The Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in South America in 1767, leaving behind a remarkable musical legacy that was buried for over two hundred years. But the music did not disappear completely. Thanks to the Chiquitos people of Bolivia, the music was played and preserved throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1985, Swiss architect Hans Roth discovered 9,000 of these musical manuscripts and in 1990 UNESCO declared the churches of the Chiquitos a “patrimony of humanity”. Dr. Gustavo Leone of Loyola University Chicago's Department of Fine and Performing Arts has painstakingly retrieved and restored several of these incredible manuscripts, preserving a rare and invaluable treasure of the Jesuit and Catholic heritage.

This is the first publication of this anonymous composition, collected at the Music Archives of the Chiquitos, in Concepción, Bolivia. This composition is attributed to Fr. Martin Schmid, SJ. This composition, Regina Caeli Laetare, is for SATB choir, violin 1, violin 1, and continuo.

Funded in part by a faculty research grant from the Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago.

The Regina Caeli or Regina Coeli ("Queen of Heaven"), an ancient Latin Marian Hymn of the Christian Church, is one of the four seasonal Marian antiphons of the Blessed Virgin Mary, prescribed to be sung or recited in the Liturgy of the Hours at the conclusion of the last of the hours to be prayed in common that day, typically night prayer (Compline or Vespers).

This score and instrumental parts are available for performance by downloading them from this site for free.