When is it necessary to get new chants approved?
  • Laura
    Posts: 13

    Does every piece of music sung at Mass have to be approved by a bishop?

    I have heard that this is true of the Ordinary, but I don't have a source for that mandate.  Is this an urban legend?

    I wonder if it extends to chants that are not part of Ordinary? Suppose I take an existing Latin chant for the priest (such as "Ite, Missa Est / Deo Gratias" or "In Nomine Patris, et Filii.." or "The Lord be with you", etc.), and fit English words to the melody.  Would that need to be approved?  (This is a practical question.   I am a music director, and my pastor does not always like the ICEL chants, and so I am trying to find other options for him.)

    Suppose I take a Greek Kyrie (that I know has been sung forever in Church), and fit English words to the chant melody.  Would that need to be approved?  (I know other people have already done fit many of them to English; I am asking the question for my own liturgical formation.)

    Last question:
    "You were sent to heal the contrite of heart; Lord, have mercy."
    "You came to call sinners; Christ, have mercy."

    If I wanted to make up a chant that sounded similar to existing chants for the first part ("You were sent to heal the contrite of heart"), could I do that, or would a chant that I made up (even if it sounded like other chant) have to be approved by a bishop?

  • BachLover2BachLover2
    Posts: 330
    This has been discussed here.

    6/25/2008, USCCB Secretariat:
    Since the [Church] documents speak of the nobility of chant and the rich musical heritage of polyphony for the liturgy, those musical forms are by nature "approved" for liturgical use.

    Fr. Rick Hilgartner
    Secretariat of Divine Worship
    United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
    3211 Fourth St. NE Washington, DC 20017
  • liturgical_organist
    Posts: 7
    Wouldn't the WORDS used to the chant have to have been approved?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,160
    The Missal gives leeway to use the invocations proposed in the book, "or other invocations", so the approval of the pastor should suffice.

    As a general rule, the invocations should follow the pattern of the examples in the Missal: that they are all addressed to Christ, and they are primarily about Him, not us.
  • Laura
    Posts: 13
    Thank you all very much! This is very helpful!
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