The Probert Encyclopaedia of General Information

GRADUAL

The gradual is the psalm, anthem, or hymn, said or sung in the service of the Roman Catholic Church between the Epistle and the Gospel. It is so named from being anciently chanted on the steps of the ambo or pulpit, or of the altar. By an easy transition the name was frequently applied to the Anti-phonary, which was originally one of the three service books of the church, but afterwards in the llth or 12th century included in the missal.
Research Gradual