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This is a beautiful hymnal with all the favorite traditional Catholic hymns and the parts and prayers of the Mass in English and Latin. It avoids any use of "feminized" (a.k.a. inclusive) language, which has destroyed so many of the Church's beautiful hymns and even tried to remove the use of "he" or "him" when referring to Jesus. Our family has taken to pulling out this hymnal every morning after prayers and each person picking out their favorite song to sing together before beginning the school day. My six year old daughter who is just reading likes to scan through the index in back to look for something familiar. She is unwittingly introducing herself to the concept of "alphabetical order" and getting a little reading practice as well. The choir edition (424 pages) contains all four parts for those who wish to learn the harmonies and the chant parts of the Mass are in the traditional chant notation.I think this is an excellent resource for the Catholic homeschooler's music curriculum. Included are traditional Christmas Carols (such as Hark the Herald Angels Sing), favorite Marian Hymns (such as Salve Regina and Hail Holy Queen), hymns for every liturgical season and special feasts. Many hymns are offered in both English and Latin (such as O Come All Ye Faithful). The multiple indices in back are also helpful for finding particular songs and you'll even find an "Index of Scriptural References Related to Hymns."

More sample pages can be viewed at Ignatius Press's website.

This book consists of a fine selection of favorite hymns, including musical notation, and rather detailed stories about the authors of the text, the composers of the music, giving the student a good idea of how and when the music came about. The author's purpose in writing the book "was to restore attention to some of the finest hymns, in the hope that they might replace the miserable afflictions that keep cropping up in ... "missalettes"... It seemed to me that hymns might be better appreciated if we knew a little more about the stories behind them: first of all, who wrote them and in what circumstances." (From the Introduction). Approximately 100 hymns are included. I'd like to note that the text of the hymns is often not the text that Americans today are most familiar with. There's a good reason for this. Over the years, the text of many hymns has been "simplified" which has often detracted from its meaning and significance. Fr. Rutler would like us to appreciate the songs as they were originally written.

What a wonderful Catholic resource for real music appreciation in the homeschool. What we give our children today in this realm may have a significant impact on turning back to more beautiful and reverent music in the future. Please note that there are some hymns that were not written by Catholics. Fr. Rutler explains in the introduction: "If the following selection of hymns joins to these great orthodox souls a Lutheran such as the war-ravaged Melchior Teschner ... this is testimony to the wonders God accomplishes through those who seek his goodness...some of these in their day wrote of doctrine more sturdily than" [many of today's composers].

Father Fessio is encouraging all Catholic families, especially homeschoolers, to learn chant. He suggests starting with the two chant settings of the Mass included on the tape, learning them as a family, then using them when families get together for Mass. The tape, aimed at parents or older kids (highschoolers), is an excellent intro to chant, giving some historical background on the use of chant in the liturgy, especially in light of the documents of Vatican II. Father then walks you through, step by step, reading and singing the two chant settings. He explains the chant notation and sings it himself a line at a time to show how it's done. At the end of the tape is a recording of a monastery choir singing these selections. This tape assumes no prior knowledge of chant or of reading music. It comes with a folded card with two different chant settings of the Mass. Father gives permission at the end of the tape to duplicate both the tape and the card that accompanies it. I use this tape to learn chants to sing to my kids around the house. Our local Catholic homeschooling group will be using this tape and card as the basis for our monthly First Friday Mass, so all our kids will be exposed to chant on a regular basis.

This is a very beautiful, if eclectic recording of Gregorian Chant, Renaissance Polyphony and some miscellaneous "popular" tunes from numerous European countries (ranging from the 11th to the 17th century). Composers include Hildegard of Bingen, William Byrd, Giovanni da Palestrina and Josquin des Prez. An enclosed booklet gives brief biographies of these and other major composers of the time. I think this is a nice place to start for those unfamiliar with early music. Everyone at our house enjoyed the recording very much. You can listen to samples at the Naxos website.

There are several components of this Latin/Music Appreciation Program. Materials may be purchased individually or in sets, depending on where you purchase them from.

