Vincent Persichetti: The hollow men (1944)

Anthony Plog tpt / Hans-Ola Ericsson org (BIS-CD-565)

Elie Siegmeister: On this ground (1972)

Kenneth Boulton pf (Naxos 8.559020)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli (1555)

Pro Cantione Antique / Bruno Turner cond (MHS 416608T)

an account by KEN QUANDT

The saints have shown us many ways to live a perfect life. Yet somehow the lesson we tend to come away with is that the saints are special, rather than their lives. We know they would not have it this way, that they want us to know and to use what they have learned in our own lives rather than idolize them; and we know this because this is what their lives and actions always teach us. Therefore we need to be told their lives over and over again. Saint Francis is a perfect case. As we come to know him, we are stunned by his humility — not because we wish we were less proud, but because his humility, as it is described by the stories of his life, is so credible.
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