Tradition honors the holiest

Saints go marching in -- sort of

The saints were incredibly strong role models for students who participated in All Saints Day pageants a generation ago, according to nuns who helped stage the annual performances at St. Ambrose School in Latham.

"When I reflect on it now, I feel the saints were important role models for the kids in those days," says Sister Mary Clare Ciulla, PBVM.

"Back then, television didn't have the impact on kids' lives that it does today, and there weren't as many actors and singers vying for the kids' attention. The saints were really people the kids could look up to and try to emulate."

Models of faith

One of the things she believes made the pageant so popular with seventh graders was that in researching the lives of their favorite saints, they came to realize that the saints were much like the rest of us in that they faced many of the same problems. "What made them candidates for sainthood in the first place was that they excelled in one or more virtues that made them stand out as shining examples for others to follow," Sister Mary Clare observed.

She added that the students' belief system was also very strong at the time and "what you believe, you tend to live. Subconsciously or unconsciously, the students assimilated some of what they learned about the saints into their own lives. The saints and their suffering and sacrifices were very real to them, whereas today I think we often tend to put the saints on the back burner."

Butterflies

Sister Mary Clare -- who left St. Ambrose in 1967 to begin 20 years of service as a social worker in Alaska -- said the students weren't the only ones who grew a little anxious as the date of the annual pageants neared at St. Ambrose.

"There were plenty of butterflies fluttering around in the sisters' stomachs worrying about how our aspiring thespians would do!" she recalled, noting that parents and younger siblings often turned out to witness the big event.

Sister Mary Trinitas Scully always enjoyed sharing stories of the saints' lives with her St. Ambrose students.

"It was our hope that the children would understand that the saints, like us, had problems to overcome," she explained. "Students learned what mistakes the saints had made in their lives and how they conquered them."

She adds that the pageants provided "an opportunity for all to develop a love for these friends of God." The nuns also hoped the pageants would make students aware "that someone in his/her family was a saint."

Realistic nun

Sister Mary Trinitas remembers that costumes sewn for the pageants (usually by devoted mothers) were often quite realistic looking -- and one in particular stands out. It appeared so authentic that Sister Mary Trinitas mistook the student for a visiting nun!

She was also pleased to learn that a former pageant participant, who was not Catholic, went on to become a minister.

(This year's All Saints Day program takes place at St. Ambrose on Oct. 31, starting with Mass at 9 a.m. and concluding with the "Parade of Saints" at 1:15 p.m.)

(10-30-97)

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