Padre Pio’s Prayer: An Introduction to the CD by Harry Christophers

Harry Christophers is the founder and conductor of The Sixteen.

When Pope Benedict XVI was inaugurated as head of the Roman Catholic Church in 2005, he vowed that he would seek to reform music at the Vatican and in the Catholic Church worldwide. Various comments of his have been reported in a slightly distorted fashion, as in certain tabloids, “Pope forbids guitars” and my favourite one, which appeared in the Irish Times, “Pope's Rock Rap Hits just the Right Chord”. But this is what the Pope actually said: “Sacred polyphony constitutes a heritage that should be preserved with care, kept alive and made better known, for the benefit not only of the scholars and specialists but of the ecclesiastical community as a whole. An authentic updating of sacred music can take place only in the lineage of the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony."

There is no doubt that the new Pope wishes to see a return to the great music of the sixteenth century but that it should sit alongside the music of our present day. Those of you who know our repertoire will be well acquainted with our many recordings of Renaissance works. However, it is also important that we champion music of today. This would not be possible without the support, belief and encouragement of individuals. We are so fortunate to have in John Studzinski, the architect of the whole “Padre Pio” project, through his inspired Genesis Foundation, someone who believes not only in creating spiritual experiences but also ensuring that music in the Catholic Church is upheld and, above all, injected with life.

For John, the humility of Padre Pio’s prayer is its most powerful message and on this recording we have the fruits of his intriguing commissions — three very different composers’ interpretation of the
prayer that Padre Pio recited every day of his life:

Stay with me , Lord,
For You are my light
And without You I am in darkness.

It was quite fascinating for me to see the way this beautiful prayer affected James MacMillan, Roxanna Panufnik and Will Todd, the latter being the only non-Catholic of the three. All are inspired but in different ways; James by the soul’s lonely anguish at impending death, Roxanna by the introvert, ardent and passionate text and Will by the fervent, beseeching intensity of the prayer.

I sincerely hope that with this recording we can live up to John Studzinski’s passion for new music and bring this heartfelt and quite beautiful sacred music to a much wider audience.

Buy: Padre Pio Prayer
To Buy the Padre Pio CD at a special 25% discount, visit The Sixteen’s online shop.
When purchasing your CD type ‘PADREPIO’ into the special offer box to get your discount.