By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -
DAVIE | St. Bonaventure’s Children’s Chorale and members of St. David’s School choir got quite a gift this Christmas: They spent their vacation singing in Rome.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Members of St. David's choir pose for a photo at St. Peter's Basilica. Pictured are choir director Mary Waxman, Kristen Mestre, Rachel Alston, Alexandra Leon, Emily Giovino, Victoria Post, Catalina Esteban and Jo Anna Harrison, who graduated from St. David's five years ago. She went to Rome back then as an eighth grader.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Members of St. David's choir pose for a photo outside the Coloseum.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Members of St. David's choir pose for a photo inside the Paul VI Audience Hall.
Both groups joined 28 other youth choirs from around the world who gathered in the Eternal City Dec. 26 through Jan. 2 for the 40th International Congress of Pueri Cantores.
Pueri Cantores—which literally means “child singers”—is the official student choral organization of the Catholic Church. It is comprised of student singers in grades 4 through 12. The Rome festival, held every five years, featured about 6,000 singers, including 1,000 from the U.S.
When they perform as a group, as they did in Rome, Pueri Cantores is the largest children’s choir in history.
“What makes Pueri Cantores so special is that the youth are able to connect their gift of singing to the gift of their faith,” said Jan Schmidt, executive director of the American Federation of Pueri Cantores. “The U.S. choirs have been preparing for more than a year for this pilgrimage.”
She added that what sets Pueri Cantores apart “is the quality of the music, the great conducting and the beauty of the churches where choirs sing.”
With 39 choir members attending, the St. Bonaventure Chorale, under the direction of Ysomar Granados, was the largest group in the American federation. To help pay for the trip, the group recorded CDs, performed concerts, and took advantage of every fundraising opportunity over the course of a year and a half. They also rehearsed a lot.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
The Vivot family from St. Bonaventure Parish in Davie greets Pope Francis during a general audience outside St. Peter's Basilica.
The St. Bonaventure Children's Chorale pose inside the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
As Pope Francis exited the Paul VI Audience Hall, the two youngest members of the St. Bonaventure delegation, dressed in traditional Argentine costumes, got their own moment with the pope, who paused to kiss and bless them. They are 4-year-old Victoria Vivot and Jonathan Echazabal.
“We learned to sing our musical repertoire,” said Granados. “We reflected and talked on many occasions about what we were going to experience, and the responsibility we had as singers and music ministers.”
Similar preparations were made by St. David’s group of six choir members, directed by Mary Waxman.
Yvonne Mestre, mother of St. David eighth-grader Kristen Mestre, recalled how five years ago she and her husband calculated that their daughter would be a part of the group that sang in Rome.
It was the family’s first trip to the Eternal City and as Mestre described it, “a great way to exit” her time with St. David’s choir.
Upon arriving in Rome, the groups set off on an intensive tour of the city, enjoying the richness of its culture and its history, seeing St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, walking through the Holy Doors, then indulging in pizza, pasta and gelato. But “la dolce vita” would have to wait, as the choristers had to keep the purpose of their pilgrimage in mind: singing.
On Dec. 28, the Pueri Cantores attended a papal audience at the Paul VI Audience Hall next door to St. Peter’s. But they did not sing.
“I’m pretty sure they knew we weren’t going to be singing,” Kristen said. “They knew we were all going to be jumping over each other to get to see him and touch him.”
With a little bit of crowd surfing, Kristen herself was among the fortunate ones who touched Pope Francis.
“He was walking down the aisle and I basically jumped three people to touch him,” Kristen said.
Alejandro DeSantis, a fourth grader at St. Bonaventure, also had a close encounter with the pope.
“When I saw the pope walking down the aisle, my heart burst with happiness,” Alejandro wrote later. “I was filled with joy and couldn't believe my eyes. I felt his overwhelming presence and his amazing smile. I feel completely blessed now because he touched my hand.”
Pope Francis, who confessed to the choristers that he is not a good singer, asked them to pray, but also to follow the motto of St. Augustine: “Canta e camina” (to sing and walk).
“Sing. Sing and be happy. Sing and walk. I would rather hear you sing… The voices of children are beautiful, and you must sing and walk. Not only that, but singing with joy. Walk with joy and sing with joy. Repeat after me, sing and walk. Canta e camina.”
St. Bonaventure’s choir and St. David’s choir took the pope’s advice to heart as they performed at the National Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome Dec. 29, and later at a Carols from Around the World Christmas celebration Dec. 31, where they sang carols expressive of the music of their countries.
With 32 countries represented and languages ranging from Latin and Spanish to English, Irish and German, Japanese and Korean, the carolers displayed how singing during the Christmas season transcends borders and language barriers.
The groups concluded their pilgrimage at the World Peace Day Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, which was celebrated by Pope Francis Jan. 1.
Florencia Vivot, whose daughter Fini is a fifth grader in St. Bonaventure’s choir, said she had a moment’s epiphany during the Mass.
“I thought ‘How could it get better than this?’” Vivot said. “I'm here with my husband, four children and my parents. I could feel God's presence; you could see God's greatness. Such harmony among the groups, we were all one body, a small piece of a mosaic portraying a work of art that only God could create.”
Ana Rodriguez-Soto of the Florida Catholic and Vilma Angulo of St. Bonaventure Parish contributed to this report.
FIND OUT MORE
The International Federation of Pueri Cantores, founded in 1944 in France and officially endorsed by the Holy See in 1965, is part of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. It consists of about 40,000 youth and children, aged 9 through 18, in hundreds of choirs around the world.
The American Federation of Pueri Cantores was founded in Chicago in 1953 and has grown to more than 150 choirs in 72 U.S. dioceses.
SAVE THE DATE
Pueri Cantores from throughout the Archdiocese of Miami will be taking part in a festival at the end of February. They will conclude it by singing at a Mass Saturday, Feb. 27, at 5:30 p.m., at Epiphany Church, 8235 S.W. 57 Ave., Miami.
