Personal Ordinariates - Gradual/Responsorial Psalm
  • RevAMG
    Posts: 162
    In a celebration of Mass according to Divine Worship: The Missal, there are a number of options for the Gradual or Responsorial Psalm. I can think of the following:

    1. The Gradual, as printed in Divine Worship: The Missal
    2. The Gradual, as printed in the Graduale Romanum
    3. The Gradual, as printed in different translations of the Graduale
    4. The Responsorial Psalm in the Lectionary
         A. As printed in the Lectionary with the response (RSV-2CE)
         B. As printed in the Lectionary without the response (in directum) (RSV-2CE)
         C. According to the Coverdale Psalter with the response from the Lectionary
         D. According to the Coverdale Psalter without the response (in directum)

    A perusal of the various websites of the Ordinariate parishes that put their Mass leaflets online, there seems to be a wide variety of use in terms of the Gradual or Responsorial Psalm. My question (or curiosity, perhaps) is about what Ordinariate parishes tend to use. Is there any desire in parishes for resources for the Lectionary psalms set to psalm tones (Anglican tones? English Gregorian tones? Modern tones [Meinrad/Murray/Bevenot, etc.]?) Or a book of the Coverdale Psalter set to Anglican psalm tones arranged for the Ordinariate calendar? Or are most music directors in Ordinariate parishes happy to choose and/or point the psalms on their own?

    Thanked by 1Jes
  • RevAMG -

    The Psalter of the Ordinariate is the Coverdale Psalter.
    None other is (or should be) used.

    At Walsingham (the cathedral) we have since before the erection of the parish in 1984 sung the Psalm in directum to Anglican chant.
    The entire congregation sing it, and sing it well.
    Too, the chants vary from week to week, depending on the psalm - but this is nothing to fret about with our people.
    This has never varied.

    I really do not know whether this practice is followed throughout the Ordinariate or not.
    I should think that it would be, but really don't know.
    If there are any who sing the Psalm responsorially, still, they would use the Coverdale.

    We never sing the Gradual Responsory from the Graduale Romanum, only the lectionary psalm, Coverdale translation, to Anglican chant.

    ______________________________________

    As an aside, Anglo-Catholics of old frowned quite royally on Anglican chant and spurned it as 'protty', and would have naught but the Gregorian psalm tones.
    While I love the Gregorian tones I never shared this rather snotty and eccentric point of view.
    Anglican chant is beautiful and is one of the jewels of our patrimony.
    I should think and hope that all our parishes would sing their psalmody to it.

    (Actually, one can sing alternate verses of a psalm to a Gregorian tone and an Anglican chant, fa-burden style. Care, of course, would be taken that they are tonally compatible.)
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen dboothe
  • RevAMG
    Posts: 162
    Thank you, M. Jackson Osborn, for your reply. While I agree that the Coverdale Psalter is appropriate to the Ordinariate, the Rubrical Directory of Divine Worship: The Missal is clear that other options are licit as well:

    22. In the readings from Holy Scripture, explained in the homily, God speaks to his people, opening to them the mystery of redemption and salvation and offering them spiritual nourishment; and Christ himself is in the midst of the faithful through his Word. The scriptural readings at Mass are taken from the Lectionary in the Revised Standard Version (Second Catholic Edition). The proper Gradual and Alleluia may be replaced by the Responsorial Psalm and Alleluia of the Lectionary. The text of the Responsorial Psalm may be replaced by those from the Coverdale Psalter, and the response to the Psalm may be omitted, especially if the Psalm is sung.


    In response to your aside, I never thought of alternating psalm verses between a Gregorian tone and an Anglican chant, fauxbourdon (falsobordone?) style. That sounds like it would be interesting: something I'll have to try! Thanks for putting those two things together in my mind!
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn

  • Thank you, Father, for your enlightenment.
    Alas! It would appear that even the Ordinariate is not exempt from the old 'this or another suitable.....' fig leaf.
    Thanked by 1RevAMG
  • So, if the psalm is sung, the congregational response may be omitted?

    MJO, in your parish is this common practice?
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • RevAMG
    Posts: 162
    Noel, in Masses according to The Roman Missal and according to Divine Worship, the congregational response may be omitted. The rubric for this is found in the General Introduction to the Lectionary at no. 20 (and cited in no. 22 of Divine Worship's Rubrical Directory):

    20. As a rule the responsorial psalm should be sung. There are two established ways of singing the psalm after the first reading: responsorially and directly. In responsorial singing, which, as far as possible, is to be given preference, the psalmist, or cantor of the psalm, sings the psalm verse and the whole congregation joins in by singing the response. In direct singing of the psalm there is no intervening response by the community; either the psalmist, or cantor of the psalm, sings the psalm alone as the community listens or else all sing it together.
  • Yes, Noel, this is and has been common practice at Walsingham since before we were 'officially' Catholic. As I've said numerous times, we ('we' meaning choir and congregation) sing the Psalm in directum to Anglican Chant at every choir mass. We have two choir masses every Sunday, the 11.15am one being solemn high.

