Mary’s Home students carry on May Crowning tradition
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“How incredibly blessed we are! In more ways than one!”
This is Michele Kempker’s 28th year teaching and her first year at Our Lady of the Snows School in Mary’s Home.
As such, she got to experience the school’s annual Mary Crowning with her third- and fourth-graders and the rest of the student body.
The May 1 air was crisp and fragrant following recent rains, with dew on the ground and windows.
The children and their teachers gathered around the substantial stone grotto outside Our Lady of Snows Church to offer prayers, sing hymns and leave a gift of fresh flowers.
The smell of blossoms, wildflowers and the students’ bouquets filled the air as they approached the image of the Blessed Mother.
Principal Lucinda Varner led them in prayer: “Mary, our loving Mother, as we come together to crown you as Queen of Heaven and queen of our parish and school, we ask for your gentle care and protection over our teachers, our students and their families.
“Help us today and always to follow your example by loving others as your Son, Jesus, has taught us. Guide our hearts and lead us ever-closer to him.”
Mrs. Varner spoke to the children about the origin of the May Crowning tradition, dating back over 150 years.
“Mary cared for Jesus throughout his life with love and devotion, just as our parents care for us,” she said.
“She nurtured him, protected him and made sacrifices for him each day,” the principal stated. “Her faith remained strong, even in the most difficult moments, standing at the foot of the cross as her Son suffered.”
Mary was among the first to witness the joy of his resurrection, and was assumed body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life, where she lives with Jesus in eternal glory.
Mrs. Varner led the students and their teachers in a litany of prayer, seeking the Blessed Mother’s intercession for their school, church and families; for all the children of the world, especially those experiencing hunger and war; for mothers, grandmothers and caregivers; and for help in loving one another and bringing peace to the world.
Isabelle Vandike, a second-grader who was to receive her First Holy Communion that weekend, came forward to place a crown of flowers on the Blessed Mother’s head.
Everyone sung hymns as the children came forward one at a time to place their flowers in vases at the front of the grotto.
“Thank you, God, for our time together, giving honor to our Mother, Mary,” Mrs. Varner prayed. “We pray that we will be filled with joy, just like Mary was. Help us to honor and love our God, our neighbor and ourselves.”
“Incredibly peaceful”
It was eighth-grader Ellie Schulte’s last day of school before graduating from Our Lady of the Snows School.
“We’re here to honor Mary and celebrate that she was the mother of Jesus,” said Ellie.
“She was pure and faithful and believed in God and trusted him,” said seventh-grader Anna Berry.
Anna has been a student at Our Lady of the Snows since preschool. She said the annual May Crowning has changed little in that time.
“But we would always lay the flowers on the stairs, not in the vases,” Ellie noted.
Both girls said honoring Mary is important because God chose her to be his mother, and she agreed to that.
She’s also the patron of the school, parish and town, “and she guides us,” said Anna.
Ellie said she’ll miss being at Our Lady of the Snows School, “having Catholic classes and learning about God every day.”
“Yes! It’s very cool and very fun,” said Anna. “I like this school.”
Mrs. Kempker said she likes everything about teaching there.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s incredibly peaceful. The children are amazing in that they’re so faith-centered.”
She loves going to all-school Masses with them each Wednesday and seeing how reverently they worship God and receive him in the Holy Eucharist.
She’s especially impressed with how well the seventh- and eighth-graders serve as prayer partners for the preschoolers, showing them how to behave at Mass, make the Sign of the Cross and stay focused while praying the Rosary.
“They take a lot of pride and responsibility in it,” said Mrs. Kempker. “They realize that they’re giving an example to the younger children.”
Mrs. Varner, herself a graduate of Our Lady of the Snows School, remembers her Dad helping to build the Marian grotto.
“He was a bricklayer,” she said. “There were three or four of them who built this. It’s been around for a long time.”
Mrs. Kempker said that for generations, the church has been the center of town, and “everything here revolves around it.”
She and Mrs. Kempker noted that the teachers at nearby Eugene High School can always tell the graduates of Our Lady of the Snows School.
“We have a very good record with our students there,” said Mrs. Varner. “I think we’re doing something right.”
