The psalms are valued by faith communities world-wide. They are part of a worship tradition going back almost five thousand years. They are an integral part of Church of Ireland worship and have been sung to Anglican chant in parish churches since the mid-1800s. Psalms Online makes it easy for you to use the chant. The psalm for each Sunday is provided in printable format. Notation within the text, known as pointing, links the words of the psalm to the notes. Organists, choir directors, and singers will benefit from having everything they need on a single page.
We’ll use a small number of well-known Anglican chants consistently for the first twelve months of the project. This will allow you to become familiar with the chants and to use them with various psalms. We hope you will enjoy singing the psalms and that this project will help you to present them effectively.
To access the psalm(s) for a particular Sunday, click on the relevant link below, then download and print the appropriate page(s).
The Psalms
March 2020
Sunday 29th March 2020 – The Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 2020
Sunday 5th April 2020 – The Sixth Sunday in Lent – Palm Sunday
Thursday 9th April 2020 – Maundy Thursday
Good Friday, 10th April – We suggest that Psalm 22 is read antiphonally, by alternate verses or half-verses.
Sunday 12th April 2020 – Easter Sunday
Sunday 19th April 2020 – The Second Sunday of Easter
Sunday 26th April 2020 – The Third Sunday of Easter
May 2020
Sunday 3rd May 2020 – The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Pointing and Gloria Patria
The double dagger sign ‡ indicates a verse where the second half of a double chant has to be repeated. The asterisk * shows where a break should be made, usually without taking a breath. Breath is to be taken at the end of lines. Most marks of punctuation have been omitted when they occur in places other than the end of a verse or half-verse. Should you need further guidance about using Anglican chant, instructions will be available elsewhere on this website shortly.
In the services of Matins and Evensong / Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, the Gloria Patri (Glory to the Father….) is usually added, at least at the end of the final psalm. This places the words in a distinctive Christian setting. However, at the Eucharist the psalm is considered to be part of the Ministry of the Word, which usually begins with a reading from the Hebrew scriptures. It is customary to omit the Gloria Patri when a psalm is used at the Eucharist.
Share your Experience
Please share your experience of using Anglican chant. You can contact us on Facebook or by sending an email to Jacqueline: honsec@churchmusicdublin.org. We will be delighted to receive comments and suggestions for the Psalms Online project. If you find any errors, please let us know and we’ll fix them.
The Psalter
The psalms and pointing are consistent with the Church of Ireland Book of Common Prayer 2004 and the Church of England service book Common Worship. The translation is a revised version of the Psalter in the Standard Book of Common Prayer 1979 of the Episcopal Church in the USA. It was published in 1999 by the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission. The Commission aimed, broadly, to retain where possible the flavour of the language and rhythms of the much-loved 1540 Coverdale translation, which are so bound up with Anglican ways of saying and singing the psalms. Often, the Commission kept familiar poetic phrases but only where the original Hebrew warranted the translation.
The choice of psalms is as provided by the Revised Common Lectionary, which follows a three year cycle. From Advent Sunday, 1st December 2019, Year A is used. During Ordinary Time, after Trinity Sunday, the appointed psalm is determined by whether the ‘Paired / Related’ or ‘Continuous’ set of scripture readings is used. The psalm for each option is provided.
Acknowledgements
The Common Worship Psalter is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council, London, and is reproduced by permission. We gratefully acknowledge the co-operation of the Council; and of the Royal School of Church Music for permission to use the pointing of the psalms used in the RSCM Common Worship Psalter.
