Alleluia, Christ has risen!
Few traditions are more cherished and anticipated by students and alumni than the liturgies, services, and events of Holy Week and Easter. 
This year the college continued these traditions, including Palm Sunday, which began with a procession and the sung Passion narrative; Wednesday’s Tenebrae and its concluding strepitus; Holy Thursday and the reposition of the Blessed Sacrament (with a guard through the night maintained by the Knights of Columbus).
Then came Good Friday’s sacred silence which began at noon, followed by the carrying of the cross up Mount 
Kearsarge, a sung chaplet, and the Good Friday liturgy featuring the veneration of the cross and a sung Passion narrative. Then followed the Easter Vigil beginning at Saint Paul’s with the Easter fire and a candlelight procession, Fr. Boucher singing the Exsultet, and concluding with the Hallelujah chorus. This liturgy was followed by the great Vigil feast. And then there was Easter Sunday.
The music for these liturgies and services included the traditional procession chants for Palm Sunday, the sung Passion narratives on both Palm Sunday and Good Friday, the polyphonic “Maria Magdalene” for Easter Sunday, the 
traditional chants for the Veneration of the Cross and Communion on Good Friday, some of the best hymns of the church (including “All Glory Laud and Honor,” “O Sacred Head Surrounded,” and “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing”), and the four-part Regina Coeli by Lotti. Also included were Byrd’s “Ave Verum Corpus” and Tallis’ “Verily, Verily I Say Unto You,” the Convent Mass by Gounod and The Mass of Ste. Cecilia by Cherion.
The college is deeply grateful for the service of its chaplain, Fr. Roger Boucher, the servers, the singers, all who prepared the campus and food, and everyone who played a role in these great traditions. And it was wonderful to have so many alumni and guests with us this year.
We look forward to welcoming next year’s freshmen class to be part of these traditions.
Learn more about spiritual life at the college.