"I feel that our souls are moved to the ardor of piety by the sacred words more piously and powerfully when these words are sung than when they are not sung, and that all the affections of our soul in their variety have modes of their own in song and chant by which they are stirred up by an indescribable and secret sympathy."
-Saint Augustine, Confessions, Book X, chap. 33, MPL, XXXII, 799ff.
The painting at left (Juan Carreño de Miranda, Elevation, 1666) portrays an understanding of Christian liturgy where the participation of mortals is joined to the immortal participation of heaven, with angels and saints making music around the throne of the Most Holy Trinity. This is why music for the sacred liturgy must be of the highest artistic quality. It does not simply accompany human action at a moment in time, but must lift the minds and hearts of worshipers to timeless heavenly things which are present but unseen.
This is what inspired the great liturgical choral music of the past 1000 years, from the timeless beauties of Gregorian Chant and the sublime polyphony of the 1500s, to the powerful Masses and motets of the last 200 years. And, this is what inspires the work of the Carolina Liturgical Chorale:
TO OFFER IN WORSHIP THE FINEST LITURGICAL CHORAL MUSIC, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL.
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-Saint Augustine, Confessions, Book X, chap. 33, MPL, XXXII, 799ff.
The painting at left (Juan Carreño de Miranda, Elevation, 1666) portrays an understanding of Christian liturgy where the participation of mortals is joined to the immortal participation of heaven, with angels and saints making music around the throne of the Most Holy Trinity. This is why music for the sacred liturgy must be of the highest artistic quality. It does not simply accompany human action at a moment in time, but must lift the minds and hearts of worshipers to timeless heavenly things which are present but unseen.
This is what inspired the great liturgical choral music of the past 1000 years, from the timeless beauties of Gregorian Chant and the sublime polyphony of the 1500s, to the powerful Masses and motets of the last 200 years. And, this is what inspires the work of the Carolina Liturgical Chorale:
TO OFFER IN WORSHIP THE FINEST LITURGICAL CHORAL MUSIC, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITHFUL.
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