Latin Mass Project

Your browser does not support the audio element. Podcast (21m07s): Play in new window | Download Sacred MusicPart I: Chant and Instruments Singing the Mass vs. Singing at MassSacred music by its very nature is music that is set apart for the sacred liturgy. It is different from secular (worldly) music. We speak of sacred and profane music. The word profane does not mean wicked, sinful, or evil; rather, it means, literally "outside the temple" (from the Latin fanum, temple). Music that is admitted into the Mass is considered sacred music, in one way or another. When most Latin Catholics go to Mass, they hear lots of hymns: an opening hymn, an offertory hymn, a communion hymn, a recessional hymn. Hymns are poetic texts sung to simple melodies by the whole congregation. Although 20th century magisterial texts encouraged hymns (for instance, Pius XII in Musicae Sacrae) for their ability to inspire devotion among the faithful, hymns are not actually part of the Mass. But there is music that is