BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Thanks to the initiative of Father Pierre Boutry (1909-1990). Who was Chancellor of the Diocese of Kabgayi and Secretary of Monsignor André Perraudin, Archbishop of Kabgayi, the Pueri Cantores movement in Rwanda was established in 1957. Father Boutry was the architect of the founding of the Pueri Cantores in Rwanda and it is the privilege that the young singers of Rwanda are members of the International Federation of Pueri Cantores (FIPC).
In fact, in 1955, Monsignor André Perraudin, being still Rector of the Major Seminary of Nyakibanda, sent Father Boutry to Kinshasa in a meeting relating to the Catechesis. It was in Kinshasa that Father Boutry met Father Bottin of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which had already launched the Movement of Pueri Cantores in Congo Kinshasa. Father Boutry had known this movement for a long time and, in addition, he was a friend of Bishop Fernand Maillet, founder of the International Federation of Pueri Cantores (FIPC). But, until then, Father Boutry did not yet imagine that the Movement could reach Rwanda.
After exchanging ideas with Father Bottin, Father Boutry decided to do everything possible to establish the Movement of Pueri Cantores in Rwanda. Thus in 1957, at the request of his Bishop Monsignor André Perraudin who, from the rectorate of Nyakibanda, had become Vicar Apostolic of Kabgayi, Father Boutry was the initiator of the Pueri Cantores in Rwanda and founder of their little magazine “Alléluia“, messenger of joy and peace.
In the same year of 1957, two major seminarians from Nyakibanda initiated the first group of young singers in Nyumba Parish, but this lasted only three years. The departure movement, and the voucher this time, was given by Father Boutry to Kabgayi in December 1960.
The Rwandan Federation of Pueri Cantores was recognized by the FIPC in 1963 (cfr. Letter of November 26, 1963 from Monsignor Romita, the President of the FIPC). It was recognized by the Episcopal Conference of Rwanda (C.E.P.R) in 1964. On May 6, 1981, 17 years later, the C.E.P.R approved the first Statutes of the Federation of Pueri Cantores in Rwanda.
At the end of December 2023, Pueri Cantores of Rwanda counts 112 choirs of young singers from 8 out of 9 Dioceses that make up the Catholic Church in Rwanda.
