Solemn Vespers & Te Deum for the 250th of America
Sat, Jul 25
|St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church
"With a Programme of Sacred Musick As was Heard in the Year of Our Lord 1776 within the Thirteen Colonies"
Time & Location
Jul 25, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church, 250 N 4th St, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
Guests
About the event
Join us as we commemorate the Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of the founding of the United States, with a celebration of Vespers as it would have been experienced in 1776 in a Catholic chapel of the Thirteen Colonies. It will take place at St. Augustine Church, in walking distance of Independence Hall, on the feast of St. James: Saturday, July 25 at 6pm. Vespers will be preceded by a choral prelude about 10 minutes before, and music outside the church by the New Jersey Fifes and Drums for a full hour beforehand.
It was Vespers that John Adams experienced during a visit to Old St. Mary's, Philadelphia in 1774. He wrote to his wife Abigail: "The Musick consisting of an organ, and a Choir of singers, went all the Afternoon, excepting sermon Time, and the Assembly chanted-most sweetly and exquisitely." Much of the music for this event has been taken from…