SXU to Host 2025 Sister Josetta Butler Lecture

Saint Xavier University (SXU) will host the 2025 Sister Josetta Butler Lecture featuring speaker Charles Cosgrove, Ph.D. The event, "Ancient Christian Song: Sounds and Setting," will be held on Tuesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in the Butler Reception Room.

Cosgrove, professor emeritus of early Christian literature at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, will describe early Christian music and one of the earliest notated Christian songs that reveals what early Christian communities meant by 'hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs.'

Cosgrove, also a musician, theologian, and preacher, is the author of numerous books, including "Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustus" and "An Ancient Christian Hymn with Musical Notation: Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1768." His forthcoming book, "A History of Christian Psalmody: From the Pauline Mission to the End of the Fifth Century," traces the history of psalm-singing during the Church's first five centuries.

The Sister Josetta Butler Lecture is named for Sister Mary Josetta Butler, R.S.M. Sister Butler was dean of Saint Xavier College from 1941 to 1963 and president from 1960 to 1963. Her significant contributions as a Sister of Mercy, college administrator, and innovative educator have had a lasting influence on Saint Xavier, and in 1990, the Board of Trustees established a fund endowing the lecture series and an annual student scholarship.

All are invited to attend. A reception will follow the presentation.

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