The choir of St Nicholas' Collegiate Church in Galway has been invited to sing at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
They will make their historic visit to the Italian capital in the week following Easter Sunday. In a rare honour for a Church of Ireland choir, they have been requested to sing at the Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St Peter's Basilica.
During the Mass, they will perform work by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the revered composer who served as Master of the Chapel Choir at St Peter's in the 1550s.
The Provost and rector, the Very Reverend Lynda Peilow, said it was a rare honour for a Church of Ireland choir to perform in one of the holiest places in Catholicism.
"This invitation and trip is testament to the choir's hard work and dedication. We are all looking forward to the trip, especially at such a poignant time in the Church calendar; it will be a blessing to spend time together after all the choir’s hard work through Holy Week and Easter and deeply affirming to them," she said.
The ecumenical spirit of the trip will be further enhanced with the St Nicholas’ Choir also singing at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls - one of Rome’s four major basilicas - and at the Anglican Church of St Paul's Within the Walls, the first non-Roman Catholic church built within Rome’s city walls.
The Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, Frances Collins, is expected to attend the Saturday liturgy at St Paul’s Outside the Walls.
The twenty four voices of St Nicholas' choral ensemble include the many students who are on scholarships to sing in the choir, long-standing members of the choir, and members of the St Nicholas' community.
The choir will be accompanied by Mark Duley, Director of Music at St Nicholas’, organ scholar Peter Gardiner, the Provost, the Very Reverend Lynda Peilow, and the Bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Burrows.
