Argentina to sail to America, she discovered that another passenger waiting to board was Dom Germain Cozien, Abbot of Solesmes, the French abbey that had led the revival of chant in Europe which began in the nineteenth century! During the crossing, a friendship formed and, on learning of her aspiration to found a monastery, Abbot Cozien offered to send his renowned choirmaster Dom Gajard to teach the prospective nuns Gregorian chant, certain that Mother Benedict would found her abbey and attract vocations. It was providential then that, as she was about to board the S.S. When Mother Benedict returned to the United States in 1946 to establish a new foundation here, she firmly believed that singing the chant would be an essential work of the community. It was during these prolonged periods of confinement that she studied Gregorian chant intensively. As an American in France at that time, she was forced into hiding from the Gestapo for much of the war. (Mother Benedict, Lady Abbess) It was out of the darkness of the Second World War that our foundress, Mother Benedict, came to experience Gregorian chant in a profound way. I had an intuitive conviction that the Chant had the power to communicate the life of God as no other music does. (Address to the College des Bernardins, Paris, 2008). Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has described this process of “becoming” through song as an integral part of monastic culture: The culture of singing is the culture of being. (“Thus may we sing so that our mind may be in harmony with our voice.”) Through this prayer we strive to become what we sing, offering up not just our voices but our selves as we do so. In his Holy Rule, Saint Benedict exhorted his monks to conform their hearts to their song: Sic stemus ad psallendum ut mens nostra concordet voci nostrae. ![]() As an act of prayer, the chant can transform us. (Cardinal Francis Arinze) Gregorian chant can be described as a “prayer of song.” In the words of Saint Augustine, To sing is to pray twice, meaning that it is the singing itself that becomes the prayer. It shows joy, sorrow, repentance, petition, hope, praise or thanksgiving….It makes the psalms come alive. Gregorian chant is marked by a moving meditative cadence. Its contemplative beauty deepens the meaning and mystery of the word. While Gregorian chant is the sung prayer of the Church, and that of our monastery, it can also be a profound source and medium of personal prayer. The chanting of the Office continues to sustain the whole Church around the world. Each day monasteries throughout the world rise to sing their canticum novum (new song) of praise. The Divine Office, Saint Benedict wrote, was the monk’s main “Work of God” ( Opus Dei), and for over a thousand years the sound of chant has echoed down Benedictine cloisters. Gregorian chant has also long been the classic medium for monastic prayer. Chant is dynamic in its purpose, employed by the Church to express her liturgy in all its richness - her seasons, her solemnities, and all her saints. The poetry of the chant texts conveys the richness of the inexhaustible mysteries of Christ's birth, passion, death and glorious resurrection. ![]() Although chant can certainly be enjoyed as a beautiful genre of music, for us it is more than this. Blessed John Paul II emphasized its importance as the clearest musical expression of sacred music in the service of God. It is the official music of the Catholic Church’s liturgy. Gregorian chant can also be defined as "sung prayer”. It is sometimes referred to as plainsong, because it predates the use of harmony or polyphony. The simple, pure lines of Gregorian chant go back to the origins of the first Christian communities and the earliest recorded Western music. We invite you to come and experience for yourself the contemplative, timeless beauty of Gregorian chant. It is the sacred music of the Church, expressing the words of Scripture in Latin, the ancient language of the Church. Gregorian chant is contemplative music that touches the soul and raises the heart to God.
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