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This site is a work in progress targeting Australian Catholic congregations with limited resources who wish to sing at least some traditional style (metric) hymns and/or (chanted) responsorial psalms.
For each major event in the Australian liturgical calendar, a page is being prepared with a music selection believed to be appropriate for that celebration. Each item will have links to sources, downloads, and YouTube videos to aid those involved with music. The site’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@LiturgyShare, has grouped playlists that mimic selections on the liturgical pages.
Hymn content here is inspired by Australia’s officially approved hymnal, Catholic Worship Book II, but many other Catholic hymnals have been drawn upon.
If your parish is subscribed to OneLicense.net, you have legal access to a vast array of hymns no matter what hymnal you may be using, and this site will help you make the most of it. Just remember to report what you use and check beforehand that OneLicense covers the hymn you want to use!
Downloads for each hymn depend on whether it is in the public domain (freely copyable) or is copyrighted (requiring a license to use if you don’t have it in a hymnal):
Responsorial psalms and gospel acclamations have been composed specifically for this project with chant-style verses and simple responses, all in a narrow note range following the Australian lectionary exactly. There are freely downloadable keyboard accompaniments, lead sheets, cantor sheets, and assembly images. Additionally there are references to other sources suited to Australian liturgy.
The site is ad-free and all LiturgyShare downloadable materials (blue links) are free without any licensing or reporting required. External weblinks (red links) only go to YouTube and reputable Christian publishing sites. External websites change, so it is likely that some links will go dead, and some external YouTube videos will be removed.
This is a one-person production so please be charitable about errors: I will correct ASAP after notification!
Four options are given for each processional with the following principles generally (but not always!) observed:
For many years music suggestion guides looked at fillings for a four-hymn sandwich, but this downplayed the importance of music in other parts of the Mass (ordinary and propers). In fact, the first consideration should be the Eucharistic acclamations. Having said that, Mass settings are not available on this site, but only referred to, for copyright reasons: only the ancient chant settings in the Roman Missal are in the public domain, and they are readily and freely available elsewhere on the Internet.
Officially allowed psalm translations include The Grail (as used in current lectionary and missals) and Abbey Psalms and Canticles (formerly known as the Revised Grail, before revision) which I understand will be used in the next edition of the lectionary. References are only given to settings with simple chant style verses that follow these standards. It is always possible to sing the refrain and say the verses (with any setting), and in in some cases psalm tones from this site are suggested for use with other composers refrains.
Entrance and communion antiphons in the missal are normally only said if there is (sadly) no singing at Mass. However, the General Instructions give the option of singing them. Although not shown in the missal, psalm verses (for a cantor or choir) are associated with each one, and the traditional practise is to sing the antiphon at the beginning, then an appropriate number of psalm verses, a doxology (Glory be …), then a repeat of the antiphon. This is not going to be considered at most parishes as it takes away the realistic possibility of the congregation joining in.
There are, however, a number of options for congregational support of the antiphon and these are referenced in the music suggestion pages:
In my experience, most congregations are reluctant to sing during communion despite being asked to in the General Instructions, and sometimes leave singing to the end of the procession. Singing an abbreviated communion antiphon (with cantor or choir singing psalm verses) should make it much easier for the procession to join in as the people don't need hymn sheets or to be distracted by a screen.
An additional complication is that antiphons in the Missal were intended to be said, not sung, and many would regard it as a better practise to sing the English translation (from Solesmes Abbey) of antiphons in the Graduale Romanum. While probably 90 % are much the same as those in the Missal, others allow for a closer connection to the day’s liturgy. They are shown on each music suggestion page.
Adam Bartlett’s Simple English Propers settings are fairly straight-forward, but for those with limited time to learn and practise the antiphon, consider singing it to one of the popular psalm tones from St. Meinrad Archabbey. Download a guitar accompaniment here or a keyboard accompaniment here. The mode should be the same as that used by Bartlett.
Please note that older pages on this site don’t share everything suggested here, but will be eventually be updated.
chris@liturgyshare.org
My name is Chris Wroblewski, and this developing site is the result of a long-time vision of mine. I have been associated with liturgy since the mid 1980s, primarily in small country parishes, and am currently looking after music for a small congregation in Hobart (Tasmania). Feel free to contact me with any queries at the email address above.
| 1 November 2024: | All Saints |
| 3 November 2024: | 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B |
| 3 November 2024: | 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B New |
Psalm notes have been extensively revised, and the psalm index is now complete (hopefully with not too many errors and omissions!) with all psalms used on Sundays and Solemnities. There are still a lot of psalm pages to be constructed, but at least it is now possible to find where a particular psalm or response is to be found.