You will notice three Marian hymns that are being sung this weekend. The Gospel reading for today mentions the wedding feast at Cana, at which Mary (referred to by the evangelist John not by name, but as the "mother of Jesus") was present, and told the waiters to do whatever her Son tells them.
The numbers of today's selections come from the Worship hymnal.
Entrance hymn: 410 Songs of thankfulness and praise (which we sang as the recessional hymn last Sunday)
Gloria: (if sung) Mass VIII, chant
Responsorial Psalm: Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations, music by Royce Nickel
Alleluia: music by Theodore Marier. (Listen) (We sang this for a while about this time last year!)
- Side note: Theodore Marier was the founding headmaster of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School, located at St. Paul's Church in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Marier was a great contributor to the Pius X Hymnal, published in 1953, and to the hymnal Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Canticles, which started out as a parish hymnal, but copies were also sold to a handful of parishes (only a handful???) across the country. Dr. Marier retired in 1986 and died in 2001, but his beloved Choir School and his musical legacy at St. Paul's and beyond lives to this day.
Offertory hymn: 404 Sing of Mary, pure and lowly (Listen)
Sanctus: Mass for Christian Unity, music by Jan Vermulst. You'll recognize this one also, from about this time last year.
Memorial Acclamation: We proclaim your death, O Lord from Holy Angels Mass, music by yours truly. Another one you'll recognize. (Listen)
- Side note: Holy Angels Mass is a Mass setting I wrote between the summer of 2010 and the spring of 2011, using the text with the most current Roman Missal translation which all parishes began on the First Sunday of Advent, 2011. The music I used is a metrical adaptation of Mass VIII and the Jubilate Deo collection of Mass chants issued by Pope Paul VI in 1974. If you go into YouTube and type either "Holy Angels Mass" or my full name ("Brian Michael Page") in the search bar, you'll find three instances the Gloria from this Mass sung by the choir and congregation of St. Michael's Church in Stillwater, Minnesota. If all goes right, I may introduce it here at Sacred Heart sometime. :)
Amen: the short two-fold Dresden Amen, which we sang at Advent, and at non-choral Masses during the Christmas season as well.
Agnus Dei: Mass for Christian Unity, music by Jan Vermulst.
(Click here to listen to Mass for Christian Unity. The Sanctus is at the 2:34 mark, and the Agnus Dei is at the 3:53 mark. You'll say, "Oh yeah! I remember this!" This will be the set for the next four weeks.) ;)
Communion anthem: Cantate Domino Canticum Novum, by Vincent d'Indy (sung by trio). Based on Psalm 96 (Vulgate 95), which is also this day's responsorial Psalm. The chorus "Cantate Domino canticum novum; Cantate Domino, omnis terra", translates "Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth!"
Meditation hymn: 713 Ave Maria, chant, Mode I (Listen)
Recessional hymn: 702 Hail, holy Queen enthroned above
Peace,
BMP
