November is an especially busy month for our good friends of the Schola Sainte-Cécile in Paris, since both of their patronal feasts fall within it. Their home church was built in 1854, in the reign of the last French Emperor, Napoleon III, and named for St Eugenius, a 7th-century bishop of Toledo, Spain, partly to honor the emperor’s Spanish-born wife, Eugénie. His feast day is November 15th; one week later is the feast of St Cecilia, patron of musicians, who was added as a second patron of the church in 1952 because of its proximity to the Paris Conservatory. As has been the general custom in Francis for over two centuries, both of these feasts are usually celebrated on the Sunday following as external solemnities.
All of the ceremonies in the church are broadcast live on their YouTube channel, and then permanently reposted. Below, I have also included links to their website, which gives the complete musical program (in French) for each ceremony. (Those pages include links to pdfs with the musical scores as well.) The Mass of St Eugenius begins with a rousing Christus vincit, as a relic of the Saint is carried though the church in procession – Feliciter! Feliciter!Mass on the feast of St Eugène (program)
Vespers (program)
Mass on the feast of St Cecilia (program)
Vespers (program)
