Gregorian Missal

The of St. Joseph Parish uses as its main book the Gregorian Missal prepared by the Monks of Solesmes, copyrighted in 1990, and available in the United States from Paraclete Press and from GIA Publications.\

The Gregorian Missal to a large extent replaces and updates the long out of print Liber Usualis (Desclee & Co, 1952). (Although the Liber has recently been reprinted by St. Bonaventure Publications.) The Gregorian Missal includes the chants for the ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei), and the propers (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offertory, and Communion) for Sunday Masses and Feast days. These chants are in square note neum notation. Each chant is provided with an English translation (although the chants are still in Latin, of course; the English is provided not for performance, but for comprehension). The book also lists the citations for readings for those masses in each of the three cycles (but not the actual texts of the scripture readings) and includes the proper prayers in Latin (with English translation), Eucharistic prayers in Latin. All this is, unlike in the Liber, according to the current rite. A few special chants are provided, e.g. for sprinkling rites (in and out of Paschal time). With this book and a Vulgate edition of the Bible (and a priest who can homilize in the language) you could have a mass completely in Latin.

What the old Liber Usualis has that the Gregorian Missal lacks is:

• Vatican rules of interpretation of neums
• Vatican rules for proper pronunciation of liturgical Latin
• Propers for some daily masses (e.g. Easter week, saints days (the Missal has a few of these))
• Chants, prayers and readings of the Office. So the Missal has no chants for complete psalms, for instance, and relatively few antiphons and hymns.
• "Euouae". The Liber provides a cue for singing the "Gloria Patri" after the introit verse. ("Euouae" indicates the vowels of the syllables of "seculorum Amen," which ends the "Gloria Patri.") The Missal leaves these out (and indicates the verse taking the more elaborate ending, where applicable, which in the Liber was left to the "Gloria Patri")
• The Latin text of the scripture readings
• The tones for the "Gloria Patri" (often found on a insert)

• English translations of the chant texts
• Chants and indications of scripture readings following the current liturgical calendar (including three cycles of readings, sometimes with different chants for different cycles)
• Some ancient chants which were not included in the Liber (which, after all, only included the commonly needed chants).

• The Missal lacking the "Euouae," discussed above,
• Sometimes the incipit ends in a different place (moved asterisk),
• Sometimes asterisks which appear in the Liber are missing in the Gregorian Missal, generally at the end of verses of Alleluias, responsories and Graduals, and
• In at least one chant there is a change of words: "Ubi caritas et amor" now reads "Ubi caritas est vera" (I'm told that some early manuscripts have this "vera" reading).