Why Chant? The reason behind the Church’s Endorsement

By Grace Feltoe. Written for State of Grace and in collaboration with Totus Tuus Apostolate, Singapore.

In July I had the profound privilege of attending workshops and learning Gregorian Chant at

the Abbeye of Solesmes, in France. The abbey’s history of photographing, collecting and

analysing all the Gregorian chant across Europe and the globe is well known to many, and

while that can be an entire history article in itself, what it solidified in my thinking was the

necessity of chant in our Church today.

Abbeye de Solesmes - Photo by Grace Feltoe

This raises the question:

Why chant? Why is it still the music of the Church? And why have so many popes before us

and in our current age endorse it and continue the tradition?

Many provide the argument that it is simply ‘beautiful’, but it’s not a good enough reason,

because this is a subjective opinion. While many people would agree, there are some who

may find it so foreign to their modern ears they can’t yet see the beauty in it. I can not

disagree, it is very ancient, and while technology, science and other music continues to

develop, we are expected to sing the same thing in Church over centuries.

Female Schola of the Gregorian Chant Session at the Abbey of Solesmes 2025

I would like to provide a few solid and practical reasons why we are still encouraged to

continue this tradtion, so that if you are not familiar with this prayer of the Church, you may

have a place of understanding, and then hope your ears and heart will follow.

Pope Pius X provided rubrics to the music that should be presented in Mass in his Motu

Proprio ‘Tra Le Sollicitudini’ of 1903.

“Sacred music should consequently possess, in the highest degree, the qualities proper to

the liturgy, and in particular sanctity and goodness of form, which will spontaneously

produce the final quality of universality.

It must be holy, and must, therefore, exclude all profanity not only in itself, but in the

manner in which it is presented by those who execute it.

It must be true art, for otherwise it will be impossible for it to exercise on the minds of

those who listen to it that efficacy which the Church aims at obtaining in admitting into her

liturgy the art of musical sounds.

But it must, at the same time, be universal in the sense that while every nation is permitted

to admit into its ecclesiastical compositions those special forms which may be said to

constitute its native music, still these forms must be subordinated in such a manner to the

general characteristics of sacred music that nobody of any nation may receive an

impression other than good on hearing them.” (No.I.2)

In short, Pope Pius X highlighted that music should be:

- Holy (excluding the ‘profane’, aka removed from the world, with no ‘pop’ culture

of the time.)

- Good in form, and art – that which is made to express beauty and feeling.

And through these two aspects create:

- Universality

The Church in her wisdom considers Gregorian chant to fit this criteria, and rightly so.

If we consider Gregorian chant objectively, its form and purpose, we can see how this befits the prayer of the Church today as it has centuries before across many continents.

1. Gregorian chant is a genre in itself, with a specific purpose.

To foster a holiness through music, the music needs to be set apart from the world,

to not reference the world - ‘the profane’- but reference that which is sacred and

holy. Chant provides a specific genre of music, fostered within the Catholic Church

through centuries to be this specific purposeful music, and a genre that is used

within the sacred actions of the Mass and other liturgies. Chant can be ‘liturgical’

music, as opposed to much ‘sacred music’ we know of, eg. Handel’s Messiah,

Hillsong, Palestrina’s Stabat Mater, Matt Maher. Chant is also sacred music, but

being ‘liturigcal’ means it contains the text of the Mass, and therefore is set apart for

a privileged duty.

2. Gregorian chant is in Latin

Latin continues to be the official language of the Church. To maintain Latin within our

prayer and liturgies nurtures two qualities - holiness and universality.

- Holiness

To keep a language now no longer in vernacular use and set apart for the glorification

and edification of God, fosters a sacredness and reverence in our prayer life and

liturgies. As we reserve language for specific purposes in our daily life, writing a

thesis, meeting an official or speaking to our little brother, so too do we reserve a

language for our prayer.

- Universality

The Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. For the Church to evangelise

and worship as a whole, we are provided a neutral language not confined by borders, or

countries, to be promulgated and used. My personal experience is while I was at

Solesmes, we participated in a daily Latin Novus Ordo Mass, with beautiful chant, and

by this we experienced a Mass familiar to us all, no matter the country we came from -

there was no prioritising one current language over another, and we could chant

together as one voice.

3. Gregorian Chant contains goodness in form

- Gregorian chant does not obscure or distract from the text – but enhances it.

To provide context, during the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent (1545-1563)

explicitly clarified that music should not obscure the liturgical text it is supporting.

Before this, polyphony was becoming so elaborate that the music was obscuring the

text and making it inaudible. While the council did not ban polyphony altogether, it

required composers to re-evaluate their compositional style to befit the liturgical text –

the music as the carrying vessel of the text and not the other way around. The famous

story of Palestrina ‘saving’ polyphony within the Church may come to mind with many

in the Catholic or musical sphere, as he provided a beautiful balance to this request.

Gregorian chant on the other hand, provides a clarity to text, as chant was originally to

be used to elevate the text, enhance it, and carry it through spaces with a sung voice.

Chant comes from text and therefore serves the text.

- Gregorian chant is good and holy in its musical form

Chant has developed modally, with each mode being of a certain characteristic to

reflect the emotional or spiritual intention behind the text. Chant also contains the

earliest form of word painting (shaping musical phrases to imitate the word being

sung). By this it provides a greater depth of meaning to particular words and phrases to

the listeners and singers. Furthermore, the musical beauty and yet simplicity of chant in

and of itself, shows a virtue and humility to its form.

4. Gregorian chant is monophonic

Monophony simply means having a single melodic line. By being of a single line

reduces complexity and allows everyone to sing as one voice. Singing together is a

means of bringing a community together, fostering the universality the Church states

and desires. That is why from the Early Church to this present day the psalms are still

chanted in monastic settings to provide a unifying quality to the prayer of the

community.

We can also see this taking effect since the election of Pope Leo XIV at various

Masses - as he, our shepherd on earth, chants, we also can unify with him and our

fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

While there are plenty more arguments and references why Gregorian chant is still the

music of the Church and should be held in such esteem, these simple yet objective reasons

provide a concrete foundation as to why it remains steadfast in the Church today. And as

our global Church increasingly shrinks with social media, travel and easy online

accessibility, now more than ever will Gregorian chant become the means we can worship

and pray as the universal Body of Christ.