The Chant of All Souls
Can we talk about Gregorian chant? Because today has some doozies. I confess that I was a fan of chant long before I was a Catholic. Indeed, God used the beauty of this music to draw me to Him.
Specific chants are prescribed for each Mass in both the Ordinary and the Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite. Each day’s Mass has its own chants. These are collected in a book called the Graduale Romanum. There are dozens of English versions of these available for the Ordinary Form if you don’t like the Latin.
Mind you, in the Ordinary Form, it’s perfectly legitimate to replace them with hymns or other songs, and this is often what you get. Regardless of practice, it is clearly the preference to use the assigned chants.
Usually, these take the form of an antiphon (or chorus, really) with verses from the psalms or sometimes elsewhere in scripture.
They occur at the following places in the Mass:
- Introit (entrance chant: antiphon with verses),
- Gradual psalm (Extraordinary Form) or
Responsorial psalm (Ordinary Form), - Sequence (In the Ordinary Form there are now only two days in the year that have sequencesw, though there are many more in the Extraordinary Form),
- Gospel acclamation (Alleluia or Tract),
- Offertory chant, and
- Communion antiphon (antiphon with verses).
Sometimes they are rather ordinary sounding, but sometimes they rise to the heights of beauty that will take your breath away.
Here are some of the traditional chants for today, All Souls Day. If you only listen to one, listed to the Dies Iræ. Enjoy!
Lyrics and translations may be found on Wikipedia, of course.
Introit: Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine (Grant them eternal rest, O Lord)
Sequence: Dies Iræ (Day of Wrath)
Gospel acclamation: Absolve Domine (Forgive, O Lord)
Offertory chant: Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriæ (Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory)
Communion antiphon: Lux æterna (Everlasting light)