ROME — Thousands of miles separate the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome — 4,490 miles, to be exact.

But sacred music fills both this Jubilee Year.

For the 2025 Jubilee, the basilica’s choir embarked this month on a special pilgrimage to Rome. Through concerts in some of Rome’s basilicas like St. Mary Major and St. Peter in Chains, the choir hoped to share the richness of the Church’s sacred music tradition with faithful and pilgrims.

“What we are really dedicated to doing is providing beautiful music in the context of the liturgy at the National Shrine,” said Peter Latona, who has been directing the choir of the basilica, the preeminent Marian shrine of the Catholic Church in the United States, for 23 years.

“But of course, we like to share that art, that music, that form of evangelization, by doing concerts — and what better place to do it than in Rome during a jubilee year.” 

Their repertoire primarily featured Renaissance music from the 16th and 17th centuries, along with contemporary American pieces from the 20th century, from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and William Byrd to Alice Parker and Gustav Holst. 

At the Marian shrine of St. Mary Major, the theme of their first concert — filled with many Marian pieces — focused on drawing closer “to Jesus through Mary.” 

“I hope that it really brings them closer to God,” Charlotte Stewart, mezzo-soprano in the basilica choir, told the Register. “Music has such an ability to transcend time and place and just really move people in such a way that sometimes words alone don't.”

Stewart explained that singing “almost penetrates your soul in such a way that other art forms don’t.” 

“You can feel the collective heartbeats of the choir singing with you and the organ and the words that are being sung to the glory of God, and all of it together is just wonderful,” she added.

Sacred music is an integral part of the life and mission of the largest Catholic church in North America.

Comprised of 16 professional singers from the greater Washington metropolitan area, the choir is dedicated to providing excellence in sacred choral music in the context of liturgy throughout the liturgical year. 

Each year, the choir is engaged in almost 100 performances and prepares approximately 300 works each season drawn from the wealth of the Catholic sacred music tradition — including, this year, in the Eternal City.

 

A Tool of Evangelization

“Music is really the highest form of art,” Latona told the Register. “It has the ability to really unite hearts and minds, so people are thinking and feeling the same thing at the same time, which is kind of the idea of what corporate worship is about: People come together to pray, to praise, to learn, to be inspired, to experience the divine — and music is instrumental in doing that.”

Describing the beautiful Roman churches, domes, mosaics and statues that surround the city, Latona added that it’s sometimes “hard to remember that there is music that is equally as beautiful that was written around the same time, that you don’t get to hear unless it’s performed.” 

“So, in a sense,” he added, “we are bringing to life these great works of art.”

In the end, however, Latona stressed that it is about “making the liturgy as beautiful and impactful as it can be and let that speak and inspire — that is how I myself was inspired.”

 

Inspired by Song

For centuries, the Catholic Church has recognized the ability of sacred music to elevate the soul to God, deepen worship, and express the mystery of faith — a mission that lies at the heart of the basilica’s choir.

Music and beauty can be a powerful tool of evangelization. Pope St. John Paul II emphasized this in his 1999 “Letter to Artists,” where he stressed the transformative and redemptive nature of beauty, including that of music, in the world. In Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy promulgated by Paul VI, the Church reaffirmed its profound esteem for sacred music, emphasizing its integral role in the liturgy and its capacity to enhance worship.

For many listeners, and even choir members, music can play a pivotal role in conversion and in coming to know the Church. 

Sara MacKimmie, who first visited Rome with the choir “in the fall of 2016, during the Year of Mercy,” is a witness to the power of the music and its beauty to move hearts towards God.

“I was so inspired and blown away by everything that I saw in Rome; it really made a huge impact on me,” MacKimmie, who sings soprano in the choir, told the Register. “That, plus everything that had happened during my first year singing at the shrine, made me realize that I really wanted to be Catholic and be part of the Church. I was received into the Church in 2017.”

Reflecting on the power of evangelization that music also holds, MacKimmie said: “I have so many friends who have come into the Church through academia or the early Church Fathers or Thomism — they know about Aquinas — but, for me, and I think for other people too, what really evangelized me was the beauty of both the music and the liturgy.” 

“I think music can be such a tool,” she added, “and there are other people from the choir who have come into the Church because they are so touched by that beauty.”

She shared that while singing she has observed congregants “who are just overcome. You can see that the beauty is touching them so deeply.”

 

Bringer of Joy
 

“I think, as professional musicians, we always want to do the best job we can do,” John Mullan, who sings tenor in the basilica choir, told the Register. “But with sacred music you also have the responsibility of trying to bring people closer to God.”

Mullan, whose parents work as music ministers at their local parish, grew up like most choir members: immersed in liturgical music. “It has actually really been a dream of mine,” he added, “to sing with the basilica choir, with singers that I’ve looked up to for years and years.”

“We hope people come away from the concerts feeling spiritually refreshed, spiritually renewed, feeling a deeper connection both to the text and to the music that we are performing,” he continued. “But more than anything else, I hope they feel joy. That is really what we want to bring.”

 

Moved by Music

“I have two children of my own and I also direct a liturgical children’s choir,” Stewart said, “and so I love the opportunity to teach the next generation, to pass all of this musical wisdom and tradition down to them and to see their eyes light up as they engage in this rich history.”

“As a singer I find I sometimes get so emotional singing this music,” Mullan said, “where you really feel if a composer is writing music to glorify, to celebrate, to acknowledge mercy, to acknowledge repentance, it is so easy to really feel that in a way that just words alone sometimes can’t do.”

Reflecting on the recent surge of choirs and ensembles dedicated to preserving and transmitting the Church’s timeless musical heritage across the U.S., MacKimmie observed:

“I think that there is such a great sort of renaissance right now in Church music, and that is very exciting to see. I think that the shrine does a great job of being an example of what is possible. It just shows what is possible in Church music.”

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