Chavagnes International College

With music by our music Masters (melody by Liam Maguire, harmonised by Nicholas E Lloyd) and words by Headmaster Ferdi McDermott, this hymn expresses the true spirit of our College and its mission : to build a spiritual community of learning and prayer for the good of the Church and the world. Out of the darkness comes the light Which from the east dispels our night; And so the never conquered sun Gives man each day a call: Work with gladness til the day is over. And so from north, south, east and west, Our gracious Lord has thought it best To bring us to this house of prayer To read and learn and play And to learn to live with one another. For every man who joins us here Will soon become a brother dear, For while the world be harsh and cruel The rule for us is love That each man may find his way to wisdom. For love of Beauty, goodness, truth Forged in the fire and force of youth Laurels of learning, by God’s grace To love and lead His world. Princes, we will wear our crowns to serve Him. And all we do, will do it well. Work of our hands and minds will tell That while we strive, we strive for Him Who gave his life and death, That we might in Heaven live Forever. So when we run, we run to win And to love best, we flee from sin; That fit in body, mind and heart, We may begin our task: We shall build a house that lasts forever! And when we’ve lived for Him alone, Casting our crowns before His throne, As children we will stand again Before our Shepherd King. “Come”, He’ll say, “my brothers, join my Table.” So, Shepherd King, from nations call More saints and scholars to this hall That with our brothers we may sing; A hymn of thund'ring praise: To the Trinity, One God, be Glory. (Ferdi McDermott)

Recorded 7.50pm, 4th March 2021. We hear him calling for hours from spring onwards... he seems to alternate with ordinary owls.

The natural sounds at midnight in March 2021 ... owls, moorhens and cows.

“Arthur Rimbaud: Catholicism and the Art of Blasphemy”, Robert Asch. A talk delivered at the Chavagnes 2020 Summer Conference (online.)

Following calls from recent popes to a rediscovery of the theological virtue of hope, this paper examines a poem dealing specifically with that subject, by Charles Péguy, a French poet who died in 1914 in the early fighting of the First World War. He is a key figure of what has been called the French Catholic revival. His dramatic monologue takes the form of a catechism lesson lesson addressed to the young St. Joan of Arc, in which Hope is portrayed as a little girl. Rooted in a rediscovery of the “real” and under the influence of the philosopher Bergson, Péguy’s message seems to be that a childlike Hope could be the key to a renewal of Faith and Love, and perhaps to a re-energizing of the Christian message. Péguy wrote his poem at a time when France was deeply traumatized by the Franco-Prussian war, the Dreyfus scandal and the anti-clerical purge of the early 20th century. It was a society that had lost is bearings. Many themes of his day are strangely current in our own. This talk was delivered (online) as part of the Chavagnes 2020 Summer conference: Faith and the fin de Siècle.

OLIVE CUSTANCE WAS the long-suffering wife of Lord Alfred Douglas, the beautiful young man over whom Oscar Wilde lost his reputation, livelihood and family. But at the same time Lord Alfred was holding court in Oxford, his future wife, Olive, was already holding court in London. She ventured into literary society very young, at the age of sixteen in the London of the 1890s, surrounded by admirers of both sexes. A Catholic convert, like her husband, she was also an accomplished poet and her work is now being rediscovered. This talk was delivered (online) as part of the Chavagnes 2020 Summer conference: Faith and the fin de Siècle.

Join me, Ferdi McDermott, Headmaster of Chavagnes, for a friendly chat about the good old days, with a gathering of young friends, and of course (especially for this subject) some of my oldest and best friends ... Let's talk about nostalgia. Is it innate in man? Is there a gene for it? Or is it a folk memory of Eden? Or is it something that comes out when times are hard? Is it a comfort mechanism? Or a a survival mechanism ? With us this evening are Chavagnes Young Masters Philip Marhsall (Durham and Oxford) Charles Eric Lorin (McGill), Antoine Bureau (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon), Antoine Bertier (ESCP), plus three extremely fine Old Masters : my friend for over 25 years, Charles Coulombe (ITI, Austria), celebrated writer and journalist, then dear friend of 20 years and literary scholar Robert Asch (Montréal), former professor at Chavagnes from 2002 to 2012 ... and last but not least, former Chief Librarian at the Manchester University Rylands Library and international authority on Cardinal Newman and the Oxford Movement, Peter Nockles, another old friend from my London days in the 1990s. Welcome to all these fine gentlemen.

