As we enter Advent, a season of preparation and hope, then joyfully celebrate the birth of Christ, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains offers us a prayerful and beautiful setting to mark these liturgical seasons.

“Everything about the liturgy at the Cathedral Basilica during our Advent and Christmas seasons is spectacularly beautiful and meant to draw each of us into the beauty of the love our God has for us in sending His Son,” said Fr. Jan Schmidt, rector.

In terms of music, Lessons and Carols begins the season on the first Sunday of Advent, interspersing Scripture readings with choral motifs and hymns for the congregation. The service commences in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel as the cathedral choir sings “Alma Redemptoris Mater” (Loving Mother of Our Redeemer), a Marian hymn expressing devotion to and the intercession of our Blessed Mother.

“The music and readings focus on the whole reason for Advent—preparing for the birth of our Savior,” said Matthew Geerlings, director of music for the Cathedral Basilica and Archdiocese of Cincinnati. “The service is both joyous and full of anticipation, just like the Advent season.”

“Lessons and Carols is unlike anything else we do,” added Blake Callahan, Cathedral Basilica organist. “It’s somewhere between a religious concert and a service and, for me, features some of the best music of the whole year.”

This year’s Lessons and Carols will be held Sunday, Nov. 30 at 2 p.m., and the lot next to St. Peter in Chains provides free parking.

Fr. Schmidt explained the Cathedral Basilica’s physical beauty during Advent and Christmas and other factors that help us enter more deeply into the nature of the season.

“In Advent, the overall sense of the season is one of ‘waiting,’” he noted. “We are waiting for two principal events that are fostered in the readings of the season, and each call us to a sense of introspection. The early weeks of Advent through December 16 are focused on the second coming of the Lord, so it is a period in which the purples of penitence and the stark nature of the art and environment help to get our minds focused on the need for change. A lone Advent wreath suspended from the ceiling is a fitting way to draw our eyes to heaven—our destiny for which we are preparing.

“On December 17, our readings portend the birth of our Savior and our celebration of His birth at Christmas. A sense of joy enters our liturgical scene, and thus decorations slowly begin to appear. Small flourishes of poinsettias and the appearance of evergreen in the decor … set the stage for the great feast of Christmas—the ‘feast of the coming of the Sun’ just over the horizon of our lives.”

St. Peter in Chains celebrates three vigil Masses on Dec. 24, at 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 10 p.m. A wind trio will provide prelude music, a variety of Christmas favorites, before the afternoon Masses. And a full orchestra will perform a large portion of Handel’s “Messiah,” beginning about one hour before the 10 p.m. Mass. Celebrating his first Christmas in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archbishop Robert Casey will preside at the 10 p.m. vigil Mass and the Christmas Day liturgy at 10 a.m.

All are welcome to celebrate the beauty and joy of the season at the Cathedral Basilica.

“There’s such joy in the way we celebrate,” Geerlings said. “We’re unabashedly Catholic in both the music and the prayers, even the smells. There’s that little bit of extra incense on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. … We want people to have an experience here that makes them want to come back.”

“The beauty here may be experienced at any time of year,” Fr. Schmidt said, “but Advent and Christmas are a very special time, drawing us into a sense of warmth and comfort, knowing the love our Savior has for us. It is a time of yearning, and there is no more beautiful place in our archdiocese to do just that—to yearn for His presence and His peace, from the sounds of beautiful seasonal music to the atmosphere of holy day festivities throughout.” ✣

This article appeared in the December 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.