THE
P RTAL
December 2018
Page 23
The Saint Peter Gradual
An experienced-based review by Fr David Lashbrooke
E very week
for the past year or so, I have received an e-mail from across the pond from an Ordinariate
Parish in Canada, which included the music for the Propers in accordance with Divine Worship: The
Missal. This was a relief, for up to this point, at Torbay, we were using The English Gradual for our Sung
Mass, which would need much editing. In some cases I would have to write out the tones where there was no
provision, as in the case of the Solemnity of Our Lady of Walsingham.
This was time-consuming and I
wasn’t particularly good at it. A further
frustration was the print quality of the
English Gradual, which is really of
yesteryear. If you reproduced it into
a document via a scanner the quality
was poor, especially after the edits. In
contrast, the material coming from
Canada, via e-mail, was clear, musically
literate and wholly consistent with
Divine Worship and was a resource
that could be used worldwide. It
was with great joy that all this work has
now been collated into the one volume
making up The Saint Peter Gradual and
it is an excellent volume which I hope
will be used widely though the Ordinariates as part of
our liturgical expression of our patrimony.
through Fr Reid’s obvious talent, is
consistent in style and accurate.
I would suggest that The Saint Peter
Gradual does more than merely ‘pay
homage’ to the English Gradual. It has
reinvigorated the style and made it
possible for communities praying
Divine Worship to sing these often
long-forgotten parts of the liturgy.
The beauty to be found in the Gradual
is the enabling of the faithful to
find another facet that draws the
community into united prayer in the
same way that we become united in
these Islands if you intone Merbeke or
sing the Magnificat to a chant from set A in the Parish
Psalter, as was evidenced from our last pilgrimage to
Walsingham.
When I was asked to write this review, I contacted Fr
Carl Reid, who is the General Editor and inspiration
The Gradual is well set out and the opening pages
for the Gradual and who had so kindly e-mailed me are worth a read, not least for an explanation on how
with the weekly fruits of his labour. This is what he and when to sing the Propers which is helpful for
wrote:
those singing them for the first time. It has a very
useful Table of Correspondence which would enable
The Saint Peter Gradual pays homage to the well- communities, within and beyond the Ordinariates
known English Gradual in using the same tones, thus to use this gradual with the Roman Missal (2011).
ensuring the carrying forward into the Ordinariates This fulfils the duty of the Ordinariates not only to
of that familiarity. Adhering strictly to the wording be nourished themselves by their patrimony but to
for each proper as presented in Divine Worship: The offer the wider church “a treasure to be shared”. It also
Missal, it has been purposely produced as a companion expresses our patrimony by the inclusion of propers
to the Ordinariate Missal; a musical completion, if you for Harvest and Remembrance Sunday.
will. Musically speaking, acknowledging that large
churches with trained choir members certainly have
The Saint Peter Gradual is an excellent
used more complicated musical forms, the form most and inexpensive volume and Fr Reid should be
familiar to the Anglican tradition is that of the English congratulated. I hope it will be one of many resources
Gradual, with its simple plainsong tones that are easily that can be shared throughout the Ordinariates and
learned by both choirs and congregations.
beyond to enrich the worship and life of the Church
and I hope another community may have a similar
Fr Reid admits it wasn’t his intention to produce a project for our Responsorial Psalms.
complete volume but his musical labours were for his
The Saint Peter Gradual
parish’s weekly bulletin and maybe that is the heart of
ISBN 978 09881 8888
what I believe will be its success. The Gradual evolved
3
Available
online (eg from
from a worshipping community, using material, that,
The Book Depository) for about £19