Choral Evensong in Madoc

The Cathedral Choir and director Brad Barbeau head to the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Madoc, Ontario, to sing Choral Evensong on Sunday, June 14 at 4pm. All are invited to attend this service of sung evening prayer. The Rev. Michael Rice, Incumbent, and the Very Rev. Douglas Michael, Cathedral Dean, officiate at this service.

About Choral Evensong

The origins of Choral Evensong go back many centuries, and have their roots in the ancient patterns of monastic worship, which were based on the regular singing of all 150 psalms and the systematic reading of the Bible. Brief services, or offices, were said or sung throughout the day and night, in accordance with St. Paul’s instruction to ‘pray without ceasing’, so that the whole of the daily routine of monks and nuns could be sanctified and offered to God. In the aftermath of the Reformation in England, the first Book of Common Prayer (published in 1549) combined elements from a number of the monastic offices to form the dual services of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, or Evensong. Each has as its central feature the recitation or singing of the Psalms; readings from Scripture; and prayers for the Church, the world, and those in need. Both services have fixed songs or canticles associated with them, including the Magnificat (the Song of Mary from St. Luke’s Gospel) and the Nunc dimittis (the Song of Simeon from St. Luke’s Gospel) at Evensong. This format was formalized in The Book of Common Prayer 1662 and has remained largely unchanged ever since.