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(Editor's note: Dean was the second-place winner of an essay contest at Saratoga Central Catholic High School, where he's a junior, on why students chose their confirmation names.)

Names are important. They signify who we are and give us individuality. However, we cannot name ourselves. This crucial decision is left to our parents -- but our faith allows us a chance to add to our name and make it truly ours.

In our Church, the sacrament of confirmation is this second chance. Personally, I believe this is an opportunity to look for inspiration from the past to guide our futures.

My family is from Naples, Italy. My father was born there and moved to America when he was five years old. He always tells of his favorite times growing up as a child there: the smells, tastes and beauty.

One story particularly intrigued me when I was young: the story of Mount Vesuvius and how my father's mother saw this volcano erupt for years and years without end. He told of the fear the volcano brought, but also of the hope the people had to rebuild a new life -- a second chance.

My choice of a confirmation name is quite simple: Gennaro. St. Gennaro, or St. Januarius, is the patron saint of both volcanoes and my father's home city of Naples.

Gennaro was a bishop during the fourth century. At this time, Christians were still persecuted by the Roman Empire. Due to St. Gennaro's belief in God, he was persecuted. He was thrown into flames; but, when he prayed to God, the flames did not hurt him. Similarly, when he was thrown in with wild beasts, he was unharmed.

Neapolitan tra­dition and myth says that a vial of his blood, when brought close to his statue, will begin to transform to liquid form and bubble.

Because of these reasons, I have chosen Gennaro as my confirmation name. Perhaps, though, there is more meaning to this decision than just bubbling blood and invincibility for me.

In my life, I have had brushes with death many times. I was in a terrible four-wheeler accident one summer. Another time, I nearly drowned. However, I have always escaped without being seriously injured -- similar to how St. Gennaro could not be harmed because of his belief in God.

The claim that St. Gennaro's blood boils is symbolic of my family's blood: While it may not boil near our family portrait, it boils in the form of family and passion.

Names are what make us individuals in our increasingly uniform society. This is why the power to give ourselves a name that is important to us in both a worldly way and a spiritual way is so spectacular: With this added section to our name, we must always think of how that saint, our role model, would act in certain situations. It also forces us to always remember God, all His good works and the grace He gives to us.[[In-content Ad]]

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