Ash Wednesday (1962 MR)
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 544
    For some years now, I’ve noticed that the two antiphons and the responsory set out in the Graduale are inadequate to cover the entire imposition of ashes when there is a larger congregation.

    Are there any other sources that provide either other works or psalms to use with the two antiphons? Either that, or is there a general point of liturgical law that allows for psalms to inserted into a rite wherever there is an orphan antiphon? I can’t imagine that these two antiphons have been without psalms for their entire history…

    I note the same problem on Good Friday for the procession of the Blessed Sacrament and for the communion rite.
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 544
    By way of a postscript…
    I’ve just looked at the Dominican and Norbertine books and note that they have some psalm verses with one of their antiphons during the imposition of ashes.
    There must be some way of recovering the heritage, as was done with the psalm verses for the Communios.
  • Andris Amolins
    Posts: 157
    It seems to me that nothing forbids to sing psalm verses also outside Dominican or Norbertine chapels. Only that the priest is not under obligation to read them from the missal. On the other hand, it is not strictly required to cover all the proceeding with sound of chant.
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 466
    it is not strictly required to cover all the proceeding with sound of chant
    Indeed. Silence is golden. If your celebrant seems allergic to it, you might add the psalm Miserere, or a penitential chant such as Parce Domine or Attende Domine.
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  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,365
    Or sing a polyphonic (or fauxbourdon or whatever) version of the chant.

    I imagine that there was often no need for psalms, although I appreciate using them, e.g. on Palm Sunday; the repetition in polyphony of the plainchant would be more than sufficient to make up for the fact that you might sing the two antiphons upwards of ten times each. The one that I can't make work is the distribution of candles. The canticle is too short for polyphony to make a difference.
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 544
    I can see the sense of the suggestions above, but they bring me no closer to what is actually correct or, historically, what the alternatives were. The path that leads to ‘alius cantus aptus’ is uncomfortably wide!

    I don’t know that I agree with the argument that silence is really golden in this context - the processional chants of the Church are meant to cover the corresponding liturgical action. Whether the imposition of ashes was very late and so didn’t have psalmody, or has been dislocated from its original position, I don’t know. It’s a bit like the Mandatum - the succession of antiphons without psalms is a bit bewildering.

    I’ve gone through a few of the medieval graduales and not found any psalm verses there either.
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 466
    historically, what the alternatives were.
    I don't know that there were any.
    The path that leads to ‘alius cantus aptus’ is uncomfortably wide!
    No, it's not. Motets have been permitted during the liturgy for centuries. If you never sing anything but psalm/canticle verses to prolong the Offertory or Communion chants, I can't fault that, but the remaining alternative to a freely chosen Latin text, suitable for the occasion, which you find uncomfortable, or silence, which you find unfitting, is to repeat the appointed chants. The rubrics and other liturgical regulations are not necessarily meant to address every possible foreseeable circumstance, so there is no single "correct" answer as to what may be sung when time remains.

    The situation is not entirely analogous with Candlemas, as a rubric of the Missal (not included in the Gradual) directs that the canticle and antiphon be repeated until the distribution is finished. The Good Friday processional antiphons are borrowed from the feasts of the Holy Cross. The rubric for Communion recommends psalm 21 or any of the Matins responsories from that morning. Would you find the traditional Vexilla regis inappropriate on Good Friday if time remains?
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 665
    My hand missal has Attende Domine listed to follow the antiphons, which has multiple verses that can really be dragged out, if necessary.
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  • Palestrina
    Posts: 544
    FSSPMusic, I seem to recall the legislation providing for Offertory and Communion motets explicitly. That would suggest to me that their use is restricted to those parts of the liturgy, and only after the propers had been completed.

    In relation to the Vexilla Regis, while I would not find it inappropriate personally, that it was replaced in the Holy Week reforms for Good Friday with other material would make me think twice about using it. The optional relocation of the Tenebrae responsories to the Good Friday liturgy makes me think that had the option been desired, it would have provided for explicitly. The rubrics are so prescriptive in relation to all these things. I wonder whether the Congregation ever expressed a view…
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