For those of you who plan ahead, I’m happy to say that I will be at Head House Books in Philadelphia on the evening of December 4, a Thursday, to talk about My Cousin the Saint. We will get started around 7 p.m. Please tell your friends in the Philly area!
Filmed and edited by Michael Frierson, film professor at UNC-Greensboro
I will be speaking at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Charlotte on Wednesday night, November 12, at 6:30 p.m. The church is at 3016 Providence Road. Details are here. My topic? My cousin the saint, and how he came to be canonized.
Update:My sincere thanks to Susan Krasniewski and Father Frank at St. Gabriel for hosting me tonight. They both did a sensational job of organizing and promoting my talk and we certainly had a wonderful turnout. It was great to meet so many people afterwards. A special thanks to the Italian-American woman who traveled to Charlotte from Shelby who bought eight books and gave me to two delicious homemade meatball sandwiches!
The Anniston Star in Alabama reviews My Cousin the Saint. The review is here.
I was invited to offer a guest travel post today at www.amoretravelguides.com. My short feature on Reggio di Calabria is here.
Sister Irmalinda belongs to the Sisters of St. Veronica of the Holy Face in Reggio Calabria — the order of nuns founded by Padre Gaetano Catanoso in 1934. We spoke with her at the church of Saint Gaetano in Reggio last March.
Three years years, I was fortunate to have a commentary aired on National Public Radio. The 3-minute audio essay is here. It aired just three days before the canonization of Padre Gaetano Catanoso. As luck would have it, a literary agent in California was listening, and before too long, I was at work on a book. A miracle? My mother has always thought so!
Before the Tampa Bay area went nuts last night reveling in the success of the once-lowly Rays and their improbable journey to the World Series, Tampa Tribune religion writer Michelle Bearden offered a story in the Sunday paper about the power of saints in modern society. The story is here. Me and my cousin enter the story near the end.
For the record, I’m a Phillies fan, and have been since I was a Little Leaguer in Wildwood, NJ, going to the Vