FORT WAYNE, Ind. (OSV News) -- Deacon Nicholas Monnin remembers the first time he sang in front of an audience. He was a student at the Cathedral School of St. Matthew in South Bend.

Thankfully, he said, he was singing in a choir full of other kids, but the nerves were still there, "and while I still sang my parts, I tried to sink into the background as much as I could and hide."

Since then, Deacon Monnin, a seminarian for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend who is studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, has grown more confident with his voice and, therefore, singing in front of a crowd.

It's a good thing, too, because when he sings -- by himself -- at the grandest liturgy at the biggest church in the world, there will be nowhere to hide.

Deacon Monnin will chant the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica April 19 -- "one of the most evocative and poetic hymns of praise in all liturgy," according to the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"It's basically singing the praises of what the Easter candle represents," Deacon Monnin said in a telephone interview from Rome. "It says, let the angel chorus exalt, and then let all the heavenly hosts, and so it's inviting all of creation," he told Today's Catholic, the diocesan news outlet. "The hymn points to Christ's definitive victory over death, and that's a cause of great exultation, a cause of great joy for all of creation."

Deacon Monnin, who was ordained to the transitional diaconate last October, will be the second seminarian from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to be honored with an invitation to sing the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil at St. Peter's Basilica in the past three years.

In 2023, then-Deacon Zane Langenbrunner -- now Father Langenbrunner, parochial vicar at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Fort Wayne -- chanted the solemn Easter proclamation at St. Peter's.

Deacon Monnin said he sent a text to Father Langenbrunner seeking advice.

"I shared the advice that was given to me by our choir director at the time: ‘Practice frequently but briefly; don't wear out your voice!" Father Langenbrunner told Today's Catholic. "I also told him to be grateful and prayerful. And to say hi to the pope for me!"

When asked if his and Deacon Monnin's invitation to chant the Exsultet means that the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend has the best seminarian singers in the world, Father Langenbrunner replied, "Or, at least in Rome!"

"Seriously, though," he continued, "I think we should feel humbled and honored. Not only to get to watch one of our own chant the Exsultet at St. Peter's, but, even more, to have him serve in our diocese as a priest. The Lord has blessed us very richly."

- - - Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today's Catholic, the news outlet of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.