Active Participation and Listening to Gregorian Chant

[This paper was an address to the CMAA Fall Pilgrimage, Washington D.C., September 25-26, 2009.] Active participation of the faithful in the liturgy has been a key theme since the Second Vatican Council, and a consequence of this has been the cultivation of congregational singing, sometimes to the exclusion of choirs, most often to the exclusion of Gregorian chant from our churches. But the council also said that Gregorian chant should have first place in the liturgy. (1) This has always been translated as "pride of place," but the term is principem locum, principal place, first place; "pride of place" sounds a bit like giving an old uncle a place at the table without letting him say anything; when we quote this term from the council we should really say "first place"; (2) there is a very good reason for that. The sung form of the liturgy has always been the paradigm, and the council reiterated that priority; (3) the foundational music of this sung form is Gregorian chant. How can these things be reconciled--the emphasis on active participation and on Gregorian chant? The answer depends upon what the council meant by active participation. This concept used by the council had a fairly long history in recent papal and church teaching, so it should be examined for the entire twentieth century. Since the teaching stretches over the eras of both the extraordinay and ordinary forms of the Mass, it should apply with equal vigor to both forms. In what follows, I show that the singing of Gregorian chant is thoroughly compatible with active participation, because that participation is hierarchical and because listening to and singing chant are inextricably linked. Pope St. Pius X was probably the first person in modern times to emphasize the concept of active participation; he probably originated the term. In his Motu Proprio Tra le sollecitudine he said, Our most profound desire is that the authentic spirit of Christ may once again be awakened in all its richness and that it may flourish throughout the whole body of the faithful. To this end it is imperative in the first place to give heed to the holiness and worthiness of the temple of God. For it is here that the faithful assemble to draw that spirit from its primary and indispensable source, that is from active participation in the sacred mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church. (4) This document was written in Italian, a rare occurrence for a papal document, particularly a motu proprio, which is a legislative document. Certainly it addressed a wide range of potential readers, including those who may not read Latin, and this could explain its use of the vernacular. The Italian term was partecipazione attiva, which superficially translates as "active participation." But it is sometimes overlooked that when the official text of this motu proprio was published in Latin, the term was translated as actuosa participatio, that is to say, not just active, but real, fundamental participation. Thus Pius X really speaks about intrinsic participation in the liturgy itself, that it pertains to the holiness and worthiness of the temple of God, that it is participation in the sacred mysteries, and that it specifically mentions that the faithful draw the authentic spirit of Christ through this participation. That is a far cry from the appealing to "active participation" to justify having to sing everything or even being "animated" by the cantor. Pope Pius XI in his Divini cultus sanctitatem addressed directly the singing of Gregorian chant: In order that the faithful may more actively participate in divine worship, let them be made once more to sing the Gregorian Chant, so far as it belongs to them to take part in it. It is most important that when the faithful assist at the sacred ceremonies ... they should not be merely detached and silent spectators, but, filled with a deep sense of the beauty of the Liturgy, they should sing alternately with the clergy or the choir, as it is prescribed. …