Celebrations of Louvain 400 begin with music and words
Posted: 02 March 2007
To open the Louvain 400 Commemorative Programme, part of the national celebration of Shared Histories announced by the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, TD, the RTE Concert Orchestra and Cór na nÓg performed a specially commissioned piece by composer Michael Mc Glynn at a concert on the 1st March at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Composer Michael McGlynn and his 'St Francis Cantata,' a specially commissioned piece to celebrate the opening of Louvain 400; a calendar of commemorative events coordinated by the UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute
In the four movement piece, ‘St Francis Cantata,’ Michael McGlynn captured the characteristics of St Francis which the seventeenth-century community of Irish Franciscans in St Anthony’s College, Louvain, followed including his closeness to nature, his advocacy for peace and his poverty.
St Anthony’s College, the Irish Franciscan College in Louvain was founded in 1607 by Florence Conry, Irish Franciscan, theologian and aide to Red Hugh O’Donnell. The College was founded under the patronage of the King of Spain in Louvain, one of the most important university cities in Europe.
Dr John Cafferty, Director UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute and Caoimhin O'Laoide OFM, Provincial, Order of Franciscans in Ireland
“It became the focus of an energetic cultural and political project that had a significant influence on Ireland’s relations with Europe and on the writing of Irish history and the preservation of Ireland’s rich cultural traditions,” says Dr Edel Bhreathnach, UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute, the national co-ordinator of Louvain 400.
“It was from St Anthony’s that Micheal O’Cleirigh was sent to Ireland to compile the great chronicle of Irish history, the Annals of the Four Masters, that the earliest printing press in the Irish language was established and that the great collections of the lives of Irish saints were produced.”
Pictured at the concert performance (from left to right) Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD, Dermot McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, Edel Bhreathnach, National Co-ordinator, Louvain 400 and Leopold Carrewyn, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium
At the special commemorative event, the orchestra also performed an overture ‘The Four Masters’ composed by Aloys Fleischmann in 1944 to commemorate Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, the Irish Franciscan who was sent from Louvain to Ireland in 1626 to compile the history of Ireland, known today as the Annals of the Four Masters.
The musical performance was followed by a liturgical celebration for Louvain 400 devised and conducted by the Irish Franciscans.
Speakers on the evening included: Dr John McCafferty, Director, UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute for the Study of Irish History and Civilisation; Caoimhín Ó Laoide OFM, Provincial, Order of Franciscans in Ireland and Mr Dermot McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach and Secretary General to the Government, and Chair of the National Committee of the National Commemorative Programme for 2007.
The Louvain 400 events calendar is co-ordinated by UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute for the Study of Irish History and Civilisation, in partnership with the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism, the Louvain Institute for Irleand in Europe, the Embassy of Ireland Brussels and Donegal County Council. (www.louvain400.eu)