In the 1960s the Second Vatican Council made significant changes in the way Roman Catholics worship. These changes were long overdue and have been most beneficial. It is particularly important for congregations to hear the Word of God and respond to it in their own language.

So why does a group of Catholic lay people  continue learning and singing the ancient Latin chants of the Church? Doesn’t this contradict the pastoral thrust of Vatican II?

For over fifteen hundred years monophonic chant music was used to accompany the Latin text of the liturgy.  Some have felt that this music is a precious legacy that must not be allowed to disappear completely from the Church’s worship. But music is not really preserved on parchment or in choir books. It exists only when it is sung and heard.  So there must be an effort made to keep the chant and polyphonic traditions, which use the Latin language, alive and available in the sound world. This would still not justify using the Latin chant in preference to music with vernacular texts for today’s congregations. The chant must serve the congregation’s need. The contemplative spirit of the ancient modal melodies is capable of conveying an invitation to raise our hearts and minds to God – in other words, these melodies can and do foster prayer.

Later in this month of September, the Assumption Schola Gregoriana, based at Assumption College begins its fifteenth year of singing the ancient Latin chants of the Roman Catholic Church for their own spiritual enrichment and that of congregations throughout the Worcester Diocese.

In the summer of 1997, a Catholic layman, who loved Gregorian chant came looking for someone who could direct a chant schola. After inquiries, John McManamon ended up at the doorstep of Fr. Donat Lamothe, A.A. a teacher of music at Assumption College, and a member of the Emmanuel House community.   Fr. Donat had learned chant practice and theory from Fr. Gilbert Chabot, A.A. while still a prep-school student in the 1950s. He had continued that study while a seminarian in Lyons, France and more recently in sessions with Dom Daniel Saulnier, O.S.B of Solesmes Abbey at Fontevraud  Abbey Center for Medieval Culture in France.

Almost thirty people responded to an invitation published in the Catholic Free Press in August of 1997 to attend a rehearsal held at Assumption College. Many of  that original group are still faithful members of the schola. Others have come and gone, as their schedules have allowed.

We rehearse every Tuesday from September through May, at 7:30 PM and Emmanuel House with a break in January.

We rehearse for an hour or so and conclude with singing the office of Compline with Latin psalmody. Several parishes invite us to come to provide chant at Mass and other devotions. We do such chant contributions to worship ten to fifteen times a year mainly in the Worcester area. But the main reason is still the spiritual enrichment that the chants gives to the membership. Many have said that the chant has become a very important part of their interior lives.

Donat Lamothe, A.A.