New England is one of the most beautiful places in America and Magdalen College is blessed to call New England its home. Located at the base of Mount Kearsarge with a view of the Mink Hills, the college’s campus offers moments of inspiring natural beauty on a daily basis in every season.
Occupying a campus of 135 acres of pine and hardwood forest, open fields, gravel footpaths, and stone walls that are remnants of late nineteenth-century farms, Magdalen College is located in picturesque Warner, New Hampshire and its buildings and the layout of the campus are designed as a traditional New England village.
Students at Magdalen College have a wealth of cultural opportunities within and beyond the classroom. Through the “Arts of the Beautiful” Program on campus, students sing chant, polyphony, and classic hymns. In the visual arts they write Byzantine icons, draw, and paint. And through the St. Genesius players they act, design costumes, and direct. Students also reflect on artistic making and aesthetic experience using the tools of philosophy and theology within their courses—both in the Philosophy and Humanities Sequence but also through the “Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics course.” Those who wish to go further take up the “Fine Arts Concentration” in addition to their major.
Still others create new works of art for the annual spring art show and others submit musical compositions, poetry, and other works of creativity to compete for the annual Josef Pieper Prize that is announced at the annual feast that follows the Easter Vigil.
Off campus—in Concord, Manchester, Boston, and Hanover—students attend concerts and the theater, visit museums, and more. Further afield, students experience the cultural riches of Montreal, Washington D.C., and New York through collegiate outings to those cities.
For more information about the “Arts of the Beautiful Program” visit here.
For decades the college has sought to offer its very best in the worship of God in the liturgy. Through the all-college choir, polyphony choir, and chant schola, the liturgy is adorned with music that integrates the treasury of sacred chant, polyphony, and classic hymns. Each evening Compline is sung in the residential chapels and on Sunday evening the students gather in the main chapel for Adoration, sung Compline, and Benediction. In recent years, our chaplain has led the further adornment of the main chapel with Marian blue and gold in the sanctuary. These colors are the perfect complement for the Melkite liturgies celebrated each semester in the academic year and the Traditional Roman High Mass celebrated each Friday.
The liturgical cycle of the Church as a whole, but also of the college as well, reaches its pinnacle during the Paschal Triduum. It is in these days that all of our efforts combine to render to God our best gifts of beauty, beginning with sung Tenebrae on Wednesday and continuing through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, Easter morning, and Vespers on Easter Sunday. These liturgies, their music, their images, and ultimately their meaning constitute some of the fondest memories of our graduates. Indeed, it is not uncommon for alumni to return for the Triduum and join the choir.
Approximately thirty minutes from the campus, Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire, offers students a wide variety of opportunities for leisure and cultural beauty, including events at the Capitol Center for the Arts and art-house films at the Red River Theatre. For more information, visit this site devoted to Concord’s attractions. (There is a direct bus service from Concord to Boston.)
Approximately forty-five minutes from the campus, Manchester, the largest city in New Hampshire, features cultural centers including the Currier Museum of Art, the Palace Theater, and the Verizon Wireless center.
In addition to the opportunities in Concord and Manchester, there are a number of opportunities to enjoy professional classical concerts, theater, cinema, and art throughout New England. These include the Nashua Symphony and the New Hampshire Philharmonic in Salem. A wealth of cultural events takes place forty-five minutes north at the Hopkins Theater in Hanover near Dartmouth College.
Boston, one of America’s oldest and greatest cities, lies south of the college, approximately 90 minutes by car. Its historical and cultural treasures offer opportunities for exploration and leisure.
Some of Boston’s most popular attractions include:
Boston Historic Sites, Boston Symphony, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Sports, Freedom Trail, Fenway Park, North End of Boston, John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum & Library, Boston Public Garden, Boston Harbor Islands National Park, Beacon Hill, Swing City Boston, New England Aquarium, Boston Pops, Boston Commons, Museum of Science, USS Constitution Museum, Museum of Russian Icons and Faneuil Hall.
