English Propers for St. Francis of Assisi?
  • barnabus1898barnabus1898
    Posts: 91
    I recently began employment at the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Alexandria, LA, and have been given the opportunity to chant Propers for all of the Holy Days of Obligation and Basilican Feast Days with the organization of a Basilican Choir.

    Finding Propers for Holy Days are easy as they are all included in the Bartlet SEP and Rice's SCG. The problem I'm finding is Basilican Days. These are mostly in line with the old calendar, and so many are in the 1962 or the Gregorian Missal. Usually these Propers are scattered through the SEP. I just have to find the incipits, translate them from the Latin to English, and then usually find them in the SEP.

    I'm having some difficulty with St. Francis of Assisi as "the Secondary Patron of Natchitoches" it is a day that is "annual, and to be determined by the local ordinary". I have until the beginning of October to find these. I'm thinking maybe there are some movable commons that I'm missing that I should be looking for? Any help or possible leads to a wild goose chase would be greatly appreciated.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    You might try looking through the Plainchant Gradual (Palmer-Burgess Gradual), Vol. 3 & 4 to try to find them. There are, however, no indeces in these books, so this is a very tedious project.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    The Graduale Romanum has these propers for St. Francis on October 4:

    Introit: Nos autem gloriari
    Offertory: Veritas mea
    Communion: Fidelis servus et prudens

    The SEP has indexes to look these up by the Latin titles; they are respectively on Holy Thursday, St. Joseph's day (Mar 19), and the 19th Sunday Year C.

  • barnabus1898barnabus1898
    Posts: 91
    Thanks for the input! I hadn't looked in the Graduale Romanum yet.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    In addition to the Plainchant Gradual (Palmer-Burgess) which Salieri noted above, you could also reference The American Gradual (Bruce Ford), which can be downloaded. Each of these books is an English adaptation of the music of the Graduale Romanum, the first being in historic Anglican language, and the second being modern Anglican language.

    If you want something simpler (Psalm tones) you could reference The Anglican Use Gradual. It does not, however, cover saints' days; only Sundays and major feasts.

    There is, also, the Simple English Propers, noted by Chonak. This is sort of a middle road between the actual Gregorian propers and psalm tone versions.
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