Views from the Choir Loft

BENEDICTA: Marian Chant from Norcia ~ Number 1 on the Billboard Charts

Richard J. Clark · June 12, 2015

EER BREWING Benedictine Monks from Norcia, Italy, just released their unique CD of Marian chants mostly from the Divine Office. Directed by Choirmaster Basil Nixen, it was produced by eleven time Grammy Award winner Christopher Adler. In its debut, it has reached #1 on the Classical Billboard Charts, and Top 35 overall in iTunes.

It was released by De Montfort Music, the sister company to AimHigher Recordings that brought us the Top 5 Billboard CD, St. Paul’s Christmas in Harvard Square. Perhaps the recent commercial success of sacred music is indicative of humanity’s natural hunger for transcendent union with the Divine. This CD certainly brings prayerful tranquility to those who listen.

* * Order the CD here: BENEDICTA: Marian Chant from Norcia You can also view the track list and listen to samples. It is also available on iTunes.

UITE REMARKABLY, THE AVERAGE AGE of the monks in Norcia is only 33. Furthermore, Norica is the birthplace of St. Benedict and his twin sister, Scholastica. Despite this, the town had not had a monastery for nearly two hundred years; the monastery was suppressed during the Napoleonic era. So in 2000, the local bishop invited the monks—located in Rome—to establish a monastery in Norcia under Prior, Fr. Cassian Folsom.

Fr. Folsom, a Massachusetts native, studied music at Indiana University. He discusses the very ordinary routine life of the monks of prayer and work. Singing the Divine Office and mass, Fr. Folsom says, “Music, for the monastic life, is an essential part of our prayer…Chant is part of the air we breathe.” Producer Christopher Adler also notes that this music is not simply for pleasure, but a necessary part of the fabric of their everyday lives. “You can hear that in the sincerity of their singing.” Furthermore, Adler states, “It has something eternal to it…you don’t feel it will ever go out of date.”

* * You can listen to a special interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition and NPR Music with the Prior and Founder of The Monks of Norcia here.

* * You can learn more about their beer, Birra Nursia, here.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)

With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Luis Martínez Must Go!

Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Pius XII Hymnal?

Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

“Hybrid” Chant Notation?

Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.

—Corpus Christi Watershed

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed