HAWTHORNE At center stage in St. Anthony School here, Amelia Mallory, 13, portrays St. Mary Mazzarello as she faces a crisis, before establishing the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a religious order. Suffering from typhoid, she worries about beating the life-threatening illness. St. Mary Mazzarello also wonders how to answer the Blessed Mother’s call in a vision for her to teach the poor girls in her Italian village. Her response led her to found her religious community, also known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco.
Mallory, a seventh-grader, gives a voice to St. Mary Mazzarello, singing, “I Entrust the Young to You,” which she co-wrote for “150 Years of Love,” a new musical, performed by the school last month. It tells the history of the Salesian Sisters, dedicated to a charism of educating and promoting the young, who are celebrating their 150th anniversary worldwide. The Salesians of the St. Joseph Province serve at St. Anthony School. In the original song, St. Mary Mazzarello reacts to the Blessed Mother’s vision by trusting her, the Salesians’ patron, whom they call Mary Help of Christians.
“To dedicate my life to doing good for young people is a strong desire that will just keep getting stronger — to lead them toward the Lord, helping teach them of his Word, to care for them, and guide them to their happiness,” Mallory sings. “I entrust the young to you…letting them love you. Just tell us what to do. We will listen to you. We will worship God and praise you.”
The modern pop-rock style musical might seem uncharacteristic in telling the story of the Salesians that starts in the late 19th century but it embodies the optimism of the order and its past and present that suggests a bright future. Today, the Salesians are the largest order in the world with more than 11,200 sisters in 97 countries, including many in their native Italy, student actors told audience during “150 Years of Love.”
After two months in production, the students held two performances at their school in early May. They brought the show to Stony Point, N.Y., May 21 for “Mary Day,” an annual celebration of the Blessed Virgin by Salesians. There, the young performers “wowed” the crowd. The shows raised $2,063, which was donated to the Salesians’ relief work in Ukraine, said Sister Mary Jackson, St Anthony’s principal.
“I was beyond impressed,” Sister Mary said. Many people from the local and school communities volunteered to help with costumes, music, sound, lights, filming, and playbill. My heart was filled with gratitude. In preparing for these ‘150 Years of Love,’ the children grew in a deeper relationship with God,” the principal said.
A guitarist and songwriter, Mallory wrote two songs, “Mary Walks in This House” and “I Entrust the Young to You,” with Sister Marisol Guzman Lopez, director of St. Anthony’s liturgical band and choir and the musical’s producer and artistic director, and Joel Guzman Lopez (no relation). Sister Marisol also borrowed a few rockers, ballads, and hymns by other songwriters, such as an English version of “Walking Everyday with Mary,” the anthem for the 150th anniversary by Juan Javier Bernal Garcia. The lyrics and script for the show were drawn from the founder’s own words. The musical was born out of plans to develop and perform a much shorter musical sequence for “Mary Day,” Sister Marisol said.
The Salesians are working to get the show’s two original songs copyrighted so they can be used for celebrations of Salesian history and ministry around the world for the 150th anniversary, Sister Mary said.
“I wanted to write upbeat and happy songs — the way St. Mary Mazzarello saw her mission,” Mallory said. “I didn’t know full story of the Salesians before. It made me think of how I could help other people and become a better person by doing simple things,” she said.
This hour-long musical starts in 1885 with a visit to the Salesian Sisters from an ailing St. Don Bosco, who originally encouraged St. Mary Mazzarello to found the order. Played by Derrick Tom, a fifth-grader, he prepares the sisters for his death by assuring them, “Mary is in this house right now.”
“Mary is present in the world, ‘the house,’ every day. She supports us in this world, every minute. She cares for us through our lives and guides us through the hardest times,” the Sisters sing in “Mary Walks in This House”
Sister Marisol expressed delight that “students were so talented and so willing and ready to work on the musical. It is an example of the extraordinary things that can happen when we believe in our young people. Everybody appreciated more the Salesians’ missionary calling.”
The story starts when St. Mary Mazzarello works in her father’s vineyard. Originally, she feels a call to help those sick with typhoid. She contracts and but recovers from it and leads a community of women in teaching poor girls to become dressmakers. She honors St. Don Bosco’s request by starting a religious order, the Salesians. St. Mary Mazzarello died in 1881 after establishing a growing international community.
In the show, students also sing “Mary, Our Star,” written by Sister Betty Ann Martinez, religious education director of St. Anthony Parish. The musical ends with sisters and students holding flags from different nations while being sent off to various countries. This symbolizes the Salesians’ presence around the world and “left the audience enthusiastic about being part of the broader Salesian family,” Sister Mary said.
At the end of the show, Sister Joanne Holloman, provincial, called the musical a celebration of “not only the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians but also the whole Salesian family, to which all those present belong. We say that ‘Mary walks in this house,’ and Mary walks not only in this house, but also in your house. It is she, who takes care of you and your family,” Sister Joanne said. “From how the children have grasped the simplicity and beauty of what it means to be Salesians, I perceived that Mary surely walks in your house and will continue to do so,” she said.