New Choral Piece Honors Joan Mangano and Marian Stelter

At the 11:00 service on Mothers Day, May 14, the St. John’s-Grace Choir will present a new choral piece by St. John’s-Grace Composer/Hymnist-in-Residence John Schimminger dedicated to the memory of Joan Mangano and Marian Stelter. It is a setting of a poem by William Alexander Percy entitled The Holy Women. Here is the text:

I have seen Mary at the cross

    And Mary at the tomb

And Mary weeping as she spread her hair

    In a leper’s room.

But it was not in Bethany

    Or groping up Calvary hill

I learned how women break their hearts to ease

    Another’s ill.

Compassionate and wise in pain,

    Most faithful in defeat,

The holy Marys I have watched and loved

    Live on our street.