Hyacinths (hyacinthus orientalis) are delightful, fragrant spring bulbs. They flower in a range of colors, from traditional purple and pink to white and even mauve. But hyacinth (sometimes spelled jacinth) is also a well-known gem, coming in many shades. Its brilliant lustre and fire, combined with good hardness, make it a desirable gemstone. Finding it in its natural state with good color and transparency is uncommon and most of its crystals are opaque and brownish. However, most of these gems, especially the blue, light blue and white forms, are enhanced by heat treatment…
Perhaps it was due to its color and interaction with heat that St. Hildegard of Bingen, the famous medieval philosopher and mystic, associated hyacinth stone with fire? In her treatise on stones she writes: „Hyacinth (hyacinthus) is born from fire at the first hour of the day, when the air holds a gentle heat. More airy than fiery, it senses the air and its heat, in proportion to the air it holds. Nevertheless, it is fiery because it is engendered by fire…”
What do flowers and gemstones have to do with a liturgical music conference? Well, both hyacinth the plant and hyacinth the stone are etymologically connected with the name of one very important Polish saint, St. Hyacinth (or Jacinto in Spanish), a 13th century priest of the Diocese of Kraków who traveled to Rome, met the founder of the Dominican Order, St. Dominic Guzman, fell in love with Dominic’s vision of life and ministry, became a Dominican himself, and in 1222 – yes, exactly 800 years ago! – returned to Kraków as the first Polish friar preacher. It was here that he established a community of itinerant preachers who quickly took the Gospel message as far East as Kyiv, Minsk and Vilnius. Today Dominican Friars from Poland – around 450 of them – minister everywhere from Australia to the Western United States, but it has always been here, at the tomb of St. Hyacinth at the oldest Polish priory, that they first embrace the mission of the Order and would later return to renew their apostolic zeal.
Gentle and fragrant like a blooming hyacinth, set on fire with his desire to preach the Gospel, St. Hyacinth makes a great inspiration and a powerful patron saint for this year’s Extraordinary Music Workshop. We invite you to join us for this week-long international conference in the heart of the ancient capital of Poland, beautiful Kraków. Being aware that music is a vital element of the liturgy, we care about its traditions as well as about setting new directions for its organic development. It is our hope that learning and praying with Gregorian chant, early and contemporary polyphony, as well as with Byzantine liturgical music, will give us a powerful spiritual experience of God’s beauty and will set us on fire for carrying God’s transformative Word everywhere we live.