Angelus News | January 12, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 1

this trip marked the 30th anniversary
of the first time he brought a choir to
sing for the pope.
“It’s just a tremendous experience
to have such beautiful life-changing
events,” Flahive said. “These people,
kids and adults, can share an experience
they can recall and still be
inspired by.”
The choir had been rehearsing twice
a week since September to prepare,
but the logistics for a trip like this
has been years in the making: music
purchased by Flahive; hotel rooms
booked and organized by Flahive’s
wife; choir robes bought by St.
Andrew pastor Father Marcos Gonzalez;
rehearsal space arranged by St.
Andrew Catholic School Principal Jae
Kim.
“All those things where they didn’t
think twice,” Flahive said. “Absolutely
supportive in every way.”
The choir’s first performance in Italy
was a historic one on New Year’s Eve
with the pope singing vespers evening
prayer at St. Peter’s Basilica. Flahive
doesn’t believe an American children’s
choir has ever been invited to
do that.
The students sat side by side with the
Sistine Chapel Choir — labeled the
oldest choir in the world — and sang
responses in Latin and Italian.
For Arturo Hernandez III, 13, an
eighth-grader at St. Andrew who’s
never traveled internationally before,
the moment was an emotional one.
“I was feeling pretty excited,”
Hernandez said. “And then when it
finally happened, like when the music
started playing, it’s just like a whole
different emotion went over me. Like
‘I am doing this right now.’
“Not many people get to sing for the
pope, so I feel pretty special that I was
able to even be there at the Vatican.”
On New Year’s Day, the choir performed
again at St. Peter’s Basilica,
this time at a noontime Mass for the
feast of Mary, Mother of God, where
they sang more traditional holiday
songs like “O Come, All Ye Faithful,”
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and
the Italian “Gesù Bambino.”
In addition to performing in Assisi
and at the Santi Apostoli in Rome, the
choir concluded its trip by singing at
the Epiphany Mass on Jan. 6, again
for Pope Francis.
“He’s such a brilliantly positive presence,”
Flahive said of the pope. “The
children obviously enliven him and
are dear to him. That’s really meaningful
to me.”
For the students, many of whom
have never been outside of California,
seeing the historic landscape of Italy
was eye-opening.
“It’s great,” Hernandez said. “Stuff
over in California isn’t really that old.
Over here, there’s stuff everywhere
that’s thousands of years old and you
can touch it.”
“It’s been exciting,” Quintero
said. “Seeing stuff that’s
been on TV, like the Colosseum.
It’s cool being in Italy.”
Overall, Flahive was
impressed with the way the
students handled the rigor
of the trip and stepped up to
meet the moment.
“Everything is completely
unknown territory for them,
and I love the fact that they’re
not really fearful,” he said.
“They’re just going into these
things with such courage and
such enthusiasm, and then
such delight when they realize that
these magnificent events and magnificent
places are actually occurring and
they’re a very integral part.”
The experience can only broaden
the students’ faith — and ours —
Flahive said.
“They’re getting a real experience
of the universe, of their faith, and
a real experience of friendship,” he
said. “You know, brotherhood and
sisterhood with the other kids who
can’t even speak the same language.
But they’re obviously sharing the same
thing.
“The singing of the children brings
all of us closer to God. Because it’s
the beauty of it, of their voices, the
beauty of their spirit and the beauty
of the sacred texts that they sing are
all just powerful and overwhelmingly
delightful.”
Mike Cisneros is the associate editor
of Angelus.
Pope Francis is wheeled into St. Peter’s
Basilica to greet the performers who
helped pray vespers on New Year’s Eve. |
SUBMITTED PHOTO
January 12, 2024 • ANGELUS • 19