The classroom is filled with chatter as 7th and 8th graders mill about, getting ready to start their science lesson for the day. “St. Anthony of Padua,” calls out their teacher. “Pray for us!,” 18 young voices respond to the invocation, instantly re-establishing order to the room. 

“Every classroom has a patron, and St. Anthony of Padua is ours,” explains Heather Shoaf, homeroom teacher for the 7th and 8th grade class. “Middle schoolers often lose themselves,” she adds with a laugh, noting his intercession for finding lost things. 

This is one of the many ways St. Mary Catholic School in Charlotte embraces its Catholic identity: by embracing the saints.

As All Saints Day approaches each year, upperclassmen at St. Mary’s are each tasked with choosing a saint to impersonate for the younger grades.

“We do a presentation for the whole school, for all the little kids,” explains Tripp Whitten, dressed as St. Raphael the Archangel. “This year the three eighth grade boys wanted to be the three archangels together.” “Yeah, we’re the three stooges,” pipes up Ben Ames, who is St. Gabriel for the day.

“I like this tradition because the students get to take on the persona of the saint,” Shoaf says. “It’s that first person experience, and it brings it to life for the younger students…it reinforces that the saints were real people, they have characteristics we can exemplify, we can act like them and learn more about them. It takes more of the legend away and makes them seem real.”

Common interests with the saints seem to be the primary motivator for choosing one: from the patron saint of coffee to going fishing, skiing in Colorado, trips to Italy, roses, farming, music, sports and even oversleeping - the saints were real people, with very relatable interests, passions and even the same struggles that we face today. 

“I really like how Carlo Acutis used technology to teach everyone about Jesus, that definitely catches a lot of attention from little kids who also play video games,” says seventh grader Faith Tennes, who recalls portraying St. Carlo last year. She dressed in a jacket and sport shorts, just like St. Carlo did not too long ago. 

“It’s kind of an interesting thought because most of the time we really idolize saints, but sometimes we forget to think about how we should really strive to be just like them, and we also can become a saint,” eighth grader Aria Hoffman explains. She chose to impersonate St. Cecilia this year, and plans to play her clarinet for the younger students during her All Saints Day presentation.

More than just a game of dress-up or an exercise in public speaking, this practice of dressing like the saints brings home to kids both at St. Mary and throughout the Church, that the saints are alive today, and we can pray through their intercession. The saints want us to be like them, with God in Heaven!

“I’ve always wanted to be like St. Andrew, because he kept believing in God even when the people around him stopped,” says George Wildern, dressed as St. Raphael, adding that St. Andrew inspires him to “persevere through the hard stuff” of life.

The Church puts such emphasis on the importance of the saints and their intercession, that she has made November 1st a Holy Day of Obligation. Falling on a Sunday this year, there is no additional Mass necessary. But the celebration doesn’t have to remain in your parish or at Catholic schools like St. Mary - we can venerate, celebrate and befriend the saints in our own homes! Singing the Litany of Saints at a meal time, hosting an All Saints party in your community, gathering any images of saints in your home and lighting a candle near them, cooking a meal from the country of origin of your favorite saint, or simply asking your favorite saints to pray for you and your family at bedtime are all ways to celebrate at home. The saints are alive! They want to be our friends. Like the students at St. Mary, let’s celebrate!