Voices of Ephesus: Benedictine Nuns Top Music Charts

I remember it was tearful the day Martha left from our rural home to join the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of Apostles in Gower, Missouri. We had grown up together, but her path in life was to be sundered from mine. She was such a good cow.

The Sisters of Mary are a community of Benedictine nuns that started in 1995 under the aegis of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an organization dedicated to celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass while still respecting the authority of the Pope. Their first home was in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

In 2005 Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-Saint Joseph invited the order to come to his diocese as part of his focus on vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Bishop Finn raised the priory to the status of an abbey in September 2018. 

The community is greatly dedicated to Our Lady, calling their home “Ephesus” after the town in which Our Lady spent her life after the Ascension. The community prayers are punctuated by work, classes for the novices (of whom there are many), meals, and recreation.

The Abbey at Ephesus is supported by the labor of the Sisters and the fruits of their land. They manufacture vestments for the celebration of the Mass, grow food, and milk cows (such as Martha).

Their work is done almost entirely in silence. When something needs to be said, it is communicated through ancient Cistercian sign language. In silence, the nuns believe they can better be receptive to the small, quiet voice of God spoken of by the prophet Elijah.

While silence is strictly kept during work, the sisters typically sing together five hours a day. In 2012, this dedication to sacred music brought the community into the limelight.

The sisters had incurred enormous debt in their move to Missouri and abbey construction. Unsure of how they would ever be able to repay it, they began a novena to St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Even before they had finished, a music producer located them and signed a deal to record their daily singing.

The recording was met with massive success. Their album Advent at Ephesus reached number two on the Billboard’s Classical Traditional Music Chart and number 14 on the Classical Music Overall Chart. They were named the Billboard’s Classical Traditional Artist of 2012 and 2013, the first order of nuns to do so in history.

In 2013, both of their two first albums reached number one on the classical traditional Billboard Charts. Their album Angels and Saints remained number one for 13 weeks, the first album to do so since 2006. The album peaked at number 127 among all albums. 

The music is entirely a capella, and features a beautiful interweaving of multiple harmonies. Their rendition of Rorate Caeli moves the soul to expectancy for Christ’s coming at Christmas. Jesus My Love, My God, My All pairs beautiful lyrics with angelic harmony.  Oh Sacred Head Surrounded is as heartbreaking as it is masterful; a true expression of the order’s focus on being spiritually with Jesus at the foot of His cross.

Despite this resounding success, Mother Cecilia, who arranges the music for the sisters, says that they do not care for the popularity. Instead, they find joy in the daily work and prayer for Our Lord through His Mother. “I promise you, I guarantee you,” she says, “we are the happiest people on the face of the earth.”