Today is All Hallow’s Eve, meaning the eve of All Saints Day! Tomorrow evening we will have a sung high mass to honor all the Saints, and ask their intercession.
The Mater Dei Choir will sing the following music in celebration of this great feast of the church:
Missa O Quam Gloriosum (by Victoria) – this mass setting is based off the motet we will also sing, which is written specifically for the feast of All Saints.
Justorum Animae (Perosi) – text is from the offertory proper of the mass
Beati Mundo Corde (Grassi) – text is from the communion proper of the mass
O Quam Gloriosum est Regnum (Victoria)
Translation: O how glorious is the kingdom
in which all the saints rejoice with Christ,
clad in robes of white
they follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
Placare Christe (chant) – vespers hymn for All Saints Day.
You can find a poetic translation of the vespers hymn in your hand missals, but here is a more literal translation, taken from “Hymns of the Roman Liturgy” by Joseph Connelly:
Be merciful, Christ, to your servants, for whom our advocate, the Virgin, asks the Father’s mercy at the throne of grace. Blessed hosts of Angels, divided into nine choirs, drive away from us past, present and future evils. Apostles and prophets, obtain from the just Judge by your prayers pardon for sinners who are truly contrite. Red-robed martyrs and white-robed confessors, call us back from our exile to our Father’s land. Choirs of chaste virgins and all those who exchanged their desert home for heaven, find place for us in the heavenly mansions. Drive the faithless race far from Christian lands that the one Shepherd may rule us all as His only fold.
Let us praise Christ through his saints, and may they pray for all of us on earth!
Kimberly Walters – Music Director