When to begin Communion Proper
  • Tactus
    Posts: 17
    Greetings all!
    Is the Communion Proper ONLY sung after the distribution of Communion and the priest is back at the altar or can we begin it while he is distributing communion to the congregation and sing the verses from 'Communio'? (almost taking the place of a hymn or motet sung during distribution.) I'd like my schola to begin singing the propers and the simplicity of the Communion propers seems a logical place to begin, especially if we add the verses. However, if it cant be started till after Communion, I dont see much need to learn verses.
    Any help would be great!
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,232
    The proper, properly speaking (coughcoughcough) should be sung as soon as the priest finishes self-communicating and may continue throughout the communion of the faithful (or as long as the verses last.)

    But that's not always observed strictly, as the choir members may wish to recieve the Sacrament. So (in our case) the choir goes to the 'front of the line' for Communion, and THEN begins the proper chant.
  • Bruce E. Ford
    Posts: 431
    "Dum sacerdos sumit Corpus Domini, inchoatur antiphona ad communionem. Cantus autem eodem modo peragitur ac cantus ad introitum, ita tamen ut cantores sacramentum commode participare possint."--1974 Graduale Romanum, page 11.

    "When the priest is receiving the Body of the Lord, the communion antiphon is begun. The chant is performed in the same manner as the entrance chant, but so that the singers may fittingly partake of the sacrament.'

    In other words-- the singers begin the communion antiphon right after "Domine, non sum dignus" and continue it (with psalm verses) until most of the people have received; but they end the singing early enough so that they themselves can receive before the ministers begin the ablutions.

    The rubric virtually precludes the choir's receiving the sacrament before the people, unless the antiphon is short and is to be sung only once.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    In practice, most people wait until just after the priest has received -- at least in my experience.
  • OlbashOlbash
    Posts: 314
    I have worked for several priests who refuse to consume the Sacrament until the music (be it the antiphon or a communion hymn) begins. They tell me that the rubric Bruce cited above unifies the rite and allows them as priest-celebrants to receive the Sacrament along with everyone else in the communion procession. It sometimes seems abrupt, especially if some bubbly cantor announces the page number of the communion hymn immediately following the "non sum dignus." On the other hand, if done tastefully and reverently, it can be quite beautiful.

    The point of the traditional silence after the "non sum dignus" is not to stare at the priest receiving communion -- that's not any different than anyone else in the congregation receiving communion. The point of the silence is that we should all be struck with awe for a moment at the incredible invitation we have just received -- the silence gives us a moment to gratefully adore our Lord. If we are going to intentionally insert silence where the rubric tells us the communion antiphon should begin, then we should be clear about why it is we are bending the rules.
  • Beth
    Posts: 53
    Olbash, good insight.
    We usually give silence and begin the proper after the celebrant has received. Now, I'm re-thinking that.
    What the church asks makes sense. The communal nature of beginning and not giving silent time before is a beautiful thing. Especially if there is sacred silence after people have received there's no need for giving it before especially if we are "bending" the rules to do so.
    Perhaps afterwards is the more proper place for silence.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,983
    We begin it when the pastor says to begin it. Nothing difficult about that. ;-)
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    "When the priest is receiving the Body of the Lord, the communion antiphon is begun."

    The priest is doing what Jesus did at the Last Supper. The Church's most sacred music highlights this sacred moment. I think this is beautiful.
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 994
    My experience is that CharlesW's practice is the one preferred in most parishes. Priests can be adament either way: "start while I'm receiving" or "don't you dare start until the deacon and I are done." Ask the pastor.
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    "When the priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion chant is begun." GRIM 86.

    Isn't the priest supposed to follow what the Church instruct and teach us to follow too? The instruction doesn't seem to give any other options here.
    I hope your pastor knows what the Church says and follows it.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,983
    Whose name is at the bottom of your paycheck, GIRM's or the pastor's? I have been asked to wait until the priest receives from the chalice to begin the communion antiphon. That seems reasonable to me. I then play while the choir receives, then we sing a hymn, then we have silence.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    Isn't the priest supposed to follow what the Church instruct and teach us to follow too?


    If anyone knows a priest like this, send him our way!

    But seriously, just a note to the OP (because I know you were all itching to say it): the Communion antiphon does not take the place of a hymn or a motet; a motet (that is, if it is not to the text of the Communion) or a hymn, should one be sung, takes the place of the Communion, or rather is sung in its place. One never has to ask permission (of the Church) to sing the propers, but one must not make use of any of the other options without seriously considering the reasoning.

