The saints came marching in — literally — at St. Hilary School’s All Saints Day Mass, which took place Oct. 31 with Bishop Edward Malesic as the principal celebrant.
As students, parents and other members of the St. Hilary community filled the church, the third graders, dressed as saints, gathered in back for the entrance procession. They marched in two-by-two, followed by Father Steve Brunovsky, St. Hilary pastor, and Father Brian Peters, parochial vicar, then the bishop.
(See photo gallery above.)
“This church is filled with saints today, even if you can’t see them,” the bishop said. “Jesus wants all of you to be saints. On All Saints Day, we remember the saints — the holy men and women who are now in heaven with God. But we also celebrate the quiet saints, those hidden ones, who may not be on the official list of saints, but who are still saints. Those who lived good, faithful, holy lives and are now with God. Our goal in life should be to be a saint.”
The bishop told the children that they should “love God with all your heart and love others —your neighbors — as Jesus did. That’s the way to become a saint … The key to becoming a saint is to never give up. Even if you sin, God’s love is more powerful. He wants to forgive you.”
As he scanned the church, Bishop Malesic said he saw “my youngest brothers and sisters. You are beloved in God’s eyes.”
The third graders helped plan the Mass and participated in the liturgy by doing readings, the petitions and bringing up the offertory gifts.
After Mass, the rest of the school returned to classes while the third grade remained in the church to test the bishop, Father Brunovsky, Father Peters and others on their knowledge of the saints. Forty-eight saints offered clues about their identities, and the panel tried to guess who they were. Father Brunovsky and others had been helping to educate the students about various saints for the past several weeks in preparation for the event.
The saints were assigned numbers and were called up in random order to present their clues to the panel. In some cases, more than one student dressed as the saint. The clues included information about miracles attributed to the saint as well as tidbits about their lives.
“My miracle was surviving three execution attempts,” one saint told the panel, adding that she is the patron saint of music.
Panelists correctly guessed St. Cecilia.
Some of the saints were easily recognizable, including St. Patrick, dressed in green and wearing a bishop’s miter, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Lucy, the Blessed Mother, St. Teresa of Kolkata, St. Veronica and St. Francis of Assisi.
Others were more challenging, like St. Polycarp, St. Julia of Corsica and St. Gemma.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the challenge and admitted it helped deepen their knowledge of the saints. Father Brunovsky said the All Saints Day celebration is a favorite tradition at the Fairlawn school.