The Catholic Church has a long tradition of adopting the patronage of saints, so called Patron Saints. To start at the beginning though, a Saint in the Church is a person “who has lived a life of heroic virtue”. For the cognoscenti, that means that a saint will have lived an exceptional life consistent with the four “cardinal” virtues, prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice, as well as the theological virtues, faith, hope and charity.

Patron saints then, are saints who have not only lived a virtuous life; they also have a particularly close association with a family, occupation or region. Often, but not always, these associations come with, shall we say, interesting, origin stories.

For example, Saint Eligius is the assigned patron of goldsmiths, blacksmiths and other metal workers, coin collectors, veterinarians and cattle and, impressively enough in this Melbourne Cup week…horses. When presented with a horse reluctant to be shod (get new horseshoes), he simply cut off the horse’s foreleg. After shodding the detached leg, he miraculously reattached the newly horseshoe fitted limb and continued on to remaining legs with a somewhat more amenable — or terror stricken — horse.

St Edmund of Canterbury, after whom St Edmund’s College is named, is apparently the patron saint of sick children. While we may like to think of Eddies as being named after Edmund Rice, in truth, our Edmund is not yet canonised (not part of the canon i.e., not a saint). Our Edmund has however been beatified, which means we can call him Blessed Edmund Rice and according to the Church may pray to him for intercession (i.e., put in a good word with God for us).

St Joseph of Nazareth is the patron saint of carpenters for obvious reasons. Saint Agatha of Sicily is the patron saint of bell makers for disturbing reasons and Saint Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals and nature for reasons that make him relevant for us today, in the 21st century.

Being a Franciscan Friar I’m sure our Parish Priest, Fr Steven could tell many a tale about St Francis from the taming of the wolf of Gubbio, to Francis’ great love of nature and immense compassion. Saint Francis was a man who lived simply and made a difference.

Our College Vision freely states that we at Eddies are an “inclusive Catholic community enriched by Ipswich culture and grounded in the Edmund Rice Tradition”. We work to educate and inspire young men to “live simply and make a difference”. Living simply and making a difference will also include looking after our surroundings and our environment.

On completion of the new, still to be officially named, open learning centre, we will boast 65 kilowatts of renewable solar power capacity. Single use plastics are being phased out and I am extremely proud of the young men who work every day as part of our student led Recycling Committee.

Earlier this year black bins appeared, sitting next to our usual wheelie type refuse collection receptacles - the plan being, to collect all recyclable plastic that would ordinarily go into landfill. Every day’s end sees young men patrolling the campus on their recycling rounds, collecting plastic which is then put to good use. Weekly, Down to Earth, a charity run by old boy D’Arcy Witherspoon, collects the many bags of plastic and redeems them to feed and clothe people in need from our local area. Live simply and make a difference.

In a week where the intercession of St Eligius may have assisted Verry Elleegant to win the “Race that Stops the Nation”, the leaders of the industrialised world are meeting in Glasgow. In this their most recent round of negotiations, we may pray (and I think Fr Steven would agree) to St Francis for his intercession. May our leaders apply reasoned wisdom and intelligent foresight as they plan to deal with human induced, environmental change.

Our young men will inherit a future that is made today. Every little effort, every small sacrifice, every judicious choice made by our Team, allows us to be wise stewards of our resources and keepers of our environment. Live simply and make a difference.

When the Team Disagrees – Complaints and Communication

I often mention to Rookies’ parents that when we work as a Team there will be times when we agree but just as likely there will be times when we will disagree. That is the nature of working closely together. Communication as always, is the key.

I encourage parents and caregivers to contact the College when there are concerns. Please contact subject teachers, Heads of Department or Directors for academic matters and for pastoral matters, Homeroom Teachers and Pastoral Deans.

If further assistance is required contact should be made to the appropriate Assistant Principal, then to the Deputy Principal and me as Principal. St Edmund’s College follows complaints handling processes according to the Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) Complaints Handling Policy and Guidelines. Please refer to these documents found on the College website via the Policies and Procedures tab, for more information.

At all times please be assured that regardless of whether we agree or disagree, we remain committed to ensuring, that as a Team, the best possible opportunities are afforded to our Eddies men.