On November 1st the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints. This solemn holy day, established more than twelve-hundred years ago, honors all of those who have finished the race and achieved the final goal: Heaven and life with God. Becoming aware of the liturgical calendar and the proper observation of feasts is part of the Saint Gregory’s educational experience. The Church provides her children with many beautiful reminders – both to feast and to fast – throughout the year. These special days in the calendar of the Church are there to nourish our spirits and to help us in our journey throughout this life.

The banquet began with grace during which Father Christopher blessed a special bread he baked for the feast. The traditional bread contained fruits and nuts, symbolizing the saints in the bread which represents the world. The bread began the main meal, after which Headmaster Sean Fitzpatrick gave a talk on sainthood and the Beatitudes.

As you can see in the pictures, the refectory was decorated by four beautiful banners, made by the four different classes at the school. Each banner was made in honor of a particular saint chosen by the individual classes. The seniors made a banner honoring Saint Joan of Arc, the Juniors’ banner commemorated Saint Augustine, the Sophomores chose Saint Michael, and the Freshmen selected Saint Maximilian Kolbe. During the evening, delegates from each class came to the podium to explain the imagery on their banner and to give a toast to their saint.

There were other forms of entertainment sprinkled throughout the evening. Mr. Stephen Fitzpatrick and senior John Paul Fitzmaurice performed a folk song, senior Daniel Weichert played some tunes on his uilleann pipes with Daniel Snyman accompanying on the guitar, and alumni Joe Long and Zach Bateman sang a few songs.

Overall the evening was extremely pleasant and a wonderful testament to joy and proper celebration. Thank you to our cook, Mr. Hastings, for spending so much time preparing the delicious meal. Thank you to Mr. Strong for organizing the banquet. And thank you to the Junior class for working the event and especially for cleaning up after it was over!