    It should not be news to anyone, in or out of the Ordinariate, that the Psalm in the Roman rite does not have to be sung responsorially. This is just the sort of 'settled on' norm.

    It may be sung any of the several ways of singing psalmody -

    1. In directum - straight though by all.
    2. Responsorially - Congregational responsory alternating with cantoral or choral verses.
    3. Antiphonally - Two groups of Congregation, or Choir vs. Congregation singing alternate verses, the two joining in the antiphon before and after.

    I know of several Catholic parishes in which the Psalm is sung antiphonally by the congregation - gospel side vs. epistle side. It could, as well, be men vs. women, or choir vs. congregation, etc. The antiphon is sung by all at the beginning and end (and optionally after designated verses).
  • JesJes
    Posts: 576
    I think in Melbourne we used the lectionary and it wasn't sung when I was there because it was just starting and we had a speech expert who read it with amazing elocution but I'll ask current directors over here if you like.
  • tsoapm
    Posts: 79
    It should not be news to anyone, in or out of the Ordinariate, that the Psalm in the Roman rite does not have to be sung responsorially.
    Well I for one am glad to pick up these sorts of things here, even if everyone else already knows them. And while we’re talking about things that I should probably know already, can I ask for a clarification?
    responsorial singing, which, as far as possible, is to be given preference
    we … sing the Psalm in directum … at every choir mass
    What’s the dynamic here exactly? It seems like a contradiction, but I expect I’m missing something.

    I don’t know a great deal about personal ordinariates, but I gather at least one important intention is to retain Anglican “Use”, so it would obviously be completely counterintuitive to insist on broad alterations to established liturgical practice, but if the General Introduction to the Lectionary (ed. whoops, not GIRM) says another practice should be given preference as far as possible? I know people haven’t done that with Latin and organs, for example, in the other direction.

    I might have thought that fans of “active participation” would see something very attractive in the idea of everyone singing the psalm together. I’d love the opportunity myself.
  • RevAMG
    Posts: 162
    tsoapm, the current General Introduction to the Lectionary (GIL) was published in 1981. In the [brief] history of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, responsorial singing has been the norm for the Ordinary Form. I don't want to get into the Extraordinary Form and the much longer history of the Gradual, but for the Ordinary Form, the GIL presumes the norm of responsorial singing (notwithstanding the plethora of options available, discussed elsewhere on this forum).

    Divine Worship: The Missal has been in use only since Advent 2015. The normative Anglican custom of singing in directum is preserved but the Rubrical Directory also permits other options as outlined in no. 22 above. In fact, there is a footnote to no. 22 of the Rubrical Directory that cites GIL, no. 20. Hence, the relationship between Divine Worship and the Roman Missal (and its rubrics) is interesting. For example, the Rubrical Directory states:

    7. The liturgical norms and principles of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal are normative for this expression of the Roman Rite, except where otherwise stipulated in this Directory and in the particular rubrics of Divine Worship. This present Directory is intended to provide instructions for those areas in which Divine Worship diverges from the Roman Missal.


    This is why the GIRM is printed in full at the beginning of Divine Worship. Furthermore, the Rubrical Directory gives some leeway as to what can be sung for the propers of the Mass (cp. GIRM, 48, 61–62)

    14. The given texts of the chants may be replaced by the chants of the Graduale Romanum or by musical settings of the Graduale which rely on a different translation of the same texts. The Gradual and Alleluia may be replaced by the Responsorial Psalm and Alleluia of the Lectionary. In addition to, or in place of, the Introit, Offertory, and Communion, an appropriate hymn may also be sung. Likewise, the given text of a Sequence may be replaced by a prose or musical setting which relies on a different translation of the same Sequence.


    In the end, Divine Worship gives options (and does not normally stress one-thing-over-another) so as to respect a divergence in liturgical experience among Ordinariate communities. One community's liturgical experience may be closer to the Anglican Missal tradition whereas another community's experience may be closer to the Roman Missal as revised following the Second Vatican Council. Hence, Divine Worship allows for a variety of expressions that may-or-may-not follow the other (earlier) rubrics precisely.
  • tsoapm
    Posts: 79
    I see. Personally, I never encountered Anglican chant in the many Anglican churches I attended before I converted and joined the small choir of one of the city’s Catholic parishes. The diversity is easy to appreciate.

    Thank you for your exhaustive reply to my small question.
  • Father AMG -
    Are you an Ordinariate priest?
    A friend of the Ordinariate?
    Other?
  • RevAMG
    Posts: 162
    M. Jackson Osborn, I am a friend of the Ordinariate and a friend of Bishop Steven Lopes. I also have experience celebrating Mass according to Divine Worship.
  • Actually, one can sing alternate verses of a psalm to a Gregorian tone and an Anglican chant, fa-burden style. Care, of course, would be taken that they are tonally compatible.)


    Yes, we do this with doxologies at our Mass in the EF.

    At the ordinariate in my city, they use the psalm tones, but it's not what is preferred by the powers that be. I won't say anymore on the subject.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen