The Gregorian Chant contains all the norms that characterise a religious consecration: it is a poor, chaste, and obedient chant.
It is a poor chant. Very little is necessary to realise how limited and unpretentious its technical equipment is. But this poverty, in conformity to the Gospel teaching, has nothing to do with indigence. The Gregorian Chant does not lack anything. It is not insipid or inexpressive, but always retains a simple, flexible linearity, free in progression and vivacious in movement, aiming at what is essential, and detached from what is superfluous, also when it has a rich ornamentation.
It is a chaste chant. This is evidenced by its capacity to shun every form of coquetry that could attract attention to itself, of sensuality even subdued, and every form of sentimentalism and mannerism in the means of expression, notwithstanding the rich sensitive qualities. When human feelings are expressed, as often occurs (love, fear, hope, trust, courage, sadness, tiredness, etc.) the Gregorian Chant – as if under a spell – cancels the passionate aspects with their independence and subjectivity to present them calmed down, in order, and dominated by the immensity of divine peace. All this, needless to say, on condition that who interprets the music is also ready to play the game; that he has knowledge of the spirit that animates the work which he intends to express. To see God, and let Him be seen by others, is a privilege conceded only to the pure of heart.
It is an obedient chant. This is most probably the most positive aspect present in the composition of Gregorian Chant. The poor technical equipment and the modesty of expression are to be considered only as preparatory. Along the road of renunciation, the essential is still lacking. The most drastic sacrifice that the Church can demand music to make if it must prove itself worthy of trust, is that it be only music - to accept only a secondary role in serving the liturgical text. The Gregorian melodies do not exist for themselves. By means of an extraordinary docility where freshness and spontaneity remain always intact, they subdue themselves, as a fact, to the text. This does not signify that the melodies remain suffocated, but that frequently they draw prompt inspiration from the text, to form a unity comparable to that of the body and the soul. The melody therefore becomes obedient to the Word of God.