Light up the spirit of the holidays at Saint Martin’s annual
Procession of Carols and Candlelight Mass
November 19, 2010
Lacey, Washington – Saint Martin’s University will usher in
the holiday season Sunday, Dec. 5, with its annual Procession of
Carols and Candlelight Mass. The public is invited to share and
enjoy this joyful time of year with the University community as
it celebrates the coming of Christmas.
A collaboration of the Saint Martin's University Chorale and
the offices of Campus Ministry, International Programs and
Institutional Advancement, the event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the
University’s Old Main building, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE, Lacey.
Attendance and refreshments are free.
The halls of Old Main are being transformed into Santa’s
forest, and Saint Nick himself will take time from his busy
schedule to chat with children as visitors stroll through the
festively decorated corridors. (Parents are reminded to bring
their cameras and camcorders to record those hush-hush
conversations between Santa and the children.)
Holiday carols and songs, old and new, will be sung by the
Saint Martin's Chorale, under the direction of Darrell Born,
associate professor of music. In other areas, the University’s
international students will give visitors a vision of
celebrations in their homelands with traditional holiday foods
and music.
At 7 p.m., guests are invited to adjacent Saint Martin’s
Abbey Church for the Candlelight Mass and music by the
University’s student liturgy choir. A prelude to the Mass,
performed by the Chorale, begins at 6:30 p.m.
The evening will conclude with the blessing of the Christmas
tree by Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B., in Old Main’s Saint Gertrude
Dining Hall. Holiday refreshments and music by Saint Martin’s
jazz combo will provide the finale for this fun and magical
evening.
For more information, contact Susan Leyster, director of the
Office of Campus Ministry, 360-438-4581 or
leysters@stmartin.edu.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year,
Catholic, coeducational university located on a 380-acre wooded
campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic
Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine
colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and
is the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s
University prepares students for successful lives through its 21
majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts,
business, education and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes
1,250 students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its
main campus, and 650 more to its five extension campuses located
at Fort Lewis Army Post, McChord Air Force Base, Olympic
College, Centralia College, and Tacoma Community College.
For additional information contact:
Susan Leyster, MA
Director of Campus Ministry
Saint Martin's University
360-438-4581
leysters@stmartin.edu
www.stmartin.edu