The 156th newsletter listing major updates to the Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI) website went out to over 60,000 subscribers today. The main feature is an article on the Gregorian chant by Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffrey Tucker, who are, respectively, president and director of the St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum in Auburn.
I discovered the Gregorian chant during a retreat I made early last year with a group of Benedictine monks in the South of England. Though I didn't understand a word of what anybody was singing, it was the most amazing music I had ever heard, and in a Church setting, which was where I heard it, the music just made me wanna go down on my knees.
Click here to hear a few samples. Known as the O Antiphons, they cover the special period of Advent preparation known as the Octave before Christmas, Dec. 17 to Dec. 23. These particular chants were sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars in Oxford during Christmas last year.
