Palm Sunday 2026
Recessional hymn: O Sacred Head Surrounded, 837
Kyriale: Mass XVII, 762; Credo VI, 788
Hymn after Offertory: Christus Factus Est, a3, Rev. Giovanni Matteo Asola
Communion Antiphon: Pater, Si, Heinrich Isaac (c.1450–1517)
The Gradual chant Christus Factus Est is prayed incrementally through the Paschal Triduum with its text taken from Philippians 2:8–9: Christ became obedient for us even unto death, death on the cross. Therefore God exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above all names. The three voice motet by Rev. Giovanni Matteo Asola is set for men’s voices.
Pater, Si, set to music by Heinrich Isaac, derives the melodic material directly from the Gregorian antiphon. In the musical tradition of singing the Passion narratives, as we hear at Mass on Sunday, Jesus has the lowest voice. In this motet, which takes the text from Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, the voices are all set lower than an average Communio by Isaac—perhaps as a connection to this tradition.
Rev. Giovanni Matteo Asola (c. 1532–1609) was ordained a parish priest in 1569 and held numerous music posts in Italy. In 1577 became maestro di cappella for Treviso Cathedral and subsequently moved to Venice directing at San Servio until his death. Despite living in Venice, Asola’s compositional style is closer to the Roman school.