This year, as a school family, we are bringing focus to the virtues. Stemming from the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, we name two virtues each month to discover and strive to live out. Additionally, we learn about a saint who embodies those particular virtues.
For the month of May, we learn about the virtues of Gratitude and Self-Control. We celebrate Our Lady of Fatima this month.
The Story of Our Lady of Fatima
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children–Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos–received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners, and for the conversion of Russia.
Mary gave the children three secrets. Following the deaths of Francisco and Jacinta in 1919 and 1920 respectively, Lucia revealed the first secret in 1927. It concerned devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell. When Lucia grew up she became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97.
Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See’s Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a “bishop in white” who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this vision to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.
The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church’s worldwide calendar in 2002.
-Courtesy of Franciscan Media's Saint of the Day
Saint Paul Catholic Classical School is seeking teachers and substitute teachers to help fulfill the school’s mission to accompanies parents on their journey as primary educators to unlock the wonders of God's creation through a comprehensive, faith-based, classical education. In communion with the Catholic Church, we foster awareness of each child's dignity as created in the image and likeness of God. We strive to form the whole person, which enables each child to seek truth, goodness and beauty in all things and to grow and live as an instrument of God's love. Please visit the Catholic Schools Ofiice of the Diocese of Dallas at www.csodallas.org/apply to see all available positions.
If you are interested and would like to serve SPCCS as a substitute teacher, please apply. Please send resume and cover letter to Courtney DeMakas at c.demakas@spsdfw.org. Safe Environment Certification also needs to be current, please contact Becki Soto at beckie@saintpaulchurch.org.