Jubilate Deo: Music Every Catholic Should Know

In 1974, Pope Saint Paul VI issued a collection of Gregorian chants entitled Jubilate Deo. This small book of Mass parts and hymns was intended to be the minimum musical repertoire for every Roman Catholic. In a letter accompanying Jubilate Deo, written to all bishops and heads of religious orders, the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship wrote:

"This minimum repertoire of Gregorian chant has been prepared with [this] purpose in mind: to make it easier for Christians to achieve unity and spiritual harmony with their brothers and with the living traditions of the past. Hence it is that those who are trying to improve the quality of congregational singing cannot refuse to Gregorian chant the place which is due to it. And this becomes all the more imperative as we approach the Holy Year of 1975, during which the faithful of different languages, nations and origins, will find themselves side by side for the common celebration of the Lord."

For the past few weeks, I have been travelling in Europe, and I have found Gregorian chant to be incredibly powerful in helping me sense the unity of the Church even in a place where I cannot communicate well with most around me. Nothing compares, for instance, to the memory of standing in a mediaeval church on Sunday morning, packed full of French men and women and children, and being able to join in their gusty singing of the Asperges Me, Salve Regina, or Mass IX; and to know that I am not only united with them, but also with generations of Catholics before us, who have stood, Sunday after Sunday, in that very same space. I have long believed in the unitive power of sacred music, and Gregorian chant in particular, but my experiencing this music as a foreigner has brought home (no pun intended) the fact that this music, and our Faith, exceeds limitations of time and space. 

Unfortunately, many Catholics are not exposed to the treasury of Gregorian chant. Even the few simple chants contained in Jubilate Deo are unfamiliar to many Catholics. Sometimes, Gregorian chant seems to be thought of as a mysterious, beautiful, elusive art form reserved to monks and nuns. While it is most certainly somewhat mysterious and extremely beautiful, it is also very accessible, even to those with no formal musical training. Learning even one piece of Gregorian chant will deepen your spiritual life, connect you with Catholics throughout the world and the ages, and bring great joy! 

A link to Jubilate Deo can be found here. And keep an eye out for future articles exploring the particular chants in Jubilate Deo.