communion practicalities
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,790
    Alright, I know that there are a million threads on this, but:

    I've read this one, which applies to the NO, but we have a TLM high Mass, and when we do the NO, we don't have EMHCs, both at the weekly NO Mass and when we must supplant a high Mass with the NO.

    Currently we are not in the loft. The schola men receive after the acolytes (and any seminarians, because of their dignity) but before any boys just sitting there "in choir". We start the proper with verses. That is sufficient time for the lay Catholics to start; we have enough non-Catholics and schola men to cover the voices of the motet, either a setting of the communio like the Isaac propers, or something else, to which we sometimes add psalm verses (a bit odd, but hey, the timing has worked well).

    There is also no organ.

    But we will return to the loft at some point (well, I hope):

    my plan would be short 3vv motets (SSA would be nice, but also SAT or SAB, because we have schola men and should have a paid section leader who can cover the male voice) while the men receive, then we sing the proper with verses while the women receive, and by that point we can start a motet of some kind, then organ.

    On holy days, this should work, as we get a Sunday-like crowd albeit on the low side. Weeknights that are not a HDO…it's tight. I'm thinking of moving organ to the front, receive at once, do fauxbourdon verses (especially days where a good communio hasn't been put up on CPDL: Holy Thursday, where there's no organ anyway, Corpus Christi, and St Joseph in Paschal Tide/votive Mass of St Joseph are great examples…), then do the motet.

    So there are really two questions here particularly for TLM folks or very high Brompton-style NO: one, how do you do communion? two, do you have a subset do a motet (equal or unequal voices alike), and how does that work out? We've never done that before, and frankly, I'd also like to have the men singing motets as well, we just haven't had the right mix as we don't have enough voices to support each part. But I think that we have a paid singer who is quite capable, and we also wish to train up one of the women parishioners who's an excellent musician and needs some experience.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • Chant_Supremacist
    Posts: 368
    We are in the loft and everyone goes down after the Agnus Dei to receive first, with the men of the schola in front. Fortunately the organist has usually received at an earlier mass, so he plays a meditation until the schola is back upstairs and we've caught our breath. If he hasn't received earlier, or it's Lent or Advent, there's quiet for two to three minutes. Then the communion chant with a few verses, then usually an SATB motet during the ablutions.

    It's a just get 'er done approach. I don't particularly want to organize and time different groups, which might change from Sunday to Sunday, and then worry about singers being held up in a line somewhere.

    Imho, whatever the choir's placement, we shouldn't be too concerned about a minute or two of quiet.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,790
    We sometimes have a million people in choir for no reason which is why this is a problem, and while we don’t have the biggest church by any stretch it does take a bit to get back up and down.

    I also don’t like to cut off the organist and I try to keep that to weeknights with just chant when we have the organ (so, not right now) where we do the whole psalm as provided by Solesmes with the proper.
  • Charles_Weaver
    Posts: 257
    We sing from the choir loft. During communion, we sing the antiphon once only, followed usually by several motets. I give my singers the option to skip one of the motets. But most of the singers opt to sing everything, and then we have time for the reception of Holy Communion after Mass. The clergy know to expect this, and we have time carved out for it in the Sunday schedule.

    I typically receive at the early-morning Mass, which I play/sing by myself. For that Mass, which is NO, I just go down right after the Agnus and receive first, and come back and do music later. The silence works nicely especially at that Mass.

    Sometimes if we have time after the last motet at the TLM, i will play the organ quietly (when in season) and the singers who are so inclined go down then. Most often, this only covers the ablutions, and the singers receive afterwards as described above.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw tandrews
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,790
    Coming back to this: I think that we’ll add a second motet that the volunteer schola men may skip. The women and the Catholic choir-only men can go during the proper since only the schola men sing that.

    Given my schedule now sometimes I wonder if I should go to (part of) the earliest low Mass and receive; I can’t receive at the Mass in between due to the timing. Nevertheless it’s a big constraint for me. And I’m not even on the organ bench.

    My pastor can’t wait of course at the rail; he also seems less amenable to receiving after Mass than most trad priests in this situation. We did this all the time when I was in Louisville; they have always had a permanent deacon to help however. He’s also exhausted.

