Students celebrate All Saints Day with program, ‘wax museum'

Rayma Silvers/Herald-Tribune-- Saints go marching in to the gymnasium in a program celebrating All Saint's Day, at St. Mary's Catholic School in Fort Scott. A special public event is planned for Sunday, presented in the form of a ‘wax museum' about saints.

Fort Scott, Kan. -- The Saints came marching in at St. Mary's Catholic School Thursday.

Well, actually, the saints at the school on Thursday were students who dressed up in costumes to celebrate All Saints Day, which is a Christian holy day set aside to honor all saints of the church.

Parents assembled in the Kennedy Gymnasium at Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church to witness the parade of saints.

As the students, decked out in saintly attire, marched around the gymnasium, the spectators joined them in the singing of "When the Saints Go Marching In."

After the parade around the gym, each student explained to the audience what saint he or she represented.

Students in the younger grades were allowed to chose between dressing up as a saint and wearing their Halloween costume. However, students in grades two through five had to dress up as a saint. The school celebrates this day each year to teach children that "ordinary people can live extraordinary lives for Christ," St. Mary's Catholic School Principal Krista Gorman said.

Gorman said that the saints are part of history, especially church history. It is a part of the school's religion curriculum. Since many of the saints became martyrs for their faith, Gorman said, this is a good opportunity to teach the children that nothing should come before God.

The saints are perfect examples of heroes of faith, she said.

Each fourth grade student and fifth grade student at the school was told to select a saint to learn about and create an informative poster explaining various facts about that person.

These students will create a museum from 11 a.m. until 12 a.m. on Sunday in the Kennedy Gym, 702 S. Eddy St.

The museum will operate similar to a wax museum, Gorman said.

Each student will be dressed to represent his or her chosen saint and placed in statue form around the gym.

When a person stands in front of that student, he or she will begin telling about the saint they represent. The students' posters will also be available for guests to view during the presentation.

Also, at the museum, All Saints' Day-related artwork completed by students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade will be on display for viewing.

Sunday's presentation is continuous and has an open house format.

Gorman said that the public is welcome to come and go as they please during the event.