St. Andrew Christmas Novena

  Saint Felicitas was a widow. She was tried with her seven boys before the Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Rome. She encouraged every one of her sons to shed his blood for the Catholic Faith. She stood by and watched each one of them as he suffered and died. Four months later, on November 23, she was herself beheaded. But it is beautiful to put her in commemoration along with her seven sons on July 10, in the month of the Precious Blood of Jesus.

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We did not meet on our regular date, First Saturday, for our third meeting.  I had severe allergies and was on a tight timeframe to move.  Praise God that my move is complete and I was able to meet the second Saturday of November.

There were twenty girls in attendance.  We focused on St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons ~ Self-control.

Each girl received a piece of candy before the start of the meeting.  They were instructed to not touch the piece of candy.  It sat in front of the girls throughout snack time and lesson time.

LESSON:

That blessed woman Felicity, whose Birth-feast we are keeping today, had as much dread of leaving her seven sons living after her in the flesh, as have carnal minded mothers of seeing them go dead before them.  When she was taken in the strong pains of persecution, she braced up the hearts of  her children by bidding them cleave to the Fatherland above, and became their mother for the spiritual, as she had aforetime been for the fleshly life, bringing them forth for God by her exhortation, as she had brought them forth for the world by her body.  And shall I not call this woman a Martyr?  Nay, more than Martyr.  The seven whom she trusted to God were seven children sent before her to death.  She suffered first and triumphed last.  ~Breviary

I introduced the girls to St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons.

“My sons will live forever if, like me, they scorn the idols and die for their God.”  ~St. Felicity

Felicitas Seven Sons (all of whom were martyred)

1. Alexander
2. Vitalis
3. Martial
4. Januarius
5. Felix
6. Phillip
7. Silvanus

Patronage – against the death of children, against sterility, martyrs, to have male children, widows

Representation – woman in widow‘s weeds holding a palm of martyrdom, woman with a palm, book, and children at her feet, woman with Saint Andrew the Apostle, woman with seven sons

~ SPQN

Learn how meritorious it is to die for the King (Christ). This woman (St. Felicity) feared not the sword, but perished with her sons. She confessed Christ and merited an eternal renown. ~Ihm, Damasi Epigrammata (Leipzig, 1895)

We honed in on the love of God and self control that St. Felicity and her sons demonstrated.  C volunteered to share her definition of self control.  Before she gave her definition of self control, I called for others to raise their hands if they new what self control meant.  Few girls raised their hands.  I invited them all to raise their hands since they had already demonstrated their understanding of self control.

Self-control: The act, power, or habit of having one’s desires under the control of the will, enlightened by right reason and faith.  ~ Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary

According to C, self control is not doing something that you really want to do.  The girls wanted to eat the candy before them but they exercised their self control by not touching the candy placed before them.  The girls shared other ways that they have exercised self control.  They always enjoy this time of sharing.

CRAFT:

I worked my way into the craft of the month by asking what the girls do each morning upon waking.  There were numerous answers before I pinned, the morning offering.  I encouraged each girl to exercise self control this month by saying their morning offering upon rising in the morning.  Even before, they use the restroom, eat breakfast, go to mom’s room, etc…

I created an iron-on image of a Morning Offering and holy image (found at Holy Reflections).  The girls (with the help of a mom) ironed their selected image onto their pillowcase.

We had three stations for ironing so all the girls could complete their craft before the close of the meeting.  Rose assisted to prep the binders as girls crafted.  I also took the opportunity to paly another self-control game.  The girls played two rounds of a staring contest with their neighbor.  Then I selected one LF to go before the entire group to attempt to make the group laugh.  She had full reign to be silly and the audience had strict instructions not to laugh.  A good time was had by all.  Upon completion of this round, the girls discussed their strategy to exercise self-control so they did not laugh despite the silly antics.

We held one more round.  This time the silly girl could not get her audience to laugh.  We discussed the reason for this outcome, was it because A was not funny or was it because it becomes easier to exercise self control after time of practice?

The meeting ended and the girls were rewarded their candy and sent off to exercise self-control.

St. Felicity & Her Seven Sons ~ orate pro nobis

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Handouts:

• Self-control Divider Sheet
• Self-control Activity Sheet
• St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons Coloring Page ~ Curmudgeonry
• Bio of St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons ~ Holy Spirit Interactive Bio for Kids
• Self-control Memory Verse
• Self-control Memory Verse – Cursive
• St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons Info Page ~ Shower of Roses

Resources:

• Bio of St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons
• St. Felicitas Bio ~ New Advent
• Self Control for Parents – Self-Control: The Unpopular Fruit of the Spirit ~ Mark Shea
• Morning Offering Pillow Case Craft
• Little Flowers Link Up ~ Shower of Roses