Pallotti High celebrates 214 yrs. since birth of namesake

Photographic displays come and go, but one currently mounted at the Pallotti High School Auditorium seeks to do more than just walk the viewer through a history of chronological events. It seeks to challenge the few who are chosen to pick up the mantle and lead, as did Vincent Pallotti, the patron saint of Pallotti High, whose life was a beacon for many who now walk in his footsteps. Pallotti was born two hundred and fourteen years ago today, April twenty-first, 1795 in Rome, Italy. But as we found out, his humble life did not stop him from making a difference in the world. And the photo display captures just a tad of that distinction.

Marion Ali Reporting
The bust that adorns the entrance to Pallotti High School’s campus is a mere reminder of Vincent Pallotti, the person that once lived and worked in the eighteenth century in Rome, Italy. Canonized a saint in 1963, Pallotti’s parents could observe a difference in him from early childhood – something they could not explain.

Sr. Elsa Oliva, Communication Directress
“He was a very poor child, he was a very sickly child and his mother was so concerned about him that she went to talk to the priest because Vincent was giving away his lunch, giving away his shoes, giving away his coats. He was coming home wet and he was very sickly. But the priest at that time advised the mother that Vincent was a special child.”

And perhaps like many children today, Pallotti had his challenges in school, but he believed in the power of prayer.

Sr. Elsa Oliva
“He had to make a novena to Our Lady to help him with his studies because he was very poor in Math. With the help of God and with all he was doing he developed and then he was a professor at the college for students who were preparing to be priests.”

Like the Pallotti Music School, Pallotti has touched the lives of many people and through the Pallottine movement, his legacy lives on two hundred and fourteen years later, despite a very different world of latest edition gadgets, remote control and high speed internet. Communication Directress at Pallotti High School, Sister Elsa Oliva, says the work has grown to include a whole array of training.

Sr. Elsa Oliva
“Father Versavel, he is the one that actually invited the Pallottine sisters to come to Belize and when they came to Belize they went to Benque and their first convent was out of thatch roof and then they moved to this convent. We’re talking back in 1913. They used to go by pit-pans, they use to go by dorey and teaching in all the different districts. Here is when they actually came to Pallotti Convent. This was the first two Pallotti Convents.”

The new Pallotti compound has transformed over the decades. It is now home to Pallotti High School, which many recognize as having high standards. But Sister Elsa says ensuring that the Pallotti trend is carried through to the next generation is their biggest challenge.

Marion Ali
“The qualities, the traits, the kind of “Good Samaritan” deeds that Vincent Pallotti stood for and represented in his lifetime, do you see a lot of that reflected in the lives that your current students lead?”

Sr. Elsa Oliva
“We are trying to. I think it will come but I think there needs to be a lot of hope and we need to really sort of repeat it over and over.”

Marion Ali
“The saying “Many are called but few are chosen” – is it nowadays that very few are chosen ones?”

Sr. Elsa Oliva
“I think a lot are being called and only a few are really answering. I think most of them see the vanity and everything of the world as more important than the giving themselves for the service of God.”

Marion Ali reporting for News Five.

Another Pallottine we spoke to, Sr. Adalberta of St. Ann’s Convent in Orange Walk Town, says the Pallottine sisters also minister the indigenous, offers retreats for young men and women and help the needy and elderly.