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Manuals
Conduct of Christian Schools:
SECOND PART - CHAPTER 7
MEANS OF ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING ORDER IN SCHOOLS
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CHAPTER 7
Holidays
It is important that holidays and vacations should always be regulated in the same manner in all of the schools. This is one of the things that will be of great use in maintaining good order.
There are four things to be considered in this chapter: (1) ordinary holidays; (2) extraordinary holidays and the occasions on which they may or may not be given; (3) vacation; and (4) the manner of indicating and making known holidays both to teachers and to students.
ARTICLE I
Ordinary Holidays
Ordinary holidays are those that are indicated below:
A whole holiday will be given every Thursday of each week in the year, if there are no holy days of obligation during the week.
When there is a holy day of obligation in a week and if it falls on Monday, Tuesday, or Saturday, a half holiday will be given on Thursday afternoon. If it falls on Thursday or Friday, a half holiday will be given on Tuesday afternoon. If it falls on Wednesday, a half holiday will be given on Friday afternoon.
When there are two or more holy days of obligation in a week, there will be no holiday in that week.
On the day of the Feast of Saint Nicholas, who is the Patron Saint of school children, and on Ash Wednesday, a whole holiday will be given on that day instead of on the Thursday of that week. However, on each of these days, the students will come to school in the morning. On the morning of each of these days, they will be taught their Catechism from 8:00 until 9:00, at which time they will be taken to Holy Mass in the church to which it is the custom to take them.
On Ash Wednesday, after Holy Mass, they will receive the ashes. If there is an interval between the prayers in school and the time for Holy Mass, students will be instructed by demonstration concerning what they should do and how they should approach the altar to receive the ashes. If there is no interval between the prayers and Holy Mass, these instructions will be given during the last quarter of an hour of the Catechism.
If the Feast of Saint Nicholas falls on a Sunday, the celebration for the students will be transferred to the following Thursday, which will be observed as indicated above.
On the day of the Feast of Saint Joseph, the Patron Saint of the Community,14 a whole holiday will be given instead of on Thursday. When this feast falls on Sunday or in Holy Week, it will be celebrated on the day to which it is transferred by the Church.
Holiday will be given from Thursday in Holy Week inclusive to the following Wednesday, exclusive, on which day school will begin again. However, the students will be taken to the Parish Mass on the two last-named feasts.15 They will be taught their Catechism on the days of the feast of the Transfiguration, of the Presentation, of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, and of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
On whatever day of the week these feasts come, a holiday will be given instead of on Thursday. No other holiday will be given during the week, unless one of the feasts comes on Sunday.
ARTICLE II
Extraordinary Holidays
No extraordinary holidays will be given without an evident and indispensable necessity. When the Director of a Community House thinks that it is necessary to give one, the Director will consult the Superior of the Institute before doing so, in case this necessity can be foreseen. If the necessity cannot be foreseen, the Director will inform the Superior afterward and will make known the reasons that required the granting of this holiday.
When it is necessary to give an extraordinary holiday, it will always be given instead of the regular weekly holiday. If there is a holy day in the week, the extraordinary holiday will be given only in the afternoon if that holiday calls only for the afternoon. If the holiday is prescribed for the morning, it will be given for the whole day.
The occasions on which extraordinary holidays will be given are the following.
First, extraordinary holidays will be given for fairs when they last only one day.
Second, extraordinary holidays will be given on the day of the burial of a teacher who has died in the Community in the town. If it is not possible to celebrate the funeral office either the next day or in the same week, a whole holiday will be given on the day of the burial instead of on Thursday. If it is possible to celebrate the office the next day, a whole holiday will also be given then. If the funeral office is celebrated in the same House on a day much later than that of the burial, or in another week, a whole holiday will be given on the day of the service.
Third, holiday will be given on the days on which some extraordinary ceremony is being celebrated in the town. This is provided that the ceremony is not bad, that it will not do the students harm to be there, and that it is not considered possible to prevent them from going.
Fourth, holiday will be given on the day of the feast of the Patron Saint of each of the parishes in which the schools are situated. This is also the case on certain days which, while they are neither days upon which it is necessary to refrain from servile work nor holy days of obligation, are nevertheless kept in the town or in the parish in which the House of the Institute is situated.
Fifth, holiday will also be given on the day of the octave of the Most Blessed Sacrament,16 even though there be a holy day in that week.
