The musical conductor told his young choir singers not to cheer, but to continue singing when Pope Benedict XVI appeared in the Vatican's audience hall.
But it was hard to contain the enthusiasm of thousands of young people when they finally saw the pope walk into the Vatican's Paul VI hall.
The harmonious strains of "gloria in excelsis Deo" ("glory to God in the highest") quickly gave way to high-pitched squeals of joy, enthusiastic applause and chants of "Be-ne-det-to."
Close to 5,000 young choir singers, their family members, friends and choirmasters from 15 different countries were taking part in the Dec. 28-Jan. 1 International Congress of Pueri Cantores in Rome.
Of the 88 children's choir groups attending the papal audience and the congress, 10 different choirs came from the United States. Most choir members ranged from 8 years old to high school age.
They met with the pope in a special audience Dec. 30 and gave him a prelude of their musical talents before singing in St. Peter's Basilica for the papal Mass on New Year's Day.
"You have an important mission to help the people of God pray with dignity because sacred music is a ministerial function in the service of the Lord," the pope told the Catholic choir singers.
Singing not only contributes to "the beauty of the liturgy," it also nourishes one's faith and raises one's mind and thoughts to God, he said, speaking in French.
Thirteen-year-old Mia Countes of California said singing "makes me feel happy and my life complete."
When part of a larger choir, that same "feeling gets even stronger," she told Catholic News Service during singing rehearsal a few hours before the audience with Pope Benedict.
The farthest Countes and her choir had traveled to sing was local parish festivals and an annual music event at Disneyland. "I always wanted to meet the pope," she said, because "he's the leader of the Catholic Church and because I'm Catholic --- that's really big."
Countes was one of 68 boys and girls representing the St. John Fisher Archangel Choir from Rancho Palos Verdes.
Their choirmaster, Allison Graff, said singing almost every day with other choirs in different venues throughout Rome had been "eye opening" for the children. For many of them, it was their first time abroad and their first singing experience with Pueri Cantores.
"They've been getting to see what other choirs are doing" and how they interpret the same music, she said.
Graff said that, as a person who is "passionate about music," watching that same passion unfold in her singers is rewarding. "It's amazing to watch them respond to music even when they are singing in a language they don't understand," she said.
Though many children may join a choir for its social appeal, the faith of many of the children has been deepened and enriched, she said.
Jim Corrigan of St. Louis said singing in a choir "enhanced and solidified" his 10-year-old daughter's faith in God. While some kids are enamored by sports, singing in the choir "is the one thing that really means something for her," he said.
Corrigan's daughter, Maggie, and Jerry Krausz's 9-year-old son, Sam, were two of the approximately 60 girls and boys representing the Archdiocesan Children's Choir of St. Louis.
Corrigan said singing in the Vatican and seeing Pope Benedict was "a huge deal" for the kids since some "had seen Pope John Paul II when he visited St. Louis when they were 4 or 5 years old."
Krausz said being in Rome during the Christmas season was especially inspiring for his son.
When they visited St. Peter's Square the evening of Dec. 26, his son "took it all in" --- the Nativity scene, the giant, decorated Christmas tree, "and we could even see that the light was on in the pope's apartment window."
Pueri Cantores was created by a 1965 decree to spread liturgical music as interpreted by children. ---CNS |