Requiem for the Forgotten

Commissioned by Archbishop Cordileone, in the composer's words, "for the repose of the souls of people on the margins: the homeless, the refugee escaping war and political or religious persecution, the martyrs of totalitarianism in all its forms." Drawing on his Ukrainian heritage, the Requiem sets a poem by James Matthew Wilson, the Institute's poet in residence, on the Ukrainian priest Andrei Ischak, martyred by the Bolsheviks; it is sung as the Commemoration, and the Institute calls it the Offertory for Ukraine. The work has been sung to pray for Ukrainian refugees and, each November, for those who have died on the streets.

Of the work, Frank has written that his aim was music befitting not how the world sees the homeless and the refugee but how God sees them: "The deepest need of the forgotten, like the rest of us, is not simply shelter, but a home, and that ultimate home is the Church."

The complete Requiem, for SATB choir, low strings, organ, and harp, was first sung on March 15, 2024, at Epiphany Church in Miami, at a Mass for those who died without a funeral, with Archbishop Cordileone presiding and Richard Carrillo conducting a choir of twenty and a chamber orchestra before some 800 people; Archbishop Wenski of Miami was represented, and EWTN News covered the premiere. Movements: Introit; Kyrie; Commemoration, A Hymn for Ukraine; Offertory, I will lift up mine eyes; Sanctus and Benedictus; Agnus Dei; Meditation, O vos omnes; Procession to the place of rest, Pie Jesu. Written 2020 to 2023 and recorded by the Benedict XVI Choir and Orchestra under Richard Sparks for Cappella Records.