St Augustine’s Church celebrates centennial milestone with joyous concert

The beautiful St Augustine’s Church in Yarraville turns 100 this year. To mark the centenary of the blessing of the church by Archbishop Daniel Mannix, the parish held a celebratory ‘Pentecost Jubilee’ concert on Sunday that featured local choirs, the church’s organist and an opera-trained cantor. The program was a mix of old and new, sung in English, Latin, Filipino and Spanish.

Trained opera singer Sr Geraldine Larkins RSJ, who was one of the performers, explained that the program was designed to incorporate some of the music played in the opening concert 100 years ago.  Sr Geraldine sang Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ and Mendelssohn’s ‘O Rest in the Lord’, both of which were in the original concert in 1925.

Her third piece, ‘Shelter Me’, was written by Fr Michael Joncas as a prayer-song during the early years of the COVID pandemic and was famously performed as one of the first ‘lockdown ensemble’ videos.

The Josephite sister is a cantor at St Patrick’s Cathedral and regularly sings at St Augustine’s and one of the other churches in the parish, Corpus Christi in Kingsville. Her ‘Ave Maria’ was sublime—and given extra warmth by the contribution of an audience member, whom Sr Geraldine good naturedly explained often joins in when he knows the words.

That summarised the feel of Sunday’s concert: people-centred and welcoming.

The centenary celebration is for the building, an inanimate object, parish priest Fr Werner Utri said in his opening address. ‘But filled with people, it becomes a living presence, an expression of faith by those who have gathered here in this building for over 100 years.’

Fr Werner said the church had changed over the century, adapting to suit the times. So when he and the event organisers were planning the concert, he asked them to consider ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’.

Filled with people, [the church] becomes a living presence, an expression of faith by those who have gathered here in this building for over 100 years.

Sunday’s program reflected this, with classical pieces by Sr Geraldine and organist Rosanna Camenzuli, 21st-century hymns, songs from other traditions, and ‘something blues’—what Fr Werner described as ‘not sad, but something that stirs the heart. Music in liturgy is there to help us pray; it brings us closer to God.’

Rosanna Camenzuli began playing the pipe organ at the age of 12 at St Augustine’s, a church with which she has multiple, longstanding connections.

‘My parents were married in this church over 65 years ago,’ she said. ‘I had all my sacraments here, including getting married here, too. Throughout the years, I have had the opportunity to use the gift of music that God has blessed me with to play in different churches throughout Melbourne.’

Rosanna, adhering to the requirement of ‘something old’, played several much-loved classics: Beethoven’s ‘Song of Joy’, ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ by Handel, and Bach’s ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’.

The operatic and organ contributions were bookended by two choirs. True North Young Adults Group—young Catholics aged 18–35 from a range of cultural backgrounds who sing together in Melbourne’s inner north-western suburbs—began the concert with pieces ranging from the early 20th century such as the Irish hymn ‘Be Thou My Vision’, to the very contemporary ‘Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me’ by City Alight.

The concert’s final act was the Melbourne Vocal Ensemble, who describe themselves as ‘a group of friends brought together by their shared love of music and a desire to serve their community’. Their singing is a great gift to the community, indeed, with stirring harmonies and impressive vocal range. The group is linguistically talented, too, singing ‘Jubilate Deo’, the traditional Latin text from Psalm 100, a Spanish hymn entitled ‘Eres Tu’ and ‘Magdiwang, Magpuri!’, a contemporary hymn from the Philippines.

The centenary celebrations for St Augustine’s will continue with a Jubilee Mass on Sunday 31 August, to be celebrated by Archbishop Peter A Comensoli.