Amazing Life of Chiara Corbella Petrilla

I recently finished reading her amazing biography Chiara Corbella Petrillo: A Witness to Joy

and highly recommend it to all.

There is a website dedicated to her: Chiara Corbella Petrillo.

Crisis Magazine also did a short story about her life: Chiara Corbella: a witness to joy.

And Focus also did a story about her: Saints are still being made

And you can listen to her testimony with subtitles:   Chiara Corbella Petrillo.

CatholicExchange: Saints Among Us

We have heard it often enough, “I don’t need to go to church. I don’t need organized religion. I can just worship God in my own time, in my own way.”

If I would have chosen that path–which is often tempting on Sunday morning–to just roll over and pull the covers over my head and ignore the chaos and confusion of getting breakfast on the table and everyone dressed, presentable and to church on time, I would have been the one who would have suffered for it, for I would have been the one who would have missed out on friendships that have nudged me–if not catapulted me–in the right direction, the direction of holiness.

I would have been the one who would have missed knowing “x.” No matter how difficult life is she is cheerful, not in a bubbly pop-the-cork champagne way, but in a smiling calmly Mona Lisa way. Her serene demeanor is one that invites the other to unburden the cares and worries of the heart to an empathetic ear.

Her compassionate concern for others brings to life those saint stories of long ago, making them real and not just fairy tales. At the same time, knowing someone who strives to be good and kind offers refreshing hope in a world that seems to have gone bonkers. . . .

Catholic Exchange

Germany, Land of Poets and Thinkers: Discover Germany Through Children's Literature

One way to experience other cultures is through children's literature. Here is a list of our favorite children's authors. For a more extensive list of children's authors from Germany you can go here.

As with any unit study, begin with a map of the world and locate the country you are studying.

Until I did a google search, I did not know that Germany is a land of poets and thinkers. I don't think there are too many children's books on the German poets, but there are many biographies of Albert Einstein, including Childhood of Famous Americans.

Select a Favorite Children's Author:

Under a Changing Moon is one of many books written by Margot Benary-Isbert. Bethlehem Books has reprinted this lovely edition of Under a Changing Moon.

The Brothers Grimm are perhaps the most famous authors from Germany. Many of their stories have been redone in picture book format.

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner is a fun read that you won't want to miss.

Many people have heard of Curious George, the famous monkey in children's picture books, but few know the incredible story of Margaret and H. A. Rey's journey to freedom.

Another favorite author is really better to read when studying Ancient Rome. Henry Winterfeld's Detectives in Togas and Mystery of the Roman Ransom.

Food:

Pretzels found at Catholic Cuisine


Food: If you would like to round out a unit study on Germany with food, there is much to choose from. Besides your favorite cookbooks, you can find many recipes on the internet. Here is an odd assortment of German foods.

Wiener Schnitzel, Pretzels, Bratwurst, Spatzle, Black Forest Cake (torte)

Art:

Art: The one painter to study is  Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). Ernest Lloyd Raboff has written Albrecht Duer as part of his The Art for Children series.

Music: Composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Christoph Willibald Gluck, George Frideric Handel, Felix Mendelssohn, Clara and Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss, Georg Philipp Telemann, Richard Wagner.

Sampling of Music:

Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Brandenburg Concertos, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for organ

Beethoven, Fur Elise,  Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Moonlight Sonata,  Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, Pastoral Symphony

Brahms: Lullaby, Hungarian Dances


Handel: Messiah

Mendelssohn: Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, Italian Symphony, Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra

More Music:

Bach for Book Lovers: A Soothing Companion for Reading (CD)
Beethoven for Book Lovers: An Intimate Companion for Reading (CD)
Brahms for Book Lovers: A Cozy Companion for Reading (CD)
Bach for Breakfast: The Leisurely Way to Start Your Day (CD)
Bach at Bedtime: Lullabies for the Still of the Night (CD)
And more!

Biographies: Music Masters CDs (Each CD weaves the composer's music throughout the story of his life. Additional music is included at the end of the story): The Story of Bach, The Story of Beethoven, The Story of Brahms, The Story of Handel, The Story of Mendelssohn, The Story of Schumann and Grieg.


Books:

Johann Sebastian Bach (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia

Ludwig van Beethoven (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia

Johannes Brahms (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia

George Handel (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers) by Mike Venezia

Saints: Saint Albert the Great, Saint Boniface, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Saint John Neumann, Blessed Karl Leisner, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

 

Saint Edith Stein, Blessed by the Cross (Encounter the Saints) by Mary Lea Hill (Ages 10-Up)

 

Bring Me an Ax: The Story of St. Boniface of Germany (Dujarie Saint Book) by Brother Roberto and Carolyn Lee Jogodits

St. Albert the Great: Champion of Faith and Reason by Kevin Vost (high school and up)


German Customs: Customs from Germany that we practice today include the Christmas tree, Easter bunnies, Easter egg hunts, and Easter baskets. The songs "Silent Night," "Away in the Manger," "O, Christmas Tree" come from Germany.


