Cathedral Record

‘The beginning of the choir year’

by Dr Christopher McElroy Director of Music, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

September marks the beginning of the new academic year when children return to school after the summer break. It also marks the beginning of the choir year when the choristers begin rehearsing and singing in the cathedral once again. September is often a quiet time, giving opportunities for the choir to re-establish routines. September this year didn’t quite happen that way. We knew it was going to be busy with the visit of the relics of St Bernadette and a visit to St Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham, but the death of HM Queen Elizabeth meant previously laid plans had to be hastily rewritten. On the Tuesday after the Queen’s death, a special Requiem Mass for the repose of her soul was offered at the Metropolitan Cathedral by Archbishop Malcolm. As is traditional on these occasions, the choir sang a choral setting of the Latin requiem text, on this occasion, the one by Gabriel Fauré. On special occasions such as this we join together our boy and girls choristers (who usually sing and rehearse separately) to sing with the adult singers, known as Lay Clerks. The girl choristers sang the Fauré last year at All Souls so remembered it well. The boys had never sung it before, so in three days worked very hard to learn around 50 pages of new music (also singing the usual Sunday services in between.) The Requiem Mass went very well, and it was very moving and a worthy tribute to our late Sovereign. The ability to put together music for special occasions such as this at short notice is possible because our choristers work day in day out through the school year. Their work ethic and concentration allows them to adapt at short notice (and even very short notice as in this case) to the requirements of the Cathedrals liturgy, and ensure that we can provide the very best music that is required. The visit of the relics of St Bernadette was a wonderful occasion for the cathedral community. Despite being nearly blown away by strong winds, the Torchlight Procession on the Cathedral Piazza was a very successful and moving occasion. The boy choristers enjoyed learning more about the life of St Bernadette from the cathedral’s new priest, Father Derek, and subsequently having the opportunity to venerate the relics themselves. On the same day our girl choristers travelled to Birmingham to join Archbishop Longley for the celebration of Mass at St Chad’s Cathedral. The Mass was offered for the repose of the soul of Her Majesty the Queen. After Mass the girls partook of lunch in a local restaurant before hitting the shops for an afternoon of leisure. Over the next few weeks the cathedral choir will be around the archdiocese singing at

•●St Oswalds, Ashton in Makerfield (30th September, 6.30 pm) •●St Mary’s, Leyland (9th October, 10.30 am) •●St Cecilia’s, Tuebrook (14th October, 6.30 pm)

Canon Anthony O’Brien – Cathedral Dean

Grateful thanks to all those who helped during the visit of the Relics of St Bernadette. Without the teamwork of so many volunteers we would not have been able to welcome the 15,000 people who came to venerate the relics over the three days and enable the various celebrations to run so smoothly. For those who took part from the sections of the Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage it was obviously a special opportunity for them to mark the start of the celebrations of the centenary year of the Official Diocesan Pilgrimage to the shrine.

Within the archives based at the Cathedral we have various correspondence related to the pilgrimage over the course of the last hundred years. We also have an interesting collection of the pilgrimage badges for many of the early years and also the swaps that some of the pilgrims made with fellow pilgrims from Salford and Lancaster. Sometime later in the year we will try and set up a small display within the Cathedral of these badges to mark the centenary year. The Pause for Hope Service, for all who have been affected by cancer will take place at 3.00 pm on Sunday 2 October. Bishop Tom Williams will preside at the service with Maria Breslin, Editor of the ‘Liverpool Echo’ and Rev Crispin Pailling, Rector of Liverpool Parish Church, giving reflections. Representatives of St Edwards College will join the Cathedral Congregation on Sunday 16 October to celebrate the Feast of St Edward the Confessor.

By the end of October the final work and voicing of the refurbished Cathedral organ should be completed and we hope to have a few celebratory events in the following months to mark the completion of the restoration. It will also leave the way open for the enabling works to begin in the spring for the extensive repairs and rebuilding needed on the Cathedral Shop and Piazza.