St. Gregory’s students celebrate Holy Week
By JESSICA ALLEN Staff writer
Jacob Ferris, center, represents Jesus Christ at the 12th Station of the Cross, “Jesus Dies on the Cross,” during a Holy Week pageant at St. Gregory Barbarigo Roman Catholic Church. Ferris is flanked by St. Gregory’s School classmates Anna White, left, and James DiStefano, who portrayed Roman soldiers. Sixth graders at the school spent a week practicing the Stations of the Cross reenactment before sharing it with other students and the public during a service Wednesday morning.
A passage in the New Testament gospel of St. Matthew states, “From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise.”
During the week before Easter Sunday, referred to as Holy Week by Christians, students at St. Gregory’s School demonstrated the truth of that passage.
The sixth and eighth grade classes continued a longtime tradition at the school by reenacting the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and a Catholic devotional called the Stations of the Cross.
“What happened to Jesus is hard to understand for the younger kids,” said eighth grade teacher Jenni Halley. “These reenactments help explain it without going so in depth that they can’t comprehend what’s going on.”
All St. Gregory’s students attended the pageants, and both services were open to the public.
On Wednesday morning, Betsy Nielson’s sixth grade class presented the Stations of the Cross, a devotional that focuses on a series of events leading up to and including Christ’s crucifixion.
“The Stations of the Cross give us a chance to imagine, reflect, and pray on what Jesus went through during his suffering, death, and resurrection,” Nielson said.
Her 11 students portrayed different characters from biblical accounts of the crucifixion story, including Jesus, Pontius Pilot, Roman soldiers, Jesus’ mother Mary, Simon, of Cyrene, and others.
The children acted out each station while Carson Kempf read an accompanying devotional.
Each portrayal was followed by a hymn led by seventh graders Cassidy Spire and Tori Allen or a piano instrumental.
Nielson said her students have become familiar with the Stations of the Cross throughout their years at St. Gregory’s, but that they take extra time to focus and reflect on them before the reenactment.
“Anytime we can step out of the desks and outside the classroom we do,” Nielson said. “The more we can act out, the more the students will remember and understand the significance of it.”
The traditional Stations of the Cross include 14 events ending with Jesus’ body being sealed in the tomb. However, a 15th station is sometimes added, the Resurrection on Easter morning.
“(Holy Week) is the darkest time in our liturgical year,” Nielson said. “The students understand that and take it seriously.”
The Last Supper reenactment took place on Holy Thursday, which is also called Maundy Thursday.
“Maundy” comes from the Latin word “mandatum” which means “mandate” or “commandment.”
It refers to Christ’s commandment to his disciples to show love for one another as he showed them love through his sacrificial death.
Students at St. Gregory’s included foot washing in their reenactment and in turn washed the hands of everyone in attendance. They then hung the used towels on a wooden cross at the front of the sanctuary to symbolize Christ taking the sins of the world upon himself.
After reciting the Lord’s Prayer, the second grade class was invited on stage to sit with the eighth graders while they broke bread and passed out cups of grape juice, symbolizing Holy Communion.
“It’s special for the second graders to be invited up,” Halley said. “It really helps them cement the meaning of their first communion, which they’ll experience soon.”
The service, which also included several congregational songs, was emotional for several parents, including St. Gregory’s Principal Susan Martin, whose daughter portrayed one of the disciples.
Halley said her favorite part of the service is when the teachers pray a blessing over their students, because it demonstrates the familial love present at the school.
Even in a service filled with fellow students and family, Nielson said the students experience some nerves. This does not stop them from providing a meaningful experience for their audience, however.
“It’s like a rite of passage for the students,” Halley said. “The eighth graders who perform the Last Supper remember performing the Stations of the Cross as sixth graders, and younger students look forward to their turn.”
Halley’s daughter, a sophomore in high school out on spring break, attended the Last Supper pageant with several friends.
“The students will never forget what it felt like to put themselves in the place of Jesus or his disciples,” said Halley, herself a St. Gregory’s alum who remembers participating when she was a student. “It’s an important way of celebrating our faith.”
“The students will never forget what it felt like to put themselves in the place of Jesus or his disciples,” said Halley. “It’s an important way of celebrating our faith.”
By JESSICA ALLEN Staff writer
Eighth grade and second grade students take part in a reenactment of the Last Supper at St. Gregory Barbarigo Catholic Church on Thursday morning. The reenactment is a longtime Holy Week tradition for students at St Gregory’s School.
