Alleluia: Required or Not?

[Melodeonist]

I’ve been going to a 7:00 am Mass on Mondays lately. They say the Mass very quickly here, so you can be out by 7:25-7:30 and that’s including the Miraculous Medal prayer sheet the regulars hand out after Mass is over.

One thing that confuses me greatly is that the Alleluia is skipped here. I don’t know if they are allowed to do this or not. Please help. I’m confused.

 

[adamhovey1988]

I remember a very orthodox priest saying it is not done if it isn’t sang.

 

[FrDavid96]

It is optional.

The rubric is rather oddly phrased. It may be omitted if it is not sung.

So, if you sing it, you cannot omit it.

If you say it rather than sing it, you can omit it.

One cannot simply “omit” the alleluia. One must first decide to say-not-sing it. Only then can one decide to omit it.

So as long as the priest first decides that it will be said-not-sung, he can likewise decide to omit it.

Is that clear now?

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

I’ve been going to a 7:00 am Mass on Mondays lately. They say the Mass very quickly here, so you can be out by 7:25-7:30 and that’s including the Miraculous Medal prayer sheet the regulars hand out after Mass is over.

One thing that confuses me greatly is that the Alleluia is skipped here. I don’t know if they are allowed to do this or not. Please help. I’m confused.

Why not ask the priest directly? It’s all well and good you come to this forum, but if something troubles you, you should go to the source.

 

[SMHW]

That doesn’t even touch on Lent…

 

[Melodeonist]

Thanks for the replies! I did not know that if it’s said it could be omitted.

I don’t have a chance to ask this priest as this parish is just on the way to my college and after Mass he goes right to the sacristy.

 

[FrDavid96]

Thanks for the replies! I did not know that if it’s said it could be omitted.

I don’t have a chance to ask this priest as this parish is just on the way to my college and after Mass he goes right to the sacristy.

As I said, it’s a rather odd rubric.

It can be omitted, but only on the condition that it is said-not-sung.

It’s very odd indeed because in the vetus ordo, the older rite, there were very strict rules on what could be either said or sung. There were low Masses (no singing at all) or high Masses (mostly sung) or even low Masses with some singing. The rules about what could be said or sung at any of these kinds of Masses were very specific. When the novus ordo came out, there were naturally questions about what could be said or sung at a particular kind of Mass. Part of the answer was that there was a hierarchy of parts to be either said or sung. The Alleluia before the Gospel was assigned to the lowest priority of singing. Go figure.

Later Edit: See Musicam Sacram # 31 (c) http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_.../vat-ii_instr_19670305_musicam-sacram_en.html

 

[1neophyte]

I always thought that “omit if not sung” meant that if it is not going to be sung, it should be omitted. Simply saying “Alleluia” before the gospel seems rather…anticlimactic?

 

[bquinnan]

I’m guessing the rubric probably doesn’t indicate when the priest can decide to have it said instead of sung so he can omit it, either. Like, at the last minute, communicating to the cantor with some subtle hand gesture.

 

[bquinnan]

I actually remember that when we occasionally went to daily Masses at the parish where I grew up, the priest would usually say “Alleluia” before beginning the gospel reading, and we would say it back.

 

[FrDavid96]

I’m guessing the rubric probably doesn’t indicate when the priest can decide to have it said instead of sung so he can omit it, either. Like, at the last minute, communicating to the cantor with some subtle hand gesture.

No. No such rubric.

I am getting a laugh thinking about how such a rubric would be phrased though. I am imagining the priest looking like a football official making hand signals for the choir. If I signal “first down” that means I’m using Eucharistic Prayer 1. A period of silence would be signaled by time out. If you get the notes wrong, I’ll signal a safety and that’s your clue not to add any more verses.