Quick Answer: The gradual is a certain chant or hymn in liturgical Christian worship. It is practiced in the Catholic Mass, Lutheran Divine Service, Anglican service and other traditions. It gets its name from the Latin gradus because it was once chanted on the step of the ambo or altar. It is customarily placed after a reading of scripture. In the Tridentine Mass, it is sung after the reading or chanting of the epistle and before the Alleluia, or, during penitential seasons, before the tract. In the Mass of Paul VI, the gradual is usually replaced with the responsorial psalm. Although the Gradual remains an option in the Mass of Paul VI, its use is extremely rare outside monasteries. The gradual is part of the proper of the Mass. A gradual can also refer to a book collecting all the musical items of the Mass. The official such book for the Roman Rite is the Roman Gradual. Other such books include the Dominican Gradual.
DEFINITIONS
- nounAn antiphon or responsory after the epistle, in the Mass, which was sung on the steps, or while the deacon ascended the steps.
- nounA service book containing the musical portions of the Mass.
- adjectiveProceeding or advancing by small, slow, regular steps or degrees
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