Hi All. I am slightly confused... Trying to find the time table to see the monks chanting at the Abby but I am finding websites that said the monks went to Avignon in France in October but then I find reviews of people seeing them weeks ago. Does anyone know what the chanting times are? I don't understand the time table on their website.

Is this the site you are looking at?
http://www.antimo.it/benvenuto/visite/
I heard last year that the monks, then in residence at that time, were planning to move away.

We were there last in March of this year and talked with the man who used to work there taking care of the church and he told us that there were only one or two monks left and that there was no more chanting.

I've been astonished over the past few weeks to notice how often Divine Office is now sung in major urban churches in central Italy. Especially (in the past couple of weeks' experience) in Emilia-Romagna, the region which has traditionally displayed Italy's most virulent anti-clericalism.

In most cathedrals (at least in E-R and the Veneto), the printed list of services on the noticeboard (though not on the web) includes several days a week where at least one of the traditional offices (usually Vespers - the Catholic equivalent of Anglicanism's Evensong) is now routinely chanted. In Bologna last week, three priests were chanting Matins on the main altar as I walked into San Giacomo Maggiore - and I'm sure I remember chanted Office featuring on the notice board in San Petronio, which is really the city's major church, its Duomo being more an underloved admin centre (sign of the times: San Petronio had the police with machine guns outside: the Duomo was as unprotected as churches used to be in the days mad Muslims didn't try avenging the Crusades).

This may be a regional quirk, or it may be that EU enlargement and mass immigration are reversing the shortage of priests in urban Italy. It's certainly worth checking this when visiting not just a city's Duomo, but the other big, art-stuffed, parish churches (and the big churches run by the Dominicans, Franciscans and Oratorians) on any city's standard culture-chasing itinerary.

Much handier than traipsing out to Italy's depopulating countryside: priests and nuns are being encouraged to go where the pastoral needs are, not where they can spend their lives in contemplation.

This is very sad news. I visited Sant 'Antimo in 2005 for an early morning service. It was so peaceful and the ancient simple duomo was so beautiful. A lovely memory and Im so glad I had the opportunity.

It s good to hear Gregorian chants are happening elsewhere.

A reminder to travel today because you dont know what tomorrow may bring.

Thanks for the information!

We were at the abbey yesterday. There was recorded chanting. Our tour guide said that there will be a new rotation of monks coming in eho, to,his knwlee, will resume the chanting. However, there was no timetable. I would still go to the abbey if you are in the area.

<i> San Petronio had the police with machine guns outside:the Duomo was as unprotected as churches used to be ... </i>

And still mostly are. San Petronio has a 15th century fresco showing Muhammed burning in hell. It's already been the target of (failed) attacks.

I've never heard the cathedral of Bologna referred to as the "Duomo", although maybe it is, officially. It's just referred to as the "Cattedrale Metropolitano". One could argue that San Petronio should be the duomo, which just means the most important church in a city. There are numerous examples of cities where the duomo isn't the cathedral. However, in Bologna, San Petronio isn't the duomo, so I suppose the cathedral is.

I don't know what Emilian anti-clericalism has to do with the liturgy in the churches. They're two different clans. I think chant is seeing a revival because people, both lay and religious, like it. The previous pope made a big effort to encourage it, and Pope Francis at least has done nothing to discourage it.

By the way, it seems to me that Pope Francis uses Latin more than previous popes did.