Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Preparation for First Holy Communion


Last Wednesday, I shared with you the first of two memories of second grade. My second memory is of my First Holy Communion. Normally, children began receiving communion in first grade. However, I was a year behind because I’d attended first grade in a public school.
            In early May, Sister Mary Anne helped prepare the first graders and me—a second grader—for communion. Daily, she’d march us over to the church. There we’d stand, the first graders, myself, and our chaperones—the second graders who’d received their first communion the year before.
            This is a long story, so I’m going to establish only the setting in today’s posting. Then next Wednesday I’ll share with you what happened on the days preceding and the day receiving First Holy Communion. You’ll see why this memory has remained so vivid. It makes me laugh now, if not then.
            Here’s the setting: Saint Mary’s Church. This brick building with its tall steeple has stood on Liberty Street since 1865—the year the Civil War ended. When I attended its grade school in the 1940s, cannonballs from that war were found in an adjacent playground.


Photo by Salvatore Vuono for freedigitalphotos.

            Each day of our practice, the first graders and I and our chaperones processed into the church in two rows. We settled into several front pews on opposite sides of the aisle. Sister Mary Anne stood at the front and talked us through all the parts of the Mass until we got to the communion ritual.
            Each day at practice, she said the Latin words we’d hear that would announce communion. We then rose and processed out of the pews and up the aisle to the three steps that led up to the communion rail. Standing about two feet high, it extended the width of the church.
            Normally, Catholics wishing to receive communion would kneel on the wide top step in front of the linen-covered railing. The priest would pass on the other side of the railing and place a consecrated communion wafer on their tongues. Then they would return to their pews.


Contemporary photo of a child in Sicily
 receiving First Holy Communion while standing.
From Wikipedia.

            For our First Communion celebration, however, we passed through the sanctuary gate in the middle of the communion rail. In practice, we processed through the gate and across the sanctuary. There we stood in rows at the edge of the steps leading up to the altar.
            Row by row, we ascended the steps. A row of the first children who would receive communion stood on the top step. Behind them, on the second step from the top, stood another row of communicants. Behind them, on the third step, stood another row. Below this step stood the remaining rows, ready to ascend as an earlier row of first communicants received communion and returned to their seats in the nave.
            Those on the top row stood momentarily. Then they knelt. Simultaneously each row behind the first also knelt as Sister Mary Anne—taking the role of Father Hennessey—walked past and placed a pretend communion wafer on the tongue of each child in row one. 
            The communicants in that row then stood and reverently returned to their pews. As they stood to leave, all the rows behind them stood, stepped up, and then, in unison, knelt again.
            You get the picture: Row after row would stand, step up, kneel. Rise, step up, kneel, Rise, step up, kneel. This ritual proceeded until the final row knelt in front of Sister Mary Anne. The communicants, their mouths open like fledglings, modeled receiving communion and returned to their pews.



A 1949 group photo of children taken after Mass
on their First Holy Communion day.
From Wikipedia.

            The one thing I need to tell you so that you’ll understand next Wednesday’s posting is that our chaperones did all this with us. Each row consisted of eight children: four first communicants and four chaperones, kneeling, rising, and standing in pairs. My chaperone was my best friend—Barbara Ann—who remains my friend to this day. She and I together created a silent-movie slapstick scene on my first communion day.
            That’s the setting. I hope to see you here next Wednesday for the plot. I’m wondering again about your childhood. Is there some setting or ceremony practice you remember this vividly? 

PS: Yesterday, Melissa Ann Goodwin, who writes the adventurous blog "On the Road," posted her review of A Cat's Legacy: Dulcy's Story. This review had me giddy with delight. If you have time today, I encourage you to read it and also to note Melissa's enjoyable book The Christmas Village. I've read it and given it as a gift to friends. It's quite an adventure and would make a lovely Christmas gift for the children in your life. 

39 comments:

  1. Wow, Dee. This brings back so many memories! That was a major rite of passage for those of us growing up Catholic. I can hardly wait to hear about you, Barbara Ann and the slapstick aspect of your First Holy Communion experience!

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    1. Dear Kathy, I hope that I didn't raise readers expectations too high for next week. Talking aloud about an incident can be much funnier than writing about it. I'll need my best words next week to get across the humor of the incident. Wish me luck! Peace.

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  2. I posted this on Melissa's blog:

    A wonderful--& well deserved review!! As in their first book, I actually felt that Dulcy was doing the writing!!

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    1. Dear Fishducky, thank you for posting your comment on Melissa's blog. I'm so glad that readers feel that Dulcy is doing the writing. Your continuous support for her two books is a blessing in my life. Peace.

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  3. Oh, you have painted the scene wonderfully, and now we await the grand entrance of what is sure to be something big!

    I love that you and Barbara Ann are still friends to this day. Those kind of rich friendships are all too rare.

    As far as remembered ceremonies, one that quickly springs to mind is when we had to parade our 4-H show bulls in front of the judge (and audience). I was nine years old and not much of a match when my bull apparently forgot his traning and dragged me (still holding onto the halter rope) ingloriously around the ring. He had been perfect in practice.

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    1. Dear Shelly, I so hope you weren't injured by being pulled by the bull. And isn't that just the way--a perfect practice followed by a comic movie event! Peace.

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  4. That is a great picture of your practice. Since I'm not Catholic, I didn't know anything about how it was done. As a Presbyterian, I did go through Communicants class where we learned the Catechism before we joined the church.

    Very interesting.

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    1. Dear Nancy, I'm glad the words came together to create the scene. I wondered if I'd over-explained. I hope next week to put myself and Barbara and Father Henessey into the actual day. Peace.

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  5. The review is lovely. The only ceremony I can think of is the annual first grade Christmas program presented at night for the parents and other family members. I recall reciting a little verse with a friend during the show and climbing onto "Santa's" (an eighth grade boy's) lap to tell him I wanted a Pretty Peaches doll for Christmas, which I received. I did not take Communion until I was a young adult and I joined the Lutheran Church. Communion continues to have great meaning for me. It provides a moment of renewal before the coming week.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Dear Janie, thank you for sharing that lovely memory. I hope you got your Pretty Peaches doll for Christmas. Peace.

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  6. That's so nice that you are still friends with Barbara Ann!! Now I am waiting to hear what happened on that fateful day. ;)

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    1. Dear Rita, I'm waiting also to see if the words will be there next week to bring out the humor of the story. Wish me luck. Please. Peace.

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  7. Dear Dee, I have an image of some slap-stick happening, but know it couldn't. Well, maybe not...

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    1. Dear Susan, it is sort of slap-stick. Now if only I can do justice to it. Peace.

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  8. You definitely have set the picture. I'm there! I don't have a memory of anything quite as steeped in ritual as part of my early years, but my own religious education had meaning, and was shared in regular early Sunday School attendance with memories that remain strong. And some of the friends I made "way back then" are still friends today. I will be eager to see where you're taking us next week, Dee! Debra (http://www.breathelighter.wordpress.com)

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    1. Dear Debra, it is wonderful to have friends from all those years ago. I have just one from grade and high school--barbara. But a number from college and still more from the convent years. They continue to bless my life. Peace.

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  9. I can hardly wait. You have set the scene so well. And, not being Catholic, it is all very new to me.
    I love that you and Barbara Ann are still friends. I have known one of my friends for over thirty years and we have been through so much together... I don't often see her, but when I do we pick up from where we left off. Magic.

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    1. Dear EC, that's wonderful that you and your friend of many years can pick right up where you left off. I had that with a friend who died of cancer back in 1998. I miss her still and often find myself wanting to share something with her. Peace.

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  10. I can see the scene very well, your description is so vivid. I don't remember anything like this as a child, but I was not raised in a church and only had a regular school to provide anything similar. I am looking forward to next week! :-)

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    1. Dear DJan, I don't know exactly why the memory I'm going to share next week stayed with me all these years. Maybe because it's my first taste of embarrassment.
      Peace.

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  11. I'm so curious! This just might lead to something hilarious.

    Every year in church we'd have an Easter play and a child would be chosen to sit at Jesus' feet during one scene. I always wanted to be that child and one year I was! I know that wasn't really a ceremony, but it meant so much to me that I had to share :) Plus, I got to wear a fancy, silky outfit and that was fun lol

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    1. Dear Elisa, thank you for sharing the story of you at the Easter play. That's a lovely memory. I, too, can remember clothes I wore as a child. And "fancy, silky" would surely stand out. Peace.

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  12. Dee, I am "losing it". I just realized that I did read your post yesterday and was interrupted before I could comment. The beauty of this is that I came back and got to read you again and whet my curiosity as to what happens next.

    I was raised in the Greek Orthodox church, went to Greek School, after public school, to learn the language, then Sunday school to learn the ways of the church and the Bible stories. I treasure it all, Dee,. I have a bundle of stories. My sister and I reminisce, more often as we grow older. Practicing to be an angel of the Lord for the Christmas pageant, and falling off of the ramp during rehearsal, which had me rising to the heavens, will forever be imbedded in my mind and still makes me laugh (though I cried at the time). Fortunately, I rose to the occasion the night of the performance. I wrote about a year or two ago. Maybe I'll reblog it this year.

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    1. Dear Penny, thank you for sharing this story from your childhood. I so hope you weren't hurt when you fell off the ramp and that your crying was more from embarrassment then from being injured. Please do re-blog the story. I'd love to read it. Peace.

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  13. All my children had their Holy communions, I thought it lovely. I love that black and white photo you shared. yes, there is a lot of training to make sure the children get it correctly. My children are all grown now and two are in the Pentecostal Church and two in the Seventh Day Adventist. I go anywhere, as I believe God loves us all.

    I am Australian and met Ray from TN on-line (second marriage for both). We conversed via video phone for about 4 months and then I informed him I'd be attending a convention in Chicago, he asked if he could meet me which he did. I toured the U.S. and then we married, or I'd have had to return back to Oz. Its been 8yrs now. He was never going to move here, until his first visit and then he couldn't wait to retire. I lived 3yrs and worked in TN. Now we live in Queensland and take trips back. Ray loves the lade back Ozzie outdoor (its alright mate) lifestyle and the weather here.

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    1. Dear Crystal Mary, thanks so much for responding here to my comment on your blog about your having been in the United States. All is clear now! Still, I'd be interested in your sojourn in Tennessee if you ever decided to share that on your blog.

      And yes, all the practice was to get everything of the ritual right and so to make of our celebration a truly memorable--and holy--occasion. Peace.

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  14. I remember my first communion so well. It was on a May 19th, and it was a very big day in the life of an Irish Catholic family. You brought back memories of those practices that we did over and over. It was that way so that nothing could go wrong. From what you are hinting at, I would suspect that was not the case on your big day.

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    1. Dear Arleen, I, too, as you know am Irish. And so this was indeed a big day. And we did all that practicing so that nothing would go wrong. So that the event would be a truly memorable celebration. But you're right. Something did happen a few days before the BIG Day that led to some humor during the ritual. I do so hope that I can write what happened in a way that will have readers laughing! Peace.

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  15. My son went through this a year or so ago, Dee. I remember it well.

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    1. Dear Kate, I never knew that First Holy Communion was still such a practiced affair! Thanks for telling me. I suppose one of the reasons I so remember receiving the Eucharist for the first time was all this preparation. Sister Mary Anne wanted all to go well! Peace.

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  16. I love reading about your second grade memories. My second grader is preparing for her First Communion this year, too. The experiences are totally different, of course, but I think it's sure to be a powerful memory for her, just as it was for you. Thank you, so much, for sharing.

    -- and I can't wait to read the rest!

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    1. Dear Emily, I hope her First Communion will be a rich and enduring memory in the life of your older daughter. Will you be making her First Communion dress and veil? Or do children wear those any more? I hope that in my next posting I can show the dress and veil that my mom made for me. I still have them. Peace.

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  17. I too was a Catholic girl taking first communion, but I can't remember endless drills like that. Perhaps one or two and, of course, lots of catechism learning in class.

    I have fond memories of me getting it wrong and trooping up to the rail for a wafer long before I was entitled though. The old biddies got into a stew over that one.

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  18. Dear Friko, yes, lots of catechism in class--going over and over the answers about what Eucharist/Communion was. Most of which I didn't understand. I'd love to read a posting on you "getting it wrong and trooping up to the rail for a wafer" early. I bet the nuns really were in a dither! Peace.

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    1. I too was in second grade with you but remember the nun"s name as Sister mary Joanna. I didn't get to make my First Communion until 3rd grade as I wasn't baptized until Dec. of 3rd grade. When it was time for our classes i would go downstairs and receive instructions from Sister Mary Joanna. Is that the same nun as Sister mary Anne? From Judy Marqua Hogue

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    2. Dear Judy, it's so good to hear from you! Thank you so much for commenting. And please know how well I remember you. But the truth is that I couldn't remember our 2nd grade teacher/nun and so I simply called her Sister Mary Anne. But as soon as I read the name you gave--Sister Mary Joanna--I realized that was the name! Thank you for reminding me.

      I hope all is well in your life. Please do comment again at some time. That will make/help me feel that we are in touch after so many years. I'm hoping that some of my memories will jog yours. I'm also wondering if you looked at the two postings on my other blog about Sister Mary McCauley. I mention them in the last paragraph of the posting that appeared after this one. The one for Monday, October 8. Thank you once again for leaving a comment. You've made my day! Peace.

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  19. I never took holy communion because we emigrated and then as new immigrants my parents were too busy to bring us to extra classes. I didn't even attend a Catholic church. My parents sent us to the closest church,United, for Sunday school. Later when we moved again we went to an Anglican and a United. And by the time I was a teenager I knew I never wanted to be Catholic. God is God no matter what way one seeks comfort and understanding. I raised my children in the faith of their father and we both agreed they could find their own faith in adulthood. Buudy follows all faiths that he finds within the family.

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    1. Dear Heidrun, like you, I am in favor of children growing up and experiencing what being human means and what speaks to their spirit. Then they can choose their own faith--that which helps them grown in the human spirit of compassion and justice. I so like Buddy and what you tell us about him. Peace.

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  20. I left a comment on Melissa's blog as well. I will now go and find out about the mishaps.

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