Singing The Eucharistic Prayer

A reader writes:

About 6-8 months ago I contacted one of the apologist at Catholic Answers regarding our Priest singing the Eucharistic (presidential) Prayers. The woman apologist (I don’t remember her name) consulted with you and the answer came back that it was acceptable. She even stated that you had researched it and found accompaniment for the prayers. [Actually, I already knew about the accompaniment. What I did was look it up and show it to her–ja] Since that time I have found in the GIRM para. 32 (The prayers and other parts pertaining to the Priest) that in fact this is not allowed. In fact on the Catholic Answers website in Redemptionis Sacramentum para. 53 reiterates the same point as the GIRM. Where did you get your information about singing the Eucharistic Prayers? This is becoming a huge issue in our church and I want to make sure I’m correct before pressing the correction of this problem.

It’s understandable why, but you appear to be misreading RS 53 and GIRM 32. Let’s look at them to see where the difficulty is. First, here’s Redemptionis Sacramentum 53:

While the Priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer “there should be no other prayers or singing, and the organ or other musical instruments should be silent”,[GIRM 32] except for the people’s acclamations that have been duly approved, as described below.

You’ll note that the passage states that there is to be no other prayers or singing going on while the priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer. It doesn’t say that he isn’t to sing (or that he isn’t to pray). This is a restriction on what other people can do during this time (note that to the general rule that the people say or sing nothing it makes an exception for the acclamations of the people that are prescribed during this time). It is not a limitation on what the priest does (unless he wanted to play a musical instrument while proclaiming the Eucharistic Prayer, God forbid).

You’ll also note that the passage being quoted is the other one you mention, GIRM 32. Here’s the text of that:

The nature of the “presidential” texts demands that they be spoken in a loud and clear voice and that everyone listen with attention. Thus, while the priest is speaking these texts, there should be no other prayers or singing, and the organ or other musical instruments should be silent.

This is just making the point that they want the presidential texts delivered loud enough for everyone to hear, that they don’t want any competing noise so everyone can pay attention. Nothing here excludes the priest singing.

Now, you might think that that something does because this passage refers to the presidential texts being "spoken," which you might conclude excludes singing. Except that it doesn’t. Just a bit further down the road the GIRM clarifies that it’s going to use words like "say" and "proclaim" to be inclusive both of singing and recitation. Here’s GIRM 38:

In texts that are to be spoken in a loud and clear voice, whether by the priest or the deacon, or by the lector, or by all, the tone of voice should correspond to the genre of the text itself, that is, depending upon whether it is a reading, a prayer, a commentary, an acclamation, or a sung text; the tone should also be suited to the form of celebration and to the solemnity of the gathering. Consideration should also be given to the idiom of different languages and the culture of different peoples.

In the rubrics and in the norms that follow, words such as “say” and “proclaim” are to be understood of both singing and reciting, according to the principles just stated above.

Now, you might say "Wait! GIRM 32 didn’t use the word ‘say’ or ‘proclaim.’ It used the word ‘spoken’!" Leaving aside that GIRM 38 says that this applies to words such as "say" and "proclaim" and that "speak" is a word that goes in that category, you would be right. The English translation does use a different word.

Which is why it’s good to look up the Latin.

In the IGMR 38 (IGMR being the Latin GIRM), it says:

In rubricis ergo et in normis quae sequuntur, verba «dicere» vel «proferre» intellegi debent sive de cantu sive de recitatione, servatis principiis supra propositis.

And here’s the relevant bit from IGMR 32:

Natura partium «praesidentialium» exigit ut clara et elata voce proferantur . . .

As you can see, IGMR 32 uses a form of proferre. Specifically, it’s the third person plural present passive subjunctive form: "they are to be proclaimed."

So the speak/proclaim distinction is an artifact of the English translation. The Latin makes it clear that "proclaim" is being used in both cases.

The only other possible scruple I could see someone having here is that GIRM 38 refers to the "norms that follow" and one might interpret this exclusively of GIRM 32 since it is numerically earlier. That, however, would be chopping matters more finely than the authors of the text intended. They simply do not write law with that level of rigor over there. This is being written for liturgical professionals, and they expect the reader to have a sense of how things are done in the liturgy. Singing the Eucharistic Prayer has a looooong history, and so they expect the intended reader (a liturgical professioal) to recognize that the use of proferre in GIRM 32 doesn’t exclude it–particularly when people sing the Eucharistic Prayer all the time and GIRM 38 says proferre includes singing AND one other important fact . . .

. . . the Missal contains sheet music for singing the Eucharistic Prayer.

In fact, it contains a lot of sheet music. Enough to sing all four Eucharistic Prayers (plus other texts). Since seeing is believing, I thought I’d scan the first page of Eucharistic Prayer I so you can see for yourself.

So here it is  (click to enlarge), freshly scanned from the pages of my copy of the Sacramentary. You’ll note from the image that it even includes singing the words of consecration (just like in the Eastern churches).

In view of all this, it sounds as if what your priest is doing is just fine and well within the tradition and law of the Church.

Hope this helps and that it reassures folks!