First came Italy's singing nun. Now a band of priests in France are having their own moment in the spiritual spotlight as they embark on a year-long concert tour to promote their latest album.
Since the trio started out five years ago, Les Prêtres have sold 1.7m copies of their first two albums, "Spiritus Dei" and "Gloria", and performed for a total 150,000 people at 45 concerts. At a recent concert at Gap cathedral in the French Alps, Bishop Jean-Michel Di Falco Leandri who is also the group's manager told the congregation: "There are more of you here now than at mass."
Last month, 25-year-old Sister Cristina, a singing nun from Sicily, stunning judges in Italy's "The Voice". The video of her spirited rendition of Alicia Keys' "No One" has gone viral.
Les Prêtres, who have received a letter of encouragement from Pope Francis and were told by Pope Benedict XVI that their singing was "good for France", first attracted public attention on the TV programme Vivement Dimanche. The host Michel Drucker welcomed them back at the weekend, during which they performed songs from their latest and third album – fittingly called "Amen"– which includes a Dvorak arrangement and Edith Piaf's Three Church Bells as well as hits by Nana Mouskouri and Céline Dion.
One of the singers, Joseph Dinh Nguyen Nguyen, was wearing a black shirt in contrast to the others who had on their clerical collars. He decided to leave the church in 2011 to marry a woman from his native Vietnam with whom he now has a son. But he agreed to carry on with Les Prêtres because of public support.
The trio was formed when Di Falco, now aged 72, wanted to raise money for a religious school in Madagascar and two of his friends suggested a singing group. "We knew about other singing priests," said Di Falco. In France, Jesuit priest Aimé Duval had a successful singing career in the 1950s as did Father Joseph Gelineau, while more recently Northern Ireland produced The Priests, who sprang to fame in 2008 and who have also released three albums. The original singing nun, the Belgian Jeanne-Paule Marie Deckers known as Soeur Sourire, had an international hit in 1962 with "Dominique."
"We had nothing to lose," said Di Falco, "so we decided to try it." The resulting albums brought in a total €1m, which was donated to religious charities.
The three singers from Gap say they still can't believe what's happened to them. It has taken time to adjust to the rigours of touring in the media glare. "It's been quite emotional, meeting the public," said Charles Troesch. Jean-Michel Bardet, who started out as a trombone player in an orchestra before taking up the priesthood, said "the media attention has been a discovery".
But despite their popularity, they say they are determined that "Amen" is their last album and the forthcoming 30 concerts their final national tour, so they can return to their parish duties.
"We've contributed to change the way people look at the Church," said Di Falco. "They now see that, in the end, priests are cut from the same cloth as other people."