Headmaster Ferdi McDermott asks the Young Masters of Chavagnes International College "What was the point of the French Revolution and did it succeed?" Featuring Philip Marshall (Durham and Oxford), Keir Martland (Cambridge), Charles Eric Lorin (McGill), Antoine Bureau (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon), Antoine Bertier (ESCP) and Ferdi McDermott (Edinburgh and Buckingham).

Music from the liturgy at Chavagnes International College, the Catholic boarding school for boys. http://www.chavagnes.org

Music from the liturgy at Chavagnes: sung by the boys at this leading international boarding school. http://www.chavagnes.org

Music from the liturgy at Chavagnes, the leading international boarding school for boys. http://www.chavagnes.org

Palestrina's 'Adoramus te, Christe', Sung by the boys of Chavagnes International College, the leading international Catholic school for boys. http://www.chavagnes.org

Amateur performance from the Chapel of Chavagnes International College. This is one of our favourites. http://www.chavagnes.org Catholic education for boys.

Exsultate, justi, in Domino; rectos decet collaudatio. Confitemini Domino in cithara; in psalterio decem chordarum psallite illi. Cantate ei canticum novum; bene psallite ei in vociferatione. - Psalm 33 Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just; praise befits the upright. Give praise to the Lord on the harp; sing to him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings. Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just; praise befits the upright. http://www.chavagnes.org/ Chavagnes International College is the leading international Catholic boarding school for boys. Please remember us in your prayers.

This motet by the English renaissance composer Christopher Tye (d. 1572) includes a line which is a one of the mottos of Chavagnes International College: "Laudate Deum, principes", (praise God, oh ye princes.) We believe that if the future leaders of our society are men who give God his due and dedicate their lives to him, then our civilisation will flourish. http://www.chavagnes.org/ Chavagnes International College is the leading international Catholic boarding school for boys. Please remember us in your prayers.

Organist : Ian Verrier Treble: Matthieu Brosset http://www.chavagnes.org/ Chavagnes International College is the leading international Catholic boarding school for boys. Please remember us in your prayers.

Gregorian chant and Fauré's Pie Jesu from Chavagnes International College Chapel. http://www.chavagnes.org/ Chavagnes International College is the leading international Catholic boarding school for boys. Please remember us in your prayers.

Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine. Tu das iis escam eorum in tempore opportuno. Aperis tu manum tuam, et imples omne animal benedictione tua … “The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord. Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature ...” This is often sung before meals and has been put to this use many times at Chavagnes. This recording is from 2004.

Professor Anthony O'Hear asks why do we educate? And then he explores the arguments for the defence of Liberal Arts education in today's world. Recorded at the 2019 Chavagnes Summer Conference. http://www.chavagnes.org/conferences

In an extended interview with Vatican Radio, Ferdi McDermott nd three pupils explain why they like their school and what makes it so special.

Splintered Fragments of the True Light of Homer, Sophocles, and Virgil. Recorded at the 2019 Chavagnes Summer Conference. http://www.chavagnes.org/conferences

Joseph Pearce - Muses and the Talents : Christian Theology and the Literary Imagination

At the 2019 Chavagnes International College summer conference, Joseph Pearce explores the later years of Shakespeare: his life, his work and his faith.

At the 2019 Chavagnes International College summer conference, Joseph Pearce explores the early years of Shakespeare: his life, his work and his faith.

Neander's "Lobe de Herren" on bells, followed by Bach's "Jesu meine Freude". Bells of the German Lutheran Church in Stockholm. Boys of Chavagnes International College. Recorded 2004. Listen out for " NICHTS sonst Liebers werden'. This chorale, which Bach and his friends used to sing at the bedside of the dying, ends with these words: "God's lamb, my bridegroom, besides You, on earth, NOTHING shall be dearer to me."

At Chavagnes we like to pull out all the stops and let rip on some of the old favourites. We are a small school and we do what we can; and we love it. Here we are with Mozart's Coronation Mass, on the last day of the school year in 2013.

Some archive footage of a Vatican Radio programme about Chavagnes International College.

Choir of Chavagnes International College.

Sung by the boys of Chavagnes International College.

The boys of Chavagnes sing the beginning of Vivaldi's famous Gloria.

Organist: Ian Verrier

Newman's beautiful hymn, sung by the congregation of boys and Masters at Chavagnes International College.

Classic hymn sung by boys and Masters at Chavagnes International College.