Song Book and Audio CD: A lovely, six voice polyphonic choir performs twenty-four Latin songs and hymns a capella (without accompaniment) on this professionally-recorded CD. Not only is this a beautiful way to present this type of music, but it also makes the music easier to learn for children and families. These songs represent some of the most beautiful musical treasures of the Church - from Gregorian Chant ( e.g. Mass of the Angels and Adoro Te ) to classic four-part hymns (e.g. Panis Angelicus and Stabat Mater). Singing can be a great component of your Latin curriculum. It aids pronunciation, provides additional (and fun) practice and helps students make connections to Latin used outside of class.

The CD alone is a wonderful complement to a Catholic education and a simple way to introduce your children to the beauty of our Catholic heritage. I found my two year old singing snatches of the Ave Maria when we had only listened to the CD a few times. The song book includes four part harmonies and extensive verses all written in modern musical notation (if you'd like the Gregorian Chant notation for the appropriate songs, you will find those in the Adoremus Hymnal). In addition to the more "serious" selections, this set also includes some fun-to-sing songs like the traditional German Student Song Gaudeamus Igitur.

Even on their own, the Lingua Angelica CD and Song Book will make an excellent addition your Latin curriculum, a beautiful component of family devotions and an excellent resource for music history and appreciation. The song book also includes historical notes on the songs and offers some related topics for further research. Every Catholic family - even those not yet studying Latin formally - will enjoy and benefit from this musical set.

Student Book and Teacher Manual (Level I): The first level Lingua Angelica text gently guides student and teacher through sixteen Latin prayers and songs through the study of vocabulary and grammar. While this is not intended as a complete Latin program in and of itself, it will reinforce grammar components learned elsewhere and help interconnect Latin studies with related subjects. Ideally, this supplement would be started once the student has completed about three quarters of Latina Christiana I. Each lesson covers a song or a part of a song; offering new vocabulary and practicing noun, verb and adjective endings. The back of the text includes thirteen pages of Grammar Charts for easy reference.

The Introduction to the Teacher's Manual gives a great overview of the reasons why Christian Latin can be so helpful and formational on many levels - both as a foundation of "real" Latin for students to build their later studies upon and as a beautiful and worthy subject matter for our children to memorize and learn to appreciate for their own sake. This manual also includes a detailed schedule (with varying levels of learning activities which are easily adaptable for different abilities) and grammar and vocabulary notes on each song.

The entire Lingua Angelica - the Song Book, audio CD and two levels of Texts (with teacher's manuals) provides a well-planned six-year Latin supplement based on these songs and prayers. These six years are specifically intended to complement the two years of Latina Christiana and four years of Henle.

The McEneany Sisters, Maureen (23), Paula (19) and Brigid (14), Catholic homeschoolers all, sing eighteen traditional Catholic hymns and chants. Selections are: To Jesus' Heart All Burning, Jesu Dulcis Memoria, When Morning Gilds the Skies, Salve Regina, Panis Angelicus, Hymn to St. Gregory, Adoro Te Devote, On This Day O Beautiful Mother, O Lord I Am Not Worthy, Veni Creator Spiritus, Help Lord the Souls Which Thou Hast Made, Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, Dear Angel Ever at My Side, Mother Dearest Mother Fairest, Dear Guardian of Mary, O Salutaris Hostia, Tantum Ergo and Christus Vincit. The songs are performed acapella (i.e. without accompaniment - I'm quite partial to acapella music myself) and the voices are very sweet and clear. The pronunciation is quite good - I could make out most of the words (which is unusual for a choral recording). The hymns are sung with harmony while the chant is sung in one voice. The recording is clearly professional making this a very nice music supplement, pleasant and efficacious listening and an easy way to learn some of the good old Catholic hymns that have been so sorely neglected today. Paula McEneany indicated that you can find many of the hymns in The St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book (reprinted by Neumann Press), the abridged edition (sold by Catholic Heritage Curricula). I also noticed that many of them are included in the Adoremus Hymnal (Ignatius Press) as well.