Thursday, January 04, 2007

By the way...

Below I listed St. Elizabeth Ann Seton as one of my favorite saints. Today is also her feast day. If you've never seen the movie on her life, A Time For Miracles , with Kate Mulgrew as St. Elizabeth, it is a great, great movie. In my all-time top 10. You can order it from Ignatius Press, since I've never seen it in a secular retail store, like Best Buy. Of course Barnes and Noble or stores like that may also be able to order it for you. It is fantastic (I overlook the fact that her husband ran for Ohio Governor as a Democrat).

While I'm on it, other good Saints' movies:
--Leonardo de Fillippis' Therese , which came out last year, starring Lindsay Youmas, Fillippis, and his wife. Great movie, gives a nice primer to her life (Therese serves are narrator) and told me a lot I didn't know about her, so it inspired me to do more reading on Therese and Theresian spirituality. Available at mass retailers (I got mine at Target, of all places). Also available via Ignatius press. There is a soundtrack, composed by a nun (a Carmelite, I believe) that is also available. Be sure to read Story of a Soul , if you haven't already. I have the Institute for Carmelite Studies, based in D.C.. version, which has all three manuscripts and a bunch of geeky scholary stuff. But if that's not for you you can certainly find a basic version just about anywhere.

--Bernadette , which is available through Ignatius press. I haven't seen this one at the mass-market stores. Haven't watched it all the way through but looks very good. There is also the "sequel", The Passion of Bernadette , with the same actress and director, but I haven't seen that one yet. I actually just finished the novel The Song of Bernadette tonight, which has recently been re-issued by Ignatius press with a new forward by George Weigel. It is long, but don't let that stop you, because it is great. I loved it. I found I really needed a dedicated lot of time to read it (yay, two hour steroid infusions at Children's!) but once you get going it has fantastic pacing and wonderfully realistic characters. Great novel and a great movie, o the same name, which won Jennifer Jones (Bernadette) a Best Actress statuette. Can you believe that??? You can get that movie just about anywhere. Black and white, I believe, but don't let that stop you!!

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