In the photo, Msgr. William Long proudly stands amid us as we smile for the camera, pointing our hands upwards to God. The mural reproduction behind the altar of "The Apotheosis of Saint Thomas Aquinas" by the Spanish Renaissance artist Francisco de Zurbaran has the unique feature of Msgr. Long's likeness added to the person to the immediate left of the bronze Eucharistic tower. At least two of the altar boys are siblings of the communicants, perhaps they all were? Who are those two girls front and center? Don't think they are part of those receiving First Holy Communion.
We prepared for our First Holy Communion by making our first confession earlier in the week. A somewhat scary event taking place in a dark, wooden, closet-type room. One communicant remembered at our 25th reunion how difficult it was to go to Confession with Msgr. Long due to his apparent hearing disability! If you joined us on March 13, you would have noted the confessionals looked much the same as they did in 1954.
It is hard to image what kind of an effort it took for the photographer to get 120, 7-year old children lined up, smiling, and facing forward long enough to take the photo. But then again, we were much more obedient in those days!
How many of our classmates can you identify?
This photo can be enlarged by double clicking on the image.
Photo courtesy: Elaine McIntyre Beaudoin
Our First Holy Communion was on March 7 the feast of STA at the time. His feast was moved to January 28 in the 1969 revision of the church calendar so that it would never be in Lent. I remember the day clearly. It was a chilly, gray, rainy day. My father carried me to church so that my shoes would not be spotted. Despite the inclement weather, we processed outside along Washington Blvd. I used to have a second picture in which Peggy Kuzminski and I recognized some of the communicants, but not many. We finally decided that it was the publics. There were just as many of them as there were of us. I looked for the picture, but I could not find it. I must have discrded it in my last move, although I cannot believe that I would do such a thing. The angels were probably third graders. I also vaguely remember that the first communicants of that year were somehow involved with the Midnight Mass. I also remember that this was the first of many processions in which Antoinette Malizia and I were at the end of the procession and did not have boy partners because there were a few more girls than boys and we were among the tallest in the class.
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