National Shrine and Parish of Our Lady of Fatima, # 201 Fatima Ave., Brgy. Marulas, Valenzuela City, the Philippines.

CHOIR HISTORY: Although the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) had a choir that was in existence since October 10, 1971 serving at the temporary parish site at the Gregorio Araneta Machineries, Inc. (GAMI) compound, the first known choir to debut at the first mass ever held at the new and soon-to-be permanent parish site on Fatima Hill was the one formed by the "Legion of Mary" group in the early mid-1970s. At that time construction for the main church was still in its infancy so regular masses were initially held at the parish basement (current location of the Chapel of the Saints).

The "Boy's Choir" in 1978 was the first parish choir to sing live at Radio Veritas. The occasion was in celebration of the parish fiesta
that was initially celebrated on October 13 commemorating the last apparition of Our Lady to the three child visionaries of Fatima.
This date was later changed in 2004 to May 13 (the first apparition) in accordance with the Liturgical Calendar of the Church.

Other church choirs and their founding and/or debut date are as follows:

Men's Choir (October 11, 1977), Shalom Choir (June 3, 1979 - now affiliated with the Sto. Cristo Parish in Brgy. Marulas), Tamarraw Choir (197_?), Voice of Marian Choir (September 8, 1980), Sons & Daughters of Mary Choir (January 1, 1981), Music Ministry/Charismatic Choir (April 3, 1981), Lourdes Choir (September 13, 1983), Elder's Choir (____), FAVMPCO Choir (____), Children Apostolate of Fatima (CAF) Choir (____), Youth Apostolate of Fatima (YAF) Choir (____) and the newly formed Fatima National Shrine Children's Choir (May 13, 2011).

Sometimes the need comes for the church choirs to combine and form a 'Dream Team' of sorts representing the Fatima National Shrine. Such occasions include major fund-raising events, choral competitions and/or basically just the simple aim of promoting the parish and its advocacies to the general public. In 1981 the then Assistant Priest Rev. Fr. Mar DJ Arenas coordinated the formation of The FATIMA CHORAL ENSEMBLE wherein official members were chosen via rigorous auditions for the "Handog Himig" fundraising concert in cooperation with the Philippine American life Insurance Co., Inc. The concert venue was at the Philam Life Theatre on U.N. Avenue, Manila with the evening of May 8 and 10 as performance dates. Musical Director for the Liturgical Songs was Rev. Fr. Veneracion Agner, C.M. and Ma. Teresita V. Rodriguez who handled the Filipiniana Songs.

In 1990 the original batch of the FATIMA GRAND CHORALE was formed for the "Isang Awit, Isang Tinig" fundraising concert - a joint project of the Church Choirs and the Parish Commission on Youth (PCY). This new ensemble choir performed on December 7, 17, and 30 with the main church of the Parish of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima as concert venue. By mid-January the next year the FGC was invited to perform as the opening act for the launch of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines held at the San Carlos Pastoral Formation Complex in Brgy. Guadalupe, Makati, Metro Manila.

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NB: This is an ongoing documentary write-up by the Archival Group of the CSC. For any comments, suggestions, or those
who are familiar with the history of the Ministry of Liturgical Music especially from the years 1991 up to present,
please don't hesitate to drop a private message and/or contact the artist at the provided email address.