Songs That Every American Catholic

Should Know
By NPM M embers

I
n the September 2004 issue of Pastoral Music Notebook,
we invited our members to list the most important
settings of ritual texts as well as the hymns and songs
that any English-speaking Latin Rite Roman Catholic
in the United States should know. We also promised to
compare our list with a similar list—“100 Songs Every Par-
ish Should Learn by Heart”—compiled by Sheila Browne,
rsm, and Richard P. Gibala and published in the Winter
2004 issue of Church magazine.
Here’s our list of the top five responses in each category
(the top ten “other songs”), compiled from the responses
of 348 NPM members. Those items marked with an as-
terisk (*) also appear on the list in Church. (Note that the
list in Church did not include Mass settings, though it did
include settings of some Mass parts.) We hope you’ll find
this report useful as you review your community’s basic St. Aloysius Parish, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
repertoire.

Category Number of Responses

Mass Settings

Mass of Creation (Haugen) 329

Community Mass (Proulx) 147
Latin Chant Mass* 124
St. Louis Jesuits Mass (Dufford, Schutte) 123
Peoples Mass (Vermulst) 85
Evening prayer with the Rapid City, South Dakota, NPM Chapter
Other Mass Parts

Celtic Alleluia* (O’Carroll/Walker) 207

Lamb of God, Holy Cross Mass (Isele) 167
Litany of the Saints (Becker) 88
Our Father* (Chant/Snow) 72
Acclamations, Danish Amen Mass
(Kraehenbuehl) 40

Communion Songs

Gift of Finest Wheat* (Bicentennial) 227

I Am the Bread of Life* (Toolan) 211
One Bread, One Body* (J. Foley) 183
Taste and See* (Moore) 128
Eat This Bread* (Berthier/Taizé) 104

Songs for Advent

Marine Staff Sgt. Michael Land, Eighth Engineering Battalion, plays
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel* 294 bass in a Gospel Choir in Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Leah R.
Pastoral Music • February-March 2005 13
Advent (continued) Songs Celebrating Mary and the Saints

On Jordan’s Bank* (Winchester New) 179
People, Look East* (Besancon) 157
Creator of the Stars of Night* (Chant) 111
Come, O Long Expected Jesus (Stuttgart) 80
Songs for the Christmas Season
Hail, Holy Queen, Enthroned Above*
(Salve Regina Coelitum) 271
Immaculate Mary* (Lourdes Hymn) 253
For All the Saints* (Sine Nomine) 159
Sing of Mary* (Pleading Savior) 138
Hail Mary, Gentle Woman (Landry) 137

Joy to the World (Antioch) 249 Other Songs

O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) 170
Silent Night (Stille Nacht) 155
Hark, the Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn) 135
Angels We Have Heard on High (Gloria) 121
Songs for Lent
Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days*
(St. Flavian) 146
The Glory of These Forty Days
(Old Hundredth)  96
Hosea (Norbet) 92
Ashes (Conry) 72
Dust and Ashes (Haas) 60
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name*
(Grosser Gott) 181
On Eagle’s Wings* (Joncas) 177
Amazing Grace* (New Britain) 149
Here I Am, Lord* (Schutte) 141
Be Not Afraid* (Dufford) 135
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (Hymn to Joy) 128
Blest Are They* (Haas) 108
Now Thank We All Our God* (Nun Danket) 108
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty*
(Nicaea) 106
Gather Us In* (Haugen) 102

Songs for Holy Week and the Easter Triduum

O Sacred Head Surrounded* (Passion Chorale) 235

Were You There* 215
All Glory, Laud, and Honor* (St. Theodulph) 172
Pange Lingua Gloriosi* (Chant) 135
Ubi Caritas (Chant) 67

Songs for the Easter Season

Jesus Christ Is Risen Today* (Easter Hymn) 272

Come, Holy Ghost* (Lambillotte) 144
O Sons and Daughters* (O Filii et Filiae) 127
Christ the Lord Is Risen Today 79
The Strife Is O’er* (Victory) 77

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception,

Solid Ground retreat, Chicago, Illinois Washington, DC.

14 February-March 2005 • Pastoral Music