"Appropriate" hymns for Mass?

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VeritasLuxMea

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I see a lot of people listing off dozens of hymns that they consider “inappropriate” for Mass, but I haven’t seen a list of hymns that people do consider appropriate.

I’m just curious as to which particular hymns are “appropriate” so I can compare them to the types of hymns that we use in my parish. Thanks.
 
I like “Were you there when they crucified my Lord.”

Of course, it’s easy to remember and the young kids in my class can learn it- then sing it at mass! So perhaps I’m biased. You also don’t need someone to play a tune, as it’s simple!
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
I see a lot of people listing off dozens of hymns that they consider “inappropriate” for Mass, but I haven’t seen a list of hymns that people do consider appropriate.

I’m just curious as to which particular hymns are “appropriate” so I can compare them to the types of hymns that we use in my parish. Thanks.
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I have a list of many hundreds so I won’t list them but I think the key thing is to ensure that the hymns are appropriate for the liturgical season; appropriate for the lectionary and appropriate for the particular point in mass. If you stic to those rules you can’t go wrong.

To give two example the processional hymn for the Sunday just gone was the glorious Hail the Day that sees him rise. For this Sunday coming, you can’t get better than Come Down, O Love Divine.

I think Soul of my Saviour, Bread of Heaven and Sweet Sacrament Divine make beautful post-communion hymns.
 
liturgyluver said:
I have a list of many hundreds so I won’t list them but I think the key thing is to ensure that the hymns are appropriate for the liturgical season; appropriate for the lectionary and appropriate for the particular point in mass. If you stic to those rules you can’t go wrong.

To give two example the processional hymn for the Sunday just gone was the glorious Hail the Day that sees him rise. For this Sunday coming, you can’t get better than Come Down, O Love Divine.

I think Soul of my Saviour, Bread of Heaven and Sweet Sacrament Divine make beautful post-communion hymns.
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Hm. I have never heard ANY of those hymns. And I used to attend three masses a week! How odd.

Let There Be Peace on Earth is the hymn that most resonates with me, but I suspect that is looked down upon here. 😦

Anyway I’m just curious how much of my Parish’s hymns are “appropriate.”
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
Hm. I have never heard ANY of those hymns. And I used to attend three masses a week! How odd.

Let There Be Peace on Earth is the hymn that most resonates with me, but I suspect that is looked down upon here. 😦

Anyway I’m just curious how much of my Parish’s hymns are “appropriate.”
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I am a bit surprised that you haven’t heard of any of the ones I listed - here are some links, I am sure you will recognise them and hopefully sing Come Down O love Divine this Sunday as it is one of the classic hymns for Pentecost:

Hail the Day that sees him rise:
youtube.com/watch?v=7b_ODz_jgTs

Come Down O love Divine
youtube.com/watch?v=6HPKL1wOVXk

Soul of my saviour
youtube.com/watch?v=tO_is6VPn3w

Sweet sacrament divine
youtube.com/watch?v=5KtAraKIscI
 
liturgyluver said:
I am a bit surprised that you haven’t heard of any of the ones I listed - here are some links, I am sure you will recognise them and hopefully sing Come Down O love Divine this Sunday as it is one of the classic hymns for Pentecost:

Hail the Day that sees him rise:
youtube.com/watch?v=7b_ODz_jgTs

Come Down O love Divine
youtube.com/watch?v=6HPKL1wOVXk

Soul of my saviour
youtube.com/watch?v=tO_is6VPn3w

Sweet sacrament divine
youtube.com/watch?v=5KtAraKIscI
Click to expand...
Thanks. Well yeah believe it or not, I haven’t. I’m trying to think about which hymns we use for Communion… definitely not any of those. Off the top of my head the only ones I can think of are “One Bread, One Body” and “Gift of Finest Wheat” Are those considered appropriate? I am so confused about Catholic music…lol
 
I know (and love) all of the Hymns that liturgyluver mentioned, one of my favourites though for post communion is O God Head Hid.

I wonder if it’s to do with where we are though, as I am in the UK too.

The hymns you mentioned Veritas are (to me) new hymns, I really dislike One Bread One Body, but the congrigation will sing it so we use it occasionally.

