Weekday Chant Propers
  • Pangelingua83
    Posts: 12
    I am looking for a nice, simple English setting of the Propers for Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent. I am a music teacher at a Catholic school, and our bishop - a strong supporter of chant and Adam Bartlett's Simple English Propers - is coming to celebrate Mass that day. We will have a jr high choir singing who have little musical experience, but could easily learn to chant some simple Propers well!

    My initial thought was to simply use the SEPs from Sunday of the 3rd Week of Lent... is that acceptable, or would it be more technically correct to chant the actual Propers for the day?

    Thank you!
  • Adam Schwend
    Posts: 203
    If there is no feast day/memorial, then it would be customary to use the propers from the previous Sunday.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    please pm me
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Here's the introit and offertory proper to the day (every day of lent uses different propers):

    Ego clamávi, SEP p. 323
    Sicut in holocáusto, SEP p. 238
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • Pangelingua83
    Posts: 12
    Thanks! I had found the text for the correct propers for the day, but completely forgot that I could find the SEP settings of the introit and offertory because they came from another Sunday! This is why I like these forums... :)
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    Adam Schwend

    What you say is true for most seasons, but in Lent all weekdays actually have their own Propers.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    SkirpR,

    I believe that all weekdays have their own propers, no matter which season.

    A liturgically-minded priest told me last year that it is always permissible to use the previous Sunday's propers during the week, because the weekdays are still within the octave.

    Does this not apply to Lent?
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    Can your choir sustain vertical harmonies? I'm kinda partial to choral propers, and I really like Richard Rice's Simple Choral Gradual. Ditto on the permission to sing propers from the previous Sunday through the whole week---I do it every Thursday at my school Mass with my 3-5th grade choirs.
    Thanked by 1Pax
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Ryan, here's the seasonal trends, though it really varies. I just do whatever the graduale says :)

    Ordinary time: all weekday propers are from the previous sunday, with a few exceptions (for example, tuesday's offertory and friday's communion may be different than the Sunday)
    -Advent, lent: different propers for each day
    -Easter octave: different every day
    -Easter season: repeats the easter octave about half the time, different propers about half the time
    Thanked by 2canadash Pax
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    Ben is correct. If one is concerned about weekday propers, one needs to have access to either the 1974 Graduale Romanum or the Ordo Cantus Missae - most recent edition I believe 1985 or thereabouts. (This is the book which tells one where to find the chants in the 1908 edition of the Graduale - although I assume with a little legwork in the index one could also use a Liber Usualis).

    Unlike the Gregorian Missal, these books include almost all possibilities for weekdays, memorials and feasts of saints, commons, and ritual Masses in addition to Sundays and solemnities.
  • Ioannes Andreades
    Posts: 311
    Also keep in mind that the Ash Wednesday propers from the Simple Gradual are also intended for use every weekday of Lent. I assume that this would include the use of By Flowing Waters. If you have the introit and offertory lined up from SEP, maybe BFW will serve you for the communion.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Ryan,

    I might add that what your priest said is correct, partly. It's not as good as using the propers of the day, but the graduale says you can use another proper from the same season, if need be.
  • Adam Schwend
    Posts: 203
    Wait...are there different propers every day of Lent in the GR? Or just using the RM propers?
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    yep
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    Adam,

    Yes, in the GR, not just the RM. And in this case like everywhere else the GR and RM agree often but not always.
  • Adam Schwend
    Posts: 203
    It seems they don't agree about every time I need them to.
    Thanked by 1bgeorge77
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Our jobs would be so much easier if everything always matched or agreed. But 99% still wouldn't listen...
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    It seems they don't agree about every time I need them to.


    As a side note here, if one is concerned about translations for the Propers - I'm speaking obviously of those not included in the Gregorian Missal or SEP - you can often find them in the Missal, just maybe they're somewhere else, like on another day, for a memorial of some saint, or in the commons, ritual, or votive Masses.

    I have a PDF of the Latin 2002 Missale Romanum I downloaded from somewhere at one point. The layout isn't pretty, but it seems all the text is in there in the right order. I usually search that document for a phrase from the proper for which I'm looking. About 70% of the time it turns up. Then I locate the same place in the (English) Roman Missal, and bam - there's a translation - official, no less. (And yes, I'm aware Propers don't need official translations, but if there is one, I usually feel better using it.)
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