For three years, the middle school students from St. Gregory Barbarigo School have traveled to the cemetery at Dominican Convent to place the red bows made by Sister Ann Eigenbauer, other Sisters, and Associates on the graves of deceased Sparkill Dominican Sisters. For the past two years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the students have not performed this service.
The eighth-grade teacher at St. Gregory Barbarigo School had the idea of creating an ofrenda to remember the lives of our deceased Dominican Sisters and Associates. An ofrenda is typically an altar or special table in the home where a collection of significant objects are placed to celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed. (You may be familiar with the Disney movie “Coco,” where there is an ofrenda in the home of the main character Miguel.) The students in Grades 1 – 8 colored a picture of a Dominican Sister and wrote the name of a deceased Sister or Associate below the drawing. The drawings were then arranged on bulletin boards and displayed in two different areas of the school. The St. Gregory Barbarigo School community members have promised to pray for the deceased members of the Sparkill community throughout the month of November.
There is a strong connection between the students, staff, and teachers of St. Gregory Barbarigo School and the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill. The students of St. Gregory Barbarigo look forward to returning to Dominican Convent in the future to visit and to offer service to the Sisters.
