Missa Laudato Si’ is a new mass written in the spirit of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical, Laudato  Si’, where he deplored: “For human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing  changes in its climate, […] for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air,  and its life – these are sins.” In the form of a Mass, it contemplates climate change and caring for  the earth by intertwining the Latin Mass text with prayers, poems, and texts about contaminated  soil and water, and all the threatened creatures living under the climate and plastic crises,  including “the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest.” 

When Kirsten approached me in the summer of 2023 with her vision of creating a new ecological  mass setting, I saw significant possibilities. I view this opportunity to create a mass, one of the  oldest musical art forms, as a vehicle to convey forward-looking perspectives and propose an  emotional and spiritual solution to one of humanity’s most urgent and critical issues, focusing on  the voices of the earth and the marginalized. 

The mass encompasses a full spectrum of human expression, including forgiveness, anger,  lament, celebration, despair, joy, faith, awe, and mercy. It infuses the traditional Missa  Solemnis text without the Credo and Sanctus section, while including an additional Ite, missa  est section—with additional texts from Canticle of the Creatures and Laudes Creaturarum by  Saint Francis of Assisi, poems by refugee poets such as Syrian poet Abdullah Kasem Al Yatim  (used with permission), names and other data of critically endangered species from the IUCN  RedList (The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species— www.iucnredlist.org, used with permission), poems by the Korean zen-poet Shiva Ryu and from  Pope Francis’ Missa Laudato Si,’ with various sound sources from my research, including the  Schumann resonance of the earth—an electromagnetic low frequency ‘breath’ of the earth. 

Pragmatically, Missa Laudato Si’ is designed to be performed by university-level choir singers.  The performance difficulty is meticulously calibrated so that student singers can actively participate, supported by graduate-level/professional performers who handle the more virtuosic  material. I aim for this opportunity to be a transformative experience for students, deepening  their understanding of the interconnectedness of our planet and cultivating awareness of our  spiritual connection to the rest of creation. By participating in the performance of the mass,  students will have an immersive opportunity to actively engage in climate activism through the  arts. 

The first movement, Kyrie eleison, was performed in April 2024 by Loyola’s Ignatian Voices  (Kirsten Hedegaard, instructor), University Chorale (Kirsten Hedegaard, instructor), University  Singers (Jennifer Budziak, instructor), along with the New Earth Ensemble from The EcoVoice  Project (The EcoVP) in Madonna della Strada Chapel in Chicago. The entire mass cycle will be  world-premiered in March 2025 with the same performance forces. Missa Laudato Si’ is  commissioned by and dedicated with deep admiration to Kirsten Hedegaard. 

Dongryul Lee