Stories Behind Silent Night:

Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon 

Silent Night: The Song and Its Story by Margaret Hodges and Tim Ladwig.

Foreign Language: Culture

Count Your Way Through Germany by James Haskins
Look What Came From Germany by Kevin Davis
Germany: the culture by Kathryn Lane
Muzzy: German

The Year of Faith: Helpful Hints for Catholic Parents

Lay Witness magazine has devoted their September/October issue to the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict. If you go to page 18, you will find some "Helpful Hints for Catholic Parents" based on the writings of St. Teresa of Avila written by yours truly. If you would like to read the whole article, you can subscribe at Laywitness.

In her autobiography, St. Teresa of Avila attributed her parents to laying down the foundation of her faith through their pious example. What did they do? Can we imitate their example? Read the article to find out more.

Accepting Annoyances

"It is clear enough to me now that life anywhere on earth is filled with opportunities of silently accepting contradictions, humiliations, and misunderstandings. For the most part they are small annoyances; yet they can be potent factors in ridding ourselves of our selfishness and pride and in preparing ourselves for real recollection and loving union with God. These disturbing situations are hard to accept in the beginning. But we need not be saints to realize that we ought to try to do more than put up with them. If we embrace them wholeheartedly, they become desirable; they cannot be embraced wholeheartedly unless we turn to God and ask for His help, and it is precisely this recognition of our need of God' help and our asking for it which immediately brings Him to our aid and leaves us with a consciousness of His nearness and His love, so much so, in fact, that many would not want to be without trials which bring such peace to the soul."

My Beloved: The Story of a Carmelite Nun by Mother Catherine Thomas, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1955. p. 91

Garbage In: Garbage Out: Fulton J. Sheen

"If one puts garbage into the stomachs of children, it will be easy to forecast their health; if moral garbage is put into the minds of children, it is easy to predict how these ideas will become acts."

--Fulton J. Sheen, A Fulton Sheen Reader, speaking of teenagers.

Joan of Arc or Jeanne d'Arc

To view an incredible array of paintings and other artwork depicting St. Joan's life, visit Maid of Heaven.com--Historical Pictures of Saint Joan of Arc

On the yahoo group, The History Place, someone asked for a book recommendation on St. Joan of Arc. Definitely throughout history there has been a fascination with Joan of Arc, also known as Jeanne d'Arc. Just type in Joan of Arc into the library catalog and a plethora of books comes up. I, myself, have 14 titles, but then again, I don't seem to have one book of anything. This list includes both books that I have read and not read. Some are rare. Some are certainly better than others. Amazon Associates is not working, so I don't have time to put this all together at once.

Picture Books

 

Hands down my all time favorite book of St. Joan of Arc is Joan of Arc by Maurice Boutet de Monvel. The artwork is spectacular, the story is moving and she is heroic, saintly, and real. Amazingly, it has been reprinted. Even though it is a picture book, it is not designed for young readers.

Another beautiful picture book is Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole, illus. by Angela Barret.











For Middle School:

Saint Joan of Arc, God's Soldier by Susan Helen Wallace, FSP, Encounter The Saints Series (Ages, 8-Up).

Saint Joan, The Girl Soldier by Louis de Wohl, Vision Books
Ages 10-Up

Saints for Women Who Suffer: St. Jane Valois

Rejected by her father and then her husband, can it get any worse? Well, yes, her father tried to kill her (Who needs soap operas! Just read the lives of the saints.)

Born in 1464, St. Jane Valois was the daughter of King Louis XI of France. During her life, she suffered many trials as well as gross humiliations. When she was born, she was a great disappointment to her father, who desired an heir to the throne. To make matters worse, she was deformed and ugly. At the age of 5, her father banished her from the castle to a remote cottage where she was deprived of life's basic necessities. Here she developed a devotion to the Blessed Mother. Hearing the bells ring the Angelus, she was comforted in her sorrow thinking of the Incarnation.

At the age of 2 months, for political reasons, her father betrothed her to Louis, Duke of Orleans. Against her wishes, they were married when she was 9. The duke, compelled by fear of the King, had agreed to marry her, but actually hated her, even insulting her in public, causing her great humiliation, despite the fact that she had saved him while he was in prison, awaiting a traitor's death for fomenting a rebellion against Jane's brother the reigning king. Later, when he became King, he had the marriage annulled, causing Jane even more suffering. Jane bore this with patient humility and ultimately considered this a great blessing that she was released from her marriage, so that she could now devote herself to founding a new order. She founded the Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a contemplative order of nuns. The rule was based on following the virtues of Mary.


