Select Page

Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers 2
Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers 2
Freedom Heart Ukraine
Job Seekers - Achev - Connecting Skilled Newcomers with Employers

On This Cold Winter Morning St. Matthew’s School Children Were Determined That No Stone (was) Left Alone

Dec 22, 2017 | Featured

Jayne L. Buryn Communications Coordinator, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton.

For the past six years, a few days before Remembrance Day, grade six Ukrainian bilingual class students from St. Matthew’s Catholic elementary school have honoured the soldiers buried in St. Michael’s cemetery by placing a poppy on each gravestone.

This gesture originated with Mrs. Maureen G. Bianchini-Purvis, daughter of two war veterans, to commemorate the sacrifice of Canadian men and women “in the service of peace”.

The November 6, 2017 commemoration took place in very different weather from last year’s warm November day. However, the chilly temperature and snow-covered cemetery did not stop St. Matthew’s students from continuing the tradition. By the end of the morning, the laying of poppies on every gravestone gave St. Michael’s cemetery the look of Flanders Fields, where “the poppies grow between the crosses, row on row” (John McCrae).

The commemoration began with a procession led by an Edmonton Garrison piper to the central cross in St. Michael’s cemetery.

The procession was followed by a service in tandem with other cemeteries across Edmonton: the singing of the national anthem, a recital of John McCrae’s poem, a prayer of remembrance, a number of inspirational readings, a moment of silence, the laying of a wreath at the cemetery’s central cross, and the playing of the “Last Post” by a bugler from the Edmonton Garrison.

A panakhyda (prayer) service was then concelebrated by Frs. Stephen Wojcichowsky, Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton Chancellor & Protosyncellus (Vicar General), Armed Forces Chaplain Fr. Terry Cherwick, and Eparchial clergy Frs. Ivan Nykyforuk, Michael Kowalchyk, Janko Herbut and Slavko Dumec.

At the conclusion of the services, the children walked to the soldiers’ graves to lay the poppies.

Share on Social Media

Announcement
Pace Law Firm
2/10 Years of War
Borsch

Events will be approved within 2 business days after submission. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Manage Subsctiption

Check your subscription status, expiry dates, billing and shipping address, and more in your subscription account.