Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist

“Mondays with Mary” – Marian Hymns and the Sisters of Mary

By Tom Perna on November 21, 2016 • ( Leave a comment )

Since tomorrow is the memorial of St. Cecilia, the patroness of ecclesiastical music, I found it fitting to share with you some Marian hymns sung by a religious order that is very close and dear to my heart – The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

The Sisters of Mary have produced two CD’s, first is Mater Eucharistiae (2013), which is what you will hear from today. The second CD is titled, The Rosary – Mysteries, Meditations, and Songs (2014). Both of these CD’s were produced in conjunction with De Montfort Music. To read more about the Sisters of Mary, De Montfort Music, and Decca Records, please read my post – The Singing Dominicans.

Ecclesiastical music is music that is specifically written for performance in church, or for any ecclesiastical liturgy, where the music being expressed by the musicians is sacred in nature. Most ecclesiastical pieces are called hymns. In regards to specifically Catholic liturgical music, the front page of The Chant Café states the following,

“Catholic liturgical music is serious, solemn, transcendent, but Catholic musicians are never more fun and inspiring than when they are talking about what they love most. This is what happens at sacred music events around the world: the social and intellectual are critically important elements. The musicians (and music enthusiasts) at the Chant Café, a project of the Church Music Association of America, bring that sense of life and love to the digital world. As St. Augustine said, ‘Cantare amantis est.’”

Many hymns focus on Jesus Christ and His Church, but there also many hymns written to reflect the beauty of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and these are specifically known as Marian hymns. Many of the Marian hymns are used in the month of May devotions since May is the month of Mary and during the great Marian solemnities throughout the liturgical year.

So for the rest of today’s blog post, I am going to ask you to do something different today, instead of reading, I am going to encourage you to listen to some of these beautiful Marian hymns performed by the Sisters of Mary from their CD, Mater Eucharistiae. Click on the links to purchase it via CD, iTunes or Google Music.

1. Holy Mary, Mother of God