Mother and Child

The Christmas Program this year was simple (due to our extra duties with Sister Mary Bernadette’s declining health) — but very lovely. The elementary students (grade k-6) put on a pageant focusing on the shepherd and the gift that Our Infant Lord desires (our hearts!). The junior and senior high school students played several complicated (three-part) Christmas carols. Click the link for pictures. DVD’s of the program are available from the SBC bookstore ($5 plus shipping and handling — call 603-239-6485).

Who better to choose that the Queen of All Saints?

Every year the parents and children in our community (especially in the school) try to come up with saints that will stump the judges. They are getting very good at finding obscure saints! I think the judges were stumped about half a dozen times this year. Here are some pictures.

Our brave IHM Brigade, very tired yet happy after another completed pilgrimage! (Yes, that is Sister Mary Joseph hiding behind Sister Maria Rosaria.) The pilgrimage this year was set-up a bit differently, but the graces involved are incalculable.

Sister Mary Joseph, M.I.C.M., has a special project to share with you.

It has been a long tradition at Saint Benedict Center to study the saints — not only their individual lives but also groups of saints by theme.

How many canonized doctors are there? How many brother-and-sister (sibling) saints are there? Name the canonized foundresses of religious orders. Name the boy saints who died under the age of twenty.

Such trivia teaches us about the lives of our Catholic heroes. We get to know them and love them by way of a game.

So, the game for today is: Find the saint who died at your age. Learn something new about your saint-for-the-year. Befriend your saint and ask him (or her) for special help and favors. You only have one year in which to make the most of this special patron before you will be on to a new one. Don’t waste your big chance!

[Editor's note: We have taken Sister Mary Joseph's list of saints-by-age  and added some others for a complete list through the age one hundred. Please let us know if you have others to include, good saints' pages to link to, or if you catch any errors.]

Two and under – St. Simon (Infant), The Holy Innocents, Bl. Regina Kyusaku (martyrs of Nagasaki)

Three – St. Cyriens, Bl. Ludovica Tahyoe (martyrs of Nagasaki)

Four –  Jacob Hanzaemon (martyrs of Nagasaki)

Five –  Bl. Ignacio Fernansez (martyrs of Nagasaki)

Six – Servant of God Antonietta Meo

Seven – St. Peter Nangashi

Eight – Bl. Francis Yahyoe (martyrs of Nagasaki)

Nine – St. Charity

Ten – St. Christina, St. Hope, Bl. Jacinta Marto

Eleven – Bl. Imelda, St. Hugh of Lincoln

Twelve – St. Faith, Bl. Laura Vicuna, St. Maria Goretti, St. William of Norwich

Thirteen – St. Philomena, St. Agnes, St. Prisca

Fourteen – St. Pancratias, St. Eulalia, Bl. Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio

Fifteen – St. Dominic Savio, St. Dioscorus, St. Agapitas, St. Vanantius, St. Dymphna

Sixteen – St. Edward (King), St. Prudentiana

Seventeen – St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Theodocia

Eighteen – St. Cecilia, St. Rose of Viterbo, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Abra, St. Peter of Luxenborg, St. Lewis, St. Theodocia

Nineteen – St. Joan of Arc, St. John de Goto

Twenty – Bl. Teresita Quevedo, St. Teresa of the Andes

Twenty-one – St. Lucy

Twenty-two – St. John Berchmans, St. Germaine Cousin

Twenty-three – St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Editha, St. Louis (Bishop)

Twenty-four – St. Therese, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin, St. Casimir of Poland, Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha

Twenty-five – St. Gemma Galgani, St. Philip of Jesus

Twenty-six – St. Miram Teresa

Twenty-seven – St. Isaac of Cordoba (June 3)

Twenty-eight – St. Hedwig, St. Margaret of Hungary

Twenty-nine – St. Gerard Majella, St. Euphrasia, St. Elzear

Thirty – St. Paul Miki

Thirty-one – St. Rose of Lima

Thirty-two – St. John the Baptist, St. Wenceslaus, St. Rocco, St. Rainer

Thirty-three – St. Catherine of Siena, St. Paul Miki, Bl. Margaret Castello, St. Faustina, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Gertrude of Nivelles, St. Robert Southwell

Thirty-four – Bl. Karl von Hapsburg, St. Philip Evans

Thirty-five – St. Rene Goupil, St. Bernadette, St. Benedict Joseph Labre

Thirty-six – St. Anthony of Padua, St. Noel Chabanel, Bl. Miguel Pro, St. Raymond Nonnatus, St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Thirty-seven – St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Bl. Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran

Thirty-eight – Bl. Marie Rose Durocher, St. Philip Howard

Thirty-nine – St. Isaac Jogues, St. Gabriel Lalemant, St. Peter Faber, St. Gianna Beretta Molla

Forty – St. Clare of Montefalco

Forty-one – St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, St. Claude de la Colombierre, St. Edmund Campion, St. Odran

Forty-two – St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Forty-three – St. Louis Marie de Montfort, St. Margaret of Scotland, Bl. Leonard Kimura, Forty-four – St. Francis Caracciolo, St. Peter Chrysologus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen

Forty-five – St. Paul Chong, St. Louis Bertrand

Forty-six – St. Joseph Mascoti, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Gertrude the Great, St. Francis Xavier, St. Charles Borromeo

Forty-seven – Bl. Alan de la Roche, St. Joseph Moscati

Forty-eight – St. Hilary of Arles, St. Damian of Molokai

Forty-nine – St. Stanislaus of Cracow, St. Agnes of Montepulciano, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John Neumann, St. Audrey, St. John of the Cross, St. Basil the Great

