Litany? Corpus Christi Procession
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    Is it appropriate to use a litany during the Corpus Christi procession?
    Is there an official English text for the Litany of the Most Blessed Sacrament?

    Many of the traditional Eucharistic hymns that I see people using for the procession are not in our lousy hymnal and thus not regularly on the lips of our congregation.
    I can print a booklet, but it’s hard enough to walk and sing, let alone when you hardly know the song…
  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 302
    I don't see why not. There is a Litany of the Holy Eucharist and also a Litany of the Precious Blood.
  • Litany to the Blessed Sacrament approved for Public Use
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    Note, there is a distinction. The litany of the blessed sacrament is not one of the six litanies which are approved for public use. Those are:

    Litany of the Saints
    Litany of Loreto
    Litany of the Holy Name
    Litany of the Sacred Heart
    Litany of Saint Joseph
    Litany of the most Precious Blood
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  • lmassery
    Posts: 404
    To chant these litanies, does one simply use the same tone as the litany of the saints?
  • @JonathanKK actually there are 8 now. In 2013 the litanies to the Blessed Sacrament and to Jesus Christ Priest and Victim were approved for public use
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    @Luke: yes. Here is the score I did this year for the Litany of Loreto, which the school girls sang for the May crowning. I did it in E minor and accompanied it, it went very well.

    Thank you monastery, probably no official English text yet?
  • I spoke to a priest that works at the office in the states, and it seems it okay to use the common translations for now or just use it in Latin until ICEL gets an official translation... they are working on it- but considering how things normally go with ICEL could be for a number of years.
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  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    monasteryliturgist - Thank you. No one ever told me. I'll have to look up the official Latin just to see it.
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  • davido
    Posts: 873
    Published 9 years ago, and nobody can bother to translate this litany into English. Yet the US bishops claim they want Eucharistic revival. Forgive me if I remain skeptical...

    I am not a Latinist, but from a cursory comparison, it is obvious that neither of the common Litanies of the MBS (https://spiritualdirection.com/2018/05/04/litany-of-the-most-blessed-sacrament, and https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/56089/litany-of-the-most-blessed-sacrament) are anywhere close to the petitions in the official Latin.
  • yea, in general most things translated to English these days are questionable. I don't really understand why. Take for example the official English translation of the litany to St. joseph- it's really terrible- and you don't even have to be a Latinist to see that it's really bad. I have a feeling most things are google translated these days.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw ServiamScores
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    yea, in general most things translated to English these days are questionable. [...]
    I avoid listening to any English translation at Mass because of that reason... Not that the older translations were very good either!
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,721
    Not only are our translations bad, but it is compounded when you are in a bilingual parish, because the lectionary doesn't match in various languages, either.

    Our parish is bilingual English/Spanish, and we have to navigate the differences in lectionary as a result. For instance, I've been called upon to help with Quinceaneras and I've found appropriate psalms and gone looking for translations in the Spanish lectionary (mind you there are also differences between Spain and Mexico...) only to discover that the psalms are arranged differently in Spanish than in English, and very frequently have completely different refrains. It is VERY frustrating.

    This process has caused me to compare the translations themselves and I've discovered that sometimes they are verrrrry different. It's wild. (And shameful on the part of Holy Mother Church, and frustrating.) Some of it can be chalked up to idiosyncrasies of language (I'm bilingual and speak French, so I can reconstruct a good bit of spanish and latin as a result) but some of it is just flat out different. Reading a psalm in Spanish can come across very differently than in English.

    No bueno.
  • Serviam, hopefully the new USA editions of the Lectionary in English and Spanish will help to improve the situation. Wishful thinking?
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  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,721
    Additional rounds of revision make me leery, as they are only good as the men revising them. Perhaps the translations may improve (God willing!) but that won't address the disparity between the contents of the respective lectionaries.

    It just boggles my mind that the lectionary — as such — was not formulated in a universal format, and then merely applied in various languages. One glance at the psalms as established for the Easter Vigil is enough to prove my point.
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  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    @ServiamScores It is almost as if the 'tower of Babel' is a prophecy as well as a warning.
    Thanked by 2ServiamScores CGM
  • Serviam,

    Do you mean to suggest that the Ordo of Paul VI isn't the unique form because there isn't such a thing as the "form" of this Ordo?