St. Martin of Tours School in Gaithersburg celebrates 100th anniversary and its patron saint’s legacy
The goal of Catholic schools to prepare students for service and success in the world, and ultimately to get to heaven, was on full display this past fall as fourth graders from St. Martin of Tours School in Gaithersburg, Maryland, dressed as saints in colorful costumes for a Mass at the parish church honoring their patron saint on his feast day.
Some of the boys at the Nov. 11 Mass portrayed bishops and a pope and wore homemade vestments and miters and clutched crosiers, and some of the girls wore makeshift veils and habits of sainted women religious from different historical eras.
Before the liturgy began, students portraying St. Maria Goretti, St. Helena, St. Rose of Lima and St. Vincent de Paul handed out Mass programs. Students in saintly regalia also served as ushers, before all 20 fourth graders marched to the front pews in a procession of saints as the Mass began.
The offertory procession included students dressed as the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Fabian, St. Teresa of Calcutta and St. Clare of Assisi, with the first two students placing items that students had collected for foster children in Montgomery County before a statue of St. Martin of Tours.