Communion music
During Communion this week, we shall be listening to “Ave Verum Corpus” by William Byrd (c. 1540–1623), performed by the Ora Singers.
Even in an era replete with great composers, Byrd stands out as the most prodigiously talented, prolific, and versatile of his generation. A large body of his work has survived, thanks in part to the then recent invention of music printing. Queen Elizabeth I was one of his benefactors, despite his intense and sometimes problematic commitment to Catholicism in those turbulent religious times. The text of this Eucharistic chant (“Hail, true Body”), dating from the 13th century, meditates on the Real Presence and the redemptive meaning of Christ’s suffering.