The Santa Cecilia Choir (Coro di Santa Cecilia) is a polyphonic male choir composed of seminarians of the Rachol Seminary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman in Goa, India. History In compliance with the wishes of Dom Antonio Sebastião Valente, the Archbishop of Goa and the first Prelate to be conferred the title of Patriarch of the East Indies, the seminarians organised themselves into a choral society. It was on 11 April 1897, that the first meeting of the choir was held in the hall of Dom Sebastião at the Rachol Seminary and was attended by the founder members: Msgr. Matheus d’ Oliveira (Rector), Fr. Agostinho da Rocha (Professor of Music) Sem. Pedro Antonio Lopes (Choir Master), Fr. Luis Bruno Menezes and twelve other seminarians. The newly born Choir was baptised Orpheon Palestriniano do Seminário (Palestrianian Orpheon of the Seminary) or simply Coro Palestriniano. From the name, it is evident that the initial aim of the Choir was to promote sacred polyphonic chant, according to the method of the famous Italian Composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, who lived during the late 16th century, and was a pioneer in the sacred music of his age. On 23 March 1905, the same Archbishop-Patriarch gave new statutes to this association and determined that in future it should be named simply Coro de Santa Cecilia (Santa Cecilia Choir). The change was perhaps to place the Choir under the patronage of St. Cecilia, the patroness of music and musicians, and to allow the Choir to venture into other forms of music rather than restrict itself to the Palestrinian form only. It is with this name that the Seminary Choir went down in history and is known even today. Today, this male TTBB Choir, presided over by the Rector of the Seminary, continues to function and dedicates itself to promoting the sacred heritage of music of the Catholic Church. The Professor of Music in the Seminary is the Vice-President and Conductor of the Choir. The other "ordinary" members (about sixteen in number) are chosen at the beginning of the academic by the Professor of Music. Formerly, these members were called membros efectivos (effective members) and were elected by secret ballot, from among the general members of the choir. They were also granted certain privileges in the Seminary; this is no longer the case. Besides, as the need suggest or the occasion demands, others (seminarians