A christmas movie

My stepmom has been trying to tell us about a movie for about 4 years. She says it's about a (catholic?) boy that gets put in a basement, gets sick, sees a nativity scene come alive (maybe just Mary), and doesn't get to sing. Later, in church, he sees the Virgin Mary and all of a sudden can sing Ave Maria. My stepmom thinks the boy may have grown to be an opera singer. Thanks for any help with this. We've been stumped for 3 years.