Missa Laudato Si’ (2023–25)
An environmental Mass uniting spirituality, ecology, and climate justice, reflecting Pope Francis’s encyclical

Duration: ca. 55 minutes

for Six Singers, SATB Chorus, Treble Chorus, and 12 Instruments
여섯명의 솔로이스트, 합창단, 높은 음 합창단, 열 두 악기를 위한, “찬미받으소서 미사"

I. KYRIE ELEISON
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
II. GLORIA
Canticle of the Creatures
III. AGNUS DEI
Refugee; quasi una poesia, original text by Abdullah Kasem Al Yatim
IV. ITE, MISSA EST
One person’s truth, original text by Shiva Ryu, trans. by Dongryul Lee

제 1악장, 자비송-“IUCN 멸종 위기종 목록”
제 2악장, 영광송-“창조물들의 찬가”
제 3악장, 주의 어린 양-“압둘라 카셈 알 야팀, 난민”
제 4악장, 퇴장송-“류시화, 한사람의 진실”

”Sister [Mother Earth] now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. [...]
The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.”
– Pope Francis, Laudato si’

Missa Laudato Si', Sample Score
Scores and parts: Please contact the composer

Commissioned by The EcoVoice Project
Dedicated in memoriam to Pope Francis and with deep admiration to Kirsten Hedegaard

"Positively apocalyptic. Quotations of the Dies Irae mingle with Buddhist chant to dispel any notion of a silver lining."
“전적으로 묵시론적입니다. 심판의 날 선율이 불교적 염불소리와 뒤섞이며, 한 줄기 희망조차 철저히 지워버립니다.”

– Chicago Classical Review

"Composer weaves climate crisis themes into new choral work"
“기후 위기 주제를 담은 새로운 합창곡”
– Yale Climate Connections

World premiere of the whole cycle:
The EcoVoice Project, New Earth Ensemble, Ignatian Voices, University Singers, and University Chorale
Kirsten Hedegaard, conductor
March 2025, Jo Ann Rooney Hall, Mundelein Center, Chicago, IL
Video and Audio director: Garry Grasinski

New Earth Ensemble
Lydia Walsh Rock, soprano
Tiana Sorenson, soprano
Gabrielle Timofeeva López, alto
Steven Wilson, tenor
Joe Labozetta, baritone
John Orduña, bass

Claudia Cryer, fl
Deb Stephenson, ob
Michael Tran, cl
Ben Riodl Ward, bsn
John Corkill, perc
Nolan Ehlers, perc
Ben Melsky, hp
Chungho Lee, pf
Caitlin Edwards, vn 1
Sarah Kim, vn 2
Vannia Phillips, vla
Matthew Agnew, vlc

Trailer: Four Excerpts from MISSA LAUDATO SI’

I. KYRIE ELEISON–The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

II. GLORIA–Canticle of the Creatures

III. AGNUS DEI–Refugee; quasi una poesia

IV. ITE, MISSA EST–One person’s truth

”As we added the spoken parts, the instrumentals, the dancers, and the rest of the choral parts, it evolved into something entirely unique and hauntingly beautiful. The energy as we performed was unanimous, from start to finish. Every single performer and audience member felt connected to our planet and called to its defense.”
– First-year student reflection

Program notes–Missa Laudato Si’ (ver. Dec 30 2024)
Korean notes below (아래에 한국어 설명 있습니다.)

Missa Laudato Si’ is a new mass written in the spirit of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, where he deplored: “For human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, […] for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins.” In the form of a Mass, it contemplates climate change and caring for the earth by intertwining the Latin Mass text with prayers, poems, and texts about contaminated soil and water, and all the threatened creatures living under the climate and plastic crises, including “the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest.”

When Kirsten approached me in the summer of 2023 with her vision of creating a new ecological mass setting, I saw significant possibilities. I view this opportunity to create a mass, one of the oldest musical art forms, as a vehicle to convey forward-looking perspectives and propose an emotional and spiritual solution to one of humanity’s most urgent and critical issues, focusing on the voices of the earth and the marginalized.

