Responsorial Psalm & Gradual

by Jon Laird

An explanation of these two parts of the Mass will appear in this weekend’s bulletin:

The Responsorial Psalm is quite familiar to us. We are used to seeing a cantor (in this case, called a “psalmist”) stand after the first reading and teach us a refrain which we sing in between psalm verses, which are usually sung solo by the psalmist. But there are two other forms of sung psalmody, in addition to the responsorial manner. One of those is call antiphonal psalmody, in which two people or groups alternate singing verses. You may remember that in the spring and early summer we were singing the psalm in this fashion. The third way to sing a psalm is direct; in this type, it is sung straight through with no alternation or refrain.

But here’s a little-known fact: although the type of responsorial psalmody to which we are accustomed dates from the earliest centuries of the Church (St. Augustine testifies to this practice), it took a somewhat different form beginning the fifth and sixth centuries, when the Roman schola began to standardize the Mass chants. The psalm became much more ornate—a purely choral chant—and was known by the name gradual (because it was sung on the gradus, the step by the ambo). Most chant scholars agree that the gradual is one of the oldest surviving musical elements of the Mass; this is why the most ancient chant books are given the title Graduale, even though they eventually contained more than just the gradual. Even today, the official choirbook of the Church is called the Graduale Romanum.

What happened to the gradual? Why would the Church toss aside the most ancient of all its music? Actually, she didn’t—the gradual is still prescribed as an option for the chant after the first reading (with melodies probably very close to those composed by the medieval Roman schola), but the vast majority of Catholic parishes usually select the restored responsorial psalm. At St. Elizabeth Seton, we’ll keep singing the responsorial psalm at the 6 PM, 9 AM, and 10:45 AM Masses, and at the 12:30 PM Mass we will sing the gradual.

Both are beautiful ways to proclaim the psalm, and both have advantages: the responsorial psalm allows us to affirm the sentiments of the psalm by means of a vocal acclamation; the gradual on the other hand is more conducive to meditation, since it is very ornate and consists of a shorter text. Recovering it is another exciting step as we continue to rediscover the Church’s musical heritage. For more information, see www.seas1.org/liturgy/sacred-music.