I think as mentioned, the music should enhance the liturgy, so should be chosen according to the readings, the gospel, the homily and the time of year. We often sing a hymn to Mary in the month of May, even though it is Easter still.

Not that I answered your question at all!!
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
Thanks. Well yeah believe it or not, I haven’t. I’m trying to think about which hymns we use for Communion… definitely not any of those. Off the top of my head the only ones I can think of are “One Bread, One Body” and “Gift of Finest Wheat” Are those considered appropriate? I am so confused about Catholic music…lol
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Yes - these are Catholic hymns penned by catholic writers so definately allowed at mass. I’ll reserve judgement as to my personal view on their elegance and the quality of them, but that is just a personal view.

One thing that often confuses people is that the modern material like you mention is wrutten by Catholics, but many of the older and more traditional sounding material is actually penned by non-Catholic. Both are allowed at mass.
 
liturgyluver said:
I am a bit surprised that you haven’t heard of any of the ones I listed - here are some links, I am sure you will recognise them and hopefully sing Come Down O love Divine this Sunday as it is one of the classic hymns for Pentecost:

Hail the Day that sees him rise:
youtube.com/watch?v=7b_ODz_jgTs

Come Down O love Divine
youtube.com/watch?v=6HPKL1wOVXk

Soul of my saviour
youtube.com/watch?v=tO_is6VPn3w

Sweet sacrament divine
youtube.com/watch?v=5KtAraKIscI
Click to expand...
I’ve played piano in many churches for almost 40 years now, and I studied piano as a chlid and teenager for 11 years with a Lutheran church organist/pianist.

I’ve heard the first hymn, but not with those words. I’ve heard it as “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”

I’ve never heard any of the other three melodies.

My impression upon hearing those hymns is that they are British to the core, and that’s probably why we don’t hear them here in the Midwest. We do a lot of hymns with German origins.

To the OP: we do a mix of traditional and contemporary hymns. E.g., Holy God, We Praise Thy Name is probably the most frequently-done hymn in our parish, and almost everyone, including Protestants, knows it and sings it well,

We sing “Beautiful Savior,” “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee,” “Love Divine All Loves Excelling,” Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," “For All The Saints,” “Immaculate Mary,” Hail Holy Queen," “How Great Thou Art,”, “Amazing Grace,” etc.

We also sing “Gather Us In,”, “Here I Am, Lord,” “I Am The Bread of Life,” etc.

The music director introduces a “new” hymn about once a month, and we sing it at every Mass so that we will learn it. Usually this “new” hymn is a very old, traditional hymn that probably all the older folks in the congregation know, but it’s new to a lot of converts like me, and to younger Catholics.

There is a “folk” Mass at 11:00 on Sundays. It is usually packed to the rafters, standing room only, so obviously people like this music. A choir leads the music, and is accompanied by guitars, drums, piano, horns, etc. Almost all the music is more like “Gather Us In” rather than the traditional hymns.

But the other Masses tend towards more traditional than contemporary hymns. I would say that 3 out of the 4 hymns are traditional.

We do very little chant or polyphony. There is a Latin Mass parish in the city and those who prefer that kind of music can revel in it at this parish.

I like the music in our parish, and think it’s pretty typical of the music in all the parishes in our city.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Propers… oh God… please.
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Propers are not hymns though.

I too would love to know about the traditional Catholic hymns that exist. Is there a site that lists these traditional Catholic hymns of old?

What kinds of hyms did your grandmothers sing at Mass?
 
TrueLight said:
Propers are not hymns though.

I too would love to know about the traditional Catholic hymns that exist. Is there a site that lists these traditional Catholic hymns of old?

What kinds of hyms did your grandmothers sing at Mass?
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Hi Truelight. If you’re talking about a site that contains traditional material exclusively composed by Catholics, then I don’t think there is one.

I have seen several sites that pupport to be Traditional Catholic hymn sites but they only contain motets, and settings of the O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo and the hymns included are from a mixture of Catholic and Protestant authors. If somebody knows of one, it would be good to see.
 