    Adding a second motet might also lead to equal voices from time to time for filling time but also the challenge/intellectual itch-scratching that it could bring.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • henry
    Posts: 254
    The General Instruction says, I believe, that the Communion chant begins as the celebrant receives and continues until all have received. We do that, and when there are only a few people remaining in the line we stop, walk to the altar, and receive. We don't have a loft.
  • cantarealseñor
    Posts: 10
    The General Instruction says, I believe, that the Communion chant begins as the celebrant receives and continues until all have received.


    This - whenever I solo cantor for a Mass I chant the communion antiphon right after Domine non sum dignus. I am the last to receive, ending the Communion antiphon/hymn as the communion line comes to an end.

    When I sing with my parish choir, we receive after the EMHCs, with the organist playing an interlude, and we sing the Communion antiphon right away once we get back to our spot (not a loft).
  • StephenMatthew
    Posts: 134
    Our solution was to have extra communion ministers designated to go to the loft (and also to cover for the possibility of anyone mobility impaired at the rear of the church, or anywhere else in the congregation that needs communion brough to them, which happens on a semi-regular basis, as not everyone with a mobility limitation wants to sit front and center in the designated handicap spot). At one point we had to designate a couple choir members for this duty, but eventually we were able to shift it to non-choir people.

    We are currently in temporary space all on one level with musicians at the rear, I had hoped musicians could join the end of the procession since they are literally just an extra row behind the congregation, but that didn't work out for various reasons relating to things like mobility limited musicians and musicians insisting on filling all available time with music, so for a time a minister (or even the priest celebrant at times) would bring communion to the musicians at the rear after the procession ended, but have since designated extra ministers for this task to avoid the delay that creates.

    On the occasion we have a very small weekday mass with music, if we (the couple of us in the loft or rear) have not made it to the front for communion the priest will come to us... and in the past would even come up to the loft to distribute communion when that was needed.

    Pastor very strongly believes everyone at a mass that wishes to receive should have the opportunity to receive during the mass itself.
    Thanked by 3novusgordo Liam PaxMelodious
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,196
    [H]ow do you do communion?

    At the TLM:

    1. After the Agnus Dei, the females of the choir descend from the loft to receive.
    2. The men of the choir sing the Communion antiphon with me, and descend to receive.
    3. I will sing, one or two verses at a time from Versus Canticorum et Psalmorum between repetitions of the antiphon; if I run out of verses, I continue with verses from Psalm 33(34). Singers have the option of joining me on the antiphon, though I have told them it's not strictly necessary.
    4. All sing the Gloria Patri at the Sicut erat... and the final repetition of the antiphon.

    [D]o you have a subset do a motet (equal or unequal voices alike), and how does that work out?

    We do not; the entire choir sings one or two 3vv motets after the singing of the Communion antiphon and its verses. I generally receive Communion during a weekday Mass, but I've also had a student conduct a motet while I receive.

    NO practice is largely the same, except all the choir descends after the Lord, I am not worthy. I sing the Communion antiphon(s) and verses in the manner of a Responsorial Psalm; singers then join me on the antiphon(s) and verses. A hymn concludes the singing during Communion.

    In the rare instances that there is excessive time between the singing and the Prayer after Communion, I will improvise on the organ if the season permits it; otherwise, silence reigns.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen novusgordo
  • AnimaVocis
    Posts: 242
    Our NO Practice:

    Deacon ascends to the balcony while the choir chants the Communion Antiphon and verses. He goes to those unable to come forward in our church on his way to and from the balcony.

    TLM practice:

    The whole choir leaves the loft for the communion rail immediately after the "Agnus". We chant the proper once we get back as a choir, then we typically offer a motet following.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen novusgordo
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,790
    So we don’t have EMHCs ever at the NO even at a high Mass celebrated a few times a year. But they can’t come up to the loft without assistance, and it’s so unwieldy that I basically have told people “go, now, but otherwise don’t bother” (running to get to the rail is absolutely off limits, and Father has told me so). This year for the confirmation Mass with a forward altar it made receiving complicated as the schola was in choir, but the women weren’t, and the soprano that evening would have liked to receive, but she was alone on the part for two motets, unfortunately.


    Pastor very strongly believes everyone at a mass that wishes to receive should have the opportunity to receive during the mass itself


    I agree, but not at all costs. Dignity and eucharistic discipline are important.

    For us leaving after the Agnus means that no one runs during the Ecce Agnus Dei and we can cue the congregation a bit…just line up after us!
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