Sample tracks:
#2: “Kyrie” from the Missa “O Quam Gloriosum”

#12: Communion chant: Beati mundo corde

What is All Saints at St. Michael’s?

This was a CD produced in 1999 by St. Michael’s Parish (FSSP), in Scranton, Pennsylvania, while Mark Donnelly was the director of the St. Michael’s Schola & Polyphonic Choir. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the initial release, we have remastered the original tracks, including:

the chant propers for All Saints’ Day,
Victoria’s Missa “O Quam Gloriosum”
Victoria’s “Ave Maria”
Palestrina’s exquisite “Sicut Cervus”
and Hassler’s “Tu Es Petrus“!

As bonus tracks, this re-issue includes three of Mark’s original compositions sung by Offertorium:

“Pater Noster”
“Ave Maria”
“Memento Verbi Tui”

From the liner notes of the re-issue:
Initially, All Saints at St. Michael’s had a two-fold purpose. First, as with many parochial churches, this project was undertaken to raise money for the parish. However, our second reason was a little more ambitious (and perhaps presumptuous!): It was simply to present an example of what a typical Catholic parish could do with some talent, commitment, and effort. The order of the pieces on the album is as they would be sung in traditional parishes for most Sundays and feast days….

Were we trying to compete with the top professional choirs out there? By no means! But we didn’t want to embarrass the parish (or ourselves!) either. We hoped, at least, that it would be an album people would include in the listening rotation on their car or home stereo….

So why re-issue All Saints at St. Michael’s, 25 years later? Well, it’s still a testimony to what we can and should be doing at the parochial level, namely, choosing good quality, fitting music and singing it well! And the additional tracks sung by Offertorium show that while doing so, we can continue to grow the musical patrimony of the Catholic Church.

Mark Emerson Donnelly

All Saints at St. Michael’s: 25th Anniversary! – ChantHacks Store