For those of us who suffer from vanity, Jane was considered hideous in appearance, hunchbacked, lame, and pock-marked. She was also sickly much of her life. Let us imitate her and cultivate an interior beauty that outshines physical beauty.

When we are rejected and despised by the ones who should love us the most, when we are angry, bitter, and resentful and want to lash out at the ones who humiliate us, or cry, pout, and feel sorry for ourselves, let us think of St. Jane of Valois and strive to love through patient forgiveness, penance and small acts of kindness.

Noted for her goodness, humility, and gentleness as well as patience, charity, and duty to her ungrateful husband while they were married, let us imitate St. Jane Valois. St. Jane, pray for us!

Also known as Joan of Valois, Joan of France or Jeanne de Valois. Her feast day is February 4.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary by Br. Ernest C.S.C

In this charming, simple story, we are introduced to St. Elizabeth, beginning with her birth and covering her complete life. Clearly, the style is written for younger children. "She was born in a big castle in Hungary way back in 1207--a long, long time ago!" Although the story is written for younger children, the language and storyline are not watered down, touching on the important events in her life as well as addressing the problems she encountered. "Soon some of the members of the court began to spread rumors against the princess." Throughout the story, vignettes of her sanctity are revealed in both the dialogue and the narrative. "When they got to the church door, Elizabeth stopped and took off her crown. 'I cannot wear a crown of gold and jewels when Jesus, my King, wears a crown of thorns!'"

St. Elizabeth presents a realistic portrait of a saint, who sought to follow God's will for her vocation in a balanced way. "These children required much of Elizabeth's time, but no matter what else there was to be done, they came first."

Even though it is written for young children, the story is engaging for all ages: no sugar coating of the realities she underwent, yet holds the attention of the reader until the end. Originally, there were several hundred Dujarie books, hopefully many more will be reprinted.

The popular Dujarie saint series from the 40s, 50s and 60s is back in print. There are two recommended reading levels: 1st level, 2nd gr. and up; 2nd level, 4th gr. and up. Saint Elizabeth is the first reading level. Some of the vocabulary is not typical for 2nd grade, e.g."expression of veneration." Since most 2nd graders are not proficient at reading, some will prefer to have the book read aloud.

This review is also posted on love2learn.net.
Available from www.marys-books.com

Year of the Priest: Children's Book Titles

For the Year of the Priest, I have compiled a list of children's books in print about priests. St. Joseph Picture books, comic books, and coloring books also have titles about priests. Although this list is organized by publisher and reading level, these books are of interest to all ages and other retailers and homeschool companies also sell these books.

Mary's Books

Dujarie Reprints

Priests

Level 1 (Gr. 2-Up)

Andrew The Apostle

Saint Blaise

Saint Hyacinth

Saint Anthony

Saint Charles

Saint Stanislaus Kostka

Saint Simon Stock

Saint Peregrine

Saint Dominic

Deacons

Saint Stephen

Priests
Level 2 (Gr. 4-Up)

Bring Me An Ax- Saint Boniface of Germany

The Archer Saint-Saint Hubert

Music From the Hunger Pit-Saint Maximilian Kolbe

I Serve the King-Saint Francis Borgia

 

Neumann Press

Dujarie Reprints (Gr. 2-Up)

A Story of St. John Bosco

A Story of St. John Vianney

A Story of St. Lawrence

Other Titles (Gr. 4-Up)

Giant of the Western Trail, The Life of Fr. Peter De Smet

Priest on Horseback

Pauline.org

Encounter the Saints (series) (Gr. 3-Up)

Saint Anthony of Padua

Saint Damien of Molokai

Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Isaac Jogues

Saint John Vianney

Saint Maximilian Kolbe 

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

Adventures of Saint Paul

Ages 7-9

Read a review here.

love2learn

Ignatius Press

Vision Books (Gr. 4-Up)

The Cure of Ars

Edmund Campion

Father Damien and the Bells

Father Marquette and the Great Rivers

Saint Anthony and the Christ Child

Saint Benedict

Saint Dominic and the Rosary

Saint Francis and the Seven Seas

Saint Ignatius and the Company of Jesus

Saint Isaac and the Indians

Saint John Bosco

Saint Philip of the Joyous Heart

Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Preaching Beggars

Vincent De Paul, Saint of Charity

Tan Books and Publishers

Mary Fabyan Windeatt (Gr. 4-Up)

The Cure of Ars

St. Benedict

St. Dominic

St. Francis Solano

St. Hyacinth of Poland

St. John Masias

St. Louis De Monfort

St. Paul the Apostle

St. Thomas Aquinas

F. A. Forbes (Gr.7-Up)

St. Athanasius

St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. John Bosco

St. Vincent De Paul