Friday, October 10, 2025

Trappist Monastery Adapts Unique Approach to Choir

 Trappist Monks Trade Gregorian Chants for Broadway Cheer

By Nathaniel Thorne, Desert Correspondent

San Sebastián Monastery, Chupadero Basin, New Mexico


In the chill darkness of the New Mexico desert, when most of the world still dreams in silence, the Trappist monks of San Sebastián rise at precisely 4:15 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, beneath a faint canopy of stars and the low hum of desert wind, the chapel doors swing open—not to the solemn droning of Gregorian chant, but to the sprightly opening bars of “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” from Godspell.

Every morning at 4:30 a.m., these monks, long associated with silence and austerity, now begin their day by singing as a monophonic Broadway choir.

“We found that ‘Day by Day’ wakes the brothers up faster than any psalm,” says Abbot Theodore (“Teddy”) Van Cleef, a soft-spoken man whose eyes twinkle like a choirboy’s caught with a kazoo. “Gregorian chant has its place, of course. But after 900 years, it had gotten… well, a bit somnolent.”

A Musical Awakening

Six days a week, the community of twelve monks performs one number from the Godspell score in full. The program rotates on a two-week cycle: Monday brings “All Good Gifts,” Tuesday “Light of the World,” and so forth, until the twelfth morning concludes with the gospel-pop finale “Beautiful City.”

On Sundays, they revert to silence—partly for tradition, partly, according to the abbott, “to rest the falsettos.”

Brother Alan, the choirmaster, formerly a Juilliard-trained countertenor who joined the order after a brief career in regional theater, describes the transformation as “spiritually invigorating.”
“The shift from Dies Irae to Day by Day might seem radical,” he explains, “but both deal with mortality and grace—just with different tempos.”

From Cistercian Simplicity to Showbiz Serenity

Founded in the 11th century, the Trappists, formally the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, are renowned for vows of silence, manual labor, and minimal worldly distraction. Their monasteries are typically noted for the absence of frivolity, not the presence of tambourines.

But as the abbott points out, “our founder, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, emphasized devotion through the heart as well as the mind. If he’d heard the Godspell cast album, I suspect he’d have tapped a sandal.”

Indeed, the monks’ adaptation reflects a lineage of pragmatic evolution. In the 1960s, Trappists cautiously adopted electric lighting; in the 1980s, they permitted coffee. “This is the natural next step,” says Van Cleef. “Illumination, caffeine, and Stephen Schwartz.”

Godspell in the Desert

For the uninitiated, Godspell, first performed in 1971, was a rock-gospel musical inspired by the Gospel of Matthew and conceived by Schwartz—who would later write Wicked. The show combined scripture with the music and idiom of its own time, translating parables into song, clowning, and joyful choreography.

“Many forget that Godspell is essentially a meditation on community,” notes Brother Alan. “We just happen to do it at 4:30 a.m. and with less dancing.”

The desert acoustics, the monks report, enhance the experience. Their adobe chapel, built in 1949, creates a warm echo that turns “Learn Your Lessons Well” into something almost—if improbably—monastic.

Reception and Reaction

The change has not been without controversy. A visiting Benedictine described the early-morning performance as “energetic, though liturgically unconventional.” Another, less diplomatically, called it “Las Vegas with incense.”

Yet pilgrims continue to visit, some driving overnight from Santa Fe to hear the monks’ renditions. The tiny gift shop now sells homemade preserves under the brand name All Good Gifts Jelly, as well as tote bags reading “Prepare Ye (for Coffee).”

Asked whether the music undermines the contemplative quiet for which Trappists are known, Abbot Van Cleef demurs.
“Brother silence still reigns from 5 a.m. onward,” he assures me. “But by then we’ve already sung ourselves awake, hearts lightened, toes tapping. Even monks need a good overture.”

As the sun rises over the desert and the last notes fade into stillness, the abbott offers a final reflection. “People think austerity means the absence of joy. But joy,” he says, “is simply austerity set to the right key.”

Tomorrow’s tune: “Turn Back, O Man.”


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Prompt. Chat GPT 5.  Write an imaginative, fictional, humorous news report. You are a journalist writing an article about a unique Trappist monastery, in the New Mexico desert, which has taken to singing showtunes from GODSPELL at their first morning prair service at 430 AM, "Vigils," in lieu of gregorian chant. They sing one tune six days a week, thus going through the whole Broadway score every 2 weeks (12 songs). Include some somewhat tedious history of the Trappists and of the musical GODSPELL. The article takes itself seriously, as if this thing actually existing, but for the reader, the effect is humorous and whimsical. The abbott and or choirmaster explains this seems to be a better way to "wake them up" and start the day in an upbeat, cheerful, toe-tapping mood.