St Augustine’s students learning about Pope Leo
Schools
Children at St Augustine’s Parish School in Salisbury learn all they can about the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine.
Learning as much as they can about Pope Leo XIV has been a full-time commitment for students at a school in northern Adelaide with a very special papal connection.
Pope Leo is the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA), and St Augustine’s Parish School in Salisbury has been quick off the blocks to enable students to find out as much as they can about a pontiff they are already very proud of.
Year 6 teacher Jessica Hinves has been leading the charge and her class has produced a biographical factsheet on Pope Leo and another asking, ‘What does a new Pope mean for us?’.
“There have been mixed emotions, we were upset at the death of Pope Francis,” she said.
“Leo will be a different kind of pope and we have been digging deeper into what he can bring to the table. We had a good conversation around this, his purpose.”
A chat with five Year 6 pupils was illuminating.
Were they surprised at his choice of name? Yes and no, but they all liked it.
What do you think he might do as pope?
“He will teach us how to respect people,” said one student immediately.
“I hope he will look after the poor people and help bring peace,” said another, with the role of Pope Leo helping us to take care of the earth and environment also mentioned.
The learnings about the new pontiff are also spreading throughout the 700-student school, with Year 6 pupils Sophia Ceccio, Joseph Vellanikaran, Harry Easther and Nikkita Seng passing on what they have gleaned with children in Reception.
One particular curiosity that jumped out during a chat with The Southern Cross was the Pope’s sporting connections.
“Leo is related to a very famous football player, a soccer player – Eric Cantona,” said Sophia.
“Really,” interjected school principal Dan Cowan. “I didn’t know that.”
Sophia is correct. Cantona the player of the 1990s for Manchester United FC and a cult hero still, is a distant cousin of Pope Leo, somewhere between the 12th and 15th generation. (Cantona has a mixed but predominantly French background and Pope Leo has an Italian and French lineage too.)
None of the Year 6 pupils knew Pope Leo had been invited to Australia in 2028 and the excitement at the prospect was almost riotous.
Would they want to go and see him if he came to Adelaide?
Of course. Maybe he’d come to our school was one suggestion greeted with great volume only to be tempered by the realisation that in three years time, they will all be at senior school elsewhere.
They still wanted him to visit though, unquestionably.
The Order of Saint Augustine has a long history. Augustine of Hippo was a theologian and philosopher who lived in the fifth century and was a bishop in Algeria on the north African coast, then a Roman province. A prolific and influential writer, he is the patron saint of brewers, printers and theologians.
The Order wasn’t founded until 1244 when several groups of hermits came together in Tuscany to be known as Augustinians or Austin Friars. It has established itself throughout the world and the first Augustinian priory in Australia was founded in Victoria in 1868.
Key beliefs are in a benevolent God who created the world from nothing, the concept of original sin, the significance of grace and free will, and the importance of unity, truth and charity.
