LINCOLN (SNR) – North American Martyrs School in Lincoln celebrated their feast Oct. 19, highlighted by a presentation of a skit on the lives of the martyrs for whom the parish is named.
The annual celebration looked different this year, with restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but seeing the annual event come to fruition was a joyful moment for the school of 500 students.
While so many usual traditions are halted, changed or taken away due to the pandemic, “thinking outside of the box is the name of the game this year,” said Sister Janelle Buettner, M.S., principal. “I am so happy that we are able to do the skit, even if it had to be recorded this year and sent as a video link.”
“It’s nice to give normalcy when the not-so-normal seems to dictate everyone’s lives outside of school,” she added. “I really think we’ve done a good job of making the school year as normal as possible.”
Amy Beying, eighth-grade homeroom teacher and seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher, described the events organized by the feast day committee. She has taught at North American Martyrs for 21 years.
In preparation for the feast day Oct. 19, the eighth-grade students prayed a novena to the North American Martyrs each day for the last nine days during the morning announcements. On the feast day, the students in school had donuts as a treat in the morning, followed by a school-wide Eucharistic procession with the Blessed Sacrament brought to each classroom in the building. Typically, Beying said, the students would line the halls, but instead the Eucharist was brought to each individual classroom. Each classroom also had a class party during the day to celebrate with games, crafts and snacks.
The highlight of the annual event is always a skit on the lives of the martyrs, a tradition reaching back more than 20 years, started by Mrs. Elizabeth Dixon who taught eighth grade at that time.
“This skit has become a tradition at Martyrs school and students and parents looks forward to seeing it every year,” Beying said. “Each eighth-grade class also is excited about being chosen to portray the martyrs…. It’s a great way to learn about the lives of our patron saints and it gives the younger students something to look forward to when they are in eighth grade.”
Sister Janelle agreed.
“The students look forward to being the North American Martyrs in the skit from the time they are in kindergarten on, so it’s something that really is exciting for the kids,” she said.
Sister Janelle added that the students are “amazing at the pronunciation of all the North American Martyrs and with French names, this is a feat!” She said founding principal Sister Patricia Heirigs, O.S.B “did a great job of making sure the heritage of the patrons of our school is first and foremost and I love that we celebrate so well.”
“Instead of performing the martyrs skit live this year,” Beying explained, “we made a video of it that the teachers will show in their classrooms that day.”
Approximately 20 eighth-grade students are involved in the skit: readers of an introduction and a conclusion to the skit, one girl who dresses like St. Kateri Tekakwtitha, nine students who bring up symbols associated with each martyr and Kateri, and nine boys who portray the martyrs with costumes and even beards made out of coffee grounds.
Coffee grounds? Yes, coffee grounds!
“They get to put Vaseline and coffee on their face and that just makes the boys so excited!” Sister Janelle confirmed. 
“Today we celebrate the six Jesuits and two lay men who came from France to North America to bring the word of Jesus,” the script begins.
Then, “each martyr introduces himself and reads a little bio about his life and martyrdom,” Beying explained, “while a student carries up a symbol that portrays that martyr.” The symbols coincide with the stained-glass windows depicting the martyrs in the parish church.
Sophia Gueret, who portrayed Kateri this year, said she looked forward to the skit since she was in kindergarten and first saw the eighth-graders performing it.
“I was so excited when I found out that I got to be Kateri,” she said.
Jackson Holt, who portrayed Saint Anthony Daniel said being in the skit “really taught me a lot more about the North American Martyrs and what they did for our faith.”
“The North American Martyrs knew the huge risk they were taking as they came to the New World to spread the faith,” the script concludes. “Let us always keep these martyrs in our hearts, and we pray that they will help us be brave like they were as we live out our faith.”
This year the eighth-graders and teachers filmed the skit in pieces ahead of time, and one eighth-grader put it all together into a video for each teacher to show in each classroom on the feast day.
“It turned it really great,” Beying said. “I’m so glad that we were able to adapt and come up with a way to still include this tradition in our feast day celebration. The students – and rest of the school – would have been very disappointed to have missed this tradition.”
