Chants for St Benedict

Chant in English

Listeners will be familiar with plainsong recordings from monasteries, sung in Latin, which convey the traditional monastic sense of timeless prayer. There are some other recordings of church and monastic music, sung in English, principally for Eucharistic liturgies.

Here, for the first time on CD, the English Benedictine monks of Worth Abbey, who have been singing their daily monastic prayer in English for over thirty years, have made available to others the sense of prayerfulness that is a characteristic of their community prayer in their spacious Abbey church.

St Benedict

This recording is of the monastic prayer for the Feast of Saint Benedict, celebrated twice each year: on 21st March, the celebration of Saint Benedict passing from this life to the next; and on 11th July, the celebration of Saint Benedict as Patron of Europe.

The music

Worth Abbey's organist organist, Dom Philip Gaisford, has skilfully composed most of this music, skillfully combining the best of the traditional tones with the unique demands of the English language.

The Prayer at Midday is accompanied by the hauntingly beautiful sounds of a zither, a stringed instrument sounding like a harp, and which is the sort of instrument thought to have been used in times before Christ to accompany the singing of psalms.

Recording details

Disk Number: HAVP172
Title: Chants for St Benedict
Subtitle: Sung in English
Choir Name: The Benedictine Monks of Worth Abbey, Sussex, England
Conductor: Alistair Warwick
Location: Worth Abbey, Sussex, England
Date Recorded: August 1994
Produced by Herald AV Publications
The Studio, 29 Alfred Road, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 8ND England

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Track details

Track	Track Title	Duration
Office of Readings: Matins
1	1. Invitatory and Invitatory Psalm	02:33
2	2. Hymn – Our blessed father, Benedict	01:20
3	3. Psalm 8	02:02
4	4. Psalm 14	01:35
5	5. Psalm 23	02:40
6	6. Canticle – Ecclesiasticus 14	02:28
7	7. Responsory – The just man	01:53
8	8. Te Deum laudamus Final Prayer	02:46
Morning Prayer: The Office of Lauds
9	1. O God, come to our aid	00:33
10	2. Hymn: Father of many children, evermore	02:48
11	3. Psalm 1	02:00
12	4. Canticle – Daniel 3:2-57	02:02
13	5. Psalm 116	01:20
14	6. Short Reading – Wisdom 7: 13-14	00:31
15	7. Canticle of Zechariah – Benedictus	02:47
16	8. Intercessions The Lord's Prayer	02:47
17	9. Final Prayer and Blessing	00:55
Midday Office
18	1. O God, come to our aid	00:38
19	2. Hymn – Lord God and maker of all things	01:20
20	3. Psalm 125	01:06
21	4. Psalm 126	01:17
22	5. Psalm 127	02:02
23	6. Short reading (Ecclesiasticus 45: 3-6) Responsory and Final Prayer	01:53
Evening Prayer: The Office of Vespers
24	1. O God, come to our aid	01:15
25	2. Hymn: Lord God, we give you thanks for all your saints	01:36
26	3. Psalm 109	01:47
27	4. Psalm 138	03:44
28	5. Psalm 112	01:39
29	6. Canticle (Revelation 15)	01:41
30	Short Reading (James 3: 17-18) Responsory	01:35
31	8. Canticle of Mary – Magnificat	02:31
32	9. Solemn Litany The Lord's Prayer	03:00
33	10. Final Prayer and Blessing	00:54
Night Prayer: The Office of Compline
34	1. O God, come to our aid	00:34
35	2. Hymn – Stay with us, Lord (words by Alan Griffiths)	01:37
36	3. Psalm 90	03:37
37	4. Scripture Reading (Revelation 22: 4-5) and Short Responsory	01:58
38	5. Canticle of Simeon – Nunc dimittis	01:59
39	6. Concluding Prayer and Blessing	00:37
40	Anthem to the Blessed Virgin Mary – Salve Regina	00:49

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Contact

Contact Alistair Warwick at:
Ardarroch, Glen Road, Dunblane, FK15 0GY, Scotland
+44 (0)1786 823000 | +44 (0)7792 566349
hello(at)alistairwarwick.com