The choice of communion hymn shouldn’t be restricted to hymns about the Eucharist. The communion chants from the Graduale Romanum for example almost never are about the Eucharist, but usually repeat a verse from the Gospel or use a text from the Psalms. Its purpose is ‘to express the communicants’ union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to show joy of heart, and to highlight more clearly the “communitarian” nature of the procession to receive Communion’ (GIRM 86).

When the communion chant is sung during communion, it helps to make the faithful aware that they are eating from two tables at the same time: the Body of Christ from the altar and Christ the Word from the Gospel. Goffredo Boselli has a beautiful exposition of this in his book The Spiritual Meaning of the Liturgy. School of Prayer, Source of Life (Liturgical Press, 2014), but my copy is now in a box somewhere for the next couple of weeks...

When the communion hymn is sung after communion, it should be ‘a psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may also be sung by the entire congregation’ (GIRM 88).

In the OF context, both the Roman Gradual and Missal antiphons designated for Communion are not necessarily directly "about the Eucharist" in an reductive sense.

Ask if the Magnificat would be a suitable canticle during Communion. (It would be, but he might not think so.) It's what our Lady proclaimed after receiving the Incarnate Word himself.

Many Communion antiphons* are not directly didactic about Eucharistic doctrine or about the Eucharistic ritual; rather, like the Magnificat, they are often about (1) proclaiming the loving-kindness of God, (2) remembering (hey, anamnesis) and giving thanks and praise/doxa (hey, Eucharistic by nature...) for God's extravagant generosity to his people, especially the lowliest of his flock, and/or (3) a foretaste of the beatific consummation of all things in the wedding banquet of the Lamb in the Parousia (hey, was-now-& forever) - et cet. When we sing of such things while receiving Communion, we are united in and as the Body sacramentally and ritually.

See, for example, from Richard J Clark, director of music of the Cathedral of The Holy Cross, Boston, and for the Archdiocese of Boston: https://www.rjcceciliamusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/CommunionAntiphonsOrdinaryTimeRJC5.21.2020.pdf Run through them and mentally assign the ideas 1-2-3 I summarize above, and you'll have a working sense for the expansive nature of what the Church embraces as appropriate for Communion.

* Example of all of them together: https://www.youtube.com/live/_na6NnRLOQM?si=-ZbInuvdn8KNyfqn&t=2738 . "The sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for her young, by your altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God; blessed are they who dwell in your house, forever singing your praise."

If the liturgy spoke solely for itself as it is given to us, through the Proper texts, precious few of these arbitrary rules would survive.


Arbitrary is an understatement.

@NihilNominis

I agree with all of it (and thank you for the additional info about the text), except that under these particular circumstances it would be intemperate of me to "have no patience" with it. He agreed to everything except this - I'm in unicorn OF territory, at least musically speaking. I do take you to be expressing yourself generally about arbitrary criteria, with that said. Here I'll just see if he is open to gaining this perspective later.

Interestingly in my book (1956 missel vesperale) cornibus unicornuorum is translated as 'des cornes des bêtes sauvages' or the horns of wild animals.

(1) Of the 163 communion songs of the Roman Gradual only eight songs refer to the Body and Blood of Christ. All of these songs were realigned as a consequence of our new lectionary so that, as DOL 4298 says, "chants closely related to the readings should, of course, be transferred for use with these readings."

(2) Of the sixty-two communion songs of the Simple Gradual, only four songs refer to the Body and Blood of Christ.

(3) Of the 618 communion songs of the Sacramentary, only sixty-eight songs refer even indirectly to the Body and Blood of Christ.

Why this infrequency? Because communion is about more than the real presence of Christ's Body and Blood. It is about how this Food and Drink is meant to forgive our sins, restore us to community, and to prepare us for life eternal, among many other things. (O sacrum convivium, in quo Christus sumitur, recolitur memoria passionis ejus, mens impletur gratia, et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur. “O holy banquet in which Christ is consumed, the memory of his passion is recalled, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.” St. Thomas Aquinas, Canticle Antiphon for the Second Vespers of Corpus et Sanguinis Christi.)

Because communion is the fruit of the proclaimed word, especially the gospel, the communion song ideally “quotes” the proclaimed word, especially the gospel. It must be at least seasonally relevant, long enough and interesting enough to bear the weight of repetition. Its style needs to be processional (more inspiring of movement than of meditation) and responsorial (sharing the burden of the text and music alternately, between the assembly and the cantor, choir, or instruments). Its texts need to have a biblical density and richness to it so that it can reflect as fulfillment what the Liturgy of the Word announced as promise.

Most of the propers used at communion are Scriptural, but they need not refer to any other text used that day. This is not even fully the case with the liturgical reform.

"the communion song [...] must be [...] responsorial (sharing the burden of the text and music alternately, between the assembly and the cantor, choir, or instruments)."

NO.
This is in my opinion a novelty which is a marvel of shallowness.
If ever in life there is a time for silence in which one can speak to our Lord and hopefully hear that still, small voice, the time after reception of Holy Communion is it. Don't let that precious time slip away in distraction, by forcing people to sing - walking in line to receive, or afterwards.

This seems to be an issue mostly with priests of the JP2 generation. While it’s a silly and convoluted “rule” for all the reasons already discussed, I feel some sympathy insofar as many of those priests likely adopted it just to have some hope of avoiding “Anthem” or “Gather us in” or “We are called” or something similarly manifestly inappropriate at Communion.

I’m too young to recall, but I think “we should sing the Communion antiphon from the Graduale at Communion” wasn’t exactly common wisdom in the seminaries of 1990, and almost certainly wasn’t remotely foreseeable for many Pastoral Musicians in the time before ubiquitous online helps on this site and others. Father may have never been formed toward the ideal, but such a rule, dumb as it seems in 2025, seems a reasonable defensive reflex against even worse options for Communion.

@Chant_Supremacist

There is a collection of Eucharistic Hymns published by Bishop Joseph Schrembs of Cleveland, Ohio. This collection embodies hymns from the Diocesan Hymnal Parts 1 and Parts 2. Some of the music for the hymns was composed by Bishop Schrembs and harmonized by other musicians. Copies of this hymnal are hard to find if not rare. It was published by J. Fischer & Bro., in 1935. The hymnal carries a NIHIL OBSTAT & IMPRIMATUR of Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York.

It contains Communion Hymns, General Eucharistic Hymns, Latin Eucharistic Hymns, a collection of Masses & Vatican Chants, and a number of Processional and Recessional Hymns that were widely used - in all about 80 pages. If interested PM.

@ francis and interested parties

Here is the table of contents from The Eucharistic Hymnal by Bishop Schrembs. This is a black and white scan to keep the file size to a minimum.

Even in our common language we are heretics. We don’t worship “Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament/Eucharist/etc.”. That’s consubstantiation.

It seems to me that such language is simply speaking of Our Lord’s presence in a particular “location”.

I agree with Gamba. When we say “in the Blessed Sacrament” we are speaking specifically of the Sacred Species reposed in the tabernacle.