Ave Maria Celebrates its Feast Day

When the town of Ave Maria was being planned, the layout of the Ave Maria town center was oriented so that the azimuth of sunrise -- the point at which the sun breaks the horizon -- would be directly behind the Ave Maria Oratory on March 25, when the Solemnity of the Annunciation is normally observed. 

Yesterday we celebrated that feast with a beautiful Annunciation Mass and Eucharistic procession at which our bishop Frank Dewane presided.

Afterward students danced joyfully to the Irish music of a visiting band from DC.  The open air concert concluded with a quiet moment as the sound system died, the audience moved in close, and the two fiddlers played Schubert's Ave Maria.  The audience sang along quietly.  Not only did the students know the Latin words, but they knew what Schubert had done with them and could sing them to his music.  An impressive and beautiful moment.  Enough to make an old man cry!