Saint Martin’s University Chorale ushers in the holidays
November 18, 2011
LACEY,
WASHINGTON—The Saint Martin’s University community invites the
public to share in the joy of the upcoming holidays with the
University Chorale’s presentation of Glory! A
Celebration of the Christmas Season on Sunday, Dec. 4. The
free event, a collaboration of the Chorale and the Office of
Campus Ministry, will launch the Christmas season with a concert
of familiar carols, followed by a candlelight Mass and a tree
blessing celebration. The concert begins at 7 p.m. at the Saint
Martin’s Abbey, at 5000 Abbey Way SE, Lacey. Doors open at 6:30
p.m.
The concert will feature familiar carols, like Silent
Night and Angels We Have Heard on High, as well as
international Yuletide music from France, Spain and Ukraine. The
Chorale’s director, Associate Professor of Music Darrell Born,
says the word “glory” is included in the title of the concert
because it was the word used by the angels who appeared to the
shepherds the night of Jesus’ birth.
Born, the chair of the University’s Fine and Performing Arts
Department explains, “The word ‘glory’ in itself is a
celebration of God’s power, his sovereignty and his gift to
mankind. By presenting the concert and then participating in the
Mass, the chorale is celebrating the sacred Benedictine nature
of the mass and the sacred spirit of this time of year.”
After the celebration of the Mass, guests will walk by
candlelight to the nearby St. Gertrude’s Dining Hall in Old
Main. The evening will end with the blessing and lighting of the
Christmas tree by Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B., chancellor of Saint
Martin's University. Holiday refreshments will add a flourish to
the celebration.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year,
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 14 Benedictine colleges
and universities in the United States and Canada, and 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 extension campuses located at Joint
Base Lewis-McChord, Everett College, Centralia College and
Tacoma Community College. Visit the Saint Martin’s University
website at www.stmartin.edu.
For additional information:
Susan Leyster, MA
Director of campus ministry
Saint Martin’s University
360-438-4581
leysters@stmartin.edu
Sarah Holdener
Director of community relations and event management
Office of marketing and communications
Saint Martin’s University
sholdener@stmartin.edu