Today we celebrate All Saints' Day. As on every 1st November, the Church honours with this feast those who have been living witnesses and light of Christ. It was instituted in the 7th century and extended throughout the Frankish Empire in 835 by Gregory IV at the request of King Louis the Pious, and was eventually adopted by the whole Church. Holiness is not a path reserved for an elite: it is for all those who choose to walk in the footsteps of Christ. This liturgical solemnity has been, since its institution in the 7th century, a great joy for all and a call from the Lord to become saints through the Holy Spirit received in Baptism.

To celebrate this solemnity, we at Neumz have chosen the Communion antiphon, Beati mundo corde. The text is taken from the Gospel of the day, Matthew 5, verses 8-10: three of the beatitudes; the last three. The Church sings them at the end of the Mass as a final praise to those who have attained the crown of holiness. They practised purity of heart, they loved peace and cultivated it in themselves by spreading it around them; they went through persecution without hesitation. Therefore, they have the beatific vision which enables them to see God; they have become one with Christ, the Prince of Peace, and enjoy the ineffable fatherhood of God.

This piece, with its syllabic character, is composed of four musical phrases: three beatitudes with the last one divided into two parts due to its length. It clearly shows its enumerative character: three times the adjective beati is repeated and the melodic turn of the final cadences of the phrase is practically identical. As for the melody, composed in mode 1, the first phrase rises like a pure heart overflowing with joy towards the clear sonority of the melodic heights: around the dominant, the A, even surpassing it momentarily in mundo corde, the melodic movement gives strength to these two words (the pure of heart). The divine vision is the reason for this immense joy. Then, little by little, the melody descends, from heaven to earth, from high to low in a series of graceful undulations to the firmness of the final cadence of the phrase. After the beautiful procession of those blessed ones with their faces lit up and their gaze fixed on heaven, comes that of the peaceful ones carrying olive branches, with their gaze lowered, set on this world: the melodic development around the D and F, of great interiority, becomes more and more ardent. They are the children of God, filii Dei vocabuntur, the God who brings the peace that reigns in the heavens. The messengers of peace advance gently, the melody moves peacefully towards the treble, reaches the dominant until it bursts into a triumphant tone at filii Dei and closes the phrase in a cadence identical to that of the first but a third sharper.

The third phrase opens with the procession of the palms of victory, the blessed martyrs, victims of persecution, clad in purple. The melody bursts into a triumphant movement of thirds towards C, but this time it surpasses it and reaches the melodic summit of the piece, E. It is like an immense shout of joy, a triumphant cry rising from the Church towards the procession of those who follow the Lamb, palm in hand.... The struggles of the persecution of these heroes of faith and love are clearly outlined in a sharp, startled melodic movement at persecutionem patiuntur that culminates again in a triumphant C, a cry of admiration amplified by the chiasmatic movement, the only one in this piece: the love of truth has been the support of the brave defenders of the faith. In propter justitiam, the melodic development descends, revolves around the F-A, then becomes more peaceful: an image of the serenity of the soul that defies the agitations and violence of the world. The reward comes in the last phrase: they will reign eternally, victorious, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. The melody becomes solemn, descending slowly from A to D, touching the low C for the first time, bowing and creating a certain suspense in the cadence of ipsorum est with the D-C. This is to emphasise with the agile leap of fourth, C-F, even more the word regnum before the final cadence which takes up the same melodic turn of the first phrase: the Church sings of the kingdom of heaven and all the good that those who have given their lives for the Truth have found in it.