Every year on February 22, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. The feast refers to the “Chair” of St. Peter because in ancient times teachers sat down while teaching. The Chair refers to St. Peter’s authority to teach and govern the Church in the name of Christ, as the first Pope. This God-given authority has been passed down through the centuries all the way from St. Peter to Pope Francis. Everest Academy celebrates this feast day by honoring and praying for our Pope in a special way.
In preparation for the special day, second-grade classes participated in a mock conclave and elected a new “pope”. The students voted for the person who they thought lived out all the virtues that Everest encourages students to practice at school. After the voting was complete, the second grade classes went outside to burn the votes to get our “white” smoke which signified the election of a new pope – just as is done in by the cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican for the election of the Pope.
On the feast day those students had the privilege of visiting every classroom to hand out “pope-sicles”. When asked what it felt like to be pope for the day, second grader Max Iyer – affectionately referred to as Pope Maximus for the day – replied with a big smile and a simple, “It was a lot of fun!” Max plans to write a letter to Pope Francis to tell him all about the day and hopes to get a letter back.
Special thanks to Mrs. Elaina Farnsworth who designed and made our Swiss guard costumes and to the parents who provided the Popsicles.
