It is a well-known fact that Liszt took minor orders in 1865, caricatured as the 50-some-year-old composer conducting with flailing arms in a black cassock. The promulgated viewpoint depicts him changing from the worldly piano virtuoso, to Wagner-championing conductor, to seemingly humble abbé, yet still seeking public approbation. His spirituality is called into question. What this chapter attempts to elucidate is the sincerity and coherence of Liszt's religious views as seen through his sacred choral music which he began composing as early as 1842 and continued composing until a year before his death in 1886. It divides his sacred choral works into two periods: 1842–59, that is, through his early years and Weimar appointment; and 1860–86, from when he was preparing to leave Weimar for Rome until his death. This chronological overview discusses a given work in relationship to its date of conception, allowing that its composition and revision may have gone on for years and even decades.

Before turning to Liszt's works of the 1840s and 50s, we examine Liszt's previous attitudes towards the Church and its music, which were determined in large part by his exposure to the ideas of the Abbé Robert Félicité de Lamennais. Lamennais figured prominently in the already precarious political and religious climate of the 1830s when he urged his followers to reject the divine right of kings and replace it with the sovereignty of the people. According to Lamennais, the Church, led by the Papacy, should lead its people into a new world order that would address oppression of the poor and bring about equality and liberty.