More Latin Stuff...

One of the most irritating comments when a traditional hymn or antiphon is suggested is "Oh, you can't have that... no-one knows it!"

Well, no-one will ever know it unless they get to hear it - after all, that's how they got to know the hymns they do know.

Another irritating statement: "Catholics don't sing at Mass."

Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps they just don't sing the cruddy touchy-feely rubbish which passes for "modern" hymns according to the music publishers. Eccles has a whole series on the meaningless twaddle we've been forced to sing over the past 40 years.

But crack out the traditional hymns and the congregation suddenly seems to find an enthusiasm for joining in. Chanting is particularly popular - as Fr. Finigan has so often told our Confirmation candidates, go to the football terraces, and then tell me that men don't do chant.

Blackfen's Maestra di Cappella has the choir and congregation sussed. Introduce a new (old) chant and repeat it for an entire liturgical season. Three weeks in, and it's an old favourite.

After a year or two, Marian antiphons at the end of Mass are easy money. Even the toddlers enjoy belting them out...