The Easter mood is so great that it provokes in the lives of all Christians an indescribable joy, expressed in various religious and secular institutions by certain forms of celebrations. In our seminary, we have adopted the secular Cantata as part of this Easter proclamation. “Cantata” comes from the Italian word cantare meaning “to sing”. In its earliest form, Cantata referred to any song meant to be publicly sung. However, it has now taken a more secular form. The seminary has adopted it to proclaim the joy of the risen Lord with voice and musical instruments.

On 15th of April, 2018, the seminary had this celebration in the seminary auditorium. There were guests from various religious houses and the lay faithful. The program of the day started with a procession of the formators, led by a cross bearer flanked by two acolytes and followed immediately by the members of St. Gregory’s choir in pairs, from the seminary’s sacristy to the auditorium, while the rest of the students and guests already in the auditorium joined in singing the popular Easter song, Christ the Lord is Risen Today. During the Cantata, lessons were taken from the New Testament, various renditions were made by different musical groups from within and outside the seminary community. An Easter Message was given by a deacon, Rev. Michael Idahosa, in which he exhorted all to bury their past ways of sin in the tomb and rise with Christ in glory. The gathering ended by 2pm, with the entire choral group present singing the Hallelujah chorus of Georg F. Handel. Finally, a procession was led back to the sacristy in the same order as in the beginning.