Sacred Music

The Latest

Richard Carrillo, director of “Requiem for the Forgotten,” conducts a choir. Carrillo is finishing his doctorate in choral conducting at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

Historic ‘Requiem for the Forgotten’ Mass to premiere in Miami 

Mar 10, 2024

By Kate Quiñones

The Requiem by composer Frank La Rocca “is something that’s not been done in music history for centuries,” according to... Read more

Diane Mahoney's original composition “We Do Believe, O Lord” has been selected as the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress’ official theme song.

Prizewinning National Eucharistic Revival hymns released for use in parishes

Nov 13, 2023

By Jonah McKeown

The sheet music for the official hymns of the upcoming National Eucharistic Revival was made available online last week. Read more

Sheet music.

Meet the women who penned the official songs for the National Eucharistic Congress

Aug 7, 2023

By Jonah McKeown

Diane Mahoney and Kathleen Pluth have had their musical compositions chosen out of many entries as the official theme song... Read more

Saint John’s Abbey organ console. Martin Pasi did a project expanding the abbey organ beginning in 2019 and after coming to know the monks, came up with the idea of moving his organ-building operation there.

Benedictines in the U.S. return to organ building

Jul 15, 2023

By Jim Graves

Saint John’s Abbey Woodworking will join forces with Abbey Organ Builders to build organs and serve as a school for... Read more

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades dedicates the organ at St. Pius X parish in Granger, Indiana, in 2022.

Catholic churches are buying pre-owned pipe organs to enhance their liturgies

Jun 24, 2023

By Jim Graves

While in some parts of the country church organs are being removed, destroyed, or sold, in other places they are... Read more

A community of Benedictine sisters recording an album of sacred music.

‘Catholics Got Talent?’: Competition invites musicians to promote zeal for the Eucharist

Jan 18, 2023

By Francesca Pollio Fenton

The musical competition is one facet of the multiyear National Eucharistic Revival. Read more

The Benedictine Monks of Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma emphasize Gregorian Chant as a way to delve deeper into the psalms.

The next generation of sacred music? Gregorian Chant album uses new spatial audio feature

Sep 25, 2022

By Leonardo Colon

The Benedictine Monks of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma have released a new album of Advent melodies that takes advantage... Read more

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Benedictine nuns in Missouri honor Christ the King with new album

Dec 3, 2021

By Carl Bunderson

After the harrowing experience of shootings at their abbey in rural Missouri, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles resolved... Read more

Seminarians of the FSSP's International Seminary of St. Peter.

'Sancta Nox' album of Christmas Matins debuts at #1 on Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart

Oct 8, 2021

By Autumn Jones

On Sept. 28, a community of seminarians from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter’s European seminary released an album of... Read more

CNA

Sacred music album recorded on eve of coronavirus lockdown storms Christmas charts

Dec 21, 2020

When the singers of the Schola Cantorum of the London Oratory School gathered earlier this year to create a new... Read more

Jean-Christophe Geiser performs at the International Organ Festival in the Pantheon Sept. 5, 2020.

Catholic priests kick off first international organ festival at Rome’s Pantheon

Sep 8, 2020

By Courtney Mares

Under the nearly 2,000-year-old dome of Rome’s Pantheon and above the relics of early Christian martyrs, the melodies of Johann... Read more

Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 28, 2010.

Benedict XVI praises “glorious music” of Bach in festival message

Jul 28, 2020

Pope emeritus Benedict XVI has praised the “glorious music” of Johann Sebastian Bach in a message to a festival in... Read more

London boys' schola tour brings music from Old Spain to the New World

Jul 16, 2019

By Mary Farrow

Franciscan mission priest St. Junipero Serra would perhaps recognize some of the music that will be sung in an upcoming... Read more

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland in Oregon.

Love God? Let your music aim high, Archbishop Sample says

Jan 28, 2019

Sacred music has a special role in the Catholic liturgy, and Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland in Oregon has written... Read more

Image courtesy of the Benedict XVI Institute

'Mass of the Americas' to premiere at San Francisco cathedral

Dec 5, 2018

The Mass of the Americas, a newly-commissioned Mass composed by Frank La Rocca, will premiere Saturday for the feast of... Read more

Pope Francis meets with choir members and muscians Nov. 24, 2018.

Pope Francis: Sacred music points to the beauty of Paradise

Nov 24, 2018

By Hannah Brockhaus

Liturgical and sacred music can be a powerful instrument of evangelization, because it gives people a glimpse of the beauty... Read more

Mary Ann Carr-Wilson greets the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa before the Teaching Children's Chant Camp Workshop in Menlo Park, Calif., held last week. Photo courtesy of the Benedict XVI Institute.

Workshop teaches how to teach Gregorian chant to children, teens

Aug 13, 2018

Parish music directors, teachers, priests, and religious sisters gathered near San Francisco last week for a workshop helping them learn... Read more

Teens participate in a chant camp in Benicia, Calif. Photo courtesy of the Benedict XVI Institute.

Bay area project expands Gregorian chant instruction to children, teens

Jul 27, 2018

By Carl Bunderson

An initiative in the Archdiocese of San Francisco to form the Catholic imagination through beauty will next month host a... Read more

The Sistine Chapel Choir performs at Westminster Cathedral, May 6, 2012.

The tradition of sacred choral music needs to be 'revived'

Oct 24, 2017

By Elise Harris

For one member of “the Pope's Choir,” the Catholic Church, while appreciating sacred music, has in some respects lost the... Read more

Grammy-winning producer guides Gregorian chant album

May 4, 2017

When Christopher Alder, an 11-time Grammy winning music producer, first was asked to help create an album of Gregorian Chant,... Read more