SJCA Campuses Consecrated

On May 13, the date that Mary appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, the St. Joseph Catholic Academy (SJCA) consecrated its five campuses to Mary. Miraculous medals were buried at each of the four corners of their grounds, including the three elementary schools, Bishop LeBlond High School and St. Gianna Early Childcare Center. As the medals were placed in the ground, those gathered recited the Hail Mary. 

“We’re asking Mary’s help to guide the Academy,” said Natalie Newville, SJCA President. “We want her to help us make the right decisions in all we do.” 

On the morning of the 13th, the consecration ceremonies at each campus began with St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Prayer of Consecration to Mary, and students, principals, teachers, priests, parents, grandparents and parishioners prayed the rosary together. 

“Consecrating ourselves and our campus to Mary means that we can ask Mary’s intercession first,” St. Francis Xavier Principal Darin Pollard told students. “We are praying that we will all draw closer to God through Mary’s intercession.”

The idea of consecrating the Catholic campuses came about after SJCA’s Prayer Breakfast in January. The keynote speaker, Dr. Stephen Minnis, president of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas and LeBlond and St. Francis Xavier alumnus, told the audience that they consecrated the Benedictine campus to Mary for the first time 15 years ago, and have re-consecrated every five years since. Dr. Minnis said he believes that one of the main keys for the college’s success in the ensuing years has been the consecration. 

St. Francis Xavier student Tenley Woolery, who helped bury the medals, said she liked that Mary will “watch over and protect us.”

Mrs. Newville noted that campus consecrations are not very common, so several events took place beforehand to ensure that the students would understand its importance. First, every SJCA student received a miraculous medal, all donated by a school family. The medal depicts Mary standing on a globe with her hands outstretched and the following prayer: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” 

The miraculous medal’s history relates to a Marian apparition in 1830, when Mary appeared to St. Catherine Labouré in Paris and requested that she create the medal. Both St. Kolbe and St. Teresa of Calcutta are considered the foremost advocates for the medal, as St. Teresa distributed thousands and thousands of the medals throughout her life. Fr. Stephen Hansen, pastor of Cathedral of St.Joseph, said he became aware of the practice of burying medals through St. Teresa’s actions. He said there is a story that she would enter a town and bury a miraculous medal where she wanted to build a convent.  

In addition to the miraculous medal distribution, a novena was also prayed by students, families and the Catholic community on the nine school days before May 13. “We all prayed the same prayer leading up to the very special moment,” Mrs. Newville said. 

She added that the campus consecrations were the start of what will be a greater Marian focus in the coming school year, including saying the rosary more, students learning more Marian prayers and celebrating Marian feast days. 

Father Hansen believes the greater Marian focus on all campuses is important.  “All graces come from God, but God chose Jesus to come to us through Mary, and He invites us to come to Jesus through Mary.”