On Friday, March 10th The Villa children and staff will celebrate and honor Blessed Clelia, the woman who founded the congregation of religious Sisters, The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These are the Sisters who founded and still minster at Sacred Heart Villa today. There has been a long tradition at The Villa for the Kindergarten class to have a presentation to teach the younger children about Blessed Clelia on her birthday. The children are familiar with Blessed Clelia by name since we end our prayers throughout the day by saying, “Blessed Clelia, pray for us.” This annual presentation hopefully puts a face to that name and helps the children learn somethings about the life of this holy woman who was born March 10, 1861 in Italy. We keep the presentation simple since Blessed Clelia life actaully had many ups and downs, loss, and tragedy. We focus on the more positive aspects of her life with the little ones.
This year the kindergarten class will narrate an ABC book about Blessed Clelia as a visual of each letter is shown on the big screen on the school's stage. Sr.Bridget collaborated with a groups of girls from Cor Jesu Academy several years ago to create the text of this project. Initally the group had hoped to have the book printed. Rising cost and then COVID put this project on hold. Sr. Patricia Young, who is a novice of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, helped Sr. Bridget two years ago create a movie of the story which the Kindergarten Class of 2021 narrated and shared with the other classes. This year the Kindergarten class will be on stage narrating live the 26 important facts from A to Z about Blessed Clelia.
To learn more details about Blessed Clelia visit: Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - Our Foundress (ascjus.org)