Advent at Ephesus (CD)

Item #3632
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From the Benedictines of Mary,
Queen of Apostles
ADVENT AT EPHESUS (CD)


Charged with joy, and graced with an angelic blend of voices, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles capture in song the spirit of hope and expectation of Advent.

They perform an amazing variety of traditional Latin and English hymns, polyphony, Gregorian Chant, medieval harmonies and an original piece to prayerfully lead you through the sacred season in preparation for Christmas.

Advent is perhaps the most neglected season, but remains one of the most treasured by the sisters of the Priory of Our Lady of Ephesus.

16 selections
Total time: 48:37

For a track list and audio samples (using your Windows Media Player), select the MORE PRODUCT INFO tab below.



Priory of Our Lady of Ephesus: Gower, Missouri

The community of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles first began in 1995, consecrated to Our Lady, and offered to her service. The sisters follow a monastic horarium as laid out by St. Benedict in his Rule, and chant (in Latin) the Divine Office according to the 1962 Breviarium Monasticum.

The sisters follow their call to emulate Mary in her final, hidden years at Ephesus, where, by tradition, she spiritually supported and encouraged St. John and the other Apostles. They offer their lives in prayer and sacrifice for priests, whom they see as the new apostles of the Church, and as their spiritual sons, who bear God's truth to the world. They extend customary Benedictine hospitality most especially to priests, offering them the spiritual refurbishment so often denied them in their work.

Their monastic "labora" — other than their everyday domestic responsibilities (cleaning, cooking, gardening, farm work, etc.) — is devoted to making vestments, albs, surplices, and altar linens for use in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

At Advent, the Liturgical year has reached its dramatic close with the Feast of Christ the King and a series of meditations on the Last Judgment. While lamps remain lit in our hearts for the final coming of the Lord, (track 14) a milder tenor creeps into the voice of the Church as Advent begins a new year, and attention is also given to the coming of the Infant Christ into the world (tracks 1, 6, and 13.)

The Annunciation (tracks 3, 5 and 8) the cry of the Baptist (track 12) and the expectation of Our Lady (tracks 11, 16, and 17) are all leitmotifs that repeatedly occur in the chants and the Divine Office. The nightly antiphon to Our Lady changes from the familiar Salve Regina to the gentle Alma Redemptoris Mater, honoring her motherhood (tracks 2, 15.)

A bold, melancholy tone of impatience is joined to those of the prophets and chosen people who waited for the Lords coming for centuries (tracks 7, 9.) Yet there also remains a sustained strain of gaudium, the interior joy characteristic of Advent that lends its name to the Third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday. (Track 10, Offertory of Gaudete Sunday.)

To hear samples from this CD on your Windows Media Player, just click on SAMPLE.

1. Come Thou Redeemer of the Earth (SAMPLE)
2. Angelus Ad Virginem (SAMPLE)
3. Regnantem Sempiterna (SAMPLE)
4. Gabriels Message (SAMPLE)
5. Creator Alme Siderum
6. Hayl Mary
7. Rorate Cæli
8. Præparate Corda Vestra
9. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
10. Benedixisti Domine
11. Maria Walks Amid the Thorn
12. Alma Redemptoris Mater
13. Adjuvabit Eam
14. O Come Divine Messiah
15. Vox Clara
16. Like the Dawning