Students, faculty and staff at St. Joseph Regional Catholic School in Beltsville, Maryland, celebrated the Nov. 1 Solemnity of All Saints with a Mass during which icons specially made for each room in the school were blessed.

“All of these beautiful icons remind us of our call to be saints,” said Father Rob Maro, pastor of St. Joseph Parish who celebrated the Mass and blessed the icons. “How special to have them in our school. What a treasure, what a gift they are for our school and our community.”

At the Mass, some students dressed as their favorite saint. After the Mass, the blessed icons were installed in each classroom, the cafeteria and other school rooms and offices, and that room was then renamed after the particular saint whose icon was installed there.

Pre-K and kindergarten classrooms were dedicated to St. Joseph, St. Thérèse of Lisieux (the Little Flower), Our Lady of La Vang and St. Teresa of Avila; the first-grade classroom was dedicated to St. Faustina Kowalska; the second-grade classroom was dedicated to St. Maximilian Kolbe; the third-grade classroom was dedicated to St. John Paul II; the fourth-grade classroom was dedicated to St. Josephine Bakhita; the fifth-grade classroom was dedicated to St. Benignus of Armagh, a fifth century disciple of St. Patrick who was a missionary and musician; the sixth-grade classroom was dedicated to St. Lorenzo Ruiz; the seventh-grade classroom was dedicated to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; and the eighth-grade classroom was dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel.

Father Maro went to each room, offering prayers and invoking the intercession of that saint. “By putting these icons in the classroom, we ask the saints to pray for us,” he said.

“Each icon was sponsored by either a parishioner, an alumnus of our school, a school family or a faculty member,” explained Erin Meunier, principal of the school which is jointly sponsored by St. Joseph Parish, St. Hugh of Grenoble Parish in Greenbelt, Maryland and St. Nicholas Parish in Laurel, Maryland. She noted that the icons were commissioned and hand painted by Irina Kirepko, a Ukraine-based iconographer.

Meunier said that because the ongoing war in Ukraine has interrupted shipments from that country, the completed icons were driven from the artist’s studio to a location in Poland, and then shipped to the school from there.

She added that Helene Stever, the parish’s director of faith formation, “suggested this wonderful idea last year, (and) we are thrilled it has finally come to fruition.”

In the week leading up to the Mass, students were given clues to their classroom’s patron saint and were invited to try to identify that saint before the All Saints Day Mass and installation of the icons.

In celebrating Mass for the students, Father Maro reminded them that “we were put on this Earth to be a saint. Everyone is called to be a saint.”

“The beauty and the joy of heaven await saints. What is waiting for you if you become a saint is so awesome,” he said. “The challenge for you and for me is to remember what this life is about – the only thing that matters is that you become saints and you take as many people with you to become saints.”

“Saints are examples for us,” he said. “What does it look like to be pure of heart? Look to the saints. What does it look like to be pure of spirit? Look to the saints.”

In addition to the classrooms, the cafeteria was dedicated to Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman; the Spanish room was dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi; the Resource Room was dedicated to St. Nicholas, in honor of one of the sponsoring parishes; the Technology Room was dedicated in honor of St. Joan of Arc; the Art and Music Room was dedicated in honor of St. Hugh of Grenoble, in honor of the other sponsoring parish; the main office was dedicated to St. Patrick; the faculty room was dedicated to St. Julie Billiart, founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who originally staffed the school; and the multipurpose room was dedicated in honor of the Holy Family.

“We are deeply grateful for the generosity of those who donated these icons,” Father Maro said.