Choral Mass of St. HIldegard

Join Collegium Institute and the Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy & Music for an evening choral High Mass to commemorate the Feast of Saint Hildegard of Bingen on Tuesday, September 17. One of the four women proclaimed a Doctor of the Church, St. Hildegard (1098-1179) was a Benedictine nun and polymath famous for her singular contributions to sacred music as well as artistic illumination, philosophy, prayer, as well as medical writing. She even constructed her own language (known as the "lingua ignota") and is held to be “the founder of scientific natural history in Germany”.  

This High Mass will be celebrated in a style familiar to Hildegard’s own medieval setting, featuring an all-women's schola to sing St. Hildegard's own compositions--including O Viridissima Virga, O Ignis Spiritus, and the Kyrie of the Messe de Sainte-Hildegarde--as they would have sounded from a convent of religious sisters. The singers will be accompanied by several medieval instruments known to St. Hildegard: the harp, the plucked psaltery, and the hurdy-gurdy. Mass will be celebrated by Fr. Leo Camurati, OP, traveling in from Louisville, with the assistance of Fr. Christopher Daniel, OP, of St. Patrick’s Church in Philadelphia. Just prior to the start of the Mass will be very brief remarks about the musical achievement and legacy of St. Hildegard by Christa Dalmazio, the choir director for this event.

Immediately following the Mass, there will be an outdoor reception in the park.