To hear 30-second samples on your Windows Media Player, just click on SAMPLE.
1. Lebègue, Nicholas (SAMPLE)
2. Domine, Labia Mea/Invitatory. C (SAMPLE)
3. Candor Aeternae (Mode 1) (SAMPLE)
4. Dominus Dixit/Psalm 2 (Mode 8) (SAMPLE)
5. Tamquam Sponsus/Psalm 18a (Mode)
6. Diffusa Est/Psalm 44 ( [KJV 45])
7. Reading from Isaiah 11:1-10
8. Hodie Nobis Caelorum Rex (Mode 8)
9. Reading from St. Leo the Great
10. Hodie Nobis de Caelo (Mode 8)
11. Gosepl of the Genealogy. Matthew 1:1-16
12. Te Deum
13. Benedicamus Domino (Mode 2)
14. Nunn Komm, Der Heiden Heiland, BWV 599
Christmas
Christmas is the annual feast commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, over 2000 years ago. For Christians, it is not just a single day (December 25), but an extended liturgical season of joy and celebration, involving many different symbols and traditions, special music and activities, which vary significantly among different countries and cultures. For religiously observant Christians, the Christmas Season begins at sunset on Christmas Eve, December 24, and lasts from 12 days to 40 days. In some ecclesial traditions the Christmas Season might end on January 6 (the traditional date of the Feast of the Epiphany); in others it might last until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (usually the Sunday after Epiphany), or might even last all the way to February 2 (the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 40 days after December 25). January 6, usually celebrated as Epiphany, carries different significance in various church traditions. Due to different calendars in use in various eras and locations of the church, some cultures and church traditions celebrate Christmas on January 6 (in the older Julian calendar still used as the religious calendar in Eastern Churches, January 6 corresponds to December 24 on the modern Gregorian calendar).
Although we cannot know the exact date of Jesus' birth, it has been celebrated on December 25 since the early fourth century, when most of the Roman Empire adopted the Christian religion. It replaced the mid-winter Roman festival of "the birth of the sun god" ( sol invictus), celebrated just after the winter solstice.
Etymologically, the word "Christmas" derives from Old English " Cristes mæsse" (literally "Christ's festival"). It is similar to Dutch Kerstmis, but is significantly different in derivation and meaning in many other European languages: German Weihnachten ("Blessed Night"), Italian Natale, Spanish Navidad, French Noël (all ultimately derived from Latin natalis, "birth"), and Scandinavian jul (from which is derived the English yule).
The official liturgical color of the Christmas Season for most Churches is white or gold, not green and red, as many people assume because of their prevalence in secular celebrations.
St. Peter's Abbey: Solesmes, France
Solesmes Abbey (Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes) is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes, France, famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine life in France after the Revolution.
It was founded in 1010 as a Benedictine priory. Maintaining a mostly quiet existence for centuries, it began a slow decline in the 17th century, and was dissolved in 1791 during the French Revolution.
In the 1830s a locally-born priest, Prosper Guéranger, inspired by the vision of a restored monastic life in France, acquired the remaining buildings for a new Benedictine community. By 1837 Solesmes was elevated to the rank of an abbey and made the head of the newly created French Benedictine Congregation, now the Solesmes Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation. The abbey was closed several times by French legislation, and between 1901 and 1922 the monks were forced into exile in England. The community survived those trials and those of two world wars and is still at Solesmes.
The abbey is noted for its crucial contribution to the advancement of the Roman Catholic liturgy through its work in Gregorian chant: restoration of melodies, scholarly research, publication of liturgical books for the Church, and recordings of the liturgy.
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