St. Paul classes name home rooms after Saints

NORWALK — The St. Paul High School home rooms across grades 9 to 12 chose to honor saints by naming their houses after a respected Church leader. The students studied famous and not-so-famous saints — and selected a saint they felt represented their homeroom. During this week the students designed a crest and created a motto based on the virtues of their House Saint. Below is a brief look at each teacher's home room saint choice: Ms. Meyer: Saint Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II. He had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating an amateur-radio station and founding or running several other organizations and publications. He is patron saint of families, journalists, and prisoners. Feast Day is Aug. 14. Ms. Spragg: St. Tekakwitha-Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. She was born in 1656, in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon. Kateri was very devout and was known for her steadfast devotion. She was also very sickly. Her practices of self-mortification and denial may not have helped her health. Sadly, just five years after her conversion to Catholicism, she became ill and died at age 24, on April 17, 1680. She is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile and Native Americans. Her Feast Day is July 14. Ms. Fries: St. Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women's Order of St. Clare, the Third Order of St. Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in Christianity. He is the patron saint of animals and the natural environment. It is customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on or near his feast day of Oct. 4. Mr. Hainline: St. Roch went on pilgrimage to Rome and devoted himself to caring for the victims of a plague that was ravaging Italy. He became a victim himself at Piacenza but recovered and was reputed to have performed many miracles of healing. He is Patron Saint of: bachelors, diseased cattle, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids, surgeons, tile-makers, and gravediggers. His Feast day is Aug. 16. Ms. Kovarik: St. Brendan is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is primarily renowned for his legendary quest to the "Isle of the Blessed," also denominated "Saint Brendan's Island." Saint Brendan's feast day is celebrated on May 16. He is the patron Saint of boaters, divers, mariners, sailors, travelers, whales and portaging canoes. Ms. Livengood: St. Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger for God to certain people. He is one of the three archangels. Gabriel is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. The Book of Luke states he was sent from God to Nazareth to visit the virgin married to a man named Joseph. Gabriel said to Mary, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." Luke 1:28. Gabriel told Mary she would conceive from The Holy Ghost and the baby will be the Son of God. Gabriel is recognized as the patron saint of messengers, telecommunication workers, and postal workers. His feast day is celebrated on Sept. 29. Mr. Conley: Saint Valentine is a third-century Roman saint widely celebrated on Feb. 14 and commonly associated with "courtly love." Although not much of St. Valentine's life is reliably known, and whether or not the stories involve two different saints by the same name is also not officially decided, it is highly agreed that St. Valentine was martyred and then buried on the Via Flaminia to the north of Rome. St. Valentine is the patron saint of love, young people and happy marriages. His feast day is Feb. 14. Ms. Lysaght: St. Anthony the Great. Anthony is called the Patriarch of Monks. His parents were rich Christians. Shortly after inheriting his parents' fortune, he sold all his vast fortune and gave the proceeds to the poor, sent his sister to a nunnery and retired to an old ruin of a tomb. He ate only every three or four days and spent his time doing manual labor and prayer. His feast day is Jan. 17 and he is the patron saint of farmers, animals, basketmakers, butchers and legos. Ms. Nickoli: St. Clotilde was a princess of the kingdom of Burgundy. She was supposedly descended from the Gothic king Athanaric and became the second wife of the Frankish king Clovis. She played a role in her husband's famous conversion to Christianity and, in her later years, became known for her almsgiving and penitential works of mercy. She is credited with spreading Christianity within western Europe. St. Clotilde is the patron saint of brides, adopted children, parents and widows. Her feast day is June 3.