St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls House System

1. St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls House System • Every member of our school community belongs to a House. • We have decided that our Houses should have important female patron and also represent the six continents. • Theses are St Angela, St Faustina, St Josephine Bakhita, St Laura, St Marianne Cope & St Teresa Benedicta. • They are not celebrities or religious do-gooders. • These are important Catholic Women who the Church has declared to be Saints and therefore worthy of our love and respect and they in turn will show us their love and their help. • Our 6 Patrons are not Eurocentric, rather they provide cultural diversity and reflect the universality of the Catholic Church. • Catholic Global & cultural diversity is a theme that we want the House System to develop over the next few years e.g. through food, fashion, culture, music, competitions, festivals etc.

2. St. Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls House System • Girls wear coloured badges on the lapel of their blazers and staff have coloured ID lanyards. • All achievements, events, competitions, Sports Day etc. are also inter-house competitions. • Vivosis the system we use to create personal Merits and House Points. • There is a weekly update of House Points for Staff & students on the TV monitors and the school website. • We will develop the community & character of each House through charity events & inter-house competitions. • We look forward to everyone being involved and always welcome new ideas.

3. Born in 1474 in Italy. She and her older sister, were left orphans when she was 15. Angela was very distressed when her sister suddenly died It is said that in a vision she received a response that her sister was in heaven in the company of the saints. Angela believed that a better Christian education was needed for young girls. On 25 November 1535, St Angela Merici started the foundation of the “Company of St Ursula.” She wanted the sisters to be consecrated to God and dedicated to the service of their neighbour, but remain in the world and live a celibate life in their own homes. When she died on January 27, 1540, there were some 24 branches of the Company of St. Ursula serving the Church. Pioneer of Female Education in Europe.

4. ST Saint Faustinawas born on 25 August 1905 Throughout her life, she reported having visions of Jesus and conversations with him which led to the Divine Mercy Devotion. She approached several convents but was turned down time after time, in one case she was told "we do not accept maids here", referring to her being penniless. Eventually the mother superior at the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy decided to give her a chance. At age 20 Faustina knew nothing about the convent she was joining, except that she believed she was led there. She was to be a nun for just over a decade, dying at the age of 33 on 5 October 1938. She wrote that on the night of Sunday, 22 February 1931, Jesus appeared to her as the "King of Divine Mercy" wearing a white garment with red and pale rays emanating from his heart. In her diary she wrote that Jesus told her: Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in You". I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. Polish Saint, who had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart & whose congregation work with vulnerable young women

5. ST Josephine Margaret Bakhita,was a Sudanese-born former slave who became a nun in Italy, living and working there for 45 years. She was kidnapped by Arab slave traders who had already kidnapped her elder sister two years earlier. Over the course of twelve years she was resold again three more times and then given away. It is said that the trauma of her abduction caused her to forget her own name; she took one given to her by the slavers, bakhita, Arabic for lucky. She says that the most terrifying of all her memories there, was when she (in common with other slaves) she was ‘tattooed’ when 114 intricate patterns were cut into her breasts, belly, and into her right arm. The wounds were filled with salt to ensure permanent scarring. She was later bought by an Italian family and arrived in Italy in 1885. She was baptized, confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the future Pope St PiusX. In 1893 she entered the Canossian Sisters throughout her entire life - "her mind was always on God, and her heart in Africa” During her 42 years as a nun she was in frequent contact with the local community. Her gentleness, calming voice, and ever-present smile became she was known as SorMoretta ("little brown sister") or Madre Moretta ("black mother"). Her last years were marked by pain and sickness. A young student once asked Bakhita: "What would you do, if you were to meet your captors?" Without hesitation she responded: "If I were to meet those who kidnapped me, and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands. For, if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today" Modern Saint and former Slave

