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Mass of the Americas

Benedict XVI Institute Launches International Marian Unity Tour for “Mass of the Americas.”

“The only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb.” Pope Benedict XVI

The Benedict XVI Institute is proud to announce The Mass of the Americas, the newly composed twinned tribute to Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception which premiered in San Francisco December 8, will be going on an international Marian unity tour.

The unity tour begins on February 28, 2019 in Tijuana, at a Mexican national liturgy conference hosted by Archbishop Moreno of Tijuana. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will concelebrate the Mass.

Sign Up To Help Bring The Mass of the Americas to A City Near You

Other Cities on the Marian unity tour for the Mass of the Americas:

Washington D.C. November 16, 2019, National Shrine of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

Tyler, Texas (Dates TBA), Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral

Dallas, Texas (Dates TBA) Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral

More cities are being added monthly.

“Many composers of new classical music, sacred or secular, rarely see their work celebrated beyond the premiere,” composer Frank La Rocca points out, “The new Marian unity tour of the Mass of the Americas is a humbling and exciting moment for me – for all lovers of sacred music – that will serve to draw people closer together and closer to God.”

“The international Marian unity tour for the Mass of the Americas represents a revival of the great Church music tradition in our times. Most of the great sacred music many people now hear only in concert halls was composed for and spread in the bosom of the Church,” points out Maggie Gallagher, executive director of the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship “It’s very exciting to be here, at ground zero of a revival of a great Catholic tradition: evangelizing through great, noble sacred beauty.”

Videos of the Mass of the Americas are below. 

Mass of the Americas – Aue Maria

 

Mass of the Americas – Cantico del Alba

 

Mass of the Americas – Kyrie – Gloria

 

Mass of the Americas – Alleluia

 

Mass of the Americas – Offertory

 

Mass of the Americas – Sanctus – Bendito

 

Mass of the Americas – Memorial Acclamation

 

Mass of the Americas – Amen

 

Mass of the Americas – Agnus Dei

 

Mass of the Americas – Alma Redemptoris Mater

 
Background: What is the Mass of the Americas?

The Mass of the Americas is a newly composed Mass in the great sacred music tradition of the Catholic Church. It is an intertwined tribute to Our Lady of Guadalupe (patroness of Mexico and all the Americas) and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (patroness of the United States).

It is written for a 16-voice choir (plus organ, string quartet, bells and marimba) in Spanish, Latin, English and Nahuatl, the language in which Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke to San Juan Diego. It elevates traditional Mexican folk hymns to Mary (especially La Guadalupana) into the highest sacred music traditions of the Church.

The Mass was first celebrated on December 8, 2018 in San Francisco. We are about to launch a national Marian unity tour.

First, the Mass of the Americas will unite the Anglo and Latino Catholic communities, which operate in Dallas as in most places, in all-two-separate silos. A reception for supporters of the Mass afterward will offer donors, leaders, and influential in both communities to meet and mingle with Archbishop Cordileone, composer Frank La Rocca and with each other.

Second, the Mass of the Americas will help renew the great Catholic sacred music tradition, showing this is not a dead tradition but one still produces great and glorious fruit. All of the great “classical” music Masses that are now performed in concert halls were born in the bosom of the Church. The Mass of the Americas will inspire future composers, artists, and liturgy lovers.

What People Are Saying About the Mass of the Americas

“I was ecstatic. It took everything within me at times to keep from breaking down weeping. You get the sense that something truly holy was happening there.” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to the Catholic Herald.

A new Mass setting…is a sign of hope: a reminder that tradition is something vital, even dynamic.” Michael Warren Davis, editor Catholic Herald U.S.

This is what a flourishing religious culture looks like – piety being lifted up and sublimated in the actual liturgy of the Church.” Professor and Poet James Matthew Wilson.

“What beyond the piercing witness of divine Beauty are the lessons of this first great musical effort from the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship? That the great Catholic tradition is alive and well, and is only waiting for courageous pastoral leadership and visionary patronage to continue its great story where it most belongs: in the bosom of the Church.” Professor and composer Mark Nowakowski

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