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Veneration of the Cross disseminated through the Eastern and Western churches: believers approached it with wonder and love, and asked for its protection. The liturgical celebration of the Cross was first and foremost linked to Good Friday, but later the Cross was given two feastdays of its own: first on 14 September (the Exaltation of the Cross) and later on 3 May (the Invention of the Cross). The different eras of veneration of the Cross are clearly reflected in the feastday chants. The oldest chants address Christ, giving thanks for redemption and praising the cross as the tool of redemption. Another group tells the story of Constantine the Great who, the night before the decisive battle with his co-emperor, had a vision telling him "in this sign will you be victorious". The chants also include the story of how three crosses were found on Calvary; which of the three was Christ's. A third group of chants praises the sign of the cross, and asks for its protection. Veneration of the Holy Cross influenced music history in its entirety. This thematic disc is thus a kind of cross-section of the history of liturgical chant. Chants praising it can be found in the old liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox church, while in the west they first appeared in the Good Friday rituals. The Old Latin rites. The second group of movements is drawn from the old mass movements for the feast of the Holy Cross. The third group of movements is a medieval curiosity. At variance with the custom of the Roman church (perhaps in the Celtic churches), some mass movements were set to texts drawn not from Biblical sources, but from legends. In the Introitus even the verse of the psalm is replaced by such an excerpt; the Offertory is notable for its extreme length and its melodic style, which contrasts with Gregorian chant. The Communion after them is a Hungarian rarity. The fourth group of movements draws on late Gregorian chant, using material in Hungarian codexes.

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Contemplating the crucifix in the company of this choir of mixed men, women and children is at once a deep devotional and musical experience. They deliver their repertoire (...) with a brightly legato, brightly tinted with post-nasal resonance. (...) their sound covers youthful rawness yet, paradoxically, draws the listener in.

     —Rebeccy Tavener, Choir &Organ, March-April 2014