MONONA — The Sisters of Mary Morning Star are putting on a Concert of Sacred Chant at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish on Friday, May 17, at 7 p.m.
They will be joined by the Sisters from their American Novitiate in Ghent, Minn., to combine their talents, voices, and friendship to help lift the minds and hearts of their listeners.
They will also be performing their concert in Batavia, Ill., on Sunday afternoon, May 19.
Fund for Motherhouse
All proceeds from the concert are for a fund for their Motherhouse in Bergara, Spain.
The convent of their Motherhouse in Spain is from the Middle Ages and has had an unbroken presence of contemplative life for over 500 years. The Sisters moved there about six years ago, just as the Poor Clare nuns who had been there for hundreds of years were aging and not receiving enough vocations to keep the convent open.
In fact, this is happening all over Spain. Of the 3,000 contemplative convents in the world, 800 are in Spain. That is more than 25 percent. Spain is the last rampart of contemplative monastic life for the world.
Of those 800, two out of three will be closing in the near future. The Carmel founded by St. Teresa of Avila in Toledo is closing this year.
The Sisters of Mary Morning Star had been renting the convent in Bergara for six years, but the Poor Clare Nuns, who own this convent, decided last year that they needed to sell it.
The price they are asking for is a very reasonable price for the value of the land and property, but it goes far beyond the Sisters’ regular budget.
Therefore, the Sisters in Madison and Ghent will donate all the proceeds from their Sacred Chant Concert to this fund.
Sacred Chant Concert
During this Sacred Chant Concert, the listeners’ spirits will be raised by a wide variety of sacred hymns and chants in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The pieces will range in style and in age, to name a few: a solemn alleluia sung in Rome during the sixth century; a joyful, rhythmic hymn (14th century) sung by pilgrims going to venerate the Mother of God at the shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat in Spain; peaceful, contemplative chants from the Carthusian liturgy, an ancient monastic religious order; one of the first existing Latin American polyphonic hymns; a majestic, powerful chant (15th century) from the Mozarabic rite, a rite which is still celebrated to this day in Toledo, Spain; and modern sacred hymns in English, inspired from Gregorian chant.
For a presentation of their community, and a little video clip of the Sisters chanting, take a look at their new website: www.mariastellamatutina.com