High School Football Team Sings the "Ave Maria" After Every Game, Honoring Our Lady in Viral Video
One Catholic high school football team in California went viral after sharing how they honor the Blessed Mother after each game.
Saint Joseph Academy High School Football Team in San Marcos, Calif. kneels while singing the Ave Maria after every football game.
The school recently published the video on YouTube, which quickly gained traction throughout other social media networks.
In another video, team captains Isaac and Andrew explain why they sing the Ave Maria after games.
The team says they partnered with Virtue=Strength, a Catholic virtue training program that "engages the hearts and minds of students" with three pillars: virtue, ceremony, and Catholic identity.
Fellow teammate Paolo initially came up with the idea to honor Our Lady after football games.
"One of our teammates had the idea to sing something to the Blessed Mother after our games as a way of consecrating all our actions back to God, and so we went with the 'Ave Maria' and we chanted in Latin after our games," team captain Isaac says in a video.
"It's been really inspiring," Andrew, another team captain, adds. "We hope to make it a tradition after every game."
"As proud Catholics and going to this amazing school," Andrew continues, "we want to do things that are special to our faith and to our Mother Mary because that's an important aspect of our lives."
The boys then explain that when they ordered new football jerseys last year, they added "AMDG" to the back, which stands for the Latin phrase, "Ad maiorem Dei gloriam," or "all for the greater glory of God."
"That's why we play football. We want to glorify God on the field through our actions and being a really good football team," Isaac says.
Andrew then adds that through these athletic programs, including football, they "strive to reach a higher level of virtue."
"We strive to reach a higher level of virtue, especially playing on the football team," Andrew says. "It's so important to us to be true to our Catholic identity and grounded in the faith and everything that we do."