17 May 2023

On 27 April 2023, the schola of Benedictine monks of Sant’Anselmo, led by maestro P. David Foster OSB, and the Byzantine choir “Psalterion” from Greece, under the direction of maestro Mr. Christos Vattis, performed hymns of the Resurrection of the Lord and of the Divine Liturgy.

The audience, among them more than 30 ambassadors to the Holy See, enjoyed a true Easter program. As in the Bible every apparition of the Risen Lord is told as an encounter, so one could enjoy the encounter of two different musical traditions: the Gregorian and the Byzantine, the Western and the Eastern. It was an attempt to make audible the idea that these traditions, as different as they are, speak of the same mystery. It is the same God they glorify. And yet, its expressions are very different: polyphonic/monophonic, in different tonalities, with different kinds of voices. It seemed almost as if one needed different ears in each case.

The high point of the evening was the “Hagios ho Theos, Sanctus Deus,” in which both scholas sang their own parts in their respective languages in one and the same piece of liturgical music.

The program was sponsored by Sant’Anselmo Abbey and its Prior, Mauritius Wilde OSB, and the Greek Embassy to the Holy See, with her Excellency, Mrs. Aikaterini Katia Georgiou.

Altre Notizie

  • The Benedictine Commission on China brings together representatives from Benedictine monasteries throughout the world to exchange information about the work of their communities related to China and to discuss cooperation on projects for China. This year the meeting was held the morning of 5 March 2022.

  • On the afternoon of 19 November 2021, a group of students and administrators from Collegio Sant’Anselmo took a trip to the monastery of Praglia to celebrate the priestly ordination of their fellow resident, Alfio Catalano. Story and photos here.

  • Father Mauritius Wilde OSB, rector of Sant'Anselmo College, was elected president of the Association of Rectors of Ecclesiastical Colleges of Rome (ARCER), during the general assembly of 24 November 2021.