A Catholic Book of Hymns (A Catholic Book of Hymns - Sacred Music Library)

Slightly large than the PEW EDITION - 7"x10" for Choirs, Directors & Organists

This edition gives more room for penciling in cues, reminders & also for making spiral binding possible.

Would this hymnal be useful in our parish?

First, this is a hymnal for anyone, for homes, schools and churches.

Churches today are divided, some using a hymnal with readings and some printing a weekly music sheet handed out at Mass. How does this new hymnal of traditional hymns fit into our music program?

This is a Supplemental Hymnal. It does not replace your current Hymnal/Missal but is instead a permanent hymnal, putting 295 hymns back in the pews, hymns that have over the last half-century, been replaced by modern songs in missal/hymnals. And they are in full harmony, which is rare in all but a few Catholic hymnals today.

Using a Printed Weekly Music Sheet? This hymnal has the potential to save you the expense of printing up to four pages a week in the bulletin, which can add up to a tidy sum annually and the savings will, in not too many years, pay them off. Instead, just print the number and name of the hymn in your bulletin.

We present this book to propose not that hymns replace the proper chants for a particular day’s Mass* but live happily alongside them. In most instances, the proper chants for processions might be sung by the cantors and choirs as the texts change with every Sunday and solemnity, so in most cases, it’s not practical for the congregation to learn and sing them.

The background of this hymnal:

“Music and silence—how I detest them both!” --Screwtape, under-secretary to the devil, The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

It’s easy to see why the enemies of mankind would hate and fear both sacred silence and sacred music. Both bring joy, spur contemplation, and draw the soul nearer to the Lord. Both have been part of our private prayer as well as our communal liturgy for thousands of years.

The Psalms--biblical songs of praise, supplication, and wonder--have been sung for three thousand years. Naturally, Jesus, His disciples, and later the early Christian community also sang hymns (from the Greek word meaning “songs of praise”), as The New Testament makes clear.

We sing because we love, and sung praise elevates our words, takes them out of the realm of the commonplace, and increases our joy. The holy pleasure of singing to God involves the entire person--spirit, heart, mind, and body--and unites us not only with the Divine but also with one another as a worshiping community. This collection of hymns for the singing Catholic congregation exemplifies the best of the genre. These songs are religiously orthodox, beautiful, sacred, and--for the most part--familiar. But here you will also find worthy hymn tunes and texts that are new to you.

And at the conclusion of Mass, a suitable hymn can send the people forth with the praise of Almighty God on their lips.

May this book bring joy to all who sing from it!

You may want to begin by buying a few books for the organist and cantor or singers for funeral Masses where many of the older. beloved hymns are requested, more for the choir and eventually, the entire congregation. Having this full-harmony hymnal in the hands of the congregation will work to improve the singing of your people. Let the musicians in your congregation sing in their own voice, which has always been the goal of hymn composers!

This is a permanent hymnal, totally immune to translation changes to the Mass or the Readings - the next planned for 2025 - as these hymns are the original texts with no modern text updates.