Michelle Fabio, the committed and talented keeper of the lovely Calabrian blog bleeding espresso, makes good on her promise to review My Cousin the Saint. It’s here.

And this at the site: Top Italian Gift Guide

Julie Davis, who skillfully and lovingly manages the blog Happy Catholic, reviews My Cousin the Saint today. The review is here. It’s also here at Catholic Media Review and here at Catholic Online. Julie has generously invited me to contribute a guest post to her blog next week. Here’s an excerpt from her online review:

“In some ways, Catanoso’s story is the dream of every American whose family lost their roots when they came to this country. He receives an email one day from a woman who wonders if they might be related. It turns out that the American branch of the family has long been missing a deep heritage rooted in the Italian countryside. As well, Catanoso discovers that his grandfather’s cousin, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, is being considered for canonization. This unbelievable news, prompts a family visit to Italy where they are lovingly embraced by their newly found relatives and where they begin hearing stories about ‘the saint.’ “

The Italian Tribune, published in Montclair, N.J., and which bills itself as “the premier Italian American weekly since 1931, reviews “My Cousin the Saint” in the Sept. 4 issue, page 25. The review is not online, but here’s an excerpt:

“Justin Catanoso’s remarkable journey comes to light for all in “My Cousin the Saint.” It chronicles a search in family history that is literally amazing, unique and undeniably interesting. Catanoso calls his book “A Search for Faithy, Family, and Miracles,” and it can safely be said that all three elements were found during his journey and chronicled elegantly in his book.”

The Tablet, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn, reviews “My Cousin the Saint.”

An excerpt, from reviewer Nancy Hartnagel, wire editor of the Catholic News Service:

“The wonderful Padre Catanoso evoked in these pages was born on St. Valentine’s Day in 1879. Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Reggio Calabria in 1902, he served as a parish priest in a mountain village and as a pastor, chaplain and seminary spiritual director in a coastal town. His compassionate ministry, including shelters and orphanages, was prompted by the grinding poverty of the region and a devastating 1908 earthquake…

“Padre Catanoso did not see himself as a saint, but as “one of the Lord’s little donkeys.” In a telling anecdote, the author recalls that, when the priest had the chance during a private audience to ask Pope Pius XII to approve the new religious congregation, he forgot to do it and could only laugh at himself afterward.

“Catanoso also does a nice job with the saga of his grandfather, Carmelo, born in 1887 in the same village as Padre Catanoso. Carmelo and his wife, a Sicilian immigrant, settled in Wildwood, N.J., where they ran a grocery store and raised nine children. This part of the story, like many immigrant tales, is full of hard work and success, reunions at the family’s campground in Avalon, and the dreams and sorrows of succeeding generations.

“An especially touching chapter of the American Catanosos’ story is the death of the author’s brother, Alan, from brain cancer, not long before Padre Catanoso’s canonization. The author says his mother, Connie, ‘would pray to Gaetano with all the hope and conviction her long and unquestioned Catholic faith could sustain.’ “

Therese Boyd, book reviewer for the News & Record of Greensboro, NC, (no link) recommended my book in the Sunday paper as an ideal Father’s Day gift, noting, “‘My Cousin the Saint’ is beautifully written and deeply moving with threads of faith even in the face of death. Catanoso isn’t afraid to expose his own emotions, fears and joys, making this story-with-a-saint as human as it can be.”

She reminds readers, too, of my book signing Tuesday, June 3, at the Barners & Noble in Greensboro, at 7:30 p.m. I will also be at the Barnes & Noble in Winston-Salem on Wednesday, June 4, at 7 p.m.