When I taught my 2nd grade PSR class this year, and when I have prepared my own children for their first holy communion, I make it a special point to study the lives of the two patrons of First Communicates- Blessed Imelda and St. Tarciscius.
Blessed Imelda was a rich little girl who was born with a special gift – pure holiness! Although she lived a life of comfort and luxury, she easily and readily helped the poor and lived a life of prayer. The one great sorrow of her life was that she was too young to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. In Imelda’s lifetime, children were not allowed to receive communion until they were 14 years old. Imelda worked very hard to learn her catechism lessons and was a model student and yet, despite her very clear understanding of the Eucharist and her great desire, she was told that she must wait until she was 14 to receive. Here Imelda became a great student of obedience and humility.
As a young child Imelda decided to enter the convent hoping that maybe if she was a sister, she would be able to receive. Her parents initially were against it but her mother, sensing that God had a great plan for Imelda eventually conceded and persuaded her husband to let the child enter. This was a difficult life for a young girl, but Imelda got along well with the older sisters. She continued to study hard and also did all of the work assigned to her. Since she had a special gift with the poor, she was assigned to hand out food to the needy when they came to the convent window, a job she enjoyed very much.
One Easter Sunday, Imelda was at mass and she was sure that because of her good work and her study the mother superior would give her a nod, and let her go up to receive communion, but it didn’t happen. Mother Superior didn’t even glance over at Imelda. After mass Imelda stayed and sobbed out her sorrow in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. Legend has it that because of Imelda’s deep longing, the Blessed Sacrament floated out of the tabernacle and came to rest over Imelda’s head. The strong scent of spring flowers filled the convent. When the other sisters saw Imelda kneeling in ecstasy and the Blessed Sacrament floating above her the immediately called for the priest who gave Imelda her first holy communion then without any hesitation.
Imelda died on the spot from joy and many miracles were associated with her death. She is one of our incorruptible saints.
The other saint is a young man named Tarciscius. He was a Roman Citizen who was also secretly a Christian. He too had a great devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and risked his own life every time he attended mass in the catacombs to receive.
One time the Pope told the Christians in the catacombs that some Christians were scheduled to die the next day and he longed to have them receive communion before they were executed. But it was too dangerous to ask any one to take the sacrament to them. Tarciscius volunteered. He felt that because of his youth and because he was Roman that no one would suspect him. So the pope accepted Tarciscius for the secret mission of mercy.
Tarcisius took the Blessed Sacrament and wrapped it carefully in cloth and hid it in his cloak which he vowed to hold onto until he met with the prisoners. On his way to the prison, some of Tarcisius’s friends urged him to stop and play with them as he usually did, but he told them that he was on an errand and couldn’t stop. When they pressed him to explain what was so important, he wouldn’t tell them. The playful prodding gradually became more aggressive until one of the boys accused him of being a Christian. The bullying and taunting eventually turned to violence and Tarciscius was beaten to death. He never let go of the Blessed Sacrament. He died rather than give up his precious gift.
I tell these stories to my children to give them a sense of awe and respect for what it means to take communion in the Catholic Church. This IS the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, Our creator who has humbled himself in this way so that we can in some small way be a part of Him and He a part of us. It is just an awesome mystery. When they receive I want their little hearts to palpate with anticipation, reverence, desire and have a sense of the awesome mystery they are about to become a part of.
From the comments I received from several of the parents, and from my own children, I think I have succeeded on some levels.
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