To praise the namesake of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, and to extend the commemoration of its 125th anniversary, the Seminary’s Schola Cantorum has recorded the fourth album in its history, Hail, Saint Joseph! Songs in Honor of Our Patron. The Good Newsroom learned more about this latest endeavor from Rev. Matthew S. Ernest, S.T.D., Academic Dean, Professor and Director of Liturgy at Saint Joseph’s Seminary. 

The Good Newsroom: From where did the idea for the CD come? Has the Seminary issued recordings before? 

Father Ernest: The inspiration behind our latest CD, Hail, Saint Joseph! Songs in Honor of Our Patron, was a culmination of several factors. As many will recall, in 2020-2021, the Church celebrated the Year of Saint Joseph, who is our namesake and patron here at the Seminary. During that same year, we celebrated the Seminary’s 125^th anniversary, and our community wanted to commemorate this important milestone with a musical keepsake. The result of these efforts is our latest CD, which is the fourth in a series of Seminary albums spanning the past 30 years (1993-2023).

The Good Newsroom: Is there a significant musical tradition relating to Saint Joseph?

While there is not an abundance of musical pieces honoring Saint Joseph in the classical repertoire, our musical tradition here at Saint Joseph’s Seminary certainly has a long and cherished history. Saint Joseph’s music program began under Msgr. Richard Curtain, who was the first Director of Sacred Music at the Seminary, from 1946 to 1966. Msgr. Curtain built up the music program and formed an entire generation of seminarians in the Church’s tradition of sacred music during his tenure. He also left behind a treasury of recordings that would later be released on CD.

When Fr. Anthony Sorgie took over as Director of Sacred Music in 1986, he brought the music of the schola to new audiences through the Seminary’s very popular Christmas concert series. During this period, Fr. Sorgie was fortunate to work with Fr. Steven Challman, who was a seminarian at Saint Joseph’s at the time. Fr. Challman himself had been a music producer, having worked with artists such as Whitney Houston and Neil Diamond. During his studies for the priesthood, Fr. Challman partnered with Fr. Sorgie to produce three CDs of sacred music featuring the schola.

In the year 2000, the Seminary established a Chair of Sacred Music and both Msgr. Curtain and Fr. Sorgie’s names were attached to this distinguished position in acknowledgment of their wide and many contributions to the tradition of sacred music at the Seminary.

The Good Newsroom: How much of the recording and production was done with resources from the Seminary?

Our latest CD was very much a collaboration of students, faculty, and professionals in the music recording industry. The Seminary schola, consisting of over 20 seminarians, our Director of Sacred Music at the time, Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, an organist, soloists, photographer, and recording engineers all contributed to the project. All the pieces were recorded in our historic chapel. Some additional mastering was required, and we were fortunate to have Fr. Steven Challman once again loan his support and wisdom to the Seminary’s music program and connect us with an industry-leading professional who made our recording sound truly first-rate. For my part, I had the honor of serving as the executive producer for the project, and I am grateful to have had this opportunity to join with students and colleagues in contributing to the long history of musical excellence at Saint Joseph’s Seminary.

Listen to Hail, Saint Joseph! Songs in Honor of Our Patron‘s first track, “Memorare of St. Joseph,” here.

The CD is available for purchase ($20+shipping) at the Seminary’s online bookstore.