Fabulous Movie for Family Movie Night!

The recently re-issued movie, Saint John Baptist De La Salle: Patron Saint of Teachers, is a marvelous movie to watch for Family Movie Night. Starring Mel Ferrer as De La Salle and Fernando Rey as one of his young recruits, the movie is a wonderful overview of De La Salle's life from being named canon at the Cathedral in Rheims at the age of 28 to establishing the Brothers of Christian Schools at 41 and then dying at the age of 68, having established Christian Brother schools throughout France.

De La Salle (1651-1719) was from a wealthy French family, orphaned in the midst of attending seminary. As the eldest, De La Salle was made executor of his father's estate and guardian of his younger brothers and sisters. The movie opens with him and his family in their lavish home and a layman asking him to help set up a school for the poor in Rhiems. As De La Salle commits more and more of his own personal resources to helping educate the poor (as well as teaching teachers to be teachers), he begins to move from being a Courtier Churchman to being a helper of all, educating the poor and rich alike. Once he starts on this path, he never looks back!

The movie is not glitzy, glamorous or even very high tech. Done probably in the 1960s (although I couldn't find an actual date), this movie does its best to tell the story of this man who put others first ... this man who discerned God's will for himself and did it ... this man who ignored the criticism of family and friends to help all people learn! This is a cozy, "Sunday-afternoon family movie" type of movie. It tells a great story (some bit of truth-stretching for story-telling's sake) of a great man.
Mel Ferrer becomes this humble priest, with loving eyes and actions throughout. The viewer has a sense the Ferrer truly understood De La Salle's theology and philosophy -- not playing the role too high-brow or insipid. Fernando Rey starts the movie as a young, tough, street kid and ends up as one of De La Salle's most active brothers. The rest of the cast -- all European actors -- add wonderful support to the movie.

One thing you can always count on with Ignatius Press videos is the booklet that they package with the DVD. The booklet included in this movie includes a detailed biography, information about De La Salle's teaching philosophies (or "pedagogy") , and an overview of the Christian Brothers today (with website links for further information).

Thanks, Ignatius Press for republishing this wonderful look at a man many teachers, especially Catholic school teachers, should try to emulate!

You can purchase this DVD here.

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Disclaimer:  I wrote this review of Saint John Baptist De La Salle for the Tiber River Blogger Review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods, your source for Baptism Gifts and First Communion Gifts. For more information and to purchase, please visit Aquinas and More Catholic Goods.

Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases.  I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.






 

Feast Day: St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Maybe better known as Padre Pio, St. Pio is a modern saint.  An Italian of humble origin, Pio grew up during the turbulent times of world wars and domestic uprisings.  He received the stigmata for a short time in 1910 at the age of 23, one month after his ordination as a priest in the Capuchins.  In 1918, the visible signs of the stigmata, including the transverberation (wounding of the heart, a sign of complete union of love with God), were to remain with him for the next 50 years.

Padre Pio was an amazing priest, confessor and spiritual director.  His story is wonderfully told in the docudrama, Padre Pio: the Miracle Man ... a DVD in Italian with subtitles (but don't let that scare you away as you get so caught up in the story, you  forget they're not speaking English!).  Pio is amazingly acted by Sergio Castelitto (Miraz in Prince Caspian).  Another excellent movie, and well worth the time to watch is Padre Pio: Between Heaven and Earth -- this was an Italian made-for-TV movie that drew ana amazing 12 million Italian viewers when it aired.

A short but excellent book to read about this Capuchin is Padre Pio by Fabrizio Contessa written just after his beatification in 1999.  JptheGreat declared him a saint in 2002.

[NOTE: Please be aware that the movies and book linked above are quite graphic when portraying the stigmata -- bleeding hands and feet -- and the battles Pio fought with the Devil.  These images may not be suitable for young children. ]

A final word from St. Pio of Pietrelcina:

"Always humble yourself lovingly before God and man, because God speaks to those who are truly humble of heart, and enriches them with His gifts."

For his feast day, we are baking Traditional Tuscan Biscotti a la Padre Pio ... a batch of cookies we'll bring to social after morning Mass today and save one or two for dad for this evening!  Here's the recipe:

Traditional Tuscan Biscotti a la Padre Pio

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups whole unblanched almonds
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixing bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Add almonds and chocolate chips. In another small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla; add the cooled melted butter. Fold egg mixture into the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until dough is stiff. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and split in two. Roll each piece into a log around the same length as your baking sheet.

Place the logs on the baking sheet and flatten slightly. Make sure to leave plenty of room between them. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and let cool. Using a sharp chopping knife, slice each log into 1/3" slices diagonally (a little messy around the almonds!). Place (cut side down) on the baking sheet. Bake for another 15-20 minutes at 350, until crispy.

These are amazing with a cup of strong Italian coffee!

 

My Thinking Spot ...

St. Peter Canisius (1521-1597)

Today's "Reflections from the Saints" on myCatholic.com (which is the BEST homepage I've used yet!), is a quote from Jesuit St. Peter Canisius ...

If you have too much to do, with God's help you will find time to do it all.

