SS. Peter and Paul, Midnight Mass, Choir

Midnight mass December 24th, 2010

Saints Peter & Paul was founded in 1846 and is the oldest established parish in DuPage County. The parish was originally established as St. Raphael's, after the given name of its pastor, Rev. Raphael Rainaldi. The first church served 25 families, and was a small frame structure with a lean-to attached to the south side, which served as both sacristy and priest's residence. This church was built on the west side of Front Street (Ellsworth) and faced east.

Christmas Eve, 2010

On Pentecost Sunday, June 4, 1922, the church was completely destroyed by a fire that still remains the worst in Naperville's history. Out of the ashes, the 350 families that comprised Saints Peter & Paul parish at that time, built the magnificent church we have today.

Christmas Eve, 2010

The new rectory was completed in the fall of 1996. Because of the growing needs of Saints Peter and Paul, the new parish Ministry Center was dedicated in 1999. This building houses all the parish offices, the religious education offices, space for meetings and the parish auditorium/chapel. The parish now serves over 4,000 families.

 

Tom Wibbels Choir Director

Tonight (Christmas Eve) it was snowing, and the roads were pretty slippery so we headed out a bit early, so as not to be late. At 11:00 pm the choir began singing, those who ventured out and made it to SS. Peter & Paul were treated to some wonderful choral music. According to my son Karl, the choir was "sounding fantastic", he took some photos including those which you see above and also created a short slide show which you can see below.



Below is a video of Choir Director, Tom Wibbels at the organ, (video shot with Karl's iPhone on December 26th). Enjoy!


** Please note that any videos that appear after our video are randomly generated by YouTube and have absolutely nothing to do with our post about Christmas 2010.