Church Music Corner › Feast of Mary the Mother 2026 [loc-0058]

Signum magnum appáruit in cælo: múlier amícta sole, et luna sub pédibus, et in cápite eius in coróna stellárum duodécim.

Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino, diem festum celebrántes sub honóre Maríaæ Vírginis: de cuius assumptióne gaudent Angeli, et colláudant Fílium Dei.

Our director was back from his trip today, so I returned to my deputy role at All Saints Ainslie. Today was a transferred Marian feast which ought to be called "The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary" but due to our protestant-friendly lectionary it's watered down to a feast of "Mary the Mother". While I didn't direct it, I selected the anthem for this week, Stravinsky's Ave Maria:

Ave María, gratia plena, Dóminus tecum.	Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Benedícta tu in muliéribus et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.	Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Sancta María, mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatóribus,	Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners,
Nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.	Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

In exchange for subjecting the congregation to a more unusual setting, I sang Schubert's Ave Maria (in Latin, to the same lyrics) at the end of the service.

We also had a choir management meeting yesterday to set priorities for the coming few months. Nothing firm to announce yet, but we might be bringing some new people into our team, which is very exciting.