This Monday is Sainte-Cécile. Claude, we say Cecilia, in Alsatian. My favorite of the day is written differently, chorus with H, because it is more linked to what she represents. Sainte Cécile is the patron saint of embroiderers, but above all of musicians and luthiers. Why ? A passage from her legend states that during her marriage, while the musicians were playing their instrument, she sang a hymn to the glory of God. Another said, that on going to martyrdom, she heard heavenly music.
In the Alsatian context of the liturgical restoration of the 19th century, Abbot Charles Hamm and Marie-Joseph Erb founded almost 140 years ago, in 1882, in Châtenois, the Alsacian Society of Religious Music, today the Union Sainte-Cécile. Since that date, it has not ceased to promote quality religious and liturgical music under the influence of strong musical personalities. These choirs whose mission is to animate the services, have often become the choirs of the villages. In Alsace alone, there are 766 choirs which are members of the Union Sainte-Cécile.
Fortunately there are not 100 less, we would have had a problem. That is: 766 choirs. Count between 10 and 40 people per choir, let’s admit an average of 20 choristers, ladly, that makes about 15,000 choristers in the region. The Union Sainte Cécile is also a publishing house of sacred music with a particular vocation to be part of the Catholic liturgy. From very classic to the most modern.
Its productions, as well as those of some of its partners, are presented in the catalog categories and can be ordered online through the shopping cart. I would like to take advantage of Sainte-Cécile to greet them and congratulate them on their associative commitment. Thank you, màche eso widderscht!
The Union Sainte-Cécile website.