Gregorian Chant Pilgrimage to Solesmes Abbey, 6 Days

Length: Six days, indicative
Group: 13 pilgrims at most
Walking: Gentle
Season: All year
Status: In preparation

The grace we ask on this way

To pray with the voice of the Church, and to keep singing at home.

Paris
Solesmes
Le Mans

Gregorian chant is the chant proper to the Roman liturgy, and it was revived at Solesmes. In 1833 Dom Prosper Guéranger restored Benedictine life in the old priory on the Sarthe, and his monks spent the following century recovering the chant from the manuscripts. Their editions are still sung around the world.

The stay asks for no knowledge of music. Each morning, a chant master teaches the group to read the square notes on four lines and to sing the psalm tones and the ordinary of the Mass. The rest of the day follows the bells of the abbey, where the monks sing the Mass and the Office in the abbey church.

In the afternoons, the historian guides the group through the abbey church and the two groups of sculpture known as the Saints of Solesmes, carved between 1496 and the 1550s, and leads a day to the cathedral of Le Mans. On the last morning, the group sings its own Mass in Gregorian chant, with what it has learned.

Daily prayer

Gregorian chant is first of all prayer. The week at Solesmes teaches the group to sing it with the monks, and on the last morning the group sings its own Mass.

This landGregorian chant, nearly lost after the Revolution, was restored by the monks of a French abbey, and much of the Church still sings from their editions.

Each day

Lessons in the morning, then the Office with the monks through the day, with silence in between.

The rites of this way

Each pilgrim receives a book of the chants
Vespers sung by the group
A Mass sung by the group on the last morning

Before you leave

Nothing is needed. If you wish, listen to recordings of the monks of Solesmes, and read paragraph 116 of the Council’s constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

The fruit of the way

Chants to sing at home and in your parish, and the habit of praying the psalms.

Who it is forChoirs, singers and parishioners who wish to learn the chant; no knowledge of music is needed.

Day by day

Six days at Solesmes. The program is indicative until the way is opened for booking, and the monks’ timetable comes first.

Day I
VoxThe voice of the Church
Paris to Solesmes
The train to Sablé, and the abbey above the Sarthe
Vespers at the abbey
Night in Solesmes
Day II
NotaeThe square notes
Solesmes
First lesson: the four lines and the square notes
The conventual Mass, sung by the monks
Night in Solesmes
Day III
PsalmiThe psalms
Solesmes
The psalm tones, and the Saints of Solesmes with the historian
Compline with the monks
Night in Solesmes
Day IV
LumenThe light of the windows
Le Mans
The cathedral of Le Mans, its choir and its windows
Midday prayer in the cathedral of Le Mans
Night in Solesmes
Day V
LaudesPraise
Solesmes
The ordinary of the Mass, learned by heart
Vespers sung by the group
Night in Solesmes
Day VI
MissaThe sung Mass
Solesmes to Paris
A last morning at the abbey, then the train to Paris
A Mass sung by the group, arranged with the abbey
Last day

Masses, private openings and some visits are requested for each group and remain subject to the consent of rectors, curators and communities.

This way is in preparation; its route and length are indicative. Register your interest and we will write when the dates are set.

The holy places of this way: Paris, Solesmes, Le Mans.

Further reading: Gregorian Chant in France: Monasteries Open to Pilgrims.

Sources

This way can also be made at a gentle pace, with two or three days in Paris before or after.

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