Young musicians from diocese participate in Pueri Cantores regional festival

Members of the Cathedral Cantores choir gather in front of the Angel of Harmony statue outside the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis on March 19. They were there to take part in the American Federation Pueri Cantores Choral Festival.

ST. LOUIS — About 100 youngsters from the Springfield diocese were in St. Louis on March 19 to sing at the American Federation Pueri Cantores Choral Festival at the Cathedral Basilica.

Pueri Cantores is the national student choral organization of the Catholic Church that has as its motto “Bringing together boys and girls throughout the United States to sing the Peace of God.” Michael Wustrow, co-director of music at the Saint Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York, guided the singers through the choral prelude and the liturgy.

Nichol DelGiorno, director of music and liturgy for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and associate director for music in the Springfield diocese, said 11 Cathedral School students were among those who participated in the regional festival, along with youngsters from Christ the King in Springfield, St. Mary in Alton, and St. Anthony of Padua in Effingham.

Overall, 16 different parishes and schools from the states of Illinois and Missouri were represented in St. Louis. Choir members, both boys and girls, must be between the ages of 8-18 with treble “unchanged” voices. There are Pueri Cantores choirs around the world, DelGiorno said.

Cathedral students, who sang in the festival for the first time this year, didn’t know for certain they would be participating until January, DelGiorno said, so they were under extra pressure to ready themselves for the festival. “We had to come prepared. Our kids and directors worked very hard,” she said, adding that Cathedral principal Marian Crosby was both enthusiastic and instrumental in getting the Cathedral choir to St. Louis. She also accompanied them on the trip.

“The music selected for this year’s Pueri Cantores festival at the Cathedral Basilica was quite challenging,” DelGiorno said. “That these students and their directors met and exceeded expectations is awesome.”

“It was great to see so many of our school choirs participating in this regional event,” said Eliot Kapitan, director of the Office for Worship and the Catechumenate for the Springfield diocese. “Pueri Cantores is an outstanding opportunity for the formation of young liturgical musicians who can minister to the church for years to come.”

DelGiorno agreed and said she hopes the children will sing together again very soon. “My plan is to bring together these very talented young choirs in our diocese for events at our own Cathedral. The possibilities are endless.

“I think the biggest benefit of coming together with other Catholic students is not only to sing and make friends, but also to come together as children of God,” DelGiorno said. “The experience was beyond words — it was just amazing!

“Watching them participate in this event, joining in with 460 other children and youth from the region, all of them leading us — instead of us leading them — in the worship of our Lord, gave us (the directors, parents and other adults)  a glimpse of the future of music in our church,” DelGiorno said. “Our children have the ability to teach us so much about our Catholic music, liturgy and faith if we just let them.”