''Gotteslob'' ("Praise of God") is the title of the hymnbook authorized by the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

dioceses in Germany, Austria,

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

, Luxembourg and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, Belgium. First published in

Advent Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Chri ...

2013, it is the current official hymnal for German-speaking Catholics, succeeding the first common German hymnal, the 1975 edition of the same name. Each diocese published a book containing a common section and a regional section. The first editions amounted to around 4 million copies.

History

''Gotteslob'' was developed as a sequel of the first common German hymnal, ''Gotteslob'' of 1975. It was developed over a period of 10 years by around 100 experts, who studied the use of hymns, conducting surveys and running tests in selected congregations. ''Gotteslob'' was published by

dioceses in Germany, Austria,

, and is also used by German-speaking parishes in Luxembourg and the

Diocese of Liège In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

, Belgium. It was introduced from

2013, beginning on 1 December. It is intended to serve as a hymnal for church services as well as for private use. The first editions were around 4 million copies. Each diocese published a book containing a common section called ''Stammteil'', and a regional section with hymns for the specific diocese. The common section includes a .

Changes in 2013

Some songs were composed for the 2013 edition, including the melody for " Heilig, heilig, heilig Gott" by Oliver Sperling. Some songs were moved from regional sections to the common section, including Christoph Bernhard Verspoell's Christmas carol " Menschen, die ihr wart verloren". Some songs were added, including Tersteegen's "

Gott ist gegenwärtig Gott () may refer to: * Gott (surname), including a list of people with the name * Gott, Argyll and Bute, a location in Scotland * Gott, Shetland, a village in Tingwall, Shetland, Scotland * Gottschalks Gottschalks (former NYSE ticker symbol ...

", the penitential "

Zeige uns, Herr, deine Allmacht und Güte "" (Show us, Lord, your might and goodness) is a Christian hymn of penitence. The lyrics were written in the early 1980s by Raymund Weber. They were combined with a melody from the 1708 hymnal by Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen. The song in three ...

", written in 1982 by to an older melody, the midsummer hymn " Das Jahr steht auf der Höhe", and " Herr, du bist mein Leben" (Lord, You are my life), a translation of a popular Italian 1977 " Symbolum" by

Pierangelo Sequeri Pierangelo Sequeri (born 26 December 1944) is an Italian theologian of the Catholic Church who has been dean of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences since August 2016. He is also a writer, and a comp ...

Hymns

Hymns include " Den Herren will ich loben" and others by Maria Luise Thurmair. " Ein Haus voll Glorie schauet" is a popular hymn for consecration of a church and its anniversaries; however, the version of "Ein Haus voll Glorie schauet" in ''Gotteslob'' is a modern song written for the 1975 edition of ''Gotteslob'' that differs dramatically from the traditional hymn by the same name from 1875. Among the regional hymns are the Easter hymn " Das Grab ist leer, der Held erwacht", the Trinity hymn " Gott Vater, sei gepriesen" and the Marian hymn " Nun, Brüder, sind wir frohgemut".

Reception

''Gotteslob'' was critically received as a book by too few experts, with too little input from the practicing congregations.

List of hymns

This list is structured by the themes in the hymnal. The first column has the song's number in the hymnal, with an added letter ö for ökumenisch, meaning songs sung ecumenically, especially those also contained in the common Protestant hymnal ''

Evangelisches Gesangbuch ''Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' (''EG''; , "Protestantism, Protestant song book") is the current hymnal of German-language congregations in Germany, Alsace and Lorraine, Austria, and Luxembourg, which was introduced from 1993 and 1996, succeeding ...

''. The second column has the title, the third the origin of the text, the fourth the origin of the melody, the fifth notes such as for which occasion a song is useful.

References

External links

* *
Das neue Gotteslob
(in German) Diocese of Cologne 2013
Zur Einführung des neuen Gotteslob
(in German) Diocese of Stuttgart December 2013
Videoclips zu fast allen Gesängen aus dem "Gotteslob"-Stammteil
(in German) kirchenmusikkommission.at March 2020
Abgleich Gotteslob 1975 – Gotteslob 2013
Diocese of Würzburg 2013 {{authority control Catholic Church in Germany Catholic Church in Austria Catholic Church in Italy Catholic Church in Belgium Catholic hymnals 2013 books