Saints come to life at Holy Family ‘living museum’

LEsITTOWN - The lights went on and everything came to life in the basement of Holy Family Regional Catholic School on Nov. 21.

A group of eighth graders, each dressed as their favorite saint, had, moments before, been spread out around the basement, standing perfectly still, as if exhibits in a museum. That’s because, thanks to a burgeoning tradition at the Levittown school, they were exhibits in a museum.

It was part of the school’s Living Museum of Saints, the culmination of a nearly two-month project that had the students do extensive research on a saint of their choosing. Tuesday, they became that saint, almost literally. The students created a costume so they could look like their saint and drew and painted posters advertising who they were.

The project was the combined brainchild of eighth grade teachers Joanne Maduzia and John Schrenk, each of whom recently taught elsewhere and brought a project idea to Holy Family with them. Instead of choosing one or the other, they combined their ideas and came up with the Living Museum.

“WhHn WhH NLGV firVW hHDrG DERuW LW, WhHy groaned,” Schrenk said, chuckling. “Then as we got into it, they really put a lot of work into it and really wanted to learn about their saint.”

Maduzia said the project gave the eighthgrade class opportunities beyond learning about their saint of choice.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for them to be leaders of the school, profess their Catholicism and share their faith with the younger students,” Maduzia said.

They were able to share their faith – and knowledge – with the younger students because once the lights went on and the saints came to life, the students were charged with answering questions about their saint from the younger grades. Other inquiring minds included parents and grandparents, who were invited to interview the students as well.

“There’s a lot of saints here I wasn’t even aware of,” said Delores Mcduigan after ending her inquisition of grandson John Jarvis, dressed like and speaking as St. Blaise. “I’m learning so much.”

Jarvis echoed his teachers’ statement about WhH DmRunW RI wRrN WhDW wHnW LnWR WhH finLVhHG product.

“It’s about two months’ worth of work,” Jarvis said. “It was hard, but as we got going you’re like, ‘This is so fun.’ This part is really fun.”

Though it’s just the second year of the project and presentation, Schrenk said the students are already looking at it as one of the school’s better traditions.

“They see it as a rite of passage in our school,” Schrenk said. “I’ve already had a little kid come up to me and say, ‘Mr. Schrenk, when I’m in eighth grade can I do St. Anthony?’”

Like so many other events in the area, the Living Museum of Saints was delayed by Hurricane Sandy. Originally scheduled for Nov. 1, All Saints Day on the Roman Catholic calendar, the museum got pushed back nearly three weeks. It was clear the delay did not lead to foggy memories, as the students continued to profess fact after fact about their saint.

Third-grader Christopher Sieler asked St. John sianney, aka Edward Ortiz, what church he ran. Ortiz was quick with the answer.

“He ran the Church of Ars in France,” Ortiz, who then dutifully waited as Sieler took down the information in his notebook.

Musu Faith Barba dressed as St. Bridget of Sweden. She explained to one inquisitor, who was also taking notes, that her saint was born into money. She chose to donate almost all of that money to the poor, thus becoming a member of the group she was trying to help. Barba didn’t stop there.

“She had visions,” Barba said, “and in one of her visions she was called to be the bride of Jesus, so that’s how she got her nickname, “Bride of Jesus.””

Barba could have continued, but the lights went off and the saints went still. The thirdDnG IRurWh-JrDGHrV TuLHWOy fiOHG RuW RI WhH basement and the “exhibits” stood, statuelike, waiting for the next group of visitors.