The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-09-18
THE ST. PAUL HYMNAL.

"The st. Paul Hymnal," the
official textbook for congrega-
tional singing in the Diocese of
st. Paul, has just been issued from
the press.
The purpose which this hymn
book is intended to serve, as set
forth in the "Foreword' written
by the Most Reverend Archbishop,
is to aid in bringing about popn-
lar participation in the music of
religion, by familiarizing the pu-
pills in the >parochial schools with
the sacred chants of the Church
and thus laying the foundation
for a more general participation
in congregational singing by. the
attendants at public services in
chapels and parish churches.
For the attainment Of this end,
it was necessary that an author
lied hy1nnaF be provided in order
to secure uniformity in text and
melody. The same manual must
be in the hands of school children
and of adults in order that there
may be no variation in songs and
melodies in the different parishes.
Furthermore, such a textbook.
must have two important qualifi-
cations, namely, comprehensive
ness of contents and cheapness of
cost. The. St. Paul Hymnal
meets these requirements admir-
ably. 1t contains a sufficient num-
Der of chants for ordinary pur-
poses and varied enough to suit
the needs Of religion. It's cost is
so small that there is no reason
why it should not be in the hands
of every child and every adult in
the parish.
In the past, unfortunately, the
church choir seems to have had a
monopoly of singing at the public
services. This is not the mind of
the Church, however. She wishes
all the faithful to take part in the
sacred chants of her liturgy and
during recent years attempts have
been made, with more or less sue
cess, to foster congregational sing
ing. The best way to do this is to
train the children in the parochial
schools. They should be taught to
sing from note and not merely
from ear. The words and melo-
dies Of certain number of hymns,
especially those used at Benedic-
ton of the Blessed Sacrament, and
the responses at the High Mass
should be learned by rote so that
the printed text may be dispensed
with.
With this as a foundation it
should not be very difficult to in
troduce congregational singing in
all churches. 1t is true the rubrics
prescribe the use Of Latin during
High Mass and Vespers and this
rule, of course, must be strictly
observed; but there are many
hymns in the language of the: peo-
pie which are allowed during Low
Mass and before and after High
Mass, and these the people should
be taught to sing under the lead
ership Of the pastor, or an author
lied substitute, and with the as
sistance of the choir.
Henceforth "The st. Paul Hymn.
nal is the official hymn-book OF
the Diocese, and the words and
melodies it contains must be fol-
lowed strictly at all times as far
as it is possible to make them
correspond to the requirements of
congregational singing The text
comprises 100 hymns, all of which,
with the exception of those found
in Part H-for Mass, Vespers
and Benediction-are in English.
They are arranged in Part under
the following heads: general
hymns; hymns for the feasts of
Christmas, of the Most Holy Name
of Jesus, Of Easter, of Pentecost,
Of Corpus Christi and the Blessed
Sacrament Mass 41y1nnsl; hymns
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
|catechism chantsrsj For the pur-
poses of ready reference all the
hymns are arranged in alphabet
cal order, the first line Of each or
other Distinguishing words being
given.
This hymnal is neat volume OF
$50 pages printed in clear type
on good paper and containing the
words and melodies of each hymn
arranged in the usual way. The
regular edition, which does not
contain the musical notation for
organ accompaniment, is sold at
20 cents, net, per copy. An extra
edition giving this notation to-
gether with the full contents of
| the regular volume, can be OBJ
tanned at the rate of $1.00, net, a
copy.
The E. NJ. Lohmann Co, 3S5 St.
Peter St., Sc. Paul, is the sole
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