• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
    • Jeff’s Mom Joins Fundraiser
    • “Let the Choir Have a Voice” (Essay)
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Feasts Website
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

Jeff Ostrowski • Article Archive

A theorist, organist, and conductor, Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He completed studies in Education and Musicology at the graduate level. Having worked as a church musician in Los Angeles for ten years, in 2024 he accepted a position as choirmaster for Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Michigan, where he resides with his wife and children. —Read full biography (with photographs).

Jeff Ostrowski · April 16, 2016

Musical Resources • Third Sunday after Easter (Extraordinary Form)

“O God, Who dost show the light of Thy truth to them that go astray…”

Jeff Ostrowski · April 16, 2016

Feeding Our Children Liturgical “Garbage”

Some of you know I’ve been extremely ill for more than two years…

Jeff Ostrowski · April 15, 2016

Picture • Pope Pius XII in St. Peter’s (Low Mass)

With a lovely chasuble!

Jeff Ostrowski · April 11, 2016

Sacrament of Confirmation (EF) • “Fully Notated Confirmation Prayers”

You Will Want To Download These! • Written-out (“notated”) sheets for the Rite of Confirmation in the Extraordinary Form.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 10, 2016

Ven. Pope Pius XII Singing The Preface

We normally sing the way we heard the priest singing as a child…

Jeff Ostrowski · April 8, 2016

“Tantum Ergo” • Eleven (11) Harmonizations

Do you know what the “Tantum Ergo” means, word for word?

Jeff Ostrowski · April 7, 2016

“Et Cum Spiritu Tuo” in the 1961 Fulton Sheen Missal

What Fr. Philip Caraman does may surprise you…

Jeff Ostrowski · April 6, 2016

“I confess that I was a liturgical nut” says Bishop consecrated by Pope Paul VI

“The liturgy is not only worship of God; it is the way we are formed in our faith.” —Bishop Gracida

Jeff Ostrowski · April 5, 2016

We Need Assistance! Please Help Watershed Survive!

My 5-part series requesting donations seems to have failed miserably—with a few notable exceptions.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 5, 2016

Mass Propers • Fascinating Articles From 1924

Editors of “The Tablet” felt these essays were horrendous!

Jeff Ostrowski · April 4, 2016

Ward Method Studies • Space Available!

The chant must be sung lightly, and not too slowly.

Jeff Ostrowski · April 4, 2016

“Hymn To The Blessed Virgin Mary” • Caswall & Parry

Choirs not yet ready for SATB hymn singing will love this version for two voices!

Jeff Ostrowski · April 3, 2016

Musical Resources • Low Sunday (1962 Missal)

“In the day of My resurrection, saith the Lord, I will go before you into Galilee…”

Jeff Ostrowski · March 31, 2016

Bishop Doerfler’s Stunning Church Music Letter

“All parishes and schools are to have implemented the following directives by December 31, 2020.” —Bishop Doerfler.

Jeff Ostrowski · March 31, 2016

Mother Angelica • “60 Minutes” (1984)

This video shows Mother Angelica playing the drums at Mass! (Not kidding!)

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 138
  • Page 139
  • Page 140
  • Page 141
  • Page 142
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 190
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • Communion (4th Snd. Lent)
    The COMMUNION ANTIPHON for this coming Sunday, which is the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year A), is particularly beautiful. There’s something irresistible about this tone; it’s neither happy nor sad. As always, I encourage readers to visit the flourishing feasts website, where the complete Propria Missae may be downloaded free of charge.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Good Friday Flowers
    Good Friday has a series of prayers for various parties: the pope, catechumens, pagans, heretics, schismatics, and so forth. In the old liturgical books, there was no official ‘name’ for these prayers. (This wasn’t unusual as ‘headers’ and ‘titles’ for each section is a rather modern idea.) The Missal simply instructed the priest to go to the Epistle side and begin. In the SHERBORNE MISSAL, each prayer begins with a different—utterly spectacular—flower. This PDF file shows the first few prayers. Has anyone counted the ‘initial’ drop-cap flowers in the SHERBORNE MISSAL? Surely there are more than 1,000.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music List • (3rd Sunday of Lent)
    Readers have expressed interest in seeing the ORDER OF MUSIC I created for this coming Sunday, which is the 3rd Sunday of Lent (8 March 2026). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. This feast has magnificent propers. Its stern INTROIT (“Óculi mei semper ad Dóminum”) is breathtaking, and the COMMUNION (“Qui bíberit aquam”) with its fauxbourdon verses is wonderful. I encourage all the readers to visit the feasts website, where the Propria Missae may be downloaded completely free of charge.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Dies Irae” • A Monstrous Translation
    It isn’t easy to determine what Alice King MacGilton hoped to accomplish with her very popular book—A Study of Latin Hymns (1918)—which continued to be reprinted in new editions for at least 34 years. This PDF file shows her attempt to translate the DIES IRAE “in the fewest words possible.” There’s a place for dynamic equivalency, but this is repugnant. In particular, look what she does to “Quærens me sedísti lassus.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    PDF Download • “Holy, Holy, Holy”
    For vigil Masses on Saturday (a.k.a. “anticipated” Masses) we use this simpler setting of the “Holy, Holy, Holy” by Monsignor Jules Vyverman (d. 1989), a Belgian priest, organist, composer, and music educator who ultimately succeeded another ‘Jules’ (CANON JULES VAN NUFFEL) as director of the Lemmensinstituut in Belgium. Although I could be wrong, my understanding is that the LEMMENSINSTITUUT eventually merged with “Catholic University of Leuven” (originally founded in 1425). That’s the university Fulton J. Sheen attended.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Grotesque Pairing • “Passion Chorale”
    One of our rarest releases was undoubtably this PDF scan of the complete Pope Pius XII Hymnal (1959) by Father Joseph Roff, a student of Healey Willan. One of the scarcest titles in existence, this book was provided to us by Mr. Peter Meggison. Back in 2018, we scanned each page and uploaded it to our website, making it freely available to everyone. Readers are probably sick of hearing me say this, but just because we upload something that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wonderful or worthy of imitation. We upload many publications precisely because they are ‘grotesque’, interesting, or revealing. Whereas the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal had an editorial board that was careful and sensitive vis-à-vis pairing texts with tunes, the Pope Pius XII Hymnal (1959) seems to have been rather reckless in this regard. Please take a look at what they did with the PASSION CHORALE and see whether you agree.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

The representative Protestant collection, entitled “Hymns, Ancient and Modern”—in substance a compromise between the various sections of conflicting religious thought in the Establishment—is a typical instance. That collection is indebted to Catholic writers for a large fractional part of its contents. If the hymns be estimated which are taken from Catholic sources, directly or imitatively, the greater and more valuable part of its contents owes its origin to the Church.

— Orby Shipley (1884)

Recent Posts

  • Consultor to the Vatican Council Enters the Fray • (Vis-à-vis Jeff’s Pipe Organ Assertion)
  • Palm Sunday • “Repertoire for Children’s Choir”
  • PDF Download • Communion (4th Snd. Lent)
  • Most “Congregational” Hymn • (In My Experience)
  • Music is the “Humble Handmaid” of the Mass

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2026 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.