Honoring the Women Who Shape Us: Faith, Mother Mary, and Mother’s Day at St. Victor School

First graders at St. Victor School lead the community in one of our most beloved traditions: May Crowning, honoring Mother Mary through prayer, flowers, faith, and gratitude.

Every May, our St. Victor School community gathers for one of our most beloved traditions: May Crowning.

Led each year by our first graders, this special prayer service honors Mother Mary through prayer, song, flowers, and reflection during the month traditionally dedicated to Mary in the Catholic Church.

A Beloved St. Victor School Tradition

For our first graders, it is also a major milestone.

First grade is the youngest class at St. Victor School to lead the entire school community through a prayer service, and students take great pride in the responsibility. With big, strong, clear voices, they stand before students, teachers, and families to confidently lead prayers and readings, demonstrating not only their growing faith, but also the confidence, leadership, and literacy skills they have developed throughout the year.

And perhaps that is part of what makes the tradition so meaningful.

Children who entered the year still learning to read with confidence now help guide an entire school community in prayer.

Closely connected to both Mother Mary and Mother’s Day, the tradition offers children a meaningful way to express reverence, gratitude, and love while helping them better understand the role faith plays in everyday life.

What Mother Mary and Mother’s Day Teach Children About Faith

During our May Crowning prayer service, our first graders prayed that we might all have Mary’s strength and bravery to answer God’s call in our lives.

It was a simple prayer, but a powerful one.

Because in Catholic tradition, Mother Mary represents more than kindness or motherhood alone. She is also a model of courage, trust, humility, and faith. Even in uncertainty, she said yes to God’s call.

And for young children, that lesson matters.

At St. Victor School, faith formation is not only about learning prayers or traditions. It is about helping students understand that they are each called to live with compassion, courage, purpose, and love for others.

Traditions like May Crowning help make those lessons tangible for children.

Because faith formation for young students is not only about memorization or religion textbooks. Children learn deeply through participation, repetition, symbolism, and community. When first graders stand before the school to lead prayers, carry flowers, or crown Mary together, they are learning that faith is something they actively live — not simply something they observe.

And perhaps even more importantly, they are learning that they belong.

Teaching Children to Notice Love and Gratitude

At St. Victor School, traditions like May Crowning are not only about honoring Mother Mary. They are also opportunities to help children grow in gratitude for the women who shape their lives every day.

Sometimes that gratitude shows up in surprisingly simple ways.

Recently, one of our fourth graders shared with his class that one of the things he appreciates most about his grandmother is that she always prepares his snack for school before he leaves each morning. Later, his grandmother shared how deeply meaningful it was to hear that reflection. Like so many acts of care women carry quietly every day, it was something she never expected to be noticed.

But it was.

And perhaps that is one of the most important lessons traditions like May Crowning and Mother’s Day can teach children: to recognize love not only in grand gestures, but in the small, faithful acts of care that happen every single day.

The lunches packed before sunrise. The rides to school and practices. The reminders, encouragement, comforting hugs, and routines that often become invisible simply because they are so constant.

At St. Victor School, we want students to learn how to notice those things.

Because faith formation is not only about teaching children prayers or traditions. It is also about helping them grow into thoughtful, compassionate people who recognize the dignity, humanity, and care present in others.

Faith, Leadership, and Belonging

Year after year, traditions like May Crowning become part of our students’ identities. They remember watching older students lead prayer services and one day becoming the leaders themselves. They remember the flowers, the songs, the prayers, and the feeling of being part of something larger than themselves.

For families searching for a values-based private school in San Jose, moments like these offer a glimpse into what faith formation looks like at St. Victor School. Faith is woven into the rhythm of the school year and lived out through shared experiences, leadership opportunities, prayer, service, and community traditions.

Because while faith begins at home, it is strengthened in community.

And sometimes, it takes root through something as simple and beautiful as a child carrying flowers to Mother Mary.

What It Means to Be a Charger

At St. Victor School, we help students grow as Children of Faith, Lifelong Learners, and Caring & Responsible Citizens. Through traditions like May Crowning, students learn that leadership can begin at any age and that faith is not just something we study — it is something we live together as a community.