Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Lectionary Cycle B – 746 (Vigil), 751 (Day)

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Entrance Hymn: On Jordan’s Bank 699 (Winchester New)

Kyrie: Missa Jubilate Deo (Mass XVI, XI-XIII. s.)

Gloria: Missa de Angelis – 10am (Mass VIII, XVI. s.)

Mass of St. Michael – all other Masses

(Michael Dominic O’Connor, O.P., ©2010)

Offertory Hymn: Lord of All Hopefullness 622  (Slane)

Sanctus: Missa Jubilate Deo

Agnus Dei: Missa Jubilate Deo

Communion Antiphon: Luke 1: 76

Tu, puer, Propheta Altissimi vocaberis: praeibis enim ante faciem Domini parare vias eius.

You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High: you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.

Communion Motet (10am):  Sicut Cervus  (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594))

Communion Hymn: Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness 506 (Schmücke Dich)

Marian Antiphon: Salve Regina 739

Recessional Hymn: Hark! A Herald Voice is Calling 556 (Merton)

Notes on the Liturgy and Music

Sicut Cervus  of Palestrina

“As the deer longs for running waters, so my soul longs for you, my God.”

Psalm 42

One of Palestrina’s most famous motets, Sicut cervus is a partial setting of Psalm 42 which has long held a place of special importance in the Catholic liturgy.  Palestrina’s setting has been revered for centuries for it’s profound depiction of this short text.

Missa Jubilate Deo

This setting of the Mass, sent to all of the bishops of the world in April 1974 by Pope Paul VI in a booklet of the same title, contains what he called the “minimum chant repertoire” to be learned by all parishes throughout the world.  The pope explained that the purpose of this booklet was, “to make it easier for Christians to achieve unity and spiritual harmony with their brothers and with the living tradition of the past.  Hence it is that those who are trying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse Gregorian chant the place which is due to it.”

The full letter of Pope Paul VI accompanying this booklet entitled Voluntati Obsequens can be found at the following link: https://adoremus.org/2007/12/31/Voluntati-Obsequens/.

 

 

Communion Antiphon

 

The communion antiphon, also known as communio in Latin, is one of several Proper texts of the Liturgy.  The proper texts, such as the Introit, Gradual, and Communio, are those texts that change with each liturgy.  This is in contrast to the Ordinary of the Mass, which contains those texts that do not change.  These include the Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.  At the Basilica of St. Mary, we sing the communion antiphon at the beginning of communion, where it was traditionally always sung, at every Mass.

Marian Antiphon

The Marian Antiphon comes from the last of the sung hours of the Diving Office know as Compline.  Traditionally, one of the four Marian Antiphons, Alma Redemptoris Mater (Advent), Ave Regina Caelorum (Lent), Regina Caeli (Easter), or Salve Regina (Ordinary Time) was sung at the end of this hour.  In the reformed office of Paul VI, known as the Liturgy of the Hours, this final office is known as Night Prayer.

The Lectionary Cycle

The Ordinary Form of the Mass, promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, uses a three- year cycle of readings.  Cycle B began with the first Sunday of Advent on December 3, 2017

Vatican Chant Catalogue

The Vatican puts together all of the Gregorian Chant settings of the Ordinary of the Mass (or the parts of the Mass which do not change from week to week) in a collection called the Kyriale.  The Missa de Angelis is the 8th setting in this catalogue.  As with the other chant settings in the Kyriale, different parts of the Missa de Angelis were written in different centuries.

The complete collection of chants used for the Mass is called the Graduale Romanum.

Major Church Documents on Sacred Music

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