Chicago, IL (October 27, 2006)—All Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic school students will attend Mass on Tuesday, November 1, to celebrate the Catholic feast day of All Saints in honor of all deceased saints. Additionally, many of these schools will host special events on November 2, which is the Catholic feast day of All Souls, to pray that all Christians rest in peace.

Some local Catholic schools will also host special events that commemorate the Mexican and Latin-American celebration of the Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. This holiday is celebrated throughout Central and South America, particularly Mexico, and increasingly in the US. Today, many Hispanic families remember the continuity of life by welcoming the dead of all family members back to the earth by engaging in activities to negate the fear of death.

All Saints Day, Wednesday, November 1

• Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, will be the main celebrant and give the homily at a 9 a.m. Mass marking the Feast of All Saints and honoring the recent canonization of Mother Theodore Guerin, SP, at Guerin College Prep High School, 8001 W. Belmont Ave., River Grove. For more information contact, Sr. Dawn Tomaszewski at 708-453-6233, Ext. 25.
• For the past three years, and in preparation for receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, Elk Grove Village’s Queen of the Rosary Schools’ eighth grade students learn all they can about a saint of their choice, including making a costume they will wear during the 9:30 a.m. liturgy. Additionally, the students will be visiting each classroom before and after Mass to teach younger students about the lives of the saints. The school is located at 690 Elk Grove Boulevard. For more information, contact Kathleen McGinn at 847-437-3322.
• Third grade students at Evanston’s Pope John XXIII School have researched their favorite or namesake saints, and will enter the 8:30 a.m. Mass at St. Nicholas Church dressed as saints. During the homily, the students will stand in a circle around the altar and share what they learned through their research. The church is located at 806 North Ridge Avenue. For more information, contact the school’s principal, Rosalie Musiala at 847-475-5678.
• St. James School in Arlington Heights will celebrate the 2 p.m. liturgy with first grade students processing in dressed as those saints whose names they received in baptism and which they researched along with their families. The students have also assembled a booklet of important facts on the lives of each of the saints. The church is located at 831 North Arlington Heights Road. For more information, contact Patricia Farrell, 847-253-6085 ext. 201.
• Chicago’s Queen of All Saints School will celebrate by participating in the parish’s 12 noon Mass. All students have researched the saints, and chosen one as their patron saint. They then fashioned small shields depicting that saint in words and drawings that will be worn during the Mass. Eighth grade students will conduct the scripture readings and carry relics of some saints from the Basilica's reliquary in an opening procession. The church is located at 6280 N. Sauganash Avenue. For more information, contact Lynn Daly, 773-736-0567.
• Second and third grade students of Chicago’s St. Sylvester School will prepare a special Mass honoring the communion of saints. The school is located at 3027 West Palmer Square, in the Logan Square neighborhood. For more information, contact the school’s principal, Patricia Welegala at 773-772-5222.

All Souls Day, Thursday, November 2

• The seventh and eighth-grade Spanish students at Chicago’s Queen of All Saints School will celebrate El Dia de los Muertos with classroom activities that focus on Mexican traditions and food. The school is located at 6230 N. Lemont Avenue. For more information, contact Lynn Daly, 773-736-0567.
• Students at Chicago’s Our Lady of Tepeyac Catholic School in Little Village will attend an 8:30 a.m. Mass for the Feast of All Souls. To commemorate the Day of the Dead, many classrooms have assembled ofrendas (altars) on which mementos of loved ones who have passed away will be displayed. The school is located at 235 South Albany Avenue. For more information, contact the school’s principal, Marylouise Young at 773-522-0024.

Day of the Dead, throughout November

• To extend their knowledge of Hispanic heritage, middle school students at St. James School in Arlington Heights will research the history and significance of El Dia de los Muertos within the culture. Specifically, they’ll investigate: preparing and visiting the graves (calaveras); sharing food offerings (pan de muertos); and the parades that are central to the day’s celebrations. The school is located at 821 North Arlington Heights Road. For more information, contact the school’s principal, Judy Pappas at 847-255-6746.
• During November, the students of Chicago’s St. Sylvester School will celebrate the feasts of All Saints and All Souls noting the connections to Hispanic culture and the Catholic religion. Students in grades 4-8 will prepare altars honoring deceased members of their families using traditional foods, flowers, and decorations. Along with fellow students from other grades, preschool and primary grade school children will make humorous skeletons to represent famous people, creating paper marigolds, and decorating traditional sugar skulls. In addition, fourth and fifth grade students will attend a special exhibit at the Mexican Fine Arts Museum. The school is located at 3027 West Palmer Square in the Logan Square neighborhood. For more information, contact the school’s principal, Patricia Welegala at 773-772-5222.