Gregorian chant, ritual worship

Schola Spiritus Sancti is a fraternity of Catholic men who study Gregorian chant in order to render it authentically within the liturgy.  In other words the Schola is a liturgical choir working within the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.  At our weekly rehearsals we practice chants for Masses and Offices for the Catholic Community of Bl. John Henry Newman at St Aloysius' Church, Caulfield North, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

 

Schola Spiritus Sancti is the only liturgical choir in Melbourne singing chant and learning the associated ritual actions for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. The music we sing and the actions we perform are traditions which date back to the first millennium - we believe they are a powerful force for good in the world.  We strive to become a prayerful inspiration to those who hear us offering all that we do to the greater glory of God through the Holy Spirit.

 

Inspiration

The following passage from Cardinal Ratzinger's, "The Spirit of the Liturgy," inspired the name Schola Spiritus Sancti.

"The Holy Spirit, Who had inspired David to sing and to pray, moves him to speak of Christ, indeed causes him to become the very mouth of Christ, thus enabling us in the Psalms to speak through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, to the Father. Now this … not only concerns the text but also includes the element of music. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us to sing – first David and then, through him, Israel and the Church. Yes, singing, the surpassing of ordinary speech, is a ‘pneumatic’ event. Church music comes into being as a ‘charism’, a gift of the Spirit."