Christian

Antonín Dvořák was a devout Roman Catholic. He was baptized in the church of St. Andrew in his village of Nelahozeves. His early years spent there nurtured his strong Christian faith and love for his Bohemian heritage which strongly influenced his music. Antonín Dvořák’s spiritual music furthered his world wide recognition. His profound conviction, Christian ideals, and, especially, his love of nature, viewed as God’s most flawless creation, shaped him as a person and, in turn, his compositions. Demonstrating his sincere faith and modesty, Antonín Dvořák composed his famous “Lužanská” Mass in D Major, premiering in 1887, for the consecration of the chapel in Lužany in the Czech Republic. The mass is a composition originally intended for organ, solo voices, and a small choir.

Gather during Antonín Dvořák’s Lužanská Mass services in the presence of Dominik Duka, the 36th Archbishop of Prague, to celebrate the 170th anniversary of the birth of the composer in the center of catholic life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, at 10 a.m. on September 25, 2011.