St. Pius X on Mixed Choirs
Date: January 26, 2025
Author: Fr. Edward McNamara, LC
Question: I read the following online from Father McNamara. He said, "In the early 20th century a papal decree attempted to forbid mixed choirs, but it was never fully implemented, and today most liturgical choirs are mixed." I would like to know more about this papal decree. — F.S., Rome
Answer: The above statement comes from a piece on the location of the choir published on October 31, 2021.
The papal document was from St. Pius X and was a motu proprio on the reform of liturgical music promulgated in Italian in 1903 called “Tra le sollicitudine.” This is the relevant text from the document:
“V. The singers
“12. With the exception of the melodies proper to the celebrant at the altar and to the ministers, which must be always sung in Gregorian chant, and without accompaniment of the organ, all the rest of the liturgical chant belongs to the choir of levites [i.e., priests and clergy], and, therefore, singers in the church, even when they are laymen, are really taking the place of the ecclesiastical choir. Hence the music rendered by them must, at least for the greater part, retain the character of choral music.
“By this it is not to be understood that solos are entirely excluded. But solo singing should never predominate to such an extent as to have the greater part of the liturgical chant executed in that manner; the solo phrase should have the character or hint of a melodic projection (spunto), and be strictly bound up with the rest of the choral composition.
“13. On the same principle it follows that singers in church have a real liturgical office, and that therefore women, being incapable of exercising such office, cannot be admitted to form part of the choir. Whenever, then, it is desired to employ the acute voices of sopranos and contraltos, these parts must be taken by boys, according to the most ancient usage of the Church.
“14. Finally, only men of known piety and probity of life are to be admitted to form part of the choir of a church, and these men should by their modest and devout bearing during the liturgical functions show that they are worthy of the holy office they exercise. It will also be fitting that singers while singing in church wear the ecclesiastical habit and surplice, and that they be hidden behind gratings when the choir is excessively open to the public gaze.”
In this document the saintly pontiff, although he advocated in this document the “active participation” of the faithful in the divine mysteries, adhered to a then widespread opinion that the choral function was primarily clerical and hence reserved to men.
Although this opinion claimed to be “the most ancient usage of the Church,” subsequent historical research has shown that this is not necessarily the case.
In the earliest centuries there did not seem to have been any specialized group of singers, and the whole assembly was referred to as the choir. Only in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages do we find the first groups of cantors, and these occasionally included women ascetics who attended the celebration with others.
The first Schola cantorum, or school of singers, consisting of clerics in minor or major orders as well as boys (frequently orphans) emerged in Rome in the early seventh century, and this model of cathedral school choirs spread throughout Europe. From this arose what one author terms the “clerical notion” of the choir as being restricted to members of the clergy.
This led to the choir being located near the altar in the area reserved for the clergy and, in some places, in enclosed spaces out of view of the laity.
From the 15th century onward, there was a subsequent development of the choir that accompanied the gradual introduction of polyphony into liturgical music.
The singing was increasingly delegated to trained laymen rather than clerics, and, consequently, from the 17th century, the physical location of the “choir” was transferred to other parts of the church building such as the choir loft.
This led to a certain dissociation of musical performance and liturgical action. It also meant that women were again admitted to the choir, which facilitated ever more complex musical compositions.
By the time of St. Pius X, much liturgical music, especially in Italy and Spain, was inspired by light operatic models accompanied by occasional virtuoso solos that were more redolent of the theater than the church.
Although his view of the clerical nature of liturgical music may not have been historically accurate, Pius X’s desire to remove unedifying performances and restore sanctity, dignity and beauty to the liturgy through the restauration of Gregorian chant and classic polyphony were noble goals.
Over the following decades, the Church’s efforts met with some success increasing the use of Gregorian chant, and many laypeople learned the rudiments of the principal traditional melodies.
This success was not universal, nor was the document fully implemented in all places. This was also the case regarding the exclusion of women from the choir, which was largely ignored or neglected in some countries even though it remained official policy.
In 1955 the document “Musicae Sacrae Disciplina” again admitted the possibility of admitting women to the choir albeit as an exception and only if the choir was located outside the sanctuary. These restrictions were confirmed in the 1958 “Instructio de Musica Sacra et Sacra Liturgia.”
The Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy, “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” abandoned the strictly clerical notion of the choir, and indeed, of a clericalized notion of worship in general, insofar as it sees the celebration as the act of the whole assembly, clergy and laity, united in hierarchical communion.
The choir is seen as an integral part of the assembly offering a particular service to the sanctification of divine worship. In the light of the conciliar and post-conciliar developments in liturgical theology, the question of women’s participation in choirs, and several other liturgical ministries, is entirely moot.
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