International Christmas Carols with the Circolo Berkeley

at the Church of San Nicola da Myra, piazzetta Chiesa Greca, Lecce

on December 13th, 2025 at 5 p.m.

"Christmas comes but once a year

and when it comes it brings good cheer!",

goes the old adage, certainly applicable to the wonderful evening we had at the Greek Church on December 13th.

Papas Nic welcomed us to his beautiful church, blessing us with incense, a practice common to the Byzantine rite, and then read the famous introduction to St. John's Gospel (John, 1, i). David Katan, the President of the Circolo Berkeley, warmly welcomed us all to our international carol-singing and thanked Papas Nic for his generous hospitality.

Padre Ovidiu and the Rumanian choir (video by a young friend of the Berkeley, Costanza Borra)

Then Padre Ovidiu, the Rumanian parish priest of the Greek Orthodox Church in Lecce, expressed a few reflections on what Papas Nic had read. This was in keeping with the prayers and activities of the Greek Church of the Byzantine rite in Lecce, as it has always had a very strong ecumenical importance, being for centuries the place of worship of the Greek and Albanian communities living in Lecce. With him Padre Ovidiu had brought a group of Rumanian parishioners with their children, all dressed in their national costume with beautiful floral decorations.

Joan Justess singing "Christmas ah come..." (video by a young friend of the Berkeley, Costanza Borra)

A reading in English from St. Matthew's Gospel followed and we all sang in unison a number of English carols. Then Joan Justess from Jamaica sang a lively, cheerful folk song from her homeland and we all joined in with Joan singing "Christmas ah come...", and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Bona Kim singing "Deck the Halls" in Korean (video by a young friend of the Berkeley, Costanza Borra)

The atmosphere became even more international when Bona Kim sang in Korean "Silent Night" and "Deck the Halls", two beautiful renderings, which we all sang together in English after Bona had sung so delicately in Korean.

A faithful group of German ladies sang the two beautiful carols "Ihr Kinderlein Kommet", in which all children are invited to visit Baby Jesus in his crib, and "O, Du Fröhliche" to Our Lady.

We all read together St. Francis' "Prayer for Peace, most necessary with the numerous wars being waged throughout the world. Then little Greta with Papas Nic and a few children carried Baby Jesus to the crib in a procession while we all sang "Tu scendi dalle stelle", the beautiful carol composed by Sant'Alfonso de' Liguori in 1754. Amy also accompanied us on her clarinet. Two singers, Giusy Zangaro and her daughter, from Sternatia, sang two beautiful carols in griko and one in Calabrian dialect for Papas Nic, who is from Calabria.

Before giving us his final blessing he sang a very moving little carol in Arbëresh, descended from Old Tosk Albanian, in which Our Lady begs Baby Jesus not to cry, as all humanity is awaiting Him and the Redemption He brings with Him.

All the carols were accompanied by the pianist Stefano Pellegrino, always willing to give his precious help on the keyboard. After the carols Papas Nic kindly invited us for panettone and drinks in his house. It had really been an evening of "good cheer".

Cover photo by Claudia Mazzei