“The Sound of Music” premiered 50 years ago this month. Long before the movie musical made its debut, the von Trapp Family Singers visited the Shrine of St. Philippine Duchesne. As described in the school journal, in November 1952 they captivated the nuns with their simplicity, their deep faith and their unworldliness, singing “O Bon Jesu” and a hymn to the Sacred Heart (“the national hymn of Austria, composed at the request of the emperor Francis Joseph in 1909”).
In 1965 the total Sacred Heart family in St. Charles and St. Louis sponsored the Midwest premiere of “The Sound of Music” as a fundraiser toward completion of the Shrine.
