{"id":4901,"date":"2015-09-07T05:34:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T05:34:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-05-10T23:42:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T23:42:20","slug":"st-dominics-day-as-seen-through-the-eyes-of-first-year-novices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2015\/09\/07\/st-dominics-day-as-seen-through-the-eyes-of-first-year-novices\/","title":{"rendered":"St Dominic’s Day as seen through the eyes of First Year Novices"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n <\/span> <\/span>These joyful verses are
\ntaken from the First Vespers of the Feast of our Holy Father St. Dominic. This
\nwas the first time in the history of St. Thomas Aquinas College that the girls
\nof grades seven to grade twelve were invited to celebrate St. Dominic\u2019s Day
\nwith the Sisters. Students and Sisters were very excited! <\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nWe began the St.
\nDominic Day festivities by filling the newly remodelled college chapel with our
\njoyful singing of First Vespers, followed by praying the rosary – the special
\nprayer and weapon given to St. Dominic by Our Lady. Now it was on to games,
\ndancing, and prizes!<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nAfter First Vespers, the Sisters and girls wasted no time in heading
\nto the indoor gym where pizzas and desserts (in the hundredfold) were awaiting.
\nAfter this hearty meal, Mother Mary Rose assumed the role of MC and organised
\nthe girls and Sisters into 10 teams. We started with a \u2018meet and greet\u2019 barn
\ndance with Sister Mary Anna providing lovely music with her violin. After
\nburning some of the calories from dinner, we formed a large circle to play the
\n\u2018chocolate game\u2019. In this game, the person who rolls a six on the die, rushes
\ninto the middle of the circle, dresses up in a wig, glasses and a rather odd
\nnose(!). They then endeavour to cut a piece of chocolate with a knife and fork
\n(no fingers allowed!) and carefully carry it to their team\u2019s bowl. In the
\nmeantime, the die is being passed around the circle until someone else rolls a
\nsix. Not much chocolate found its way to the bowls but good laughs were enjoyed
\nby all, especially to see the Sisters wearing the ridiculous glasses and nose!
\nThis game was possibly the highlight of the night, with a balloon game and a
\nthree-legged race following. Father Fortin came to watch the fun and even
\njoined in the last game of the night: a very intense version of \u2018musical
\nchairs\u2019. The points of each team were totalled and chocolate prizes given, even
\nto the last runner up! Exhausted but quite satisfied with their first
\nexperience of St Dominic\u2019s Day festivities, the girls posed for a large group
\nphoto before heading home to recuperate for the netball game the next day!<\/span><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nLast year, the first
\nSisters vs. students netball game was played at Saint Thomas Aquinas College on
\nSt. Dominic\u2019s Day, in accordance with an \u2018old\u2019 Dominican tradition. The result
\nof this first match was a draw. This year each side was determined to win! Played
\nin the multi-purpose hall, the game was intense. So was the noise. The whole
\nGirls’ School came along to cheer on the students while most of the primary
\nschool turned up to cheer on the Sisters. The scores ran fairly even for the
\nfirst two quarters and then the Sisters began to pull ahead. I must state here
\nand now that we had a most fantastic goal shooter! <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>The teams were pretty even,
\nI believe, judging by the way the ball had a tendency to change sides all the
\ntime, meaning you had to do a quick about turn on the slippery court to keep up
\n\u2013 but once we got the ball to the circle, it was an almost certain goal! Sister
\nMary of Compassion, unfazed by tall, energetic and experienced GK\u2019s and GD\u2019s,
\npopped that ball in from anywhere in the circle! She was the player of the day!
\nThe last quarter was very intense, each side being determined to make it count.
\nThe final score was 22-16 to the Sisters! But the girls got the sweets and
\nchocolates. It was a very good game and was enjoyed by everyone, players and onlookers
\nalike.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\nAnd last but not least,
\nwe had the great pleasure of welcoming two new members to our Dominican family.
\nThe small Tertiary ceremony commenced with the singing of II Vespers and the
\nrecitation of the Holy Rosary; whereupon the Postulants carrying lighted
\ncandles proceeded to the Communion rail and humbly asked to be accepted into
\nthe Order. They were then girded with the cord of St. Thomas, received the
\nscapular of the 3rd<\/sup> order and the blessing of Holy Mother
\nChurch. The new Novices were then bestowed with their new names as children of
\nSt. Dominic and the ceremony fittingly concluded with the singing of the Te
\nDeum.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nAfterward a small supper and good chat was had by all and thus another St. Dominic\u2019s day has come and gone. May our heavenly Patron and Holy Father St. Dominic grant us all many graces through the coming year.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nTe Deum Laudamus, Te
\nDominium Confitemur!<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  These joyful verses are taken from the First Vespers of the Feast of our Holy Father St. Dominic. This was the first time in the history of St. Thomas Aquinas College that the girls of grades seven to grade twelve were invited to celebrate St. Dominic\u2019s Day with the Sisters. Students and Sisters were very … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-convent-life","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4901"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5274,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions\/5274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}