Now this is all well and good as long as what I'm doing is the GOOD!  I tend to "have too much to do" because I get caught up in the minutiae of daily living rather than focusing on the big picture of getting me and mine to Heaven! 

I've been thinking about this alot lately.  Maybe it's because I recently had a birthday ... not a momentous, earth-shattering day (like turning 50 or something), but still a time to look back, reflect and fix what ain't workin'. I've realized just how much of my time is spent in the minutiae ... in the self-serving ... in the muck and mire! 

For instance:  I just recently reactivated my Facebook account as I realize that it is a great way to connect with those far and wide ... friends in Austria ... or Rome ... or Australia ... or even here in the States.  A chance to see and read what we're all doing.  This is all good stuff ...

BUT ...

I spent over an hour this morning just trying to work my way around and trying to add things to my Facebook "profile".  I searched out friends ... and acquaintances ... and fun games to play ... but this is not what I SHOULD have been doing. 

Facebook can be a major time-waster; so too, many of my other online activities.  They are good things, but can lead to overindulgence ... self serving  ... one-upmanish in which I really shouldn't be participating. 

The solution? 

Who knows? 

Cutting back on my online time ... obviously.  Being aware of the "danger signals" and keeping all in perspective ... duh!  Letting the internet and online activities set the schedule for my day ... NO!

So, what have I learned over the last month or so of meditating on all this?

If I have too much to do ... activities that are the good, the true and the beautiful ... with God's help, I will find the time to do it all.  All the other stuff ... too bad! God shows us the way ... it's just that sometimes He has to hit me upside the head to get my attention.

Can I be self-disciplined enough to make a change.  Can I separate the online wheat from the proverbial chaff?  Am I making sense or am I being too Quixotic?

Saints: celebrating the heroes of our Church everyday!

Here's an article I wrote for Phases of Womanhood about how we use Saints: A Year in Art:

Catholics are so fortunate – our Church has given us mean and women to emulate and to pray to for help in any facet of life. We have patron saints for every occupation, every country (and most cities, too), and every hobby. We have patron saints – those whom the Church has deemed worthy of interceding for us to God – for every addiction, health problem or stage in life.

It’s easy to remember to celebrate the “biggies” ...

to finish the article, read on MacDuff ...

Review: Christians Courageous

I’m always on the look-out for well-written stories of the heroes of the Catholic Church. Our heritage is packed with men and women, lay and religious, young and old who gave their lives literally or figuratively for the love of Jesus. This is a big deal. This is important for me to share with my kids. I want them to know that there is someone whom the Church has declared sanctified, someone to whom my kids can turn in a similar circumstance.


The problem that often occurs, however, is that many of the stories of saints tell the same stories about the same saints. Which doesn’t lessen the saints’ sanctity, but my kids want to hear about others … in other situations … who were tested in the fire and succeeded in upholding the Catholic way.

I’d like to tell you about a volume that has just been reprinted by Sophia Institute. Msgr Aloysius Roche (1886-1957), an English parish priest, wrote a book back in 1955, that tells the tale of Christian saints. Christians Courageous contains 14 biographies of saints that are not usually mentioned in anthologies. Told for a young audience – although the writing style precludes allowing younger children to read without help – these stories are dramatic and exciting.

The biographies include stories about: Ardalion, the Roman actor who converted while trying to make light of the early Christian Church; Didymus, the 4th century blindman who not only learned to read but was made head of the Cathechetical College in Athens; Athanasius, the 4th century bishop exiled three times for fighting against the heretical teachings of Arius; Telemachus, the 5th century Roman who gave his life to stop the barbarism of old Roman ways; Pope Leo’s plea to save Rome from the Mongol hordes; the story of St. Brendan the Navigator; Columba’s fight against 6th century Druids in the Highlands of Scotland; Caedmon of 7th century England who praised God and finally was able to speak and sing at Whitby; 14th century Franciscan missionary Odoric and his travels in Asia; Don John’s victory at the Battle of Lepanto; 16th century Jesuit missionaries to India; Fr. Joseph LeCaron’s work with the Hurons and other tribes in 17th century North America; Fr. Andrada’s work in 17th century Tibet; and Fr. Damian’s work with lepers in 19th century Hawaii. These are stories of official and unofficial saints – men who made their way on the strength of the promises and sacrifices of the Son of Man.

This is a great read.  I especially love the fact that most of these folks are not the typical saint-biography fare.  But as I mentioned earlier, for the younger ones (anyone younger than middle school) I think the reading style requires that the book be used as a read-aloud. I’ll be using this book during November for our annual study of saints and holy people of the Catholic Church.

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This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Christians Courageous and to purchase your own copy of this soon-to-be thriller classic.

Roche, Aloysius – Christians Courageous – Sophia Institute Press (Manchester, NH). 2009. ISBN: 9781933-184548 (paperback, 179pgs)

Feast Day: Our Lady of Mount Carmel

I’ve always loved the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, primarily because it’s also my mother’s birthday, and thus easy to remember! More importantly as I grew older in my faith, I realized the beauty of this feast day and how important it is for me to help my children “get it”...

To read more of my post, head on over to Phases of Womanhood . While you're there, roam around their website for a bit. Phases is a wonderful site dedicated to women of all ages and stages of life.