Members of the Saint Anthony Choristers are departing Dec. 26 on a pilgrimage to Rome.
The highlight of their trip will be to sing at the World Peace Day Papal Mass on New Year’s Day, said Sandra Lau, the choir director for the group from Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in San Antonio.
The 14 youth singers will be part of 5,000 youth singers from around the world that are taking part in the 40th International Congress of Pueri Cantores.
Pueri Cantores, which means “little singers” in Latin, was founded in France in 1907.
(Courtesy of American Federation Pueri Cantores)
The organization is dedicated to the conviction that singing can be an instrument in worshipping God.
Saint Anthony Choristers is part of the largest delegation of American singers ever to participate in a Pueri Cantores Congress, with almost 2,000 pilgrims expected to travel from the United States to Rome.
Other activities during the week include the “Mass of the Nations,” where the American choirs will celebrate a Mass in English in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, various “Concerts of Hope” at major churches in Rome, featuring an international mix of children’s choirs from among Pueri Cantores’ 37 federations around the world, and a private audience with the Holy Father, at which the “little singers” will sing Christmas carols from their home countries.
Lau said the group she is leading has been practicing the music it will be singing in Rome for months.
“We started in July, and we’ve been having twice a month, hour-and-a-half rehearsals,” Lau said.
The choir is singing an Argentinian song that we’re learning, because our Pope is from Argentina, Lau said.
The group also will be touring various sites in Rome, Lau said, noting she believes the experience will leave a lifelong impression on the singers making the trip.
Being able to sing for Pope Francis is an honor, she said.
“You saw how excited people were when he came to the United States, in Philadelphia and New York. So many people said, ‘Oh, I just love this Pope. And, they loved seeing him here on our homeland. But, to be in the Vatican where he lives and have kids their age from all over the world coming together is just amazing. It makes you realize how big the Catholic church is, and how far it has spread,” she said.
The music the choirs will be performing, she said, “ties us in with generations past, because we’re singing chant that goes back centuries.”
So, the experience will enable the choir to join voices with choirs from around the world, and they’ll be connected to the past through the music
The group also will be in church during a special time.
Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee of Mercy, which began Dec. 8 and runs through Nov. 20, 2016.
A Jubilee is a special time celebrated by the church to receive pardon and blessing from God, according to the National Catholic Reporter. “Most Jubilees have been focused on calling pilgrims to Rome to receive such pardon — normally by walking through a special holy door at a papal basilica,” according to the national Catholic publication.
“Francis has widely expanded his Jubilee, asking that diocese throughout the world open their own holy door at a cathedral or other church to expand the practice globally,” the National Catholic Reporter explains.
Lau is excited because the choir will be in Rome when the Holy Door is open there.
Lau has been the organist and choir director at St. Anthony of Padua since 1987, and has led children’s choirs nearly the entire time.
The Saint Anthony Choristers became affiliated with Pueri Cantores in 2007, expanding the choir’s opportunities to participate in regional festivals and international choral gatherings.
This is the second time the church has sent members of its youth choir to Rome; the other time was five years ago, Lau said.
Published December 23, 2015
