2nd Annual Lenten Concert

By: Brendon Laroche
Seminarian, Pre-Theology II

On Saturday, April 9, 2011, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary held its second annual Lenten concert. The concert's title was "Into Your Hands, Lord... Lenten Lessons Through Word & Song." The concert featured the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary choir. Numerous seminarians also served as musicians, soloists, members of small ensembles, readers, technicians, etc.

Brendon Laroche

The Lenten Concert is a new tradition at St. Charles. It had its modest beginning during Lent of 2010. This year's concert showed an evident increase in attendees. It is the seminary community's hope that attendance will continue to rise and put the Lenten Concert on par with the seminary's traditional Advent concert.

The Lenten concert is an almost entirely student-organized event. Dr. Theodore Kiefer, the seminary's Director of Liturgical Music, provides invaluable assistance by helping direct the choir, arranging music, and playing the organ. Ultimately, however, the Lenten concert is directed, coordinated, and performed by the seminarians themselves. The seminarians also provide all the publicity for this concert.

Like the Advent concert, the Lenten concert is not just about entertainment. It is about using music to bring into clear focus the penitential nature of the Lenten season and the great and saving work of Jesus Christ that it commemorates. It does this through a variety of music: Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony, as well as contemporary pieces. Interspersed with the music are readings from Sacred Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, great spiritual classics, and papal documents. The readings seek to further draw out the spiritual message of music. The ultimate goal of the concert is to enrich the spiritual lives of its attendees by presenting them with a prayerful meditation on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.