Ash Wednesday (1962 MR)
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 542
    For some years now, I’ve noticed that the two antiphons and the responsory set out in the Graduale are inadequate to cover the entire imposition of ashes when there is a larger congregation.

    Are there any other sources that provide either other works or psalms to use with the two antiphons? Either that, or is there a general point of liturgical law that allows for psalms to inserted into a rite wherever there is an orphan antiphon? I can’t imagine that these two antiphons have been without psalms for their entire history…

    I note the same problem on Good Friday for the procession of the Blessed Sacrament and for the communion rite.
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 542
    By way of a postscript…
    I’ve just looked at the Dominican and Norbertine books and note that they have some psalm verses with one of their antiphons during the imposition of ashes.
    There must be some way of recovering the heritage, as was done with the psalm verses for the Communios.
  • Andris Amolins
    Posts: 157
    It seems to me that nothing forbids to sing psalm verses also outside Dominican or Norbertine chapels. Only that the priest is not under obligation to read them from the missal. On the other hand, it is not strictly required to cover all the proceeding with sound of chant.
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 465
    it is not strictly required to cover all the proceeding with sound of chant
    Indeed. Silence is golden. If your celebrant seems allergic to it, you might add the psalm Miserere, or a penitential chant such as Parce Domine or Attende Domine.
    Thanked by 1MatthewRoth
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,365
    Or sing a polyphonic (or fauxbourdon or whatever) version of the chant.

    I imagine that there was often no need for psalms, although I appreciate using them, e.g. on Palm Sunday; the repetition in polyphony of the plainchant would be more than sufficient to make up for the fact that you might sing the two antiphons upwards of ten times each. The one that I can't make work is the distribution of candles. The canticle is too short for polyphony to make a difference.
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