Saturday, April 17, 2010

Chant History at Manhattanville College

The Abbey, Regina Laudis (Bethlehem, CT.) took part in a chant event at Manhattanville College on April 8, 2010. This institution used to be known as the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart and it was host to the Pius X School of Liturgical Music until the late 1960s. The event recognized the remarkably huge importance that the institution was for Gregorian chant in America.

Back in the day, the Society of the Sacred Heart here brought the greatest chant scholars in the world to the US and let them lecture and teach. The relationship between this institution and Gregorian chant was not ended by a praise-music onslaught, however; it was a victim of an internecine struggle within the chant movement itself, and the entire institution came to be cut off from its funding source. The details of this sad event were reported in the last issue of Sacred Music. In any case, it is a grand thing to see this institution recognize its history, especially with the invitation issued to the Abbey.











Special thank you to Jeff Morse for letting me know!

More recent articles:

For more articles, see the NLM archives: