The Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy & Music

10/03/2026

One week from today--on October 10 at 11am--a pontifical Latin Requiem Mass will be offered at St. Joseph's in Lancaster, PA for the repose of the soul of the Lancaster TLM community's longtime organist, Mark Erb. The Victoria Requiem for four voices will be sung on this occasion. All are invited to join and pray for the soul of Mark, and all the faithful departed.

09/27/2026

Friends in the Boston area! Our executive director will be coming to you for the first time, to assist with an Ordinariate solemn Mass for Michaelmas. Please join us and share the word!

08/17/2026

Congratulations to The Suspicious Cheese Lords on their 30th anniversary! Durandus collaborated with the Lords in 2023 for a Mass at the Crypt of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, which featured a program of sacred music focused on William Byrd near the 400th anniversary of his death.

08/14/2026

Dear friends, here are some video snippets from our solemn Vespers & Te Deum "as it was in 1776" on the feast of St. James, celebrating also the 250th anniversary of the United States in Philadelphia. Many thanks to Thomas Tonelli for recording this footage! See comments for link to the full video.

07/28/2026

A reporter for Our Sunday Visitor came to our 1776 Vespers and interviewed our team members afterward. You can read all about it here.

The time machine to Catholic evening prayer in late 18th-century America began just outside the church with Father Pasley, six fellow priests, fife and drum players and historians wearing clothing reminiscent of Revolutionary War times.

07/27/2026

Photos from the solemn Vespers & Te Deum on the feast of St. James, and in thanksgiving for the Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of the founding of the United States, organized by The Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy & Music. The event took place at St. Augustine Church in old city Philadelphia, near Independence Hall.

The music for Vespers was drawn chiefly from "A Compilation of the Litanies and Vespers Hymns and Anthems as They Are Sung in the Catholic Church" by John Aitken. Published in Philadelphia in 1787, it is the oldest book of Catholic music published in the United States. With the choir supported by a small portatif organ and violin, worshippers experienced Vespers as it was heard in 1776, and as described by John Adams during a visit to Vespers at Old St. Mary's, Philadelphia.

The liturgy was preceded by a ceremonial reading of the Declaration of Independence outside the church, and the singing of hymns from the Revolutionary War ("Let tyrants shake their iron rod" and "God save our thirteen states"), with the support of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment (the "Jersey Greys") and the New Jersey Fifes and Drums.

We concluded with the singing of Te Deum, as was experienced by members of the Continental Congress when they visited Old St. Mary's on the Fourth of July, 1779, to attend a Te Deum service in the third year of independence and to celebrate the Franco-American alliance.

Photo credit: Peter Tulay

07/23/2026

Our hosting church, St. Augustine's in Philadelphia, actually has a sister bell to the Liberty Bell. The bell at St. Augustine's was originally cast at the Whitechapel Foundry in London as a replacement for the bell at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), as it had cracked shortly after arrival. However, the people of Philadelphia grew found of the original bell's sound despite the flaw, so the "Sister Bell" rang at the State House together with its more famous counterpart for decades until the Augustinians finally acquired it.

Come visit us for the Semiquincentennial Vespers on Saturday, and take a look at the "sister bell" at the back of the church!

07/22/2026

The people of New Jersey have truly stepped up to make our upcoming Vespers worthy of 250 years! In addition to the New Jersey Fifes and Drums, a few members of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment--the Jersey Greys--will be present to form an honor guard, and interact with visitors before and after the liturgy.

A member of their ranks will also carry out the service of the ceremonial reading of the Declaration of Independence outside the church, before the start of the liturgy.

07/21/2026

We're pleased to announce that several members of the New Jersey Fifes and Drums will be assisting us by playing music outside of St. Augustine Church during the hour before the start of our Semiquincentennial Vespers. Come early, find parking (which will likely be challenging), and enjoy music of the Revolutionary War period starting at 5pm on Saturday!

(Members of this group are often--understandably--confused for representing the "redcoats" of the British Army. In reality, their uniforms are in the reverse colors of their regiment's combatant uniforms. This helped to identify musicians on the battlefield as non-combatants.)

07/20/2026

In our event description for this coming Saturday's Vespers celebrating America's Semiquincentennial, we quoted a small excerpt from John Adams's letter to his wife Abigail, where he recounted his experience of attending Vespers at Old St. Mary's Catholic Church in Philadelphia. Here is a fuller excerpt below. It's a certainly a back-handed compliment in some parts, but we reproduce it here for your amusement (and/or consternation).

John Adams, to Abigail Adams, October 9, 1774:
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This afternoon, led by Curiosity and good Company I strolled away to [illegible] Mother Church, or rather Grandmother Church, I mean the Romish Chappell. Heard a good, short, moral Essay upon the Duty of Parents to their Children, founded in justice and Charity, to take care of their Interests temporal and spiritual.

This Afternoons Entertainment was to me, most awfull and affecting. The poor Wretches, fi*****ng their Beads, chanting Latin, not a Word of which they understood, their Pater Nosters and Ave Maria's. Their holy Water-their Crossing themselves perpetually-their Bowing to the Name of Jesus, their wherever they hear it-their Bowings, and Kneelings, and Genuflections before the Altar. The Dress of the Priest was rich with Lace-his Pulpit was Velvet and Gold. The Altar Piece was very rich-little Images and Crucifixes about-Wax Candles lighted up. But how shall I describe the Picture of our Saviour in a Frame of Marble over the Altar at full Length upon the Cross, in the Agonies, and the Blood dropping and streaming from his Wounds.

The Musick consisting of an organ, and a Choir of singers, went all the Afternoon, excepting sermon Time, and the Assembly chanted-most sweetly and exquisitely.

Here is every Thing which can lay hold of the Sight Eye, Ear, and Imagination. Every Thing which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.

Adieu.
John Adams