Cantate Et Iubilate Deo

The aim of this collection is to present, for the benefit of the laity, a selection of the Church's treasury of sacred music. The Church has long upheld sacred music as an integral element of her history and a source of profound spiritual enrichment for the faithful. From the very beginning, hymnody has fostered meditation and piety among Christians and has been a powerful means of explicating important doctrinal teachings.

It is our hope that through this collection the faithful may gain an increasing awareness of, and appreciation for, this great musical tradition of the Church and from it derive a wealth of spiritual nourishment.

This hymnal offers the following features:

• A selection of over eighty musical pieces, both in English and Latin, from nearly every century of the Church's history;
• Siz well-known musical settings of the Holy Mass, both in English and Latin;
• Quotations from the Documents of Vatican II, John Paul II, the Catechism, and the Fathers and Saints of the Church to accompany each musical piece and to put each in their appropriate theological and historical context;
• Treasured works of art to help foster still deeper meditation;
• Literal translations of the Latin hymns and sequences, to make more clearly understood the meaning of the original texts and to deepen personal devotion;
• An appendix of prayers most commonly used before and after Holy Mass;
• An index which divides the hymns under appropriate seasonal and topical headings, including a special list of those used at the Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.