Parishioners unify with Latin chants in Mass

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
Several parishes in the Diocese of Sioux City are incorporating Latin chant into the “ordinary” of the Mass, to both return to the intentions of the Second Vatican Council and to unify the faithful, especially in diverse communities.
 
Parishioners in Storm Lake St. Mary Parish have been learning about the rationale behind using the Latin Mass parts – Kyrie (regularly sung in Greek), Sanctus, Mysterium Fidei, Amen, Pater Noster (Our Father) and Agnus Dei - as well as learning how to sing them.
 
Father Brent Lingle, St. Mary pastor, has been offering background in the parish e-newsletter.
 
“We’ve done a lot of chants in English over the years and chanting the Mass during different seasons,” he said. “I’ve noticed since I’m the only priest here know that we have more of a mix of people in our liturgies than we’ve had ever before.”
 
The pastor pointed out that the parish has parishioners who speak English, Spanish, Vietnamese and other languages and the Latin Mass parts can help bring the groups together in liturgy.
 
“When we come together for holy days of obligation in particular and Holy Week, we really lack a common language to be able to pray together,” he said. “So, the common language of course is what the church prescribes and that has always been Latin. That can be the thing that unites us in prayer across the cultural and language differences.”
 
Father Lingle stressed that Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council, calls for the faithful to sing the parts in Latin.
 
“The documents all state that the people should know the ordinary of the Mass in Latin and that’s what we’re learning,” he said.
 The Lord's Prayer Latin chant on YouTubeThe transition for the Spanish-speaking parishioners will be easier due to the similarity in language, and they just received new hymnals that include the Mass setting. The Vietnamese parishioners already know the Latin chants.
 
“What I find interesting is that you go anywhere in the world and you can sing these parts and everybody knows them – except here in the United States,” Father Lingle said.
 
Storm Lake parishioners have chanted the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) Mass parts for several years. Now, they are learning the parts in Latin as they follow the same tune, the pastor said.
 
The priest included a video of the chanted Our Father in a recent parish e-newsletter so that parishioners could practice chanting it. Father Lingle also introduced it in church and had the faithful practice the chant prior to the Feb. 15 and 16 Masses. He will share more audio files in the coming weeks with the goal of singing the ordinary parts of the Mass starting with Ash Wednesday on March 5.

 

Father Brent Lingle talks about vocations at a school Mass.

“We’re starting the Our Father now before Lent begins to give us a chance to get used to that. The other pieces are easier than the Our Father in the sense that we’re used to singing those ICEL chants in English,” he said. “I told people I didn’t want this to be like a firehose - we will just gradually work into it and get ourselves comfortable.” 

Father Lingle said the ICEL Latin chant introduction is not the first Latin chant he brought to the parish.
 
“Our patron is Mary so when we have a Marian feast and those holy days when Mass is over, we started to chant the Salve Regina. We do that in October and May as well – those months of Mary. The people have that down,” he said.
 
The pastor noted some of his older parishioners are picking up on the Latin chants quickly as they remember them from their childhood. Some of the younger parishioners and young families told him they are grateful to see the Latin language returning to the Mass in the parish.
 
In addition to learning why the church desires the faithful to chant the ordinary of the Mass, the pastor is ensuring they know how to chant. He was fortunate to learn under Father Columba Kelly of St. Meinrad Seminary, one of the world leaders in chant and liturgy.
 
“Some might be turned off by it because they’ve heard it done badly or a score seems to drag itself out forever,” Father Lingle said. “I remember in class with Father Columba that chant is sung speech. If you don’t talk like that, you shouldn’t chant like that. You don’t drag out every word or hold the last word of every line for another five notes.”
 
In a recent newsletter, he explained that chant shouldn’t be “a slow dirge or painful experience.” Also, in chant, the text is of more importance than the music, unlike modern music where the text is often secondary.
 
A recent clergy day training for diocesan priests and deacons was Singing the Mass: the chants of the Roman Missal for priests and the people with Brother Joel Blaize of the St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology Institute for Sacred Music.
 
“I told people it was a good refresher on what we do and why we do it,” Father Lingle said. “I was surprised by the number of other priests in our diocese that said they were doing this in their parishes as well.”