Agnus Dei word change?

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giuseppe96

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At my parish during Mass, the cantor and congregation chant the Agnus Dei in plainchant Latin. But recently for some reason, the song sheet lyrics now read “Jesus Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world. Miserere nobis; Dona nobis pacem.” Is the insertion of “Jesus” allowed here? I personally have no problem with this, but I also know that the Order of the Mass is not to be altered in any way.
 
In previous questions about liturgy we have often seen citations to a formal instruction to the effect: “The words of the Mass are not to be altered, added to, or changed in any way”. I can’t find it right now, but I’ll try to find it for you. This seems %100 relevant. “Jesus, Lamb of God” is not the same as “Lamb of God”. I’m sure that it seems the same to some people, but that is why we have a clear directive about the words, not their apparent meaning.
 
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The “old” Mass of Creation had various tropes there, but the current doesn’t. Was there an intermediate version? I can’t recall, and you’ve got me curious.

To the OP: it may be minor, and I wouldn’t give it much thought or attention, but no - the extra word is not an appropriate addition.
 
Nope. Not allowed. I don’t know why the very simple rules seem so hard for so many to follow.
 
He’s talking of a Mass musical setting.

Don’t get overly legalistic about this.
 
It isn’t legalistic. Just because it is set to music doesn’t give anyone the right to change the words of the Mass.
 
I think this would fall under the category of “trope,” a sort of explanatory word or phrase added to a prayer in music. It is specifically allowed by GIRM #52 in the case of the Kyrie.

Tropes were not unusual in the Mass in pre-modern times, and there seems to be a movement of sorts back to that tradition. I have seen it in several different parishes around the US.

Personally I get pretty excited about following GIRM, but in this case I think that by analogy with the tropes allowed in the Kyrie, it would be OK. But I’m not an expert.
 
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In that case let’s go back to the music of Proulx and Peter Jones.

Unfortunately music lives or dies depending on translations. That’s why unchanging Latin works best.
 
hope said:
This article explains how a trope has been disallowed.
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Good article. Dated Oct. 9, 2012 by the way–and it clearly quotes the Office of Divine Worship at the Vatican giving an order that adding tropes to other prayers–including Agnus Dei-- (sung or not) stop.

The article does give an example of how it’s sometimes hard to get an answer to a seemingly simple question. Note that Jimmy Akin didn’t know at first, asked USCCB, didn’t get an answer, and only found an answer by chance later on. But now we know! Thanks.

I guess step 2 for the original poster is to go back to the parish priest/music director and show him the directive.
 
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Something else I need to thank you for I have never copied and pasted on my cell phone before what an experience thanks
 
That’s terrible. They’re mixing English and Latin?!?! 😉

They used to do this one at my old church in the 80’s-90’s. I want to say they did the same song for another old church in the mid-90’s-early 00’s. We don’t do a sung Lamb of God at the church I’ve been at for 10-15 years, so I don’t know how prevalent it is. But it used the “Jesus Lamb of God” to get that extra double-syllable for the music.
 
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Cor_ad_Cor said:
The “old” Mass of Creation had various tropes there, but the current doesn’t. Was there an intermediate version? I can’t recall, and you’ve got me curious.

To the OP: it may be minor, and I wouldn’t give it much thought or attention, but no - the extra word is not an appropriate addition.
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I think some of the erroneous texts are still being used. They were corrected, including Mass of Christ the Savior, which has the wording like the Mas of Creation.
 
hope said:
But thanks to you for increasing my knowledge I never heard of a Trope until you posted about it
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I was also interested to learn this word! Thanks @Erikaspirit16. I see it has a special meaning in relation to the liturgy, which is quite separate from its normal (albeit rare) use as, roughly, a “cliche”.
Definition of trope
1 a : a word or expression used in a figurative sense : figure of speech
b : a common or overused theme or device : cliché
Code: 
the usual horror movie tropes
2 : a phrase or verse added as an embellishment or interpolation to the sung parts of the Mass in the Middle Ages
Click to expand...
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trope

And good to see a clear episcopal statement on the issue at hand!
 
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Tropes were common before Trent, where they were liturgically abolished. If you look at the Mass settings in the Roman Gradual (the Kyriale), such as the common Mass XI for ordinary time, you’ll see a subtitle below the XI. In this case it is “Orbis Factor”. These titles were the opening words of the tropes from which the Mass setting was given its name. For Mass XI, the trope was:
  1. Orbis factor rex aeterne, eleison
  2. Pietatis fons immense, eleison
  3. Noxas omnes nostras pelle, eleison
  4. Christe qui lux es mundi dator vitae, eleison
  5. Arte laesos daemonis intuere, eleison
  6. Conservans te credentes confirmansque, eleison
  7. Patrem tuum teque flamen utrorumque, eleison
  8. Deum scimus unum atque trinum esse, eleison
  9. Clemens nobis adsis paraclite ut vivamus in te, eleison.
The melody is very similar to Kyrie XI, and can be heard here:


Trent abolished tropes, but they were re-introduced after Vatican II as one of the options for the penitential rite.
 
I disagree. The Liturgy is the heart of Catholic worship. As small an error it needs to be safeguarded. The Missal is clear as day about it and it’s really not that hard to follow. Why is everyone trying to change the Mass? Instead of people worried about that maybe they should submit that it’s so infinitely larger than them and allow the mass to change them.
 
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