Gospel procession

[organist]

I've always understood the sung Gospel acclamation should accompany the procession to the ambo. So there sometimes needs to be an organ improvisation while the thurifer moves to the priest before the Alleluias start. What do others do? If the verse is a long one it does not matter too much but it does seem odd to finish the Alleluias before the procession gets moving and then have an organ improvisation. And one thing which MUST be stamped out is Alleluias after the gospel!

[mcb]

Must be stamped out?! I'm really not sure it's up there with Arianism.

[keitha]

See the last part of para 166 of 'Celebrating the Mass' (Bishops' Conference 2005) - http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resourc ... ts/CTM.pdf .

[presbyter]

I've always understood the sung Gospel acclamation should accompany the procession to the ambo.!

Would you stamp out those plainsong Alleluias with a loooooooooong jubilus on the grounds that they delay the proclamation? They're probably much longer than the procession.

[Hare]

A previous PP used to say that the cantor should step down from the ambo as the Alleluia is repeated after the verse, but this has lapsed here, and the cantor stays put, so the priest can't approach the ambo till the Alleluia has finished. Which is correct please? I advocate the former, but our cantors don't, and present PP doesn't have any views on it, but will listen to a good argument!

(We also have a reader who would READ the Alleluia given half a chance, and stoically stays put at the ambo after the 2nd reading necessitating the cantor to stand alongside!)

[keitha]

There is no requirement that the Acclamation before the Gospel be proclaimed from the ambo. I would suggest that it is preferable that it is not. Whereas the responsorial psalm is a "integral part of the Word of God" and so is required to be sung from the ambo, the same is not true of the acclamation. Indeed, whenever the acclamation is dealt with in GIRM2 or in 'Celebrating the Mass' emphasis is put upon this being the acclamation of the congregation led by the choir or a cantor, and the choir/cantor has responsibility for the verse and I would suggest that the leading of this from the ambo is not really appropriate to this function.

[Lakelark]

Organist wants alleluias after the Gospel to be stamped out. Modified rapture! I would prefer to have them gently but firmly excised. They do not belong there. They prevent that brief but powerful silence, which is to my mind the most suitable response to the proclamation of the Gospel. After all, we are now accustomed to a little silence, however brief, after the other reading(s), so why not treat the Gospel to the same respect? Let the Gospel itself be the climax of the scripture readings, rather than returning to the alleluia which by right precedes it.

[nazard]

I have mercifully never heard an Alleluia after the gospel. Please do not publicise this bad practice, I know of people who would jump at the opportunity to introduce it.

[Lakelark]

Dear nazard,
Have pity on those of us who must bear it.

[mcb]

Please do not publicise this bad practice, I know of people who would jump at the opportunity to introduce it.

Have pity on those of us who must bear it.

Gents,

This is the quote that keitha was keeping to himself :

On more solemn occasions, it may be appropriate to repeat the sung Alleluia at the end of the Gospel reading after the final acclamation Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Celebrating the Mass, 166. To be combative about it, what makes you think you know better?

[nazard]

The singers I was thinking of would not have added solemnity to the occasion.

[monty]

I have seen this done in a way that made it natural. The "This is the Gospel ..." and the response "Praise to you ..." were sung followed by the Alleluia. Trying to remember if the actual Gospel was also sung but having a craft moment.

[keitha]

Thanks mcb - you've just blown my attempt to encourage people to get to know the document!

[Copernicus]

Thanks mcb - you've just blown my attempt to encourage people to get to know the document!

Nah, it's what in newspapers is called a teaser - give the readers a juicy tidbit and then they're hooked. Possibly.

[mcb]

I'm curious as to why the matter of repeating the Alleluia after the Gospel seems to arouse strong hostility in some who have posted here. It's surely not an irreverent or careless practice, and if it expands on the rubric (in a way that's manifestly endorsed by the bishops) it's surely no more egregious - less so, indeed - than, say, singing Salve Regina at the end of Mass, or O Sacrament Most Holy after Communion. At my place of worship we've done it during Eastertide for the last two or three years, and it seems to follow on nicely from our Lenten practice over the same period of singing a Gospel Acclamation with the words Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, which too can be repeated after the Gospel - indeed it's the proper response after the Gospel.

So it's ok during Lent and not during Eastertide? Repeating the Alleluia comes naturally here, because not to do so would make the Easter season seem less festive than Lent, at least when it comes to proclaiming the Gospel.

Am I missing something?