Sacred Music US

Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments:

The Ignatius Pew Missal is a beautifully produced and worthy companion for the faithful who come to worship and adore the Lord by participating in the celebration of the Eucharist. In particular Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB’s newly-composed chants for the propers will enable people to participate in a full, active and conscious manner according to the mind of the Church. I encourage both pastors and faithful alike to use this resource as a means to be formed at the greatest school of prayer that the Church possesses, the Holy Mass.

++Robert Cardinal Sarah

Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Bishop Athanasius Schneider:

“The Ignatius Pew Missal represents a suitable help for the faithful so that they will be better prepared to chant the Liturgy of the Mass and sing traditional sacred hymns. The faithful acquire, in deed, the true spirit of prayer from its foremost and indispensable font, which is the public and solemn prayer of the Church. It is above all through chant and authentic sacred music that ‘the faithful may be the more easily moved to devotion and better disposed for the reception of the fruits of grace belonging to the celebration of the most holy mysteries’ (Pius X, Tra le sollecitudini).” Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana

Fr Uwe Michael Lang of the Oratory:

“When Pope St Pius X made active participation the cornerstone of liturgical renewal in the twentieth century, he was thinking above all of sacred music and in particular of enabling the people to sing the Mass. The Ignatius Pew Missal enables worshippers to do just that, in a form that is accessible and expresses the spirit of the liturgy. I find it encouraging to see the treasury of traditional hymns and chants that have nourished generations of Catholics in their faith. The inclusion of important liturgical texts and popular prayers in Latin is most welcome. This is a rich and splendid resource for the whole liturgical year.”

Fr Uwe Michael Lang, London Oratory

Archbishop Timothy Broglio (Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA):

“The Ignatius Press Pew Missal puts into the hands of the faithful a needed resource to facilitate a fuller participation in the celebration of the Eucharist. Texts, accessible chant in Father Weber’s newly crafted melodies, and familiar hymns will help us all to pray more easily and devoutly. The easily readable format also offers the Order of Mass in Latin and the Readings for Sundays, Holy Days, and Major Feasts, as well as, the variable texts necessary for participation at daily Mass. There is no doubt that this missal offers everyone a useful instrument.”

Fr Paul Scalia:

I heartily recommend Ignatius Press’s Pew Missal for all parishes. The Church has always lived by the adage Lex orandi, lex credendi: The law of worship is the law of belief. Our faith should shape our worship; but our worship should also shape us in the faith. What people encounter at Mass should form them in Catholicism’s truth and beauty, in its enduring and saving character. By its clear design and layout, its dignified chant and hymnody, The Pew Missal helps not only bring people into worship, but also form them in the Church’s liturgy.

Bishop Daniel Flores (Brownsville, TX):

“A valuable resource for families to prepare themselves to participate more fully not just at Mass, but to truly celebrate Sunday as the Lord’s day.”

Most Rev. Daniel E. Flores, S.T.D.

Bishop of Brownsville

“Un recurso valioso para las familias que buscan prepararse para la participación plena y activa en la santa misa y verdaderamente celebrar el domingo como día del Señor.”

Bishop James Conley (Lincoln, NE):

The Ignatius Pew Missal is a welcomed new liturgical resource for the faithful. This handsomely bound and beautifully printed volume includes the chant notation for all the propers, antiphons and the other sung parts of the Mass, as well as the scripture readings for Sundays, Holy Days and Principal Feasts for the given year. In addition to providing the simple plainsong melodies for the antiphons, this volume also includes a rich array of carefully selected hymns. It is my hope that this new liturgical resource will inspire the faithful in the pews to raise their voices in sung prayer, enhancing the public worship of the Church with a greater sense of the transcendent.

-Bishop James Conley, Diocese of Lincoln

Fr Cassian Folsom, OSB (Prior of Benedictine Monastery in Norcia, Italy)
The Ignatius Pew Missal is actually an English-language Graduale Simplex, a simpler version of Gregorian chant encouraged by the Vatican II document on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC 117). This is an important bridge which allows us to reconnect with the musical tradition of the universal Church: a treasure of immeasurable value (cf. SC 112). The contents of the Pew Missal reflects the classical order of importance for the sung parts of the Mass: the dialogue between priest and people, the ordinary parts of the Mass, and the proper antiphons for each day. There is a solid repertoire of well-known hymns, both metric and chant (cf. SC 118). In addition, all the readings are included, as well as common prayers and devotions. What is needed now is stability and perseverance, so that this repertoire can become second nature. Then the Pew Missal can serve as a springboard for an ever richer appropriation of the Church’s treasury of sacred music (SC 113). Compliments to Fr. Samuel Weber, O.S.B. for his important contribution!