The mass encompasses a full spectrum of human expression, including forgiveness, anger, lament, celebration, despair, joy, faith, awe, and mercy. It infuses the traditional Missa Solemnis text without the Credo and Sanctus section, while including an additional Ite, Missa est section—with additional texts from Canticle of the Creatures by Saint Francis of Assisi, the poem Refugeeby Syrian refugee poet Abdullah Kasem Al Yatim (used with permission) with my own contribution, names and other data of critically endangered species from the IUCN RedList (The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species— www.iucnredlist.org, used with permission), the poem One Person’s Truth by the Korean zen-poet Shiva Ryu, and prayers from Pope Francis’ Missa Laudato Si.’ In Agnus Dei, Al Yatim’s poem is paired with an AI-generated translation of Agnus Dei into ancient Syriac/Aramaic—a language closely related to what Jesus and his apostles would have spoken. This pairing emerged as I reflected on the poem and the Mass text, searching for the deeper reason these two intersected in my mind. Additional sound sources and compositional materials include my research on the Schumann resonance of the Earth—an electromagnetic low-frequency “breath” of the planet—and my own adaptation of the Arabic Maqam scale in the third movement.

”O God of the poor, teach us to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.”
Pope Francis, A prayer for our earth
(also featured in the first and fourth movements)

Pragmatically, Missa Laudato Si’ is designed to be performed by university-level choir singers. The performance difficulty is meticulously calibrated so that student singers can actively participate, supported by graduate-level/professional performers who handle the more virtuosic material. I aim for this opportunity to be a transformative experience for students, deepening their understanding of the interconnectedness of our planet and cultivating awareness of our spiritual connection to the rest of creation. By participating in the performance of the mass, students will have an immersive opportunity to actively engage in climate activism through the arts.

The first movement, Kyrie eleison, was performed in April 2024 by Loyola’s Ignatian Voices (Kirsten Hedegaard, instructor), University Chorale (Kirsten Hedegaard, instructor), University Singers (Jennifer Budziak, instructor), along with the New Earth Ensemble from The EcoVoice Project (The EcoVP) in Madonna della Strada Chapel in Chicago. The entire mass cycle will be world-premiered in March 2025 with the same performance forces. Missa Laudato Si’ is commissioned by the EcoVoice Project, and dedicated to Pope Francis, in memoriam, and to Kirsten Hedegaard, with deep admiration.

Image: Br. Erspamer, OBE. Used with permission.

Premiere Concert Poster, Printed in March 2025

”Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.”
– Pope Francis, Laudato si’

The following is from my Facebook post introducing four excerpts from Missa Laudato Si’, each included in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUd8Wm9sAcw

The first movement, Kyrie eleison, unfolds as a form of musical theatre/documentary, where multiple musical events, sonic objects, and narratives converge/collide. Its structure is inspired by the image of melting glaciers, portrayed through a massive descending chord sequence, emerging from the Earth’s Schumann resonance, a low frequency electromagnetic “breath” of the planet. Within this apocalyptic musical landscape, the audience hears desperate narratives of extinct, dying, or critically endangered species, drawn from the IUCN Red List (www.iucnredlist.org).

The second movement of Missa Laudato Si’, composed in response to Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, is the Gloria, titled “Canticle of the Creatures.” This movement sets Canticle of the Creatures, a poem by Saint Francis of Assisi (from whom Pope Francis took his papal name), to music and pairs it with the Latin text of the Gloria. The Canticle offers praises to God, the Sun, Moon, stars, wind, fire, water, and the Earth, and this sequence forms the structural framework of the movement. It is the longest and most central movement within the approximately one hour long Missa Laudato Si’.

This movement was probably the one that received the most passionate response from our students. The third movement of Missa Laudato Si’, composed in response to Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’, is the Agnus Day, titled Refugee, written by the Syrian refugee child, Abdullah Kasem Al Yatim, whose poem I discovered on the UNHCR website. It took me almost a year to understand why this poem resonated so deeply with me and how it connects to Agnus Dei. Later I realized that the Aramaic language is what Jesus spoke, which is what we now know as Syriac. I then rewrote the poem, reflecting my own interpretation and seeking the meaning of Agnus Dei in the context of our time. Currently I am revising the Syriac text referring to the Peshitta version bible (John 1:29). In this excerpt, you will hear: “All wounded countries and shattered countries are my home. All starlight countries and morning bird countries are my home. Dona nobis pacem.”

