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More than 400 children sing in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Chile
José Miguel Correa told Press Crux how school choirs came together in Santiago to share what they are learning about the Catholic faith through music.
INTERVIEW | THE CHURCH IN CHILE
Ana Paula Morales (Poli)
11/4/20262 min read
Photo caption — Children in Canto Católico’s school choirs perform at their gathering in Santiago, Chile. At right is a depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico. Editorial composite made using images from the gathering provided to Press Crux.
SANTIAGO, Chile — Each choir sang separately at first. Then about 410 children joined their voices in a hymn to Our Lady of Guadalupe. That was how the Canto Católico Foundation’s annual school choir gathering concluded on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Santiago, executive director José Miguel Correa told Press Crux. Parents, teachers and school principals joined the students for a day that included time for prayer and closed with the Guadalupe hymn and a Christmas carol.
Canto Católico is a Chilean foundation that seeks to bring people closer to God through sacred music. It composes and records songs, trains liturgical musicians and makes sheet music and recordings available to them. Through its school choir program, the foundation brings that work into schools, where rehearsals give children a chance to learn about their faith.
Learning the faith in rehearsal
The program reaches 25 schools across Chile and offers after-school choir workshops for students starting in second grade. As children rehearse, they learn about Jesus and the Virgin Mary, become familiar with the Creed and discover the meaning of what they celebrate at Mass. “Preparing the songs is catechesis,” Correa said.
The program began in 2019 at two schools in underserved communities and expanded to schools serving students from a range of backgrounds. In an interview with Siete24, Correa said the children take the songs home and share what they learned in the workshops with their families.
A hymn that traveled from Tepeyac to Santiago
The hymn that brought the choirs together grew out of the Chilean foundation’s ties to audiences in Mexico. Juan Pablo Rojas wrote the lyrics and music for the “Hymn to Our Lady of Guadalupe,” and Juan Guillermo Negrete arranged it. The original recording was made at the Basilica of Guadalupe and released in December 2023. The lyrics echo the Virgin Mary’s question to St. Juan Diego: “Am I not your mother?”
In Santiago, families heard their children sing the hymn alongside students from other parts of Chile. Speaking about how the gathering brings children, parents and teachers together, Correa told Press Crux, “It feels like a really beautiful movement is beginning to take shape.”
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