THE HOLY INNOCENTS’ DAY December 28 The Common Service Book does not list this commemoration in the Calendar, and in his The Church Year Paul Zeller Strodach remarks “that the Holy Innocents’ Day has been excluded from the Church Year.” When speaking of St. Stephen’s Day and St. John’s Day he states: “To these should […]

Here are introits for the days following Christmas (St. John coming soon I hope). For those celebrating Divine Service for Holy Innocents tomorrow, here’s a special bonus: Gradual & Alleluia! The notes are taken from the liber usualis, a 20th century pre-vatican II Roman source. Note: The gradual’s tune comes from the “offertory” which uses […]

Here is a list of occasions on which one might want to hold Divine Service, all falling between Christmas Eve and Epiphany. Beneath each is a list of Lutheran chant books and hymnals, and which (if any) introits they prescribe for the occasions. One 20th century tridentine Roman source is also included, as a reference. […]

What to do about Holy Innocents falling on a Sunday…. Who gets the Divine Service? It seems we probably need to do what any Lutheran normally would do: run to the Anglican sources! But perhaps Reformation Lutheran musicians can help us: I examined four of the most important early Lutheran chant anthologies: -Lucas Lossius’ Psalmodia hoc […]