The Roman Gradual (Latin Graduale
Romanum) is an official liturgical book of the Roman Rite containing chants,
including the Gradual but many more as well, for use at Mass. The latest
edition, that of 1974, takes account of the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal. In
1979, the Graduale Triplex: The Roman Gradual With the Addition of Neums from
Ancient Manuscripts in English) was published. It adds reproductions of the
neumes from ancient manuscripts placed above and below the later notation. The
Roman Gradual includes the Introit
(entrance chant: antiphon with verses), the gradual
psalm (now usually replaced by the responsorial psalm), the sequence (now for only two obligatory
days in the year), the Gospel acclamation, the offertory chant, and the
Communion antiphon. It also includes chants that are also published as the Kyriale, a collection of chants for the
Order of Mass: Asperges chant, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei.
There have been and are other Graduals, apart from the Roman Gradual. For
instance, the Dominican Order had its own rite of Mass and its own Gradual:
"Graduale juxta ritum sacri ordinis praedicatorum" (Gradual according
to the rite of the Sacred Order of Preachers) ■
