A Hymn in Stone: Sacred Music from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
July 21 @ 7:00 pm
As part of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians 2026 Convention, the Choir of the Basilica will present a concert entitled: A Hymn in Stone – Sacred Music from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Join us on Tuesday, July 21, at 7:00 p.m., for this evening of sacred music in the Great Upper Church of the Basilica.
Concert Description:
In the January 1914 issue of the National Shrine’s newsletter Salve Regina, Bishop Shahan envisioned the building of the National Shrine as “a monument of love and gratitude, a great hymn in stone, embodying forever the purest and sweetest affections of the Catholic heart and consecrating them in one changeless act of praise and joy, as perfect as the art of man can make it and as holy as the intentions of its builders could wish it to be.”
Inspired by that vision, the musicians of the Basilica will present a concert entitled A Hymn in Stone. The program will feature the diverse modes of expression that comprise music-making at the National Shrine: from the 56 bells of the Knights Tower Carillon soaring 329 feet above, to the nearly 10,000 pipes of the great organs in the South and West galleries, to the voices of the Choir of the Basilica, as well as the voices of the faithful gathered beneath the mosaics of the Great Upper Church. The program will feature hymns, psalms, motets, and organ compositions both ancient and modern, including works by the Basilica’s Director of Music and NPM Pastoral Musician Award recipient Dr. Peter Latona.
Listeners will experience music shaped by the Shrine’s distinctive aesthetic, lift their own voices in song, and depart with renewed vision and inspiration for their own music ministry.
Just as music resonates through limestone, granite, and marble, we, the Church, become the living stones through which the praise of God resounds, echoing the words of Scripture: “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,” (1 Peter 2:5).
