Praying through song: The St. Hildegard Singers’ Rosary Concert

Last weekend, on October 18th, our choir, the St. Hildegard Singers, presented a concert centered on the Holy Rosary. We sang all the prayers of the Rosary: the Creed, Our Father, Glory Be, Fatima Prayer, and the Salve Regina, along with ten different settings of the Hail Mary. It was such a beautiful opportunity for all of us to pray to Our Lady in a new way, and we even gave people the chance to have their Rosaries blessed by a relic of the True Cross.

The initial idea for the concert came from our co-director, Nate DeMong. He suggested that we sing ten Hail Marys for the Feast of the Rosary, and we thought, why stop there? Every prayer has a musical version, so we decided to sing them all.

The music was a mix of chant and classic choral works. Some we discovered along the way, such as The Prayer of Fatima by Laurence Rosania, which is a stunning example and quickly became one of our favourites. Others were pieces we already knew, like Victoria’s and Haydn’s Ave Maria settings. We spent many hours listening to choral music on Spotify and YouTube to find the right selections. One of the most memorable pieces was a women's-only version of Ave Maria by Canadian composer Eleanor Daley. The music in that one is so ethereal, it almost makes the air shimmer.

We hope that those who attended the concert left having discovered a new way to pray through music. We also hope the pieces touched them more deeply than words alone could. For any non-Catholics who came, we pray that the experience may have sparked curiosity about the faith. Above all, our hope is that this concert helped people see that the Catholic tradition is rich and full of beauty, and that we can draw from it to bring greater depth and reverence to our liturgies.

The St. Hildegard Singers (SHS) were founded alongside the St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy (SFXC) in March 2019. The Chaplaincy’s mission has always been to equip young adults to become active disciples who will grow into leaders in their own communities and parishes. SHS not only teaches its twenty members how to be musical leaders but also strives to renew our liturgies through sacred music. 
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If you missed the concert, you can watch the full performance on our YouTube channel.

If you would like to support us and the work that we do, please consider donating here: https://www.catholicyyc.ca/donatetosfxc.html

Being a part of the St. Hildegard Singers has been such a blessing to me over the last year...When we sing, the presence of Jesus is so real and tangible; I often feel as though I'm encountering the Person of Christ. These moments have deepened my understanding of how beauty and art are so needed in our world, and how they can be used to draw people deeper into a relationship with the Lord." - Iliana Airey

This has been a wonderful experience that has helped me recognize how important beauty can be in leading us to God. Not only has singing in the choir led me closer to God through participating in this beauty, through both the notes and words, but even more so by hearing other people’s responses and appreciation of our music. This has allowed me to see how I can serve others and help them enter into prayer through music.” - Christina Nugent

Written by Maryna Szojka, founder and director of the St. Hildegard Singers at St Francis Xavier Chaplaincy.​

St. Hildegard Singers at the Litany of St. Joseph's Concert, Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary.