"Gregorian chant" is the name given to the traditional Latin chants of the Roman Catholic Church. They are called "Gregorian" after Pope Saint Gregory I (c. 540-604). A well-known legend is that Gregory wrote down God's authentic chant melodies by way of the dove of the Holy Spirit singing to him.
So why do we still sing this music today? Vatican Council II, in its document Sacrosanctum Concilium (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), states the following: "Steps should be taken enabling the faithful to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass belonging to them" (§54). "The Church recognizes Gregorian chant as especially native to the Roman liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services" (§116).
The 2002 third edition of the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) states: "Since faithful from different countries come together ever more frequently, it is fitting that they know how to sing together at least some parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, especially the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, set to the simpler melodies" (§41).
Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2007 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (Sacrament of Charity), says, "I desire, in accordance with the request advanced by the Synod Fathers, that Gregorian chant be suitably esteemed and employed as the chant proper to the Roman liturgy"(§4).
The Church teaches that Gregorian chant is to be given "pride of place" in the liturgy for several reasons: it has special musical/spiritual qualities, it is distinctly part of the Roman Catholic identity, it is a tool for unification of the universal Church, and it is an ancient treasure.
The primary reason for the preservation of Gregorian chant in liturgy is that its musical qualities make it specially and uniquely suited to sung prayer. Gregorian chant is the sung Word of God; there was no pre-existing music to which words were adapted. According to Dom Jean Prou (the fifth abbot of Solesmes), Gregorian chant is "a word which secreted its own melody...it is prayer which has become music." Gregorian chant is not like measured music, such as "O Come, All Ye Faithful" or "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" which have regular beats: 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, and feel march-like. Instead, Gregorian chant is unmeasured, having free-flowing rhythms. It is primarily this musical characteristic that imparts to Gregorian chant its prayerful, otherworldly quality.
Dom Mocquereau (a late nineteenth-century chant scholar at Solesmes) remarked that Gregorian chant is so fitting for the liturgy because it makes as little use as possible of the sensory world; "it passes by way of the senses, but it is not to them that it speaks." Because of the special musical/spiritual qualities of Gregorian chant, Pope St. Pius X, in his 1903 Motu Proprio, called Gregorian chant the "supreme model for all sacred music."
Gregorian chant is the greatest musical treasure of the Church because of its suitability for prayer and because it is distinctly Catholic. Its value as ancient tradition is so great that many scholars agree that Gregorian chant is the Catholic Church's most significant contribution to the music of the West. Its ancient roots tie Catholics today together with Catholics of all times; it is music which transcends time, and its universality promotes the unification of Catholics throughout the world.
