The Recovering Choir Director

Page 391 of the 1974 Graduale Romanum lists seven Antiphonae Eucharisticae pro Communione ad libitum adhibendae, which may, for pastoral reasons, supplant the Communion chant proper to the day.

If done responsorially with the verses specified by the Graduale, either in Latin or the vernacular, the same antiphon/psalm combination could conceivably be used over multiple Sundays while the verses to the psalm are completed—similar to what the weekday Lectionary does with St. Paul’s epistles.

The seven antiphons—with links to mp3 files, Psalm verses and translations from the Gregorian Missal for Sundays—are:

• Ego sum vitis vera (John 15:5), with Psalm 79(80)
  mp3
  “I am the true vine, and you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he it is who bears much fruit, alleluia, alleluia.”
  (Fifth Sunday of Easter, Years B and C. Mode VIII.)
• Gustate et videte (Psalm 33(34):9), with Psalm 33(34), except V/. 9
  gif | mp3 | mp3
  “O taste and see how gracious the Lord is; blessed is the man who trusts in him.”
  (Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time; ad libitum chant for Sacred Heart. Mode III.)
• Hoc corpus (1 Corinthians 11:24-25), with Psalm 22(23)
  gif | mp3
  “‘This is my body which is given up for you; this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood’, says the Lord. ‘Each time that you partake thereof, do it in memory of me.”
  (Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Mode VIII.)
• Manducaverunt (Psalm 77(78):29-30), with Psalm 77(78)
  gif | mp3
  “They ate and were fully satisfied; the Lord gave them all that they desired; they were not deprived of their wants.”
  (Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mode I.)
• Panem de caelo (Wisdom 16:20), with Psalm 77(78)
  gif | mp3
  “You gave us bread from heaven, O Lord, having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste.”
  (Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mode V.)
• Panis quem ego dedero (John 6:52), with Psalm 110(111)
  gif | mp3
  “The bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
  (Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Years A and B. Mode I.)
• Qui manducat (John 6:57), with Psalm 118(119)
  gif | mp3 | mp3
  “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him, says the Lord.”
  (Body and Blood of Christ; Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. Mode VIII.)

For the beginning schola that is considering singing the Communion propers, learning these seven chants well and rotating them may be an optimal strategy to present Gregorian chant in a prayerful and well-sung manner. Once these seven chants are well-learned and internalized, the schola may take its time to learn other series of communion antiphons well, such as those of a particular liturgical season.

Of particular note is the Mode III Gustate et videte, which is in a tone foreign to the modern ear. This strangeness, in conjunction with either vernacular verses or printed translations, may help provoke worshippers to a greater attention during the Communion Rite.