By Jessica Easthope
Everything has a name, and triplets Giuliana, Alessandra, and Francesca Caserta are quickly learning what it all means.
“What holds the wine and the water are the cruets,” Alessandra said. “I never knew paten, that’s what we put the Eucharist on, like the small plate that the priest puts the Eucharist on when he’s done.”
“I wasn’t really sure what a ciborium was, but now I know,” Francesca said. “They hold the bread in it.”
“The thing that we wear is called a cassock, and we could call it a vestment also. And it’s nice because we have, like, a certain uniform for it,” Giuliana said. “We have something that is respectful and not too fancy.”
It’s a vocabulary lesson for altar servers. The girls are new to the job, but they already said they’re in it for the right reasons.
“I was so excited, and I really wanted to be an altar server to be closer to God because you get to serve God by helping the priest get everything ready for the Mass and helping others get closer to God also,” Alessandra said.
“My sisters were doing it, and I would also like to be closer to the church and closer to God,” Giuliana said.
“I really wanted to do it because I always wanted to be included in the Mass more than just watching one from the pews,” Francesca said.
Father Jeremy Canna, the pastor of St. Bernadette, was struggling to fill slots until he opened altar serving up to a younger crowd.
Eager to serve God and their church, the 8, 9, and 10-year-olds answered the call.
“They help the priest to be the priest,” Father Canna said. “I don’t think the people want to see the priest running from the table to the chair to here. I think the people of the parish, the congregation, much prefer when there’s a server present. And often it’s most inspiring when it’s a young child. They still have that childlike curiosity, even in third grade, that allows them to want to know more about what is going on at the altar.”
Enza Caserta, the triplets’ mom, said that growing up, she never got the chance to serve in this way. The Catholic Church didn’t allow girls to be altar servers until 1994.
“I think I was a little bit jealous, but I was okay with it,” Caserta said. “I was a Eucharistic minister and a lector, so I was able to serve in other ways. But I had to wait until I was a little older in order to be able to do that. So seeing my girls in fourth grade, so excited about the opportunity to be altar servers and be able to serve their first Mass now in the next coming weeks, I’m super happy for them.”
Now her girls are making her proud in a whole new way.
“I think they wanted to do it,” Caserta said. “Seeing that come to fruition on their own volition, I’m super proud.”
“It makes me feel proud that I get to do something that my mom didn’t get to do,” Francesca said. “I’m happy that the girls can now do it because I feel like girls should be given a chance as well.”
St. Bernadette now has 25 altar servers, a 400% increase.
The young people have completed five training sessions and have already begun serving at Masses.