The saints go marching in

The saints came marching in to Our Lady of Fatima Church and soon the front pews of the sanctuary were filled with nuns and bishops, queens and commoners, angels and mortals, all saints of the church.

As the youth choir sang "When the Saints Come Marching In" nearly 100 children in the third grade religious education classes, all dressed as their favorite saint, processed toward the altar in an annual tradition that gives the students a central role in the All Saints Day mass.

"Today is a very special day in the life of the church," said the Rev. Michael Bova Conti, as the Mass began. "Today we honor all the saints who have gone before us."

Each child had a part in the Nov. 1 service by reciting a sentence that gave information about his or her saint.

Leah Carney, 8, chose Saint Anne because her middle name is Anne.

"She is the mother of Mary and her name means ‘full of grace,’" said Carney. "It’s important to learn about the saints and how they help us to be better people."

David Cincotta, 8, was dressed in red and white, with a long flowing beard - "my mother got it for me" - and learned that Saint Nicolas was kind and generous and did good deeds in secret.

"I think he shows about helping people and not to brag about it," said Cincotta.

There are about 950 children in the religious education program in grades kindergarten to 11, said Susan Murphy, director of religious education at the church, and the third grade is the perfect age to dress as saints.

"It’s like a sign that we learned about the saints and we can dress up to make it more fun," said Julie Miller, 8, who chose Saint Julia because "she has my name and she’s pretty special."

The All Saints Day tradition began about 15 years ago.

"We wanted the children to have something else to think about besides Halloween, and to know that Halloween is the eve of All Saints," said Murphy. "We wanted them to have heroes and learn about the people who went before us. It’s also an opportunity to teach the rest of the parish about the saints."

The children learn about saints in their classrooms during the fall and choose a saint whose work appeals to them or whose name has a personal meaning for them.

Even Murphy is occasionally surprised at just how much some of the children know about their saints. When she was assigning the sentences for each saints, she assumed that Thomas Austin’s saint was Thomas the Apostle.

Austin, 9, informed Murphy that his Thomas was Saint Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth century scholar who wrote "Summa Theologica."

"It’s a religious book that has all God’s stories in it," said Austin who learned about Saint Thomas Aquinas from his father who wrote his Providence College admissions essay on the saint.

There are some rules to avoid duplication of saints, said Murphy, who gives the children 250 saints to choose from. She has a limit of four of the same saint "because there are so many other wonderful saints we want the kids to know about." Some classes pull a saint’s name out of a hat to avoid competition for a particular saint.

"Lots of the boys want to be Saint Sebastian, patron saint of athletes, or Saint Martin, patron saint of soldiers," said Murphy. "Saint Elizabeth of Hungary was a queen so she is very popular with a lot of little girls who want to be a queen."

Bayley Macnamara and Elizabeth Pier, both 8, were dressed as the sainted Queen of Hungary.

"I love that I get to be a queen," said Macnamara. "It’s pretty fun to study the saints."

Pier learned that Saint Elizabeth often brought food to those in need.

"When she was bringing food to everyone she put it behind her cape and one day the food turned to roses," said Pier. "All saints do special things and give to people who have needs."

Olivia Bane, 9, continued a family tradition by dressing as Mary for the procession.

"My sister was Mary and we already had a costume, but Mary is the queen of all saints," said Bane. "This way you get to learn a lot more about the saints. If they had problems they would pray to God. Sometimes they got what they prayed for and sometimes not."

The work of God is exemplified in the saints’ lives and actions, Fr. Bova Conti told the children, although "sometimes we don’t act like saints."

"In this day and age, with all of the horrible role models, the saints are a great role model for the children to study. It shows them they should aspire to be a better person, lead a quality life, give to others, and not be selfish," said Denise Jung who came to the Mass with her grandchild. "We talk about the ‘Me Generation,’ and the study of the saints is the direct opposite."