Easter Vigil (see this discussion). I've used the canticles at the Easter Vigil for many years, and I've been asked to do the same thing at the Pentecost Vigil this year — so I'm trying to ascertain whether it's possible.

    It appears that this liturgy has been tinkered with a lot of late:
    — in the 1952 Liber Usualis, there were six OT readings (just as the Easter Vigil). Chanted tracts were to follow the second, third, and fourth readings (but not the first, fifth, or sixth), and these readings don't correspond to the currently indicated OT readings (except for the "dry bones" reading, which, alas, had no ensuing tract).
    — in the 1962 Liber Usualis, which calls this a "privileged vigil," there are no OT readings at all, but rather the standard Paschaltide structure of a reading from Acts followed by two chants (an Alleluia and then a Tract) and then the Gospel.
    — in the 1974 Graduale Romanum, two Alleluia chants are given, and no indications of extra readings, so the liturgy appears as a regular Sunday Mass. Unlike the Easter Vigil, no canticles/responsories are provided.
    — in the 1990 Gregorian Missal, the four OT readings are indicated as options to be placed as the First Reading (that is, use any one of the four), and then (as would be expected) the same chants as the '74 GR.
    — the 2011 Roman Missal, as indicated above (also the USCCB website), gives four OT readings, each to be followed by a psalm, and one where a canticle may be used in place of the psalm.

    The canticle of Daniel, currently indicated to follow the second OT reading, is earlier given as the Hymn to follow Lesson V of Saturday in Ember Week of Advent, pp. 348-50 of the '52 & '62 editions of the Liber Usualis.

    Any thoughts about other canticles?

    Thanked by 1Joseph Michael
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,551
    DW:M (from the Ordinariate) suggests a tract after each reading -
    1. Dominus dissolvit Ps 33:10,31,12
    2. Lex Domini Ps 19:7-10
    3. Confitemini Domino
    4. Benedic, anima mea Ps 104:1,2,24,27-30
    Confitemini Domino is on p.158 of GR1973, in the Chrism Mass
    Thanked by 1Joseph Michael
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,859
    The Traditional Vigil of Pentecost, before it was destroyed,

    https://societyofstbede.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/vigilofpentecost.pdf
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen CatherineS Joseph Michael
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 1,052
    The Graduale Novum II, De feriis et sanctis (2018) is your friend (p. 463):

    Post I lectionem:
    AL Gaudete iusti in Domino (GR 430)

    Post II lectionem:
    AL Benedictus es, Domine (GR 375)

    Post III lectionem:
    AL Confitemini Domino (GR 239)

    Post IV lectionem:
    AL Emitte Spiritum tuum (GR 253 vel altera melodia GR 249)

    Post V lectionem:
    AL Veni Sancte Spiritus (GR 253)
    Vel: Dum complerentur (GR 250)

    The references to the gradual are of the 1974 Graduale Romanum, for convenience.

    Personally, I like the way the compilers of the Graduale Novum kept with the character of the chants between the readings during Paschal Time, which are Alleluias.
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen a_f_hawkins CGM FSSPmusic GerardH
  • CGM
    Posts: 741
    Dear Steven — this is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much!

  • m_r_taylor
    Posts: 344
    @smvanroode, "Post V lectionem" - which fifth reading?
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,551
    The fifth reading is the Epistle, and Come Holy Spirit is described in my missal as Gospel Acclamation, it's just a matter of terminology.
    Thanked by 2m_r_taylor Paul F. Ford
  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 335
    Thank you all for this thread -- It will help me out quite a bit this year!

    I do have a problem with the Graduale Novum, however. Both the Ordo Cantus Missae and the Graduale 1974 are silent on the optional extended vigil. Is there some official source that lays out these propers? Or are we just taking direction from Solesmes now?
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,820
    Isn’t the extended vigil something that came into play only after the 1974 gradual came out?
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,551
    Yes the restored form of Vigil did not appear until the third edition of the current RM in 2002, and thus not in English until 2011.
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 358
    I do have a problem with the Graduale Novum, however. Both the Ordo Cantus Missae and the Graduale 1974 are silent on the optional extended vigil. Is there some official source that lays out these propers? Or are we just taking direction from Solesmes now?
    The Graduale Novum is emphatically not a Solesmes production, nor is it an official liturgical book promulgated by Rome. Those alleluia chants, however, correspond to each of the responsorial psalm texts. It's worth noting that the papal Pentecost Vigil several years ago used psalm 26 after the reading from Exodus, which is not listed as an option in the English and Spanish lectionaries. If you're at a church where it's customary to sing full Gregorian graduals and alleluias, I would see no objection to using what's recommended in the Novum. Is there any liturgical occasion when it is absolutely illicit to sing the Gregorian gradual or alleluia in place of the responsorial psalm or gospel acclamation from the lectionary?
    Thanked by 1PaxTecum
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 1,052
    Is there any liturgical occasion when it is absolutely illicit to sing the Gregorian gradual or alleluia in place of the responsorial psalm or gospel acclamation from the lectionary?


    Simple answer: no.

    It’s always allowed (I would even dare to say, recommended) to sing a Gradual or Alleluia from the Graduale Romanum in lieu of the responsorial psalm or gospel acclamation.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 335
    And, in theory, you can sing any Gradual or Alleluia you want. Still -- I try to sing, as much as possible, that which is prescribed.
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