Fifty – St. Catherine of Sweden, St. Martinianus, St. Naamatallah Kassab Hardini

Fifty-one – St. Dominic

Fifty-two – St. Philip Benizi, St. Henry the Emperor, St. Veronica of Milan, St. Paschal Baylon, St. Hillary of Poitiers

Fifty-three – St. John Nepomucene, St. Malachy O’Moo, St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Bonaventure

Fifty-four –  St. Pulcheria

Fifty-five – St. Francis de Sales, St. John of God, St. Louis IX, St. Monica, St. Laurence O’Toole, St. Richard of Chichester

Fifty-six – St. Frances of Rome, St. John de Brebeuf, St. Pachomius

Fifty-seven – St. Ambrose, St. Thomas More, St. Peter Julian Eymard, St. Paula

Fifty-eight – Bl. Otto Neururer

Fifty-nine – St. Martial

Sixty – St. Joseph, St. Zita, St. John of San Feacundo, St. Clare, St. Porphurius, St. Laurence of Brindisi, St. Hugh of Lincoln, St. John Massias, St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Zita

Sixty-one – St. Stephen (King)

Sixty-two – St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Sixty-three – St. Benedict, St. Scholastica, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Anthony Mary Claret

Sixty-four – St. James Kisai, St. Bernadine of Siena, St. Gal, St. Camillus de Lellis

Sixty-five – St. Julie Billiart, St. Elizabeth of Portugal, St. Ignatius of Loyola

Sixty-six – St. Angela Merici, St. John Baptist de Rossi, St. Colette, Bl. Guido Maria Conforti

Sixty-seven – St. Andrew Bobola, St. Ephrem, St. Veronica Giuliani, St. Cajetan, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, St. Thomas of Villanova, St. Gontron

Sixty-eight – St. John Baptist de la Salle, Bl. Anna Maria Taigi,

Sixty-nine – St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Seventy – Bl. Arnold, St. Rita of Cascia, St. Juliana Falconieri, St. Martin de Porres

Seventy-one – St. Clotilde, Bl. Junipero Serra, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Bruno, St. Gertrude (Abbess)

Seventy-two – Our Lady, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Bridget of Kildaire, St. Euphrasia Pelletier

Seventy-three – Bl. Ida of Boulogne, St. John Damascene, St. Albert the Great, St. John Bostco

Seventy-four – Bl. Marie Louise, St. Thomas the Apostle, St. John Gualbert, St. Laurence Justinian, St. Albert the Great, St. Juan Diego

Seventy-five – St. Boniface, St. Winifred, St. Augustine of Hippo

Seventy-six – St. Columkille (St. Columba), St. Bernard Tolomeo

Seventy-seven – St. Athanatius

Seventy-eight – Bl. Josephina Bakita

Seventy-nine – St. Hugh of Grenoble, St. Eugene de Mazenod

Eighty – St. Philip Neri, St. Daniel Stylites, St Therese Cordere

Eighty-one – St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), St. Paul of the Cross

Eighty-two – St. Irenaeus, St. Andrew Fournet

Eighty-three – St. John the Evangelist, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

Eighty-four – St. Vincent de Paul

Eighty-five – St. Hugh of Cluny, St. Felix of Valois

Eighty-six – St. Alphonsus Rodrieguez, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat

Eighty-seven – Bl. Jeanne Jugan

Eighty-eight – St. Andrew Avellino, St. Paula of St. Joseph of Calasanz

Eighty-nine – St. Genevieve, St. John of Egypt

Ninety – St. Apian, St. Macarius the Elder, St. James of la Marca of Ancona, St. Olga, St. Thecla, St. Alonso de Orozco

Ninety-one – St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, St. Andre Bessette (Bl. Br. Andre), St. Francis of Paula

Ninety-two – St. Hyacinth of Poland, St. Joseph Calasanctius, St. Claude, Bl. Rose Venerini

Ninety-three – St. Cassiodorus, St. Sabbas

Ninety-four – St. Brendan

Ninety-five – St. Euphrosynus

Ninety-six – St. Katherine Drexel

Ninety-seven — St. Euthymius the Great (Mr. Molla – husband of St. Gianna)

Ninety-eight – (Otto von Hapsburg), Bl. Sebastian de Aparicio

Ninety-nine – St. Peter of Galatia

One hundred – St. Raymond of Pennafort, (St. Hugh of Grenoble’s father, Odilo), St. Romuald

One hundred-six – St. Theodosius

One hundred-thirteen – St. Paul the Hermit

One hundred-forty – St. David of Wales

Oh - to be a clown!

At the End of the Year Performance (this year on June 12), every class puts on a little demonstration of what they learned during the past year. Hopefully you can see how much fun we had from the pictures!

Bring flowers of the fairest; bring flowers of the rarest . . .

The May Procession is an important highlight of our school (and community) year. The event allows us to honor our heavenly Mother is a special way, and the procession is the impetus for us to get the grounds cleaned up after the winter storms. The Sisters beg the flowers from vendors of a flower market and the girls come to help them make crowns and bouquets.

Mary Grace & Brendan -- happy to have Our Lord in their hearts!

Two of our first graders and one guest from out-of-town made their First Holy Communions this past May 22. Here are some pictures.

The triumph of the Cross . . .

A most blessed and glorious Easter to you all!

Hyacinths

Please click on this link to see a special Easter message from the Sisters. Gaudete, alleluia, alleluia!

Tulips near our altar