E20 • Why Gregorian Chant Still Matters

After tracing chant from its roots to the present, “Beyond the Spire” closes by asking whether this ancient music still has a future. The answer is an emphatic yes: Gregorian chant slows modern haste, unites voices in common prayer, forms memory, and keeps doctrine sounding in the life of the Church, inseparable from the Roman rite.
The episode ends not in nostalgia, but in an appeal to learn, listen, participate, and help restore the Church’s own song.

Content

• Gregorian chant matters today because it has contemplative power, slowing modern haste and creating a space in which the soul can become recollected before God.
• The chant has a unitive character, since singing one line together trains the faithful out of individualism and into a common act of worship.
• Repetition and memory are strengths rather than weaknesses, because chant forms the soul over time and allows doctrine and prayer to sink deeply into conscious habit.
• Gregorian chant remains inseparable from the Roman rite, which means its recovery is not merely aesthetic but liturgical and ecclesial.
• Its beauty is noble, restrained, and free from sentimentality, making it especially suited to sacred use rather than to emotional self-display.
• The survival of chant is a matter of cultural and spiritual patrimony, since losing it would mean losing one of the Church’s most refined and characteristic forms of expression.
• Practical advice and real hope: seek recordings, visit places where chant is sung, join or form scholas, and help the Church’s own song live again.

Sponsors

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠National Lottery Heritage Fund⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: 
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Global Sound Movement⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠University of Lancashire⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

External Links

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Watch on YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠@Beyond_the_Spire⁠⁠⁠⁠
Listen to the album: Now on Spotify

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More about St Walburge’s Shrine

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome back to Beyond the Spire, a podcast of the Save Our Sacred Songs Project at the Catherine Shrine of St. Wahlberg in Preston, supported by the National Lottery. We've journeyed far in these episodes. We have explored how Gregonshunt became the church's envoice, the church's sacred song from its Jewish roots until now. And today's episode will ask one question why Greg still matters. I am Canon Bunens. Whether you are a musician, a member of a parish choir or simply someone curious about the faith heritage, you came to the right place. We can't cover everything about Gregor, but we have a little information to ask that question and see how this ancient song is still for today. Let's begin with the spiritual dimensions. First, Gregor Enchant has a contemplative power. It slows us down in a rushed world. It has a unity of experience. Singing together to join the communal prayer that transcends individualities, links us to the centuries of faithful to the communion of saints. Then Gregorinchant is also a matter of repetition and memory. The same melodies repeated year after year become part of the spiritual environment that places us in a firm and good disposition for transcendence apart from the moving world we live in. Plain songs lack of harmony frees the music from a certain age. There is no composer, no composer style or recognizable rhythm. It has a taste of eternity. Plus Gregor gives a voice to the unchanged doctrine, embodies centuries of church teaching in sound. Repetitio matertuorum says the well known saying, and according to Saint Augustine singing is praying twice. As a consequence, liturgical chant, Gregory is inseparable from the Roman rite. Form serves content, chant treats the sacred works with respect, with reverence. For our modern days, practising Gregorian chant is living connection to the apostolic tradition far from any antiquarianism. Second, the musical dimensions. The intrinsic beauty of the medieval melody is reached through simplicity. Everyone can sing at his own level. Everyone can hear and understand simplicity and reflect the modal colours in their soul to make this sound their own. The eight modes offer emotional and spiritual variety without sentimentality. The peaceful and reserved expression of Gregoranchant elevates the soul towards heaven and touches the heart very delicately. In Gregorianchent no elaboration hides the prayer. Text is audible. Text is the first meaning of the song. And finally Gregorchant's rhythm and breathing patterns suits the body's capacities. They are made for peace and quiet, calming the natural environment to touch the supernatural core of the soul. Let's conclude with cultural heritage. First, preservation, maintaining a treasure of human civilization and spiritual patrimony alive and concrete is what we are doing singing Gregory and Chant today. Excellence Gregory represents the pinnacle of liturgical music, and losing it would be definitely a cultural loss. History Gregory connects to the whole Christian tradition. It has been sung all around the world, in monasteries, cathedrals, parishes and communities until now. Today young people is discovering Gregorians, new scholars are forming, and online communities and resources are more and more able to reach people. It leads to hope for Gregorians to find its place again in the liturgy as it was in the golden ages of the church. Plus, it helps for personal conversion. Those who sing and practice Gregorian regularly deepen their faith and grow fruits in their spiritual life. As a conclusion, we could draw some practical suggestions. We haven't covered everything about Gregorians, so we need now to be aware that this is just the beginning. To go further here are a few opportunities. First listening. Go to a monastery where Gregonchant is sung daily. Go on the web resources where Gregoriant has been recorded. Second learning. Communities and trained scholars have the capacity to help you in learning Gregonchant as they do practice it. But also you have sessions, for instance, at the Schola Saint Gregois in Montligon in France, offered academic knowledge but also practice. Third, parish participation is not just for trained singers. The ordinary parts of the mass are designed to be simple to learn, to be simple to sing, and when everyone sings, it looks great even if your voice is not as pure as an opera singer. But if you have a good voice, well here comes the last advice support. Support means you have to involve yourself into a choir, a Gregoryan choir, and then be able to spread this ancient song into the modern world. As Gregorian is not just nostalgia, but the living voice of the church today as well as tomorrow.