• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
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 Furthermore, Adler states, “It has something eternal to it…you don’t feel it will ever go out of date.”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.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

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).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski
Sound Familiar?

1 June 1579: “The chapter passes a rule that anyone ascending to the new organ without official permission shall be fined a month’s pay.”

26 October 1579: “The altar boys remain always separate and distinct from choirboys—the one group learning only plainchant and assisting at the altar, the other living with the chapel-master and studying counterpoint and polyphony as well. Father Francisco Guerrero postpones his departure for Rome and instead spends the entire year in Seville making ready for the trip. In the meantime he neglects his choirboys. On 16 November, after considerable complaint against their unruliness and ignorance, he engages an assistant, Bartolomé Farfán.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Goupil deserves the name of martyr not only because he has been murdered by the enemies of God and His Church while laboring in ardent charity for his neighbor, but most of all because he was killed for being at prayer and notably for making the Sign of the Cross.

— St. Isaac Jogues (after the martyrdom of Saint René Goupil)

Recent Posts

  • Prayer of Abandonment,  Saint Charles de Foucauld
  • Worst Chanting I’ve Ever Heard
  • 14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition
  • 14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book
  • Musician-Saints Throughout the Ages

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.