SACHS Celebrates 2023 St. Anthony’s Feast Day

It was an eventful day in St Anthony’s Catholic High School on 13th June, 2023 as the school celebrates her patron Feast Day. The day’s celebration was heralded with cooking assorted types of food at various points in the school premises. Class teachers and their students were busy with cooking at early hours of that day.

At exactly 10:20am, the Holy Mass in commemoration of St. Anthony of Padua began. The mass was celebrated by Rev Fr Anthony Omodunbi, the school chaplain and concelebrated by Rev. Fr. Cyril Oni, the school principal.

The First Reading was taken from Prophet Isaiah 61:1-3

The Responsorial Psalm titled, “I will sing ever of your love, O lord” was taken from Ps. 88 

The Gospel Reading was taken from the Gospel of St Luke 10:1-9

The Chief celebrant and homilist, Rev. Fr. Anthony Omodunbi started his homily by staying the three reasons why we gathered on such a special day. The reasons are;

To thank God who deemed it fit to make saints our of sinners

To remind ourselves that it is possible for us to become saints

To tell us that in our journey to sainthood that we are not alone, we can pray through the saints to help us in our journey.

From the Gospel reading, the homilist emphasized that Jesus is saying that there are many souls to be saved. We can only win souls for Christ if we, ourselves are won for Christ. According to the homilist, St. Theresa once said we cannot do many things on our own but we can do a few things such as saying our prayer, helping the poor and the needy, being sincere and modest. He emphasized that we can be called saints through the above. Other points he mentioned include:

God wants so many saints among us but many are not desirous of it.

The greatest tragedy that can happen to someone is not becoming a saint. The homilist concluded the homily by encouraging everyone to strive and live a holy life.

After the communion, the Priest blessed the bread brought in commemoration of St Anthony of Padua. The Miss Anthony of the year, Fakanlu Stella Mary and Master Anthony of the year, Fariogun Michael were called upon for prayer and decoration. They were prayed for and their predecessors, Master Gold Oduwale and Miss Asiyanbola Goodness decorated them. The school Principal, Rev.Fr. Cyril Oni presented gifts to Master and Miss Anthony. This was followed by general thanksgiving. The Senior Tutor, Mrs Akinsanya gave a vote of thanks. At this point, the school principal thanked the staff and students and wished everyone a happy celebration. The Chaplain, Rev. Fr. Omodunbi admonished the students to be of good behaviour. The Mass ended at this point.

The second part of the celebration began with the invitation of the following people to the high table: Rev. Fr. Cyril Oni, the school principal , Rev. Fr. Anthony Omodunbi, the school chaplain, Mrs Akinsanya, the senior tutor, Sr. Hannah Okoliko, DHS, the head mistress of St. Monica Nur/pry school, Ilesa, Sr Lilian Njoku, the hostel coordinator and the HOD humanity, Commercial, Sciences.

The School Anthem was sung and the choir rendered a special song. This was followed by YCS drama presentation which was on importance of honesty. Mrs. Okeke gave a speech on behalf of the chairman who was not around. The speaker of the day Rev. Fr. Omodunbi gave a brief history of the life of St. Anthony of Padua. According to him, Fernando Martins was the name given to St Anthony when he was born. It was when he joined the Dominican sisters that he was given the name Anthony. His first preaching gave him a recognition as a great preacher among the Dominican sisters. It is worthy of note that his tongue didn’t decay many years after his death. A lot of miracles were performed in his name.

The chaplain mentioned some points to note about St Anthony;

Saint Anthony is the founder of lost things 

He taught many people about Jesus when he was alive, and one of them is reverence to God 

He convinced the heretics that the bread and wine changes to the body and blood of Jesus. This was evident through the miracles of the mule that bowed upon seeing the monstrance.

Another great miracle that was performed through St Anthony was the miracle of the restoration of a boy who fell inside hot water. The mother of the boy made a promise to give to the poor loaves of bread that weighed exactly the boy’s weight if the boy was restored. Eventually the boy was restored to life and the woman fulfilled her promise and this is why bread is shared on a day such as this. After this message, there were other programs that made the day eventful.

The drama club presented a drama titled: “All that glitters is not gold”. The drama portrayed the need to pray, especially, invoking St Anthony of Padua in difficult situations. Other presentations include: French club, cultural club, choreography group, amazing group, cultural dance by JSS1c, Lotun Precious from Jss3, Dance presentation by Ajilore Dipo.

At this point, Miss Anthony gave a short speech. In her speech, she thanked God for making her emerge as Miss Anthony of the years. She also thanked her subject teachers for their encouragement.

Master Anthony also gave his speech and admonished all students to have focus and determination to make it in their academics.

The Chairperson, St Anthony Feast Day, Mrs. Olasunkanmi gave a vote of thanks. The Principal thanked the entire staff and students of SACHS and admonished the students to be hardworking and committed to their academics.

Indeed, it was a wonderful day in SACHS as the staffs and Students really had a relaxation moment. The program ended with prayer and blessing by Rev.Fr Cyril Oni, the school principal.