Saints Program at Guardian Angel School in Oran

Guardian Angel School in Oran has an annual tradition of putting on a Saints program by the 8th grade students. It usually occurs a few days before All Saints' Day, which is November 1. Our 8th graders, instructed by Jodi McVay, presented the information on the lives of 3 Saints on Wednesday, October 26 in Guardian Angel Church.

The 3 boys each picked a different Saint and then researched the life of the Saint, wrote a report with important information about the Saint, put together clothes that represented how that Saint dressed and added props that also reflected the Saint's life. It is very interesting to listen to the information that each student presents and to see how each portrays the Saint chosen.

The program started with the 3 boys walking down the center aisle, while the students, staff, and parents sang "Here I am Lord". Next, each student went to the podium and read the report he wrote about his chosen Saint. At the end, they processed back down the aisle to the singing of "For All the Saints" before returning for group pictures.

All Saints' Day is a holy day of obligation for everyone to honor all the men and women who had been canonized by the Catholic Church. It is a day all Catholics should attend Mass. The day before is Halloween, which means All Hallow's Eve. Although Halloween today seems to be dominated by candy, costumes and trick or treating, the holiday stems from it being the night before All Saints' Day, also known as All-Hallows. Thus the night before was called All-Hallows Eve and eventually became Halloween.

The 3 eighth graders and who they portrayed were: Jonah Dirnberger as St. Francis of Assisi; Porter Gadberry as St. Lawrence; and Weston Woods as St. Andrew the Apostle.

We always look forward to this program to learn more about the Saints and to see the creativity of our 8th grade students.