Pupil to Lift Her Voice to the Pope

You’ll forgive Jessica Daniel if she’s been lacking a little Christmas spirit.

Her bedroom resembles a tornado’s wake. And there’s been so much packing to cram in between the rehearsals, swim practice, yearbook preparations and finals in her advanced-placement and honors classes at Sunny Hills High. Besides, she’s been under the weather.

But today, 14-year-old Jessica will get some much-needed holiday down time. On a plane. With a hundred or so other kids. Bound for Rome. Where they’ll join a choir of 5,000 youths in a once-in-a-lifetime performance before Pope John Paul II for the Roman Catholic Church’s millennial celebration.

Heady stuff for a high school sophomore. But precocious Jessica, a Fullerton resident, takes it in stride.

“I’ve never been to Europe before,” she said Thursday. “I’ve traveled a lot in Asia because I’m half Chinese and half white, but I’ve never been to Rome, so I’m really excited. Meeting the pope and seeing the other choirs--the whole aura around it is really awe-inspiring.”

A soprano in the Azusa-based Choirs of Our Lady Queen of Angels, Jessica leaves today to take part in a special children’s jubilee Mass on Jan. 2, one of the first of the new millennium in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Her independent, nonprofit children’s choir comprises singers from the San Fernando Valley, Azusa, Claremont and Los Angeles.

Taken together, the 5,000 children from around the globe make up the International Congress of Pueri Cantores, which will convene its 30th meeting in Rome in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Church’s worldwide celebration of the Great Jubilee Year 2000.

“Our mission, as pueri cantores, is that children around the world will sing of the peace of God,” said Patrick Flahive, president of the American Federation of Pueri Cantores, Latin for young singers. “There is no better image of that 1/8peace 3/8 than a beautiful child singing in a beautiful church.”

During the trip, the Southern California travelers will stay in a villa cared for by the Sisters of St. Vincent. They will sing before an audience of as many as 250,000 on New Year’s Eve. And these youngsters--most, but not all, of them Catholic--are likely to meet the pope if his health is good.

To get to this point, Jessica and the other students have learned to sing everything from “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” to the German “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” They have learned to sound out lyrics in Latin, Italian, French, German, Dutch and the language of Spain’s Catalonia region.

They have practiced twice a week en masse and more at home. To raise the necessary $2,600 per singer, they have put on pancake breakfasts, scrubbed cars and hosted benefit concerts.

And their sound?

“The only thing I can tell you is that it’s a gathering of angels,” Flahive said. “It’s beyond description. . . . It’s all the joy, beauty and innocent sincerity from a young child multiplied by 5,000.”

One hundred and nine children’s choirs from a dozen countries are expected to sing at the Mass and other events at venues in Rome from Wednesday through Jan. 2, Flahive said.

Local participating choirs include: St. Mel Catholic Church and St. Mel School in Woodland Hills, St. John Baptist De La Salle Church in Granada Hills, St. John Eudes Catholic Church in Chatsworth, Our Lady of Lourdes in Tujunga, the Choir of Mary’s Children in Claremont and the Choirs of Our Lady Queen of Angels in Azusa.

The highlight of the overseas tour will be the performance before the pope--either at a dress rehearsal on New Year’s Eve or at the Mass, Flahive said. The pope’s health will determine his schedule.

Traveling with her mother, Jessica said she is excited about meeting the pontiff, naturally. Her devout family has also planned a pilgrimage to Rome over the summer.

“I really want to see Michelangelo’s David, and I’m looking forward to seeing St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel,” Jessica said.

Her mother, Margie Daniel, said seeing her daughter sing in such a holy place will more than make up for the three-hour round-trips twice a week for practice sessions.

“This is just super,” Daniel said. “It’s something we’ve been preparing for for three years.”