Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring: Christmas with The Dominican Sisters of Mary Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, are an established community devoted to worship and spiritual life under the tenets of the Dominican order. Their musical activities have flowed from those of the community with unusual depth and consistency, and the relationship between music and community has been one factor contributing to their considerable commercial success in the U.S. and beyond.

The Sisters were founded in 1997 in response to a call for spiritual renewal expressed by Pope John Paul II. They established themselves in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after being invited by Carl Frederick Mengeling, bishop of the Lansing diocese, to administer the church's Spiritus Sanctus Academies, originally founded by Domino's Pizza magnate and Catholic benefactor Tom Monaghan. The Sisters' Motherhouse is adjacent to the Domino's Farms campus that serves as the pizza chain's world headquarters.

The Sisters' first three recordings are explicitly designated on their website as tools for evangelization, a goal that has also impelled them to make several appearances on the Oprah television show and one on the American Bible Challenge in 2012. All three albums were recorded in the Motherhouse that is the center of daily activities for the group's 128 members. The first Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist album, Mater Eucharistiae, appeared in 2013 on the de Montfort label and was immediately picked up by the major Decca label. The album and its successor, The Rosary: Mysteries, Meditations, and Music, featured pure simplicity of religious observance, including not only chants and newly composed hymns, but also spoken prayers and graphic elements (such as a diagram of Rosary beads on the second CD) that directly relate to the Sisters' religious practice. The Sisters released a third album, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring: Christmas with the Dominican Sisters of Mary, moving to Sony Classical. The Sisters' success -- musical, liturgical, and communal -- has led them to outgrow their Michigan headquarters; in 2017 they were at work on a new community in the Austin, Texas area. ~ James Manheim