music and video by richard johnson (composerjohnson.com)
trumpet performed by Samuel Wells (samwellsmusic.com)

An Introit calls the congregation to the sacred ritual of Eucharist. The Introit has been part of the Mass Proper, and its numerous musical settings, since the middle of the first millennium CE. During that time, innumerable people have stood, sat, and knelt in places of worship, silently witnessing a performance with intermittent moments of acceptable interaction. There was a time when the holiness of this ritual was threatened by the Armed Man (L’homme arme), who dared to bring the popular sound of the masses into the sacred space of the Church. Some believed that the use of so catchy a tune, drunkenly sung in medieval taverns across the land, damaged the sanctity of both the ritual and the hallowed grounds on which it took place.