On Monday, March 17, more than 200 students, ranging from middle school to high school, sang as a part of the Pueri Cantores youth choir during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Rhoades at St. Charles Borromeo in Fort Wayne.  “Wow, you all are missionaries of beauty,” Bishop Rhoades told them during his homily. “Through your singing, we encounter God’s beauty.” The Pueri Cantores festival occurs annually and brings together choir students from across the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. Photos by Nick MeyerBishop Rhoades, center right, student members of the Pueri Cantores choir, and choir directors pose for a photo following the annual Pueri Cantores Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Fort Wayne on Monday, March 17. Pueri Cantores is a student choral organization of the Catholic Church that aims to evangelize through sacred music. Singing chant and a variety of hymns, students become familiar with the great tradition of music in the Church. In other words, the organization aims to “evangelize and catechize choristers through the medium of sacred music, aiding them in growing in their faith and rooting them ever deeper to the Church,” according to the organization’s website. Choir directors throughout the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend can offer their students the opportunity to take part in Pueri Cantores.  Two members of the Pueri Cantores choir, above, sing during Mass. Above right, guest conductor Paul French directs the choir at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Fort Wayne. This is the 13th year Pueri Cantores has taken place in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, with 24 catholic schools sending students to sing. “It was a tremendous day of hard work,” Paul French, president of the American Federation of Pueri Cantores and conductor for the diocese’s festival, told Today’s Catholic. “The festival was the combination of months of preparation. The music is very technical and can’t just be thrown together,” he added. Tens of choir directors from schools including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Fort Wayne and St. Joseph Grade School in South Bend were in attendance. “It is really the local choir directors, the school choir directors, who do all the heavy lifting so that when they come to the festival, they are as prepared as they can be,” French explained. “They do weeks and weeks of preparation with their students.” With the Mass falling on St. Patrick’s Day, hundreds of students sang hymns with Irish influences. “The repertoire was chosen through a variety of different channels, but first and foremost, we always begin with the season and feast. Because it is Lent, it was a Lenten liturgy, and it was the feast of St. Patrick as well, so we incorporated Irish elements,” French explained. Overall, French said he thought the music was presented “faithfully and beautifully” by the choir. One piece in particular, though, stood out to the conductor. “The Kyrie Eleison, which is a piece of music from the 10th century … stuck out to me. They sang this piece so beautifully, and it has been sung in the same way for more than 1,000 years. I just felt so profoundly moved by that. … It just takes my breath away,” French told Today’s Catholic. Sophia Schafer, an eighth grader from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton who participated in Pueri Cantores, told Today’s Catholic that she enjoyed the fellowship that accompanies singing in a group. “When you’re in a big group with a whole bunch of people, it’s just nice to feel connected with others; I don’t feel alone,” said Schafer, who added: “Music is a way of evangelizing, like the bishop said. It definitely helps me grow closer to God.” Theresa Slott, director of music and liturgy at St. Joseph Parish in South Bend, had 13 students sing in the Pueri Cantores Mass. “It is great to have such a large group because they can learn so much more when there are a lot of singers around to support them,” Slott said. “Some of the material for Pueri Cantores is more challenging. We wouldn’t regularly tackle ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ with only 15 fifth graders.” Slott continued: “They always have a lot of fun. They see it as an honor to sing in the Mass with the Bishop. It is a moment of fellowship with other students across the diocese. For me, my favorite form of prayer is music, and I know it’s planting seeds in these young kiddos and hopefully will stick with them in the long term.” It was the beauty of hundreds of students singing in unison that struck Bishop Rhoades. He compared the festival to the beauty of St. Patrick Cathedral in New York City. “When I go into a beautiful church like St. Patrick Cathedral in New York City – a beautiful gothic cathedral – my mind and heart is raised to God because of the art and beautiful architecture. With your music, you are doing the same thing – raising our minds and hearts to God through beauty. You are evangelizing through your beautiful singing, bringing people closer to God who is beauty itself,” Bishop Rhoades said “In that way, you are like missionaries – missionaries of beauty – that help all of us feel God’s presence through your voices and the sacred music,” he concluded. Clare Hildebrandt is a staff writer for Today’s Catholic. The post Pueri Cantores Youth Choir ‘Evangelizes through Beauty’ appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less