It’s no secret that our pastor, Fr. Paul Lee, is fond of classical music, and he has commented that his favorite instrument is the cello. Over the years that he has been pastor at the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, MD, he has hosted several concerts featuring area musicians.
This year as part of Good Friday services, as he has done for the last several years, Fr. Lee organized a concert for the parish based upon the Seven Last Words of Christ, sayings representing the seven stages of Jesus’s crucifixion: Forgiveness, Salvation, Relationship, Abandonment, Distress, Triumph, and Reunion.
The string quartet, consisting of Glen Kuenzi, Fabio Dantas de Araujo Costa, Daniela Arias Gallego, and Chiara Pappalardo, presented the orchestral work by Joseph Haydn called the “Seven Last Words of the Savior on the Cross.”
The service began at noon with a welcome by SJ Parochial Vicar Fr. Juan Pablo Noboa. The seven movements of the orchestral piece continued without interruption.
Haydn’s work was commissioned in 1786 for the Good Friday service at Oratorio de la Santa Cueva (Holy Cave Oratory) in Cádiz, Spain. Haydn then adapted it in 1787 for string quartet, as it was presented here. The seven sections are labeled sonatas and are slow in tempo, framed by a slow introduction and a fast conclusion, for a total of nine movements.
Fr. Stefan Yap, SJ Parochial Vicar, after thanking the musicians, led the congregation in a closing prayer. At 3:00, Fr. Stefan led the parish in the Stations of the Cross.
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 
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