Abstract

The VI Grand Polish Festival of Religious Music took place in The Mary’s Help of Christians Church from 20th to 22nd of October 1994. The event was organized in honor of a Salesian Father Stanislaw Orminski. He was a Salesian – a composer, an organist, a conductor and the author of many choral and instrumental compositions. Fr. Orminski was an active member of The Polish Choir and Orchestra Society, a publisher of choral hymns, an educator of young people. Moreover, the organizers wished to make the attainments in old and modern religious music widely known. The festival comprised three competitions: the competition for the best composition; the competition of the organ music, in which the students from music academies and higher forms of music colleges took part and the competition of the choral groups. There were not only competitions, judgements, prizes and distinctions for the best. The organizers – the past pupils of Fr. Stanislaw Orminski, tried to introduce elements of unity beside the elements of vying. The common participation in the Eucharist, prayers and hymns created an unique atmosphere and very special climate. The high level of art puts the festival among the most important art events in Poland. The festival is a very good example of a proper understanding and realisation of the Second Vatican Council’s ideas. It is also a modern and very up-t-date reply to the necessity of constant, appropriate joining of religious music and chant with the liturgy of the Church.