Historic Organ in Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel

The Johnson Opus 499 was built in 1877 for St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Church in Boston. When St. Mary’s building was slated for demolition in 1975, the School Sisters of Notre Dame rescued the organ and placed it in the chapel of their provincial house in Mankato. In 1994, the sisters committed themselves to a restoration of the organ, which comprises 45 stops and 2,995 pipes. The Johnson Company made 860 organs before it closed in 1898. Fewer than 100 of the high-quality organs still exist. The organ at Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel is the largest to have survived.

In 2005, the School Sisters of Notre Dame released “Celestial Banquet,” recorded from the restored Johnson & Son Organ, Opus 499, in the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mankato, Minnesota. The recording includes performances by Sisters Elaine Fraher, Janis Haustein, Carol Marie Hemish, Lucille Matousek, and Helen Marie Plourde.

The sisters decided on an eclectic mix of various musical styles and ages, including Victor Togni’s “Ave Maria,” William Albright’s “Sweet Sixteenths: A Concert Rag,” and Marcel Dupre’s “Magnificat 1.” The title of the CD is “Celestial Banquet.”

“When you have a real banquet, you have all kinds of food — courses and courses,” Matousek said. “(On this CD), there are appetizers, a first course, a second course and a big dessert.”

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