CONTROVERSY OVER THE PLACE OF SONG IN LITURGY

The sacred song had always played an exceptional role in religiosity and the whole religious culture of the nation in Poland. Sacred songs were a kind of 'Biblia pauperum'. However, they were not appointed for the usage in liturgy because Gregorian chant was still considered to be the liturgical singing. Dispute over the place of song in liturgy began already in times before the Trident Council. The very fact of the sacred song 'liturgical transformation' did not end the disputes. Those disputes take place on two levels: on the level of artistic value and the level of the way of using the song repertory. During the period after the Council there emerged a competition between songs and religious song or a new sacred song. This fact started a new dispute. The dispute over the song's place in liturgy is only a symptom of the deep crisis of liturgy itself, which is often deprived of 'sacrum' on the basis of seeming good.