Nunc dimittis ✠ servum tuum, Domine, * secundum verbum tuum in pace:
Quia viderunt oculi mei * salutare tuum,
Quod parasti * ante faciem omnium populorum,
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, * et gloriam plebis tuæ Israël.

Levavi oculos meos in montes, unde veniet auxilium mihi.

Psalm 120:1

The St. Elijah Choir is comprised of dedicated Catholic students, both undergraduate and graduate, at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.  They meet every Tuesday to rehearse Renaissance and medieval polyphony, which they sing for Sunday and feast day Masses at Saint Patrick Oratory.  They augment the work of the St. Patrick Choir, while also preparing repertoire in a smaller chamber setting.  Their repertoire for the 2022-2023 season included:

• Byrd: Oculi omnium
• Ceballos: Regina cœli
• Gabrieli: O sacrum convivium
• Gesualdo: In te Domine speravi
• Guerrero: Cum audisset Joannes
• M. Haydn: Cognoverunt discipuli
• Josquin: Ave Maria.... Virgo serena
• Lassus: Ave Maria à 5
• Sheppard: Æterne Rex altissime

For more information about participation in the St. Elijah Choir, please speak with David Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster at Saint Patrick Oratory.

Repleatur os meum laude, ut cantem gloriam tuam, tota die magnitudinem tuam.

Psalm 70:8

The St. Patrick Choir is a group of twenty faithful volunteers who sing for High Mass every Sunday, 52 weeks a year, plus all major feast days, for divine worship at the Oratory.  The repertoire of the choir spans medieval polyphony, through Isaac and Josquin, to Palestrina and Victoria, to Vierne and Widor, to newly composed works.  And the animating spirit of the choir is found in Gregorian chant, the musical prayer par excellence of the Catholic Church.

Gregorian Chant has always been regarded as the supreme model for sacred music, so that it is fully legitimate to lay down the following rule: the more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savor the Gregorian form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes; and the more out of harmony it is with that supreme model, the less worthy it is of the temple. The ancient traditional Gregorian Chant must, therefore, in a large measure be restored to the functions of public worship, and the fact must be accepted by all that an ecclesiastical function loses none of its solemnity when accompanied by this music alone.

Pope Pius X, Tra le Sollecitudini, 1903

New members are always welcome!  Prior experience in singing is helpful but not required.  For more information, please contact Organist & Choirmaster David Hughes through the parish office.

Music is an important part of the liturgical life at Saint Patrick Oratory in Waterbury, Connecticut.  The music program at the oratory is dedicated to rendering to God the best music which may be sung or played; to fostering the development of singers in the liturgical prayer of the Church; to preserving and restoring the heritage of the pipe organ as the principal instrument for divine worship; and to encouraging greater devotion to Our Lord and Our Lady through the music of the traditional Roman Rite.

The Sunday schedule is:

• 8:30 A.M.: Low Mass
• 10:30 A.M.: High Mass with choir

For more information about the musical life of Saint Patrick Oratory, please contact David Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster.

Cantate Domino canticum novum, cantate Domino omnis terra.
Cantate Domino, et benedicite nomini ejus; annuntiate de die in diem salutare ejus.
Annuntiate inter gentes gloriam ejus, in omnibus populis mirabilia ejus.
Quoniam magnus Dominus, et laudabilis nimis; terribilis est super omnes deos;
quoniam omnes dii gentium daemonia; Dominus autem caelos fecit.
Confessio et pulchritudo in conspectu ejus; sanctimonia et magnificentia in sanctificatione ejus.
Afferte Domino, patriae gentium; afferte Domino gloriam et honorem; afferte Domino gloriam nomini ejus.
Tollite hostias, et introite in atria ejus; adorate Dominum in atrio sancto ejus.
Commoveatur a facie ejus universa terra; dicite in gentibus, quia Dominus regnavit.
Etenim correxit orbem terrae, qui non commovebitur; judicabit populos in aequitate.
Laetentur caeli, et exsultet terra : commoveatur mare et plenitudo ejus; gaudebunt campi, et omnia quae in eis sunt.
Tunc exsultabunt omnia ligna silvarum a facie Domini, quia venit, quoniam venit judicare terram.
Judicabit orbem terrae in aequitate, et populos in veritate sua.

Psalm 95