Louisville students and faculty gathered in St. Louis Hall to celebrate the first liturgy of the year on August 25. Everyone was excited to enjoy a Louisville mass together after the summer apart. Once the first song began to play, a hush of anticipation fell over the crowd, for everyone knew the mass was starting.

The first mass of the year is always on the Feast of St. Louis IX to celebrate Louisville’s patron saint. This mass, like all others at Louisville, is always accompanied by song. Mrs. Crawley leads her singers; she calls the LvHS Community Singers to sing the holy harmonies for mass. Under her guidance at the first mass, the girls did a wonderful job confidently leading the congregation through song, hitting every note.

Since the feast day of St. Louis IX is August 25, Mrs Crawley had to work fast to prepare her girls. She added 12 new freshmen to her group of singers and readied them for mass in just one week. Mrs. Crawley was pleased with the new talent she received because many of the new freshmen were already strong at cantoring from doing it at their own parishes.

“For the first mass, I was most encouraged that there were so many who wanted to sing. The confidence they have for singing their faith was hopeful,” said Mrs. Crawley ’81.

The singers enthusiastically practiced, even on their own time, which showed in their beautiful singing at mass.   

Along with the singing from the LvHS Community Singers, President Dr. Aguilar and Ms. de Mattos ’99 from the admissions department surprised students by singing the closing blessing. This tradition began many years ago when Mrs. Crawley first asked them to do a duet, and they  amazed the community with their talent.

Dr. Aguilar, Dr. Quinn ’94 and Sister Donna ’67 received blessings for their new positions, and the duet closed the ceremony, welcoming them to their new leadership roles. Sister Maria recited the first part of the blessing, giving them strength for the school year. Dr. Aguilar and Ms. de Mattos then sang the rest of the blessing. This final blessing was the song “The Prayer” by David Foster.

The mass ended on a joyful note thanks to the uplifting singing from Dr. Aguilar and Ms. de Mattos, and new students were properly introduced to the pageantry of a Louisville liturgy. The next liturgy is an interfaith prayer service on October 22 and will honor several faith practices in a non-traditional format.