The Benedictine friar Blessed Hermann of Reichenau 1013-1054) was born with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy and spina bifida. However he had an extraordinary mind, a scholar in astronomy, theology and mathematics, history and poetry, and spoke among other languages, Arabic, Latin and Greek. He was always smiling and towards the end of his life, he lost his eyesight. Yet he composed beautiful religious hymns, among them the Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater. When St Bernard heard the monks sing the Salve Regina in Latin, he exclaimed ‘Oh clement, Oh loving, Oh sweet Virgin Mary,’ and these words were added to the words of Blessed Hermann. This virtual choir recording was done in April 2020 during the Covid epidemic, with 450 participants from 30 different countries offering their voices to create a sublime version of the Salve Regina. The choir comes in at 1:24.
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