St. Patrick's Day Play

It was a wonderful event. The children were delightful. We congratulate Hadley for her reading ability and her presence and her courage. We host the other little stars as well. Faith was a wonderful Queenie, a funny delightful little actress. We salute Justin for his steadfast St. Patrick, and Adyson for his convincing "Chickenface" king of the Druids.

The O'Learys were earnest in their third century farming. Camryn, Dawson, Eli and Bethany started the play with great resolve.

The Druid Princesses were lovely and charming, Lexi was smashing, Abby was hilarious, Madison was fetching in her ruffles, Morgan was charming, Jasmin was stunning, and Hadley was brilliant.

The Leps were delightful, Ian, Nickolai, Aidan, MJ, Alex, and David presented the problem and the fix and earned their way back into the pearly gates with energy and right actions!

Addie, Bryce and Phoebe were wonderful snakes and their tiny ages seemed so big on stage.

The brownies were brownies - Queen Briana kept all her little ones together like Jaylen, Cole, Jacob, Emma, India, and William when he decided to join them half way through. Brady preferred his mother's lap to the stage.

We especially thank Miss Amy who came in mid week and took over play duties mid stream. People like Miss Amy are "Stars in the sky."

Mrs. St. Louis designed and made the costumes. Her talent and expertise in so many ways is often not heard, but always seen. She is a veteran's veteran.

Putting a play together always has it's moments, and that's why children need to do this. The end product is the tell tale sign whether or not it worked. Being able to do something from start to finish says something about people. The children have accomplished this beautifully. Without their talents and their abilities, we could not do it.

The plays are very important to we veteran teachers because we understand from a grandmother's perspective how much it's appreciated by the students down the way. None of them will remember work sheets, tests, or even text books in years to come. They will, however, remember their lines, their costumes, the fun of presenting, and these are the things that really teach. Dropping the play because it's "too hard" or it "takes too much time" or "too much energy" is saying that the children take...

In April, we will have a spring sing and a book fair.

Now something about St. Patrick:

Details of his life are uncertain. Current research places his dates of birth and death a little later than earlier accounts. Patrick may have been born in Dunbarton, Scotland, Cumberland, England, or in northern Wales. He called himself both a Roman and a Briton. At 16, he and a large number of his father’s slaves and vassals were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in Ireland. Forced to work as a shepherd, he suffered greatly from hunger and cold.

After six years, Patrick escaped, probably to France, and later returned to Britain at the age of 22. His captivity had meant spiritual conversion. He may have studied at Lerins, off the French coast; he spent years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated bishop at the age of 43. His great desire was to proclaim the Good News to the Irish.

In a dream vision it seemed “all the children of Ireland from their mothers’ wombs were stretching out their hands” to him. He understood the vision to be a call to do mission work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those who felt his education had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He went to the west and north, where the faith had never been preached, obtained the protection of local kings and made numerous converts.

Because of the island’s pagan background, Patrick was emphatic in encouraging widows to remain chaste and young women to consecrate their virginity to Christ. He ordained many priests, divided the country into dioceses, held Church councils, founded several monasteries and continually urged his people to greater holiness in Christ.

He suffered much opposition from pagan druids, and was criticized in both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission.

In a relatively short time the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for Christianizing Europe.

Patrick was a man of action, with little inclination toward learning. He had a rocklike belief in his vocation, in the cause he had espoused.

One of the few certainly authentic writings is his Confessio, above all an act of homage to God for having called Patrick, unworthy sinner, to the apostolate.

There is hope rather than irony in the fact that his burial place is said to be in strife-torn Ulster, in County Down.

Quote

“Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me” (from “The Breastplate of St. Patrick”).