The occasions on which neither ordinary not extraordinary holidays will be given are the following.
First, holidays may not be given on the Monday and Tuesday immediately preceding the first day of Lent. Furthermore, the students will even be required to be more exact in their attendance at school on these days than on any other day in the year.
Second, holidays may not be given on Rogation Days and on the Feast of Saint Mark under the pretext of assisting at the processions.
Third, holidays many not be given on the Feast of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas, even though this is one of the feasts of the Patron Saint of school children.
Fourth, holidays may not be given on the days of the feasts of the Patron Saints of the different trades nor on any one of them.
The time spent in school will not be diminished, unless for some evident and unavoidable necessity.
ARTICLE III
Vacation
This article comprises four items: (1) what concerns the vacation in itself; (2) the counsel that the teachers should give their students so that they may spend the vacation time well; (3) what is to be done in school on the last day before vacation; and (4) what is to be done on the day of the return to school.
Every year, school will be closed everywhere for one month. This is what is called vacation.
Vacation will be given everywhere during the month of September. In all places, everyone will also return to school on October 1.
On the last day of school, nothing except the Catechism will be done from 1:30 until 3:00. The Catechism lesson will be on the manner in which the students should spend the time of their vacation. Among the counsels which the teachers will give to the students so that they may spend this vacation time well, the principal are: (1) not to fail to say each day the morning and evening prayers that are recited in the schools; (2) to assist at Holy Mass daily with devotion and to say throughout Holy Mass the prayers which are in the Manual of Exercises of Piety; (3) to assist at the Holy Mass and vespers in their parish churches on Sundays and holy days of obligation; (4) to go to Confession and, for those who have already made their First Communion, to go to Holy Communion at least once during this time; (5) to go each day to some church to visit and adore the Blessed Sacrament for at least 15 or 30 minutes; (6) to say the rosary every day, in order to acquire and preserve a devotion to the Blessed Virgin; (7) not to frequent bad company; (8) not to plunder gardens and vineyards, which would be thieving and a great sin; (9) not to go bathing; 17 and (10) not to play cards or dice for money.
At 3:00 o'clock, the prayers will be said. Following this, the teachers will return their papers to the writers. This is done so that they may practice writing during the vacation, and teachers will even urge the students to do so. No rewards will be given at this time, but after the vacation and at the opening of school, unless the Director sees fit to do otherwise.
At the end of the Catechism, the teachers will notify all of the students to be in school after vacation on the appointed day as early as 7:30 in the morning. This is in order that they might assist at the Mass of the Holy Spirit, which will be celebrated for their intention.18 On the day of their return and while they are assembling in school, they will be taught the Catechism from 8:00 until 9:00 o'clock. This will be after the prayers which are said for the opening of school.
At 9:00 o'clock, they will be taken to Holy Mass, which will be celebrated for their intention, to invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
The pastors of the parishes in which the schools are situated will be requested to say this special Mass or to have it said. Otherwise, it will be said at the expense of the Community.
ARTICLE IV
Manner of Informing Teachers and Students of Holidays
On every Sunday at the end of the thanksgiving after Holy Communnion, the Director of each Community House will announce to the teachers the holy days of obligation that will occur during the coming week; the day on which there will be a holiday; and whether the holiday will be for the whole day or in the afternoon only.
If it happens that it is necessary to give some extraordinary holiday which was not foreseen on Sunday, the Director will give notice of it on the evening before or in the morning after the litany of the Holy Child Jesus or else in the afternoon immediately after the litany of Saint Joseph. If there is anything particular to be done in school during the week, the Director will follow the same procedure.
Teachers will announce in their own classrooms, at the end of school and immediately after evening prayers, the holidays and any other special events, above all, the feasts of the Church, that occur during the week. Teachers will take care to state these things in few words, to forget nothing, and to express themselves in such a manner that they can be understood by all of the students.
14 That is, this is the patronal feast of the Community of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
15 The two last-named feasts are the Feast of Saint Joseph and Holy Thursday.
16 The feast referred to here is the Feast of Corpus Christi.
17 This, of course, refers to bathing in public and probably nude.
18 Wherever Catholic civilization dominates, it is customary to celebrate this Mass in honor of the Holy Spirit to invoke the divine inspiration and aid at the opening of schools, parliaments, courts of justice, deliberative assemblies, and so forth.
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