Propers for a "wedding anniversary Mass"?
  • Imperator
    Posts: 11
    The schola that I'm a part of has been asked to sing at a Mass to commemorate the wedding anniversaries of a large group of couples. I haven't been able to get info on exactly which Mass will be used by the celebrant, and I don't know anything about anniversary Masses in general, either. Does anyone know what the "usual" practice is? Would the chant Propers be of the nuptial Mass, the normal Mass of the day, or something else? Also, would the Gloria be used? (This is an Ordinary Form/Novus Ordo Mass, by the way.)

    Another question I've had lingering in the back of my mind: when singing a nuptial Mass in the OF, is it licit to simply use all of the nuptial Mass Propers from the EF's Liber Usualis? Or must a schola strictly choose from the options given in the modern Graduale?
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    Interesting question. The Sacramentary p 851 says for wedding anniversaries (especially 25th and 50th) the Mass of Thanksgiving may be celebrated with the prayers in the Sacramentary. Gregorian propers for that are in the Graduale, p 655. If the Mass were on a Sunday or other high ranking day, the Mass of the day may be required.

    By the way, I have sung the traditional nuptial propers for modern wedding Masses, as "alius cantus aptus," after consulting the priest. If one can sing a selection of hymns, why not the traditional propers?
  • dvalerio
    Posts: 341
    > is it licit to simply use all of the nuptial Mass Propers from the EF's Liber Usualis?

    This is surely licit for two reasons:
    1) someone said in this forum that the Ordo Cantus Missae does include these EF chants as the first option for the Nuptial Mass in the OF, and the only reason reason why the 1974 Graduale ommits them is that that private edition of the Graduale prepared by Solesmes avoids including neo-gregorian chants whenever possible (I'm afraid I'm unable to confirm this myself as I never saw the Ordo Cantus Missae in my life);
    2) but even if that were not the case, a rubric says you can always resort to the neo-gregorian chants from the 1908 Graduale and its supplements.
    So you do not even have to conjure the «alius cantus aptus» to sing introit Deus Israel, communion Ecce sic benedicetur and all that.

    Though it would be better to check first if the Mass is indeed a Mass of Thanksgiving or whatever, I believe that, unless the Mass is that of a Sunday or a feast, singing the nuptial Mass propers in a Mass of Thanksgiving for anniversaries is fine.
  • Imperator
    Posts: 11
    Thanks for the responses. We found out that the Mass will be "of the day", so we decided to use Propers of the day as well.
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