EDISON — Students in the township’s St. Helena School Choir did their part to create world harmony when they joined voices with choir members from around the globe in the 38th International Congress of Pueri Cantores music festival. The festival, held for the first time in the United States in the group’s 69-year history, took place July 3-7 in Washington, D.C.
The event featured more than 1,000 singers from 32 member choirs, representing 13 American states and seven foreign countries.
St. Helena was one of two choirs from New Jersey attending the festival. The other choir is the Angelic Choir from Paulsboro.
“Pueri Cantores is an international Catholic choral organization that provides opportunities for school-age youth choirs from all backgrounds, faiths and beliefs to participate in liturgical music,” the organization’s website states. “Children gain an appreciation of plainchant, Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, and modern liturgical music set within the tradition of the Catholic Church.”
St. Helena choir director Maria Leonor Paliguin said the students were very excited about the trip to the nation’s capital.
“It’s the first time that we are participating in the international festival,” Paliguin said.
The 14 second- through eighth-grade students and their chaperones took a motor coach to the Washington, D.C., event.
The school’s principal, Sister Mary Charles, and pastor, Rev. Anthony Sirianni, also accompanied the choir on the trip.
The choir members practiced steadfastly in preparation for this event. The repertoire they had to learn includes many songs from a 100-page book, according to Paliguin.
“It’s a great honor and a great experience for the kids and for me as a conductor,” said Paliguin, who is a member of the Pueri Cantores conductors. This status automatically makes her school choir a member and gets them invited to participate.
She has been teaching at the school since 2010.
“They are learning a lot, including an understanding of the sacred music and the Greek organ chant,” she said.
The celebration in Washington, D.C., was a choral extravaganza. The choirs sang at several venues in the nation’s capital, including an opening ceremony with a procession of flags and a closing Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
During the festival, the choirs sang at a Mass of the Nations at St. Matthew’s Cathedral and a Prayer for Peace at the Jefferson Memorial. They participated in the Independence Day parade and enjoyed the “A Capitol Fourth” concert at the National Mall on July 4.
“America the Beautiful” was among the songs performed for the Independence Day parade.
“The [students] are learning so much, and just being with the other choirs,” Paliguin said. “When you put them together, you will cry.”