Very Marian Advent Prayer Service: Lessons and Carols with Abp. Cordileone

A Very Marian Advent Prayer Service at Star of the Sea-SF with Archbishop Cordileone and the Benedict XVI Choir

Christmas is coming! We prepare with this special "lessons and carols" prayer service, waiting with Mary through that challenging last month for the birth of her Son and Our Lord Jesus Christ, features new Advent and Christmas carols by living Catholic artists.

Archbishop Cordileone is restoring the historic role of the Church as a patron of the arts by bringing together fine poets and composers to add to the canon of Advent and Christmas carols. Through his ministry at the Benedict XVI Institute, our great Catholic tradition of sacred music continues!

Come this year and hear the world premiere of two new carols honoring St. Francis of Assissi, in honor of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of Mission Dolores by St. Junipero Serra (which is the birthday of San Francisco):

"St. Francis's Creche" with words by Fr. Dwight Longenecker and music by William J. Fritz honors the Christmas creche founded by St. Francis. And then the creative team put together a new hymn based on Fr. Longenecker's adaption in English of St. Francis' own words in "St. Francis's Salutation to Our Lady."

Register today to come on December 14 at 4 pm Pacific. You do not need to bring a ticket, but your registration helps us plan for the reception, and make sure you get an invitation to next year's prayer service. Your generous Advent gift, if your means permit, help make this prayer service possible both for you and for others. Thank-you.

BONUS GIFT FOR MUSIC DIRECTORS AND PARISH PRIESTS: For this Christmas season only ALL the new carols commissioned by Archbishop Cordileone through the Benedict XVI Institute may be used by any Catholic parish free of charge. Learn more at https://benedictinstitute.org/very-marian-advent-and-christmas-carols/

Hymns commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute.

"While All the Earth in Darkness Sleeps"

Frank La Rocca and James Matthew Wilson, our composer and poet-in-residence respectively, teamed up last year to create a gorgeous new setting of the 6th century Akathist Hymn (still widely chanted in Eastern Orthodoxy, but less well-known to Roman Catholics). Hear Mary's lovely ancient titles in a new musical setting.

"Our Lady's Lullaby"

Fr. Dwight Longenecker put new words to a traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gân (perhaps best known for its recent appearance in the Disney film Empire of the Son). Catholic composer William J. Fritz composed the new arrangement, which debuted at Star of the Sea last year. (Visit CyprianStudios to learn more about Will Fritz and order the score).

"Chesterton's Carol"

Mark Nowakowski's collaboration with GK Chesterton has become an instant Christmas classic, gaining over 22,000 YouTube views. He is perhaps best-known for composing the score for the Mass of the Ages films. To learn more about Mark Nowakowski's work visit his website.

"Our Lady Expectant"

Based on a poem by Roseanne T. Sullivan and set to music by Wilhelmina Pariseau, Our Lady Expectant uses the language from the O Antiphons to express Mary's longing to see her child and Savior. This hymn is available for use both in concert version and in a simpler form suitable for parishes. Visit Mina Pariseau's website for more information.

Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka is Professor and the Director of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where she holds the William P. Mahrt Chair in Sacred Music and serves as the founding Director of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.

She serves as the Vice President and Director of Publications for the Church Music Association of America (CMAA), and is the managing editor of the CMAA’s journal Sacred Music. She was a co-organizer of the Sacra Liturgia conferences in New York (2015) and San Francisco (2022) and, together with Archbishop Cordileone, is the founder of the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit. Donelson-Nowicka serves as a Consultant to the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship.

An innovative and pioneering educator, Donelson-Nowicka has developed an extensive program of graduate coursework and public-facing educational initiatives in sacred music through the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music (CISM), as well as for the seminarians at St. Patrick’s Seminary, following her work for eight years in the same role at St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) in New York.

As a choral conductor, Donelson-Nowicka has directed seminary, collegiate, professional, semi-professional, amateur, monastic, and children’s choirs. At St. Patrick’s Seminary, she has established a schola cantorum and directs them in weekly rehearsals, preparing them for solemn Masses and Vespers, focusing on a repertory of Gregorian and Spanish- and English-language chant, alongside sacred polyphony and classical hymnody. She previously directed the Schola Cantorum of St. Joseph’s Seminary, which developed an extensive repertoire for the liturgy, while also singing a yearly concert broadcast on Sirius XM, recording a full-length album of music dedicated to St. Joseph, and performing choral masterworks on a concert tour of northern France (2017). She also founded and directed the Metropolitan Catholic Chorale which continues its mission in the New York City area, and has taught extensively for religious orders, including the Benedictine monks of San Benedetto in Monte (Norcia, Italy), the contemplative sisters at the Monastery of St. Edith Stein in Borough Park, Brooklyn (Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará [SSVM]), and the Benedictine nuns of Priorij Nazareth Tegelen in the Netherlands. She has served as a choral conducting coach for graduate organ students in Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and has taught chant to children for many years using the Ward Method (Ave Maria Oratory, Ave Maria, FL; Colm Cille Club, Pelham, NY; Immaculate Conception Children’s Schola Cantorum, Sleepy Hollow, NY), also previously serving on the faculty at Cardinal Kung Academy in Stamford, Connecticut. Dr. Donelson-Nowicka was recently appointed as the Director of the Archbishop’s Schola, a professional ensemble which sings for liturgies celebrated by His Excellency, Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco.