Archbishop Cordileone’s Very Marian Advent Prayer Service Launches World Premiere of Two New Christmas Carols
On December 15th, at Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone will lead an innovative Very Marian Advent Prayer Service featuring the world premiere of two new hymns by major Catholic artists commissioned through the Benedict XVI Institute. James Matthew Wilson teams up with composer Frank La Rocca for a new hymn While All the Earth in Darkness Sleeps, which was inspired by the 6th century Akathist Hymn to Mary. Fr. Dwight Longenecker created Our Lady’s Lullaby with new lyrics to an old Welsh hymn Suo Gan (best-known for its appearance in the Disney film Empire of the Sun) and a new arrangement by composer William J. Fritz. The two hymns are part of a lessons and carols worship format, featuring a magnificent 8-voice schola led by Hillsdale College’s Maestro Timothy McDonnell.

Archbishop Cordileone and the Benedict XVI Institute’s ambitious goal? To create new Advent hymns that enter the canon of the Catholic church.
“Many of our best hymns and carols were composed first as poems and later set to music,” said James Matthew Wilson, poet-in-residence at the Benedict XVI Institute “How daunting as a poet to have to say to myself, this has to work as the kind of language people will want to sing, want to remember specifically as musical, as pure song.”
All ancient, worldly wisdom
Exults before your son,
And lays three gifts before you,
Virgin who nurse the One.
May gold forever glimmer
From both his crown and yours;
May prisoner and pauper
Greet angels at their doors.
Rejoice, o virgin watching through the night.
Rejoice, the gate that opens all to light.
Rejoice, whom even cherubim attend.
Rejoice, seraphic queen and sinners’ friend.
Rejoice, whose breast the food of all once fed.
Rejoice, our lady, stars anoint your head.
Rejoice, for on this night you bore a son.
R. Rejoice, for on this night you bore a son.
~While All the Earth in Darkness Sleeps
James Matthew Wilson
How does a poet even begin to approach such daunting task of adding to the canon of Advent and Christmas music? “By trying to impart a classic quality to the setting,” Composer-in-Residence at the Benedict XVI Institute Frank La Rocca answered. “One that sounds like a bit of fresh air flowing through a long and great tradition – a tradition one approaches with a certain reverence and gratitude.”
The second world premiere Advent carol is Our Lady’s Lullaby. “How did you approach this?” I asked Fr. Longenecker. “To write something one hopes will stand the test of time, one looks to the great tradition and tries to write from within that—without either copying or challenging the tradition. For this piece I looked to the great images of the Madonna and child and that connected me instinctively with lullabies,” he replied.
Sleep my Child
In the manger
Sleep my child
Free from Harm
Sleep my child
Free from Danger
Sleep my child
In my arms
~Our Lady’s Lullaby
Father Dwight Longenecker
“When mothers hum to their little ones as they’re putting them to sleep,” added composer William J. Fritz, “many times they improvise without knowing it. I changed the rhythm of the original tune to make it feel like a mother rocking her child to sleep; there is also a departure from the tune in the middle when Mary contemplates her Son’s passion and death. My hope was to hint at the ecstacy that the Mother would feel at the Son’s triumph over death. This is an Advent/Christmas Hymn much like the Messiah – it’s all of Christ’s mystery wrapped in one.”
Last year’s first Very Marian Advent service saw the debut of two other brand new Advent carol: The Chesterton Carol, by composer Mark Nowakowski, and Our Lady Expectant, composed by Wilhelmina Pariseau from a poem by Roseanne T. Sullivan. Both will be performed again this year. Mark Nowakowski’s Chesterton Carol has taken a step towards becoming a classic by generating 22,000 views on YouTube and being adopted by many in the Chesterton Schools Network.
The new hymns this were made possible by the support of two new patrons of the arts: James and Kristy Hudon, who commissioned While All the Earth in Darkness Sleeps, and Michael and Sarah Trela, who supported Fr. Longenecker and Mr. Fritz’s new Christmas carol.
Why support new works of art amid that many other urgent needs in the world, I asked them.
“Most of the religious hymns we sing today were composed long ago, borrowed from past generations,” said Mr. Trela. “While these old hymns are excellent, it is time for this generation to humbly contribute with a new Christmas hymn that shares in the joys and tears of Our Lady.”
“We are meant not only to enjoy Art, but to participate in it,” said Mr. Hudon. “A thriving arts culture unites us as Catholics and brings us into fuller communion. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, and so it is important that we help make our city—the Church—beautiful, as beauty attracts people who have otherwise closed themselves off to the truth of the Gospel.”
Those in the greater Bay Area can register to attend; the Benedict XVI Institute also offers a virtual option: those who register will receive a link to the professional recording of the event, including the new Advent /Christmas carols.