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Eight children from a French youth choir performing at a free concert at St. Paul’s Parish were sent to nearby hospitals for “seizure-like symptoms” on Tuesday night after the end of the concert.
The Cambridge Fire Department was called to St. Paul Parish around 7:30 p.m. for a report of a child experiencing seizure-like symptoms. Upon arrival, the child was sitting on the church steps and was not actively seizing. Seven other children — all between the ages of 11 and 13 — reported similar health issues and were treated at the scene.
John J. Gelinas, media manager for the Cambridge Fire Department wrote in a statement to The Crimson that the other children were “complaining of similar symptoms, though not witnessed by our EMS crews on scene.”
The medical emergencies were described as non-life-threatening and the children were then transported to nearby hospitals for further evaluation.
As of Wednesday morning, all children have been released from local hospitals. The parish wrote in a Wednesday statement that the children had left with “a clean bill of health.”
“The choir then left Massachusetts en route to a concert in Bangor, Maine,” read the statement, which was signed by Nathaniel Sanders, the parochial vicar of St. Paul’s Parish and Harvard Catholic Undergraduate Chaplain, and Patrick Moran, the head of St. Paul’s Choir School.
The remainder of the choir group left the scene with designated chaperones, and the building was evacuated while the Cambridge Fire Department Hazmat Team entered the buildings to investigate the source.
A hazmat team “took thorough air samplings” in St. Paul’s buildings and “found no abnormal readings,” according to Gelinas. The facility was then ventilated.
“The Cambridge Fire HazMat team completed a thorough survey of the St. Paul buildings utilizing several air sampling meters to ensure that no hazardous conditions were present,” Gelinas wrote. “Results were negative and the buildings were ventilated.”
About 70 other people were also in attendance at the concert but were not affected. Some attendees reported odors, but the hazmat team determined that the source of the smell likely originated with “cleaning supplies that had been used shortly before the initial complaint,” according to Gelinas.
“After ventilating the building and utilizing metering equipment, we determined that hazards no longer existed, and the building was turned over to the owners,” Gelinas wrote.
The parish thanked the Cambridge Fire Department, the Cambridge Police Department, and the paramedics for their assistance when responding to the incident.
The children were part of the Chœur d’Enfants d’Île-de-France, which is composed of children aged eight to 14. Cambridge is one of the stops on their 2025 tour, and the choral group began their concert at St. Paul’s around 6 p.m. on Tuesday night.
“We were grateful to have them,” the parish wrote.
The incident has been reported in national news outlets, including USA Today, the New York Post, and ABC News.
—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at megan.blonigen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.
