Lessons and Carols
Lessons and Carols
Attend St. John Cantius’ Lessons and Carols...
Lessons and Carols is a special Advent service of nine Bible readings, choral music and caroling, that is a journey through the liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. During the medieval period Christmas caroling became popular and by the beginning of the fifteenth century, carol-singing had become an integral element of seasonal worship. Though carols, indeed the celebration of Christmas itself, were banned in England by the Puritan regime of Oliver Cromwell during the seventeenth century, they were preserved and augmented in the New World, and eventually restored as a beloved tradition in Great Britain.
While the terms “carol” and “hymn” may occasionally overlap, the two genres are, in fact, different. Hymn texts tend to didacticism; while the purpose of the carol - one that stems from its medieval analogue, the mystery play - is narrative. For unlettered folk of the Middle Ages, the carol, like a stained glass panel or a fresco tableau, depicted the momentous event of Christ’s Incarnation. And, in honor of the saint who may well be called the father of the Christian ode to joy, Francis of Assisi, the nature of most carols is both joyous and reverential.
In the Christmas Tradition of the Great English Choirs, St. John Cantius Church of Chicago presents “A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols” annually on the eve of “Gaudete” Sunday (3rd Sunday of Advent).