St. Cecilia’s Day, November 22nd, 1928, will be the twenty-fifth anniversary of the promulgation by Pope Pius X of his edict upon liturgical music. To those who have the duty of putting its provisions into force it is too well known to warrant recapitulation. Its essential features, however, may be briefly summarised. As there was nothing in the economy of the private chapels of religious institutions to call for animadversion, the Motu profrio had no reference to them; it concerned only public churches. Upon the latter were laid three charges, light and unimportant in themselves, but, in the anaemic liturgical conditions of the time, so heavy as to create something of alarm. It was ordained that:—

(1) The ancient melodic chant should be restored; first for the reason of its appropriate and intrinsic excellence ; secondly, as the most congruous means to a more serious end, namely that the faithful might once more resume the right, filched from them at the Reformation, to sing the music assigned to them from the beginning;

(2) Where it might for good reasons appear desirable that the harmony of a select choir should continue to be substituted for the collective singing of the congregation, while a guarded permission might be given for more recent compositions, good and serious enough to be worthy of liturgical use, the classical polyphony of the Roman school should be preferred;

(3) On no account should women be admitted as members of such a select choir.