    In all cases, the pastor (or celebrant) has the last word.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Caution here and probably one source of the contrasting intuitions: This is different in the EF as versus the OF.

    From Psallite Sapienter:

    72 If only the celebrant is to receive Communion, the Communion
    Antiphon is sung as he does so; in practical terms this will be
    after the bell has been thrice rung for Domine, non sum dignus (or after
    the Agnus Dei has been completed, if the bell is rung during the
    singing).

    73 If, however, the congregation is to receive as well (this is almost
    always the case nowadays), the choirmaster must wait until after
    all have thrice said Domine, non sum dignus together (no bell will be rung
    for this, which should not be confused with the celebrant’s use of the
    same prayer just before). Then, when the celebrant begins to distribute
    the Sacrament, the antiphon is sung.

    So those who ask for a period of silence while the priest receives might be intuitively reaching to an older form.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,983
    I think we may be splitting hairs a bit. Given the fact that communion antiphons are not sung in most places, it might be more important to get them sung, rather than anguishing about the exact moment they should begin. Somehow, I don't think the church ever intended us to be that nit-picky.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,217
    De musica sacra, paragraph 27c, has the instructions for the old form of Mass:



    c) The proper time for the chanting of the Communion antiphon is while the priest is receiving the holy Eucharist. But if the faithful are also to go to Communion the antiphon should be sung while they receive. If this antiphon, too, is taken from a psalm, additional verses of this psalm may be sung. In this case, too, the antiphon is repeated after each, or every second verse of the psalm; when distribution of Communion is finished, the psalm is closed with the Gloria Patri, and the antiphon is once again repeated. If the antiphon is not taken from a psalm, any psalm may be used which is suited to the feast, and to this part of the mass.

    After the Communion antiphon is sung, and the distribution of Communion to the faithful still continues, it is also permitted to sing another Latin song in keeping with this part of the Mass.

    Before coming to Communion the faithful may recite the three-fold Domine, non sum dignus together with the priest.



    Prior to 1958, the antiphon was sung after the distribution of holy communion, so materials published prior to that year may give different instructions. People with experience of the old days, if they aren't aware of the provision above, may think that it's a mistake to sing it earlier.
  • Bruce E. Ford
    Posts: 431
    In the bad old days communion was not usually administered to the people at high masses. The choir began the Agnus Dei immediately after Pax Domini. If a long setting was sung, the Agnus extended through the celebrant's communion. The communion antiphon, which followed immediately, covered the ablutions.

    In some places when communion was introduced at high mass, the devotions preparatory to the communion of the people (Confiteor, Misereatur, Ecce Agnus Dei, and Domine, non sum dignus") were said while the choir was still singing the Agnus Dei. (I saw "Ecce Agnus Dei" and "Domine, non sum dignus" said during the singing of the Agnus Dei at a self-consciously reactionary Anglo-Catholic church on the upper West side of Manhattan on Advent Sunday in 1982. They loved aping stupid practices that Rome had abandoned for good reason.)

    The apparent intention of the 1958 Instruction was that the singing of the Agnus Dei should stop before the devotions preparatory to the people's communion began, and that the singing of the communion antiphon should not begin until they were over, i.e., when the distribution began.

    In the new rite--in which the communion of the people is not treated as an interpolation--the communion of the priest and people are combined into a single act, which is preceded by ONE set of preparatory devotions. The 1958 direction that the communion antiphon should be sung during the priest's communion UNLESS communion was given to the people--in which case it was to be deferred until after THEIR devotions--was rendered anachronistic.

    I am merely offering a rationale for the current rubric. I do not mean to suggest that lightning should strike those who choose to begin it later, as it should strike (for example) those who sing "Let there be peace on earth" in place of the antiphon.
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,232
    Also recall that the 1958 Instruction suppressed the Confiteor/Miserere which is said just before the Communion of the Faithful.

    It would be interesting to learn when those prayers were inserted in the first place. Given your explanation, that introduction would logically have been after Pius X's efforts to increase the communions of the Faithful at Mass.

    Authoritative liturgists assert that this Confiteor/Miserere was placed there for the benefit of those who were "daily communicants"; that is, those who did not attend the entire Mass, but only arrived for Communion--a pious practice which is not consonant with good liturgical practice.
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