Holy Cross Music Director Co-Wrote Hymn For Pope's Philadelphia Mass
BOSTON (CBS) – Sunday's mass in Philadelphia is the biggest, most public event of Pope Francis' visit to America, with over a million people expected to pack the city.
During the event, the work of a Chaplain at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester will take center stage as he has co-written the official hymn of the World Meeting of Families.
During a recent a sweltering September afternoon Norm Gouin rehearsed for the most important gig of his life.
Gouin is the music director at Holy Cross and was invited to participate in an international competition to write the official hymn for the Pope's visit. His was chosen in November.
"Well I answered the phone and I said, 'You're kidding me!," Gouin recalls about finding out his hymn had been selected.
The hymn is titled "Sound the Bell of Holy Freedom."
Gouin wrote the melody and a Wisconsin priest wrote the lyrics. The only guidance was to make the hymn about the Holy Family.
"Reflecting on the roles of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, and them as models for the church," says Gouin.
In advance of the performance before the Pope, Gouin was working with the Holy Cross Chamber Singers.
At the Papal Mass, the Philadelphia Orchestra will perform the hymn with a 300-member choir that Gouin will be a part of.
"To be there and have them perform this is something I never could have dreamed of," he says.
The hymn uses the imagery of a bell as a call to prayer.
"And that sound and that symbol was a way to remind us to stop, to be aware of God's presence, and bring ourselves into a place of prayer," Gouin told WBZ-TV.
To hear another version of the hymn or to read the lyrics, visit the World Meetings of Families website.
