Chanting Marian antiphon is living reminder of nuptial joy for spouses

Sean and Cindy Gallagher are pictured on June 9, 2001, their wedding day. (Submitted photo)

(Editor’s note: The Criterion has invited you, our readers, to share a song that has led you into a deeper level of faith, humanity or love. Here is one of the songs that has been shared so far.)

One in an occasional series
 

By Sean Gallagher

Although not in the Church’s Rite of Marriage, it’s a pretty solidly established custom in many places at nuptial Masses for the bride and groom to offer flowers and a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ordinarily, this happens after Communion when the new spouses walk to where there is a statue of Mary, place flowers by it and pray silently while a vocalist sings a solo piece inspired by her. Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” has been a popular choice for this.

When my wife Cindy and I planned our wedding Mass back in 2001, I wanted to do something different. Instead of having a vocalist sing, Cindy and I would sing our prayer to the Blessed Mother.

My own mother planted a love for music in my heart when I was young. And she encouraged me through the years to put to use for the Church the singing talents God gave to me. So, doing this at our wedding Mass seemed like a fitting thing to do. It was a way for Cindy and me together to show our great love for God and our Blessed Mother in a way that goes beyond the spoken word.

You really can’t call what we sang a song. It’s just a simple and short chant antiphon traditionally sung during the season of Easter: the “Regina Coeli” (“The Queen of Heaven”). By chant standards, it’s fairly new, probably composed sometime in the 13th century.

This is its text that goes with the melody: “Regina coeli, laetare, alleluia/Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia/Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia/Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.”

(“Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia/For he whom you merited to bear, alleluia/Has risen from the dead just as he said, alleluia/Pray for us to God, alleluia.”)

The melody of the chant is simple. Cindy learned it quickly. Singing it together at our wedding was a beautiful moment for us on a day that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.

A reminder of that blessed day has come to us at our parish—Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Indianapolis—where through the years the traditional Marian antiphon connected to different liturgical seasons are chanted after some Masses.

When we hear the first notes of the “Regina Coeli” at the end of Mass, it’s like we’re taken back to June 9, 2001. Easter is a great season to celebrate in the Church. Cindy and I look forward to it in a personal way because of the chance we have to live out anew a special moment of our wedding.

The grace of the sacrament of marriage began to flow through Cindy and me on our wedding day. For 25 years since then, it has come forth like a beautiful, harmonious song when we cooperate with that grace in giving ourselves in sacrificial love to each other, our five sons, our extended family and others.

I’ll be the first to admit that I sing more than my fair share of off-key notes when I fail in many little and some big ways from day to day in this mission of our marriage.

But the joy of the Blessed Mother at her Son’s resurrection and the promise of her prayers to God for us chanted in the “Regina Coeli” are inspiring reminders to Cindy and me that our Lord is always merciful to us and invites us anew to enter more fully into our married love which is a sacramental sign of Christ’s love for the Church.

To hear Sean and Cindy Gallagher sing “Regina Coeli,” use the QR code or go to tinyurl.com/GallaghersSing
 

(Whether it’s a song from popular culture or from a church hymnal, you are invited to share your story of how that song has led you to a deeper level of faith, humanity or love. Please send your story and song(s) to John Shaughnessy at jshaughnessy@archindy.org or by mail in care of The Criterion, 1400 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46202. Please include your parish and a daytime phone number where you can be reached.) †