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800 Baltimore Students Tune In As Friar Alessandro's Voice Fills The Basilica

BALTIMORE (WJZ)--Hundreds of Baltimore students tuned into some very old music, based on a very old story.

Alex DeMetrick reports the singer is a one-of-a-kind performer.

Some 800 students from Catholic schools throughout Baltimore filed into the downtown basilica, to meet Friar Alessandro Brustenghi, who has a million views on YouTube and two well-received albums.

A Franciscan friar from St. Francis' home of Assisi, Italy, "he really carries with him the spirit of St. Francis," said Terry Hogan-Johnson, Francis in the Schools program.

He was brought to Baltimore by the Francis in the Schools program.

"You know, he follows his heart, so you just simply say will you come and sing for the children," Hogan-Johnson said.

Brother Alessandro sung a song believed to have been sung hundreds of years ago by St. Francis.

It's a form of preaching then and now.

And it is "a great opportunity for me to share the gift of God and so I'm giving them and everybody what I received," Brustenghi said.

His voice can fill a basilica, aimed at individual hearts.

The Francis in the Schools program began in San Francisco. This is the organization's first visit to the East Coast.

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