Four years ago already, in the middle of the Covid epidemic which stopped the whole world, the Poor Clare sisters of the Arundel convent, located in Sussex in England, rocked the charts in the United Kingdom by winning the first place in the classical albums with Light of The World, an anthology of sacred songs composed of Gregorian pieces, religious hymns and prayers.
Success leading to success, the English nuns are doing it again today with a second album, entitled My Peace I Give You, which is due out on May 24. Determined to beat their own sales record, which placed them in 5th place for all music in the UK rankings, the nuns chose to mix and arrange their songs in the legendary Abbey Road Studio, immortalized by the Beatles.
Advised by Decca Classics, their record company, nuns like John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr gave the final touches to their creation in these famous London studios where the Beatles recorded a large part of their songs and of course the Abbey Road album, the 11th in their musical saga.
The 23 nuns who lent their voices to this new collection of sacred songs from the 13th century wanted the Song of Creation, written by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1224, to feature prominently. On their site, these sisters who live according to the spirit of life of Saint Clare of Assisi, said the message she wanted to convey with this new recording: “Our desire is that our music touches the hearts of people”.
Using humor and a sense of history, the Poor Clares of Arundel allowed a photo to be published on X where we see them, like the Beatles, crossing a pedestrian crossing… Like them, they are heading towards another destiny of freedom. And of course, as is fitting for nuns who have dedicated themselves to poverty, they will donate all profits from this record to charity.