6. ST Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena (May 26, 1874 – October 21, 1949) was a Colombian nun. In 1914 she founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate and St. Catherine of Siena. During the Colombian Civil War her father was killed, and the family was left in poverty. So, Laura was sent to live with her grandmother. When Laura was 16, to help her family in its financial difficulties and she applied to receive training to become an elementary school teacher. Beginning in 1908, she worked as missionary to the natives in the Uraba and Sarare regions where she founded the Works of the Indians. Even though she wanted to become a cloistered Carmelite nun, she felt growing within her the desire to spread the Gospel to those who had never met Jesus Christ. Laura wanted to destroy this racial discrimination and to personally sacrifice herself in order to bring them Christ's love and teaching. On 14 May 1914, she started the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Immaculate Mary and of Saint Catherine of Siena. With four other young women and went to live among the native Indians. Even though this new Congregation had the support of the local Bishop of Santa Fe de Antioquia, it was severely criticized even within the Christian community itself. The last nine years of her life were lived in a wheelchair. She died after a prolonged illness on October 21, 1949 in, Colombia Today her Missionary Sisters work in 19 countries throughout America, Africa and Europe. She was known for her work with indigenous peoples and as a strong role model for South American girls. Laura was canonized by Pope Francis on 12 May 2013. Her Feast Day is October 21st.

7. ST Marianne Cope,January 23, 1838 – August 9, 1918) was a German-born American. She is known for her charitable works and virtuous deeds, she spent many years caring for lepers in Hawaii. By eighth grade, her father had become an invalid and, as the oldest child, she worked in a textile factory to help support her family. She became a nun in New York and a teacher then a principal in newly established schools for German speaking immigrants. She also helped found the first two Catholic hospitals in Central New York stipulating that medical care was to be provided to all, regardless of race or creed. In 1883, she received a plea for help in caring for leprosy from King Kalalaua of Hawaii. Shen then set out with six other Sisters Two years after the arrival of the Sisters, the king himself bestowed on Mother Marianne the Cross of a Companion for her acts of benevolence to his suffering people. In 1887 she convinced the government that it was of vital need to save the homeless female children of leprosy patients. Although this step meant that she would likely never be able to return to New York and see her family and friends again, she accepted the call. “We will cheerfully accept the work…” was her response. In November 1888 she cared for the famous Fr Damien. After his diagnosis as a leper; he was shunned by both civil and church leaders. It was only Mother Marianne who gave him welcome, even arranging for the king to meet him. When Father Damien died on April 15, the government officially gave Cope charge for the care of the boys as well as her original commission for the female residents of the colony. She died on August 9 and was canonized on October 21, 2012. She is the 11th American citizen to be made a saint and is the patron of lepers, outcasts and those with HIV/AIDS. Her Feast Day is January 23rd. American Saint who worked with the Lepers in Hawaii.

8. ST Edith Stein, 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942, was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism & became a Carmelite nun. She is a martyr and saint. She was born into an observant Jewish family, but was an atheist her teenage years. Moved by the tragedies of World War in 1915 she took lessons to become a nursing assistant and worked in a hospital for the prevention of disease outbreaks. After completing her doctoral thesis in 1918 and obtained a teaching position at the University of Freiburg. From reading the works of the St Teresa reformer of the Carmelites she was drawn to the Catholic Faith and was baptized in 1922 At that point she wanted to become a Carmelite nun, but was dissuaded by her spiritual mentors. She then taught at a Catholic school in Munster. As a result of the Nazi persecution she had to quit her teaching position. 1933 she entered the Carmelite monastery in Cologne, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross "Teresa blessed by the Cross". In 1938 she and her sister Rosa, by then also a convert and an extern sister of the monastery, were sent to the Carmelite monastery in Echt in the Netherlands for their safety. Despite the Nazi invasion of that state in 1940, they remained undisturbed until they were arrested by the Nazis on 2 August 1942 and sent to the Auschwitz concentration where they were murdered in the gas chamber on 9 August 1942. She was canonized in 1998. She is one of the six patron saints of Europe, together with St. Benedict, Sts Cyril & Methodius, St Bridget of Sweden & St Catherine of Siena. Her feast day is 9th August . Philosopher, Convert, Carmelite & Martyr

10. Prayer to the Saints of our Houses Dear God you constantly raise up new saints to glorify your name and to show us your kingdom of love. May Saints Angela, Faustina, Josephine, Laura, Marianne and Teresa Bendicta, look down on all of us here today. May they continue to inspire us, pray for us and help us in this life and welcome us all into to your kingdom where you live and reign for ever and ever. Amen