St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church Choir in Galway was invited to Rome to sing at some of the Eternal City’s most famous churches, including St Peter’s Basilica.
The choir of St Nicholas’ made their historic visit to the Italian capital in April, in the week following Easter Sunday. In a rare honour for a Church of Ireland choir, they were requested to sing at the Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St Peter’s Basilica. This is the first time a choir from the Church of Ireland has been invited to sing Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.
During the Mass, they performed work by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina – the revered composer who served as Master of the Chapel Choir at St Peter’s in the 1550s.
The ecumenical spirit of the trip was further enhanced with the St Nicholas’ Choir also singing at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls – one of Rome’s four major basilicas – and at the Anglican Church of St Paul’s Within the Walls, the first non-Roman Catholic church built within Rome’s city walls. The Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, Erin Swan, attended the Saturday liturgy at St Paul’s outside the walls.
The twenty-four voices of St Nicholas’ choral ensemble included the many students who are on choral scholarships to sing in the choir, long-standing members of the choir, and members of the St. Nicholas’ community. The choir was accompanied by Mark Duley, Director of Music at St. Nicholas’, organ scholar Peter Gardiner, the Provost, the Very Rev’d Lynda Peilow, and the Bishop, the Right Rev’d Michael Burrows.
The Provost and rector, the Very Reverend Lynda Peilow, said: “This invitation and trip were a testament to the choir’s hard work and dedication. We had all been looking forward to the trip for many months, and it was especially meaningful for the trip to take place at such a poignant time in the Church calendar; it was a blessing to spend time together after all the choir’s hard work through Holy Week and Easter and deeply affirming to them.”