Roman Missal — Music

Singing the Text

A significant feature of the new edition of the Missal is the amount of music that it contains. It is intended to facilitate the singing of the liturgy by the Priest and the congregation and be a sign of the integral nature of music within the liturgy.

The music is based on the Church's tradition of Gregorian chant and therefore offers parishes and communities chants which are melodic and simple and can be sung at any celebration of the liturgy.

In England and Wales some dioceses are encouraging parishes to begin by learning the chants of the Missal as a setting which can be sung by all communities and provides a common setting.

Music

The complete music from the Missal can be found on the website of ICEL

On this website the Chants for the Order of Mass can be downloaded for inclusion in Mass leaflets.

Accompaniment

ICEL has provided accompaniments to the main chants of the Mass on its website.

The Music Department of the Diocese of Leeds has also provided accompaniments to the main chants of the Missal.

Recordings

The Music Makers have issued a CD recording And with your spirit

Church Music Association of America provides a series of videos

National Association of Pastoral Musicians provides a series of recordings

Singing the Antiphons

The Society of St Gregory with the endorsement of the Department for Christian Life and Worship has produced The Processional a compilation of antiphon texts for use on Sundays and major feasts drawn from various sources including the Missal and the Simple Gradual. The purpose of the volume is to provide composers with a resource and to encourage setting of these texts.

An updated edition is now available (May 2012) which incorporates information about suitable psalm verses from the ICEL Antiphonary

The ICEL Antiphonary is a collation of all the antiphons texts from the 3rd edition of the Roman Missal. A Word version of this document is available on request

• Processional Book (pdf)
• Antiphonary (pdf)