Singing the Gospel accl.

[johnquinn39]

Does anyone know:

After the Alleluia is sung, and the cantor has sung the versicle, should he/she remain while the Alleluia is repeated?

John

[Nick Baty]

What do you mean by remain?

[Peter Jones]

Depends on where the Cantor is, surely, and the manner in which a particular place celebrates the rite. Neither the Responsorial Psalm nor the Gospel Acclamation have to be sung by a Psalmist/Cantor at the ambo.

[Peter Jones]

What do you mean by remain?

I think he means remain at the ambo - and the possibility of an unseemly clash with the Gospel procession (with or without a Gospel Book). i could be wrong.

[musicus]

I guess you mean while the Alleluia after the verse is sung. If so, I would say yes. Surely, the Alleluia-verse-Alleluia is a single unit, and the cantor's role includes leading (or, at least, cueing) the people in their parts of it. To walk away two-thirds of the way through seems rude!

Mind you, it could depend on where the cantor is standing. It's always awkward if you've got a Gospel procession at your back, willing you to get out of the way! In our church, cantors use a music stand and not the ambo for everything except the psalm.

Is your PP asking you to "move along" early, John, so that he can install the Book of the Gospels?

[musicus]

Peter and I posted almost simultaneously, I think!

[johnquinn39]

I guess you mean while the Alleluia after the verse is sung. If so, I would say yes. Surely, the Alleluia-verse-Alleluia is a single unit, and the cantor's role includes leading (or, at least, cueing) the people in their parts of it. To walk away two-thirds of the way through seems rude!

Mind you, it could depend on where the cantor is standing. It's always awkward if you've got a Gospel procession at your back, willing you to get out of the way! In our church, cantors use a music stand and not the ambo for everything except the psalm.

Is your PP asking you to "move along" early, John, so that he can install the Book of the Gospels?

-- I'm not quite sure what the asst. priest is asking. This request came from a third party.

I'll see if I can email the clergy to clarify what they are requesting.

JQ

[Peter Jones]

John - i think you have to sit down with your parish MC and work out how to celebrate this rite in a dignified way, if indeed there is a "traffic jam" with the procession. The Cantor singing from "a suitable place" (GIRM 61f) might resolve any difficulties you are experiencing.

[IncenseTom]

At St. Anne's, Keighley the reader usually remains at the lectern whilst the choir (located in the front 3 pews) sing the Alleluia-verse-Alleluia. The reader generally shuffles off to the bench on the side of the sanctuary during the final Alleluia. I do rather like it when they hang around until the end of the acc. though, as this allows me to blow a few birds nests out of the pipes with a terribly over-the-top improvisation whilst the pp makes his way to the lectern.

A question of my own if I may....

When I arrived at St. Anne's almost 2 years ago, they told me that they sing the Alleluia after the Gospel. Historically, they had always done this, apparantly, until the previous pp arrived in 2000 and put a stop to it. The current pp (who arrived a couple of months before I did) has reintroduced this. I have to say that this is the first parish where I know they sing the Gospel Acc. at the end of the Gospel every sunday, apart from during Lent.

Presumably there is a correct procedure to follow. Appologies if you have discussed this elsewhere.

[Southern Comfort]

A question of my own if I may....

When I arrived at St. Anne's almost 2 years ago, they told me that they sing the Alleluia after the Gospel. Historically, they had always done this, apparantly, until the previous pp arrived in 2000 and put a stop to it. The current pp (who arrived a couple of months before I did) has reintroduced this. I have to say that this is the first parish where I know they sing the Gospel Acc. at the end of the Gospel every sunday, apart from during Lent.

Presumably there is a correct procedure to follow. Appologies if you have discussed this elsewhere.

I would estimate that somewhere between 15 and 20% of parishes repeat the Gospel Acclamation after the Gospel. Some opt to do this because they have a Gospel Acclamation rather than a Gospel Processional, but still wish to honour the proclamation of the Gospel by giving it "musical bookends". Others do it anyway. Sometimes they do it because they have seen it done at the cathedral or at a Mass or other liturgy when a Bishop is present (and see below).

There is nothing in the rites, GIRM, or anywhere else specifically recommending this practice. However, people have generally adopted it for the reason stated above: giving greater honour to the Gospel, which is, if you like, at a different "level" from the other scriptures in the Liturgy of the Word.

For a more cautious view, Fr Edward McNamara writing on the Zenit website on 20 November 2007 said this:

There is no mention of the repetition of the acclamation after the Gospel for ordinary Masses in which the Gospel is immediately followed by the homily, prayer of the faithful or procession of the gifts.

When a bishop celebrates, however, the Book of the Gospels is sometimes brought to him after being read, as indicated in GIRM, No, 175: "When the deacon is assisting the Bishop, he carries the book to him to be kissed, or else kisses it himself, saying quietly, 'Per evangelica dicta' (May the words of the gospel). In more solemn celebrations, as the occasion suggests, a Bishop may impart a blessing to the people with the Book of the Gospels."

