Schools
May Procession at Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
A local school observes an ancient tradition. Enjoy our video and photo gallery.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Education Center in Limerick held its May Procession on Friday morning, coinciding with the Catholic observation of the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
An outdoor procession of students, faculty, and staff filed into the school's auditorium shortly before 9:00am. The eighth grade students wore their graduation gowns while third grade students were dressed in their First Communion attire.
During a Mass celebrated by Father Paul Brandt, pastor of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish, May Queen and 8th grade student Juliana Tartaglia had the honor of crowning the school's statue of Mary with a wreath of flowers.
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"The students look to Mary, as the mother of God, to guide them in their daily lives here at Blessed Teresa of Calcutta," said Joan Rook, principal of the school.
The Christian processionals and other traditions surrounding May Day contain echoes of ancient, pre-Christian feasts associated with fertility and the renewals of spring. Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, was traditionally honored in a festival known as the Floralia near the beginning of May. In parts of what are now Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, and France, the ancient Celtic feast of Beltane similarly celebrated the arrival of the growing season.
