Graduale Romanum is the principal Roman Rite chant book containing Gregorian settings of the Mass's proper and ordinary chants.
The Church's chant book
The Graduale Romanum supplies Gregorian entrance, gradual or responsorial, Alleluia or tract, offertory, and Communion chants, together with settings of the Ordinary. The postconciliar edition was issued in 1974 to correspond to the renewed Roman calendar and Missal.[1]
It is distinct from the Missal and Lectionary: it provides music and chant texts rather than the whole order or all spoken formularies of Mass. The Graduale simplex offers simpler repertory for communities with more limited resources.
Pride of place, not exclusivity
Vatican II calls Gregorian chant specially suited to the Roman liturgy and says it should be given pride of place in liturgical services, other things being equal. The same constitution admits other kinds of sacred music that accord with the liturgical action.[2]
The GIRM explicitly permits chants from the Graduale Romanum in designated parts of Mass. Its use is therefore official and living, not an antiquarian reconstruction, while it is not the only music the Roman Rite lawfully permits.
References
- 1.General Instruction of the Roman Missal — Official norms permitting the Graduale Romanum for entrance, psalm, offertory, and Communion chants
- 2.Sacrosanctum Concilium — Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy