The idea for The Hildegard Collective was conceived in a gym.

 

In early 2020, Cecilia was preparing for graduate school auditions to pursue a masters in flute performance. Partly driven to increase her breath support and partly influenced by her roommates’ surprising ability to stick to their New Year’s resolution to hit the gym several times a week, she found herself on an elliptical machine almost every evening after classes and rehearsals. 

 

This was prime time to binge-listen to podcasts; and The Abiding Together podcast quickly became a favorite. One evening in early February, she was listening to an episode called Made for Mission, during which the hosts encouraged all those listening to dream big for God. 

 

Almost on cue, an idea popped into Cecilia’s head. “It would be so cool if there was a retreat for Catholic musicians,” she thought. 

 

The subsequent minutes that followed included her tuning out the podcast and dreaming up what a retreat for Catholic musicians might look like. A weekend full of prayer, formation, and music-making among retreatants; a place where Catholic musicians from all across the field of music could come together, make lasting connections, dream up new ideas, learn from each other, and worship God together. 

 

And then Covid-19 happened. 

 

Cecilia went home to finish her music degree in lockdown with her parents, both music educators and performers themselves. She and her mom scheduled a daily walk to keep themselves sane; and it was on these walks that her idea for a retreat became something bigger. What if all the ideas for a retreat didn’t have to just apply to a retreat? What if there was an apostolate for Catholic musicians? 

 

And so The Hildegard Collective was conceived, on a lockdown-era walk, in a small town in central Pennsylvania.

 

But it wasn’t until the following year that Cecilia began to see the deep need for such an apostolate. 

 

First, she got to grad school and found out that the other young woman studying for her flute performance was also Catholic. A few months later, she discovered a fellow grad student in the viola section was also Catholic. But it took a providential chance of the violist’s sister coming across a video of Cecilia on social media and sending it to the violist that they discovered their common faith. 

 

The transition from a Catholic university for undergrad to a secular institution for grad school also made Cecilia realize this deep need for connection among Catholic musicians.

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