St Dominic’s Day 2012

St Dominic’s Day 2012
in Wanganui

As the feast of our
holy Father St Dominic fell on a Saturday this year, a large part of our
celebrations were held the day before, on Friday 3rd August.  This allowed us to have a Solemn High Mass at
which all the pupils could attend to honour and thank the heavenly patron of
our college, and to beg his continued care and intercession throughout the
coming year.  Father Cranshaw presided at
the Mass and also preached an interesting sermon on the Dominican motto of Veritas. 
After lunch, the girls’ school descended to the netball court for the
highly-charged Teachers versus Students netball game.  Despite the continual downpour of rain
throughout the game (which made the court somewhat more hazardous to play on),
the teachers (with the aid of just a few ex-pupils, ahem) worked their way to a
convincing victory of 23 – 16.

As such a victory is a rare event for the teachers, a photo was taken of the scoreboard, to be kept as proof for future generations.

Later
in the afternoon, we gathered in the Church with the priests, brothers and our
girls for Solemn (First) Vespers of St Dominic and the Rosary.   The evening was an eventful one: dinner,
singing and roasting marshmallows around a bonfire, a piñata and other games
including spotlight on the field.  We are
sure that all enjoyed themselves.

Some
excited participants with their parcels during one of the games.
The
piñata was homemade (as you can tell), a combined effort of one of the sisters
and some of the girls.  The black and
white dog with a torch in its mouth is of course symbolic of St Dominic.  Blessed Jane of Aza, St Dominic’s mother, had
a dream that she gave birth to a dog that would run through the world with a
torch in its mouth, setting the world on fire. 
This of course, was a foreshadowing of what Dominic (and subsequently
his order) would do: carry the light of truth to all men, and set their hearts
aflame with love of God.

When
the games were all over, the bell was sounded and the priests, brothers,
sisters and girls made their way into the church to end the evening with
Compline (Dominican style, of course).

The
real St Dominic’s day, Saturday 4th August, was somewhat quieter: a
low Mass followed by a ceremony for the reception of a new Dominican tertiary,
and afterwards, a breakfast for our friends, benefactors, tertiaries, teachers
and past pupils.  It was a great delight
to be able to thank our benefactors for their support over the past
year, as well as to “catch up” with our dear past pupils.
Much
to our surprise, our community was here presented with a beautiful piece of
artwork (the product of a very talented Dominican tertiary, as well as a kind
priest), centred on a Dominican theme.

As
part of the St Dominic’s Day celebrations, Father MacPherson was asked to judge
the girls’ art competition entries.  The
theme of the competition was “Culture”. 
Here are some of their works of art: