History of the Mass and Its Ceremonies in the Eastern and Western Church

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from O’Brien, J. (1881). A History of the Mass and Its Ceremonies in the Eastern and Western Church (p. 80). New York: The Catholic Publication Society Co.:

The merits of the Gregorian Chant are known to all; and who that has ever heard it rendered as it should be will not say that it has a divine influence over the soul? If St. Augustine wept upon hearing the Ambrosian Chant, many more recent than he have wept, too, upon hearing the simple but soul-stirring strains of the pure Gregorian. The Venerable Bede, for example, tells us how deeply affected St. Cuthbert used to be when chanting the Preface, so much so that his sobbing could be heard through the entire congregation; and, as he raised his hands on high at the “Sursum corda,” his singing was rather a sort of solemn moaning than anything else (Vita S. Cuthbert, cap. xvi.). The renowned Haydn was often moved to tears at listening to the children of the London charity schools sing the psalms together in unison according to the Gregorian style; and the great master of musicians and composers, Mozart , went so far as to say that he would rather be the author of the Preface and Pater Noster, according to the same style, than of anything he had ever written. These are but a few of the numerous encomiums passed upon this sacred chant by men who were so eminently qualified to constitute themselves judges.

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