The brief procession carrying the Book of the Gospels from the ambo to the bishop's cathedra would be the only likely situation in which the Gospel acclamation would be repeated.

There is no official document or rubric in the universal books that specifically suggests this repetition, and certainly nothing that would require it. But there is some precedence from papal Masses on special occasions.

For example, when Pope John Paul II celebrated the vigil Mass of Pentecost that concluded Rome's diocesan Synod in 1993, the alleluia was repeated while the Book of the Gospels was brought to him. The alleluia was also repeated after the Gospel on the occasion of Benedict XVI's solemn inaugural Mass. It is also repeated on a more regular basis for some Masses such as Corpus Christi.

Sometimes, rather than repeating the alleluia, another antiphon is sung after the Gospel. When John Paul II celebrated 25 years as Pope in 2003 the choir sang a polyphonic Latin antiphon. An acclamation was sung in Greek when Benedict XVI celebrated the Mass concluding the 2005 Synod of Bishops; the Eucharistic celebration also coincided with the canonization of four saints.

Therefore we can conclude that while repeating the Gospel acclamation or singing some other acclamation after the Gospel should not be considered a regular practice, it may be done on more solemn occasions, such as at a Mass celebrated by a bishop to accompany the procession with the Book of the Gospels.

For a more liberal view, some workshop leaders have suggested in the past that the repeating of Alleluia [= Praise the Lord!] after the Gospel is no more than an elaboration of the post-Gospel acclamation "Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!". This becomes more clearly true in Lent, when the phrases used instead of the word Alleluia* sound more like the post-Gospel acclamation (and even more so in America).

*Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

or in the USA

*Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!
Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
Glory to you, Word of God, Lord Jesus Christ!

[quaeritor]

Neither the Responsorial Psalm nor the Gospel Acclamation have to be sung by a Psalmist/Cantor at the ambo.

Seems churlish (or indeed foolhardy) to query Peter, but I'd be grateful for chapter and verse on that. The Gospel Acclamation is not a problem - for the practical reason already given we don't do that at the ambo but from the choir's "place" - which gives me the opportunity to indulge both them and myself with some nifty little three and four part settings. However I have it fixed in my mind that the psalm should be from the ambo, which deprives me of the services of some competent singers who will not stand up alone and "perform" in front of the assembly.

(edited for spelling mistake)

Q

[IncenseTom]

Thankyou, SC - very interesting!

[Nick Baty]

Peter's right - and if I was nearer my desktop than my laptop I could give you chapter and verse as requested. However, the ambo is the place where the word is proclaimed so it seems the right place for the psalm. However, I've seen the Communion Psalm sung from the ambo and this just feels wrong. And I'd probably type this more clearly I were I not hunched over an iPad.

[Southern Comfort]

Neither the Responsorial Psalm nor the Gospel Acclamation have to be sung by a Psalmist/Cantor at the ambo.

Seems churlish (or indeed foolhardy) to query Peter, but I'd be grateful for chapter and verse on that.

I think Peter already mentioned GIRM 61. Here's the relevant extract:

It is preferable for the Responsorial Psalm to be sung, at least as far
as the people’s response is concerned. Hence the psalmist, or cantor
of the Psalm, sings the Psalm verses at the ambo or another suitable
place, while the whole congregation sits and listens, normally taking
part by means of the response, except when the Psalm is sung straight
through, that is, without a response.

(my emphasis)

GIRM 62, regarding the Gospel Acclamation, does not say where it has to be sung from at all:

It is sung by everybody, standing, and is led by the choir or a cantor, being repeated as the case requires. The verse, on the other hand, is sung either by the choir or by a cantor.

In addition to this, there can be other pastoral exceptions. For example, GIRM 58 says very clearly:

In the celebration of the Mass with the people, the readings are always read from the ambo.

but if a reader is disabled and there is no access to the ambo, then, as happens in more than a few places, the reading may well be proclaimed from elsewhere. The same principle would apply to the chants between the readings.

[John Ainslie]

Whatever the flexibility rightfully provided in GIRM, an important feature of the Responsorial Psalm is that it is both response to and proclamation of the Word of God, to be sung by a psalmist - indeed, this is his/her specific role in the liturgy.

Therefore, wherever possible, it should be proclaimed from the ambo, just as the scripture 'readings' are.

The Gospel Acclamation, however, is an accompaniment to a rite - the Gospel procession - as well as the introduction to the Gospel reading. It is an acclamation, not a proclamation. Therefore (wherever possible) it should be led from and the verse sung from somewhere other than the ambo.

Incidentally, I reckon that announcing the intercessions of the Prayers of the Faithful from the ambo is quite misguided. It does say in GIRM 70 "from the ambo or from another suitable place", but the ambo should really be reserved for the proclamation of the Word - that is why it also says somewhere that the cantor (as distinct from the psalmist) should not exercise his ministry there.