The Neum January 2023

Happy New Year everyone!

We hope your Christmas season has been peaceful, joyful, and shared with those you love. Floriani is back at it after a brief, post-Christmas rest, and the year ahead could not be more exciting. With several trips planned all over the country (and a few outside of it), our mission to stir souls through the beauty of sacred music continues to pick up speed. In addition to these tours (which will include the likes of the Bay Area and Denver), this year, Floriani will:

• host our first sacred music conference, which will take place in Cholula, Mexico (stay tuned for information on how to sign up)

• release at least two more CDs

• begin filming our sacred music short film series, Threshold of Heaven.

Perhaps most excitingly, however, we are hoping to add at least one more member to the group. We will keep you all updated on these exciting undertakings!

WHAT A SEASON!

Last month we had a generous donor put forth a pledge to match donations raised in December up to $20,000. Thanks to your help, we met that number with relative ease—but it did not end there. Several donors took it upon themselves to help us raise another pledge of $22,000, which was also met before the end of the year! That is an $84k dollar campaign 🎊 by far the most successful fundraising operation we have had. Your generosity has moved us deeply, and we are humbled to have all of you alongside us in our mission to move souls through the power of this great tradition. Clearly, the desire for sacred music in the liturgy is growing, and your support is directly responsible for allowing us to further this mission. As mentioned above, we have a huge year ahead of us. Please continue to pray for us as we enter into an especially exciting phase of our vision.

The candlelit Christmas Vigil Mass at St. Anne's.

Our Gift of Finest Gold

At midnight on Christmas morning, we participated in another spectacular liturgy accompanied by full orchestra. The St. Anne’s adult choir sang Mozart’s Missa Brevis in C Major, along with other gorgeous Christmas favorites, including an accompanied arrangement of Silent Night composed by Giorgio. The entire church was dark, lit only by a massive amount of candles in and around the sanctuary and altar, and the momentous celebration was crowned with Handel’s Hallelujah chorus for the recessional. These extravagant liturgies, like the requiem held in November, are our way of sharing with people the true glory of the Mass, and what is possible when people combine their efforts in order to bring about these powerful expressions of praise. Joseph Pieper says, “the full power of worship will only be felt if its sacramental character is realized in undiminished form, that is, unless the sign is fully visible.” That is to say, there is (at the very least) a correlation between the way in which we celebrate the liturgy and the way in which we believe. The fullness of our beliefs is manifest especially in the context of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and thus, the Mass ought to express, as much as possible, the greatness of the God we worship. This is an important aspect of our mission, and we hope you have an opportunity, with us or elsewhere, to experience the liturgy in undiminished form.

The St. Anne's adult choir singing this beautiful piece of music by Herbert Howell based on a poem by Frances Chesterton (G.K. Chesterton's wife).

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Questions? Feel free to email us anytime at florianisacredmusic@gmail.com. We are so grateful for your support! Please keep us in your prayers! - Giorgio, Graham, Joe, and Thomas