Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer who has won multiple awards for his film soundtracks, including The Mission, debuted the first mass he has written on June 10 at the Church of the Gesù, the main church of the Society in Rome.

Named “Missa Papae Francisci” in honour of the first Jesuit pope, Morricone composed it, at the request of the Jesuits, to mark the 200th anniversary (1814 to 2014) of the Restoration of the Society of Jesus. The mass was to have debuted on the actual bicentenary date but this was postponed when Morricone fell ill.

In the premiere performance, Morricone himself conducted the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta with Stefano Cucci directing the dual chorus comprising 100 singers from the National Academy of St Cecilia and the Rome Opera. In attendance were Fr Adolfo Nicolas SJ, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano and hundreds of Jesuit guests.

“The thing that strikes me most about this task,” said Morricone, “is the fact that I wrote the music for the film ‘The Mission’ [1986], which is the story of the Jesuits in South America, which after some years, in 1750, they were disbanded. In some way I have participated in their dissolution and now I participate in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of their restoration.”

The Society of Jesus was founded by St Ignatius of Loyola and approved by Pope Paul III in 1540. It was suppressed in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV, and restored on August 7, 1814, by Pope Pius VII through the papal bull Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum. [Jesuits in Britain, Catholic News Agency, America Magazine]

The Mass was broadcast by the Italian radio station Rai 5. Watch the premiere performance of Missa Papae Francisci here. 

Photo caption: Morricone receiving a standing ovation after the performance. Photo by Fr Danny Huang SJ.