VeritasLuxMea said:
I see a lot of people listing off dozens of hymns that they consider “inappropriate” for Mass, but I haven’t seen a list of hymns that people do consider appropriate.

I’m just curious as to which particular hymns are “appropriate” so I can compare them to the types of hymns that we use in my parish. Thanks.
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A couple that I like are: Salve Regina, Be Thou My Vision, Immaculate Mary, Holy God We Praise Thy Name, just to name a few. There is one written recently that I think is just beautiful: Hail Mary Gentle Woman by Carey Landry.

I love it when our parish sings it.

I, also like it when the parish has music that you can just listen to and meditate on what is happening at the mass.
 
TrueLight said:
Propers are not hymns though.

I too would love to know about the traditional Catholic hymns that exist. Is there a site that lists these traditional Catholic hymns of old?

What kinds of hyms did your grandmothers sing at Mass?
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Likely things from the vast German repertoire. 🙂

Anyway, google “Vatican II Hymnal” and find the contents. That is packed solid of traddie hymns from various sources. The editors chose that name to make a statement.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Likely things from the vast German repertoire. 🙂

Anyway, google “Vatican II Hymnal” and find the contents. That is packed solid of traddie hymns from various sources. The editors chose that name to make a statement.
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I like this Hymnal, it is well laid out and has some beautiful traditional music but 75% of the hymns in it are penned by non-Catholics, so it doesn’t really meet TrueLight’s criteria.
 
I have decided to try and make a list of Catholic-penned traditional hymns:
  • Lord accept the gifts we offer
  • O king of might and splendour
  • Let all mortal flesh keep silence (english translation by an Anglican)
  • Soul of my saviour
  • Creator of the starry night (translated by an Anglican)
  • Hark a herald voice is sounding
  • The advent of our God
  • O come all ye faithful
  • Bethelehem of noblest cities
  • Stabat Mater
  • Sing my tongue the glorious battle (Anglican translator)
  • Christ the Lord is risen today (not the Wesley version)
  • Battle is o’er
  • Firmly I believe and truly
  • Sweet Sacrament Divine
  • Glory be to Jesus
  • Faith of our fathers
  • -Lead kindly light
  • Praise to the Holiest in the height
Thank goodness that John Henry Newman and Edward Caswell converted as they wrote many hymns.
 
liturgyluver said:
I have decided to try and make a list of Catholic-penned traditional hymns:
  • Lord accept the gifts we offer
  • O king of might and splendour
  • Let all mortal flesh keep silence (english translation by an Anglican)
  • Soul of my saviour
  • Creator of the starry night (translated by an Anglican)
  • Hark a herald voice is sounding
  • The advent of our God
  • O come all ye faithful
  • Bethelehem of noblest cities
  • Stabat Mater
  • Sing my tongue the glorious battle (Anglican translator)
  • Christ the Lord is risen today (not the Wesley version)
  • Battle is o’er
  • Firmly I believe and truly
  • Sweet Sacrament Divine
  • Glory be to Jesus
  • Faith of our fathers
  • -Lead kindly light
  • Praise to the Holiest in the height
Thank goodness that John Henry Newman and Edward Caswell converted as they wrote many hymns.
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Thank you so much. 👍
 
There are thousands upon thousands of hymns out there, any great number of which could be considered to be appropriate for Catholic Worship. Written both by Catholics and non-Catholics, anytime from hundreds of years ago to just within the past decade.

While its certainly good to ask for suggestions, perhaps an even better route is to select hymns that you like, and then determine whether a particular hymn is suitable - and if not, whether it could be made to be so through slightly lyrical adjustment.
 
mburn16 said:
There are thousands upon thousands of hymns out there, any great number of which could be considered to be appropriate for Catholic Worship. Written both by Catholics and non-Catholics, anytime from hundreds of years ago to just within the past decade.

While its certainly good to ask for suggestions, perhaps an even better route is to select hymns that you like, and then determine whether a particular hymn is suitable - and if not, whether it could be made to be so through slightly lyrical adjustment.
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The thing is I know a lot of hymns, since I am a convert and I miss them, quite frankly. So that’s why I would be interested in “Catholic” hymns.
 
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