Da Pacem Domine - Monastic Gregorian Chant

Yes, I love Gregorian Chant. Ever since I was a young boy I have been fascinated by the whole world around it. I love when the monks glide softly into the church, their white or black cowls—depending on which monastic order they belong to—billowing behind them, when they line up in silence, facing each other in long choir stalls. I love when “bells peal and the chant begins—low at first, then swelling as all the monks join in. Their soft voices wash over the ancient stones, replacing the empty clatter of the day with something like the sound of eternity,” as American journalist Mark Landler put it in his June 26, 2008 lyrical piece in the New York Times.

Yes, I love Gregorian Chant and didn’t have to wait until 1994, when the Benedictines of Santo Domingo de Solis, in Spain, prompted the last big revival of it with an album that became a phenomenon, nor did I have to wait until May 2008, when the Cistercian monks of the Stift Heiligenkreuz, deep in the Vienna woods, released an album of Gregorian chants, “Chant: Music for Paradise,” which shot to No. 7 in the British pop charts—at one point outselling releases from Amy Winehouse and Madonna—and made those monks a crossover hit, the latest example of how a once-neglected 1,000-year-old part of the Roman Catholic liturgy, can be repackaged for a secular society that savors its soothing, otherworldly cadences.

Yes, I love Gregorian Chant, and would like to share this passion of mine with all of you, my loyal readers. So enjoy this one and stay tuned for more info and videos.. [Thanks: The Metaphysical Peregrine]