The last movement, Ite, Missa Est, is not usually included as part of a musical Mass. But I interpreted the heart of Pope Francis's Laudato Si’ to be in this title: Go, it is sent (out into the world). The fourth movement is about delivering the message, transforming spiritual insight into action and justice, into the world to inspire real change. It is set to the poem "One Person’s Truth" by the Korean Zen poet Shiva Ryu (류시화), in my English translation:

One Person’s Truth
- Shiva Ryu, trans. by Dongryul Lee
One person’s truth, that is enough
One person’s truth, can change the world
It is impossible for everyone to be truthful
But for one person to be truthful
That’s entirely possible
Even if everyone speaks lies
What we need is just one person’s truth
For morning to come, there’s no need
For every bird in the world to come and sing at the window
Just one bird’s song
Can push away the darkness resting on eyelids
Even if one flower is not the whole of spring
Even if only one flower’s spring

“I feel that this piece does a great service to Pope Francis' encyclical and to the world in bringing awareness to these problems. Missa Laudato Si' should be performed around the world to not only to raise awareness, but also to inspire others to make a positive impact.”

“The piece was unlike anything I had sung before, and it challenged me in a way that helped me grow as a musician.“

“I felt so many emotions moving through the individual pieces. […] I witnessed what I deem as “magic” that is your composition.
I am still processing my thoughts as the piece invited me to reflect on my own words, thoughts, and actions.”

– Student Reflections

소셜 미디어에 간략하게 쓴 내용입니다.

프란치스코 교황님의 ‘찬미받으소서’ 회칙에 영감을 받아 작곡한 ‘찬미받으소서’ 미사곡의 제 2악장, 영광송-“창조물들의 찬가” 입니다. 프란치스코 교황님의 세례명인 성 프란시스 아씨시 성인이 쓴 시, 창조물들의 찬가에 노래를 붙여 라틴어 영광송과 같이 노래합니다. 창조물들의 찬가에는 하느님, 해, 별, 달, 바람, 불 물, 지구에 대한 찬양들이 순서대로 나오는데, 이를 곡을 구성하는 기본적인 형식으로 사용하였습니다. 총 한시간동안 진행되는 찬미받으소서 미사곡 중 가장 길이가 긴 악장이며, 가장 중심이 되는 악장이기도 합니다.

학생들에게서 가장 뜨거운 호응을 받은 악장입니다. 찬미하소서 미사의 세 번째 악장인 ‘난민’은 프란치스코 교황의 회칙 Laudato Si’에 대한 응답으로 작곡된 ‘주의 어린양’으로, 유엔난민기구(UNHCR) 웹사이트에서 발견한 시리아 난민 소년 압둘라 카셈 알 야팀(Abdullah Kasem Al Yatim)의 시에 기반하고 있습니다.

이 시의 의미와 이 시와 주의 어린양의 관계를 깊이 이해햐는 데에 거의 1년이 걸렸습니다. 언젠가, 예수가 사용했던 언어가 현재 우리가 ‘시리아어(Syriac)’라고 부르는 아람어(Aramaic)라는 사실을 알게 되었고, 그 시를 나만의 해석으로 다시 써 내려가며 현대의 상황에서 ‘주의 어린양’의 의미를 탐구하기 시작했습니다. 현재 저는 시리아어 본문을 페쉬타 성경(요한복음 1장 29절)을 참고하여 수정하고 있는 중입니다.

이 편집된 영상의 뒷부분에는 다음 구절의 노래가 나옵니다.
“모든 상처 입은 나라들과 부서진 나라들이 나의 고향입니다.
모든 별빛의 나라들과 아침의 새의 나라들이 나의 고향입니다.
도나 노비스 파쳄(Dona nobis pacem).”

마지막 악장, “미사가 끝났으니 가서 전합시다”는 보통 미사곡에는 포함되지 않습니다. 하지만 저는 이 부분이 미사와 프란시스 교황님의 찬미하소서 회칙의 가장 중요한 메세지라 생각했습니다. 제 4악장은 메세지의 세상에서의 실천에 대해 이야기하며, 한국의 류시화 시인이 쓴 시, “한 사람의 진실”을 영어로 번역하여 곡을 붙였습니다.

한사람의 진실 류시화

한 사람이 진실하면 그것으로 충분하다
한 사람이 진실하면 세상이 바뀔 수 있다
모든 사람이 진실한 것은 불가능하다
그러나 한 사람이 진실한 것은
얼마든지 가능한 일
모두가 거짓을 말해도
세상에 필요한 것은 단 한사람의 진실
모든 새가 날아와 창가에서 노래해야만
아침이 오는 것은 아니므로
한 마리 새의 지저귐만으로도
눈꺼플에 얹힌 어둠 밀어낼 수 있으므로
꽃 하나가 봄 전체는 아닐지라도
꽃 하나만큼의 봄일지라도

DONGRYUL LEE