All Saints Day is a cherished occasion on the Catholic calendar, celebrating the lives and virtues of the saints who have left an indelible mark on the faith. It's a time for reflection, reverence, and, of course, a little bit of fun. In the spirit of this special day, we've curated a collection of games and activities designed to captivate young hearts and minds while imparting valuable lessons about saints.
Among these exciting activities, "Saint Anthony: Lost and Find Game" shines as an engaging and educational experience. Inspired by the patron saint of lost items, Saint Anthony of Padua, this game adds a unique twist to your All Saints Day party. Participants will not only enjoy the thrill of the hunt but also uncover the miraculous stories surrounding this beloved saint.
In this article, we'll explore "Saint Anthony: Lost and Find Game" and several other creative and faith-filled games that will make your All Saints Day party a memorable and meaningful event for children. Whether you're a parent, teacher, or event organizer, these activities are tailor-made to infuse the spirit of the saints into your festivities. So, let's embark on a journey to discover the treasures of All Saints Day through games that educate, inspire, and, most importantly, entertain.
Saint Nicholas Coin Toss
This game combines the excitement of a coin toss with learning about the lives of Catholic saints, making it perfect for children to enjoy while also deepening their understanding of the faith.
Rules:
"Saint Nicholas Coin Toss" is a delightful game that combines faith, fun, and learning, making it an excellent activity for Catholic children to celebrate All Saints Day. It encourages them to explore the lives of saints while having a great time with friends.
Saint Anthony: Lost and Find Game
This game takes inspiration from the life and miracles of Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost items. This game is perfect for an All Saints Day party, where children can have fun while learning about the virtues and stories of this beloved saint.
Objective:
The objective of the game is for players to work together to find hidden objects within a specified time frame, all while gaining a deeper understanding of Saint Anthony's miraculous ability to help people locate lost items.
Setup:
Gameplay:
Winning:
The game doesn't have a competitive element, so there are no winners or losers. Instead, the focus is on having fun while learning about Saint Anthony's life and his reputation for aiding those in need of finding lost things.
Saint Anthony: Lost and Find Game" provides an interactive and enjoyable way for children to appreciate the virtues and stories of Saint Anthony while participating in a game that celebrates his special role as the patron saint of lost items. It's a great addition to any All Saints Day celebration or religious event for children.
Guess the Saint:
"Guess the Saint" is an engaging and educational variation of the classic game "Guess Who?" designed to celebrate All Saints Day. In this game, players will put their knowledge of saints to the test as they strive to identify a mystery saint based on a series of clever clues. With quick thinking and a bit of saintly wisdom, players can earn points for their team and, ultimately, victory.
Setup:
Gameplay:
Winning the Game:
"Guess the Saint" is a delightful way to combine fun and learning as players explore the lives of different saints while testing their knowledge and deduction skills. This All Saints Day game fosters teamwork, quick thinking, and a deeper understanding of the saints' stories and virtues.
Saint Alphabet Challenge:
Age Group: Suitable for older children aged 8 and above.
Number of Players: Two or more players.
Objective: The objective of the game is to name saints alphabetically, starting with the letter "A" and progressing through the alphabet, while adding an extra challenge for each letter.
Setup:
Rules:
Winning:
Variations:
"Saints Alphabet Challenge" is an engaging and educational game that encourages players to explore the lives of saints while enhancing their knowledge of the alphabet. It's a fun way to learn about the saints and their rich history while enjoying friendly competition.
Saints Costume Parade:
Other Quick and Simple Games to Keep in Your All Saints Day Game Arsenal
Hope You have a Blessed All Saints Day
Embrace the joy of All Saints Day with these engaging activities. From "Saint Anthony: Lost and Find Game" to a host of other creative ideas, these games connect children with the lives and virtues of the saints. They offer a unique blend of entertainment and faith education, fostering a deeper understanding of faith while having loads of fun.
As you celebrate with loved ones, may these activities enrich your experience and inspire wonder and reverence in young and young-at-heart alike.
Happy All Saints Day!
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Sacred Scripture and Catholic Tradition teach that we are not alone in the journey toward heaven, but rather are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” - all the holy saints in heaven who help us along the way! The saints support us as we run the race of faith, cheering us on to victory by their example and prayers. Just as we ask friends and family for help in life, we can ask the family of God, including the saints, to pray for us and help us persevere to the finish line of heaven.
What is All Saints’ Day?
Throughout the liturgical year, the Catholic Church celebrates feast days of individual saints on particular days. Because there are many more canonized saints than days in the year, the Solemnity of All Saints celebrates ALL the saints in heaven, both those canonized and those known only to God. This high feast day is celebrated on November 1st and is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning the faithful are obliged to attend Mass and abstain from unnecessary work that hinders the suitable relaxation of mind and body. In addition to attending Mass, many celebrate this great feast day with parties, parades, and other festivities!
Why do Catholics celebrate saints?
By canonizing some of the faithful, the Church proclaims a person practiced heroic virtue and lived faithful to God’s grace in the course of their life, and points to them as a model for others (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 828). Celebrating saints helps us see real-life examples of how to live the Gospel and reminds us to call on the saints’ intercession in our needs. Since the saints in heaven are face-to-face with God, their prayers are especially powerful!
Be a Saint!
The Church teaches that "all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (Lumen Gentium, V). No matter one’s age or background, all are called to be saints! The vast array of canonized saints from all over the world, of every age and circumstance, serve as reminders that we are ALL called holiness, and that sanctity is truly possible with the help of God’s grace.
How will you celebrate All Saints’ Day this year?
At Party Like a Saint, we make celebrating the saints and liturgical living fun and easy! Our 2023 All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day Party Packs provide you with saintly decorations and party supplies to put the “hallow” in Halloween! Whether you are planning classroom parties, homeschool lessons, youth group activities or family fun, our All Saints Décor and Party Supplies help you share the joy of the saints and the hope of heaven!
Check out all our 2023 All Saints Party Packs today and get ready to Party Like A Saint!
]]>As always, the emphasis of the Blessed Mother's message is praying the rosary every day. She also encourages the children in doing penance. Finally, she again promises a miracle that will cause many people to believe.
As I’ve mentioned before, we try to read the account of the visions of Fatima on the 13th of May, June, July, August, September, and October each year. You know we haven't done it all the time! Sometimes, like last night, we read it a day before or after (we have a special guest coming to dinner tonight, so bedtime may be late and we’re not planning to read at bedtime). Whenever we’re able to read these accounts, our devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to Fatima increases.
You can commemorate the apparitions of Fatima in your home, too. Maybe put up some fun decorations each month (May to October), have something special at dinner (or after), and read the account about that month. If you need cute and beautiful decorations for this, please check out Our Lady of Fatima decorations from Party Like a Saint! If you order now (so you won't forget), you'll have them for October, to commemorate the miracle of the sun.
I am grateful to Fatima: A Message More Urgent Than Ever by Luiz Sergio Solimeo, which gives Sister Lucia’s own account of what happened:
We finally arrived at Cova da Iria, next to the holm oak, and began to say the Rosary with the people. A little later, we saw the reflection of light and then Our
Lady upon the tree.
"Continue to say the Rosary to obtain the end of the war. In October Our Lord will also come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and of Mount Carmel, and Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus to bless the world. God is happy with your sacrifices but He does not want you to sleep with the rope [tied around the waist]; wear it during the day."
"People have asked me to ask You for many things: the cure of some sick persons, a deaf-mute."
"Yes, I will cure some, but not others. In October I will work the miracle for all to believe." And beginning to rise, she disappeared as usual.
In our house, we have been trying to read these accounts on the 13th of May, June, July, August, September, and October each year. You know we haven't done it all the time! But for the times we have done it, our devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to Fatima has increased.
One way to commemorate these visions, is to put up some fun decorations each month (May to October), have something special at dinner (or after), and read the account about that month. If you need cute and beautiful decorations for this, please check out Our Lady of Fatima decorations from Party Like a Saint! If you order now (so you won't forget), you'll have them for September, and October.
Many people gathered in the Cova da Iria for the Blessed Virgin’s appearance, but the children never came, and the people saw only a little cloud which moved toward the holm oak and then went away. The children had been duped by the Mayor Santos, kidnapped, interrogated, and thrown in jail. They even convinced the thieves in the jail to pray the Holy Rosary with them!
I am grateful to Fatima: A Message More Urgent Than Ever by Luiz Sergio Solimeo, which gives Sister Lucia’s own account of what happened:
When we had been in jail for a while, the hardest thing for Jacinta was to feel abandoned by her parents; and she would say, with tears running down her cheeks, "Neither your parents nor mine ever came to see us. They no longer care about us!" [In fact, Mr. Marto had sent two sons to find out about them.] "Do not cry," said Francisco, "Let us offer it up to Jesus, for sinners. And raising his little hands to heaven, he made this offer.
"O my Jesus, it is for Thy love and for the conversion of sinners."
Blessed Francisco Marto gives us here the example of a saint – to offer up our sorrows and suffering to Jesus! Once the three children had been freed by the effort of Mr. Marto, Jacinta and Francisco’s father, our Lady finally appeared to them on August 19th—this time at a different place than usual. Sister Lucia writes:
[Sunday, August 19]. Walking with the sheep in the company of Francisco and his brother João in a place called Valinhos, and feeling that something supernatural was approaching and enveloping us, we suspected that Our Lady was going to appear and were sorry that Jacinta would miss her, so we asked her brother João to go call her. Since he did not want to go, I offered him two cents, and then he ran over there. However, with Francisco, I saw the reflection of the light that we used to call lightning; and seconds after Jacinta arrived, we saw Our Lady upon a holm oak. “What do you want from me?"
"I want vou to continue going to Cova da Iria on the thirteenth and that you continue to say the Rosary every day. In the last month I will work the miracle so that all may believe."
“What do you want to be done with the money that people leave at Cova da Iria?"
"Make two litters; one to be carried by you with Jacinta and two other girls dressed in white; and the other, by Francisco with another three boys. The money left over from making the litters is for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and whatever is left from that that is to help build a chapel that you will have erected."
"I want to ask you for the cure of some sick people."
"Yes; I will cure a few during the year."
And taking on a more sad appearance:
"Pray, pray a lot and do sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to make sacrifice and pray for them." And, as usual, she began to rise toward the east.
]]>One way to commemorate these visions, is to put up some fun decorations on the 13th of every month (May to October), have something special at dinner (or after), and read the account about that month. If you need cute and beautiful decorations for this, please check out Our Lady of Fatima decorations from Party Like a Saint! If you order now (so you won't forget), you'll have them for August, September, and October.
Here is the message given in July, on this very day 105 years ago, as taken from Fatima: A Message More Urgent Than Ever by Luiz Sergio Solimeo (emphases added):
Lucia describes what happened:
July 13, 1917—Moments after we arrived at Cova da Iria, next to the holm oak, amidst a great crowd of people, while praying the Rosary, we saw a reflection of the usual light and then Our Lady upon the tree.
“What does Your Grace want of me?” I asked.
"I wanted to ask you to tell us who you are, to work a miracle so that everyone will believe that you appear to us," I said.
"Continue to come here every month. In October I will say who I am, what I want, and I will perform a miracle that everybody will see so they will believe.”
Here I made some requests I no longer remember what they were. What I do remember is that Our Lady said that it was necessary to continue saying the Rosary to obtain graces during the year.
And she continued: "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say very often, especially whenever you make some sacrifice:‘O Jesus, it is for Thy love, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’”
[this is also translated: It’s for love of You, Jesus, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for all the offenses against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.]
Upon saying these words, she again opened her hands as in the preceding two months. The reflection appeared to penetrate into the earth and we saw, as it were, a sea of fire. Submerged in that fire were demons and souls in human shapes resembled red-hot, black and bronze-colored embers that floated about in the blaze borne by the flames that issued from them with clouds of smoke, falling everywhere like sparks in great fires, without weight or equilibrium, amidst moans of pain and despair that horrified us and made us shake with terror (that must be when I shouted "aahhi" people said they heard). The devils had horrible and disgusting shapes of scary and unknown animals but were transparent like black burning coals. Scared and as if asking for help, we raised our eyes to Our Lady, who said with goodness and sadness:
“You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go; in order to save them, God wants to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. If they do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war will come to an end. But if they do not stop offending God, in the reign of Pius XI a worse war will begin. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you that He will punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger and persecutions against the Church and the Holy Father."To prevent it I will come to ask the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are fulfilled, Russia will convert and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and many nations will be annihilated. Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted and the world will be given a certain period of peace. In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will be always preserved, etc. [here the third part of the secret was revealed]."Do not tell this to anyone. But you may tell Francisco about it."When you say the Rosary, after each mystery, pray: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.’"