St. Louis Jesuits

The St. Louis Jesuits are a group of Catholic composers who composed music for worship most often in a folk music style of church music in their compositions and recordings, mainly from their heyday in the 1970s through the mid-1980s. Made up of Jesuit scholastics at St. Louis University, the group initially used acoustic guitars and contemporary-style melodies and rhythms to set biblical and other religious texts to music sung in English in response to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. John Kavanaugh, also a Jesuit and composer, never worked with the group; however, a few of his compositions were included in the first collection, “Neither Silver Nor Gold,” which was produced before the original members decided to further collaborate and record together. History Some of the music was recorded in the basement of Fusz Memorial Chapel, the rest at a local studio. After the groundswell of interest in their music and liturgies, this first collection of 58 songs, some dating back as early as 1964, was called Neither Silver nor Gold and included music by Bob Dufford, S.J., John Foley, S.J., Tim Manion, and Dan Schutte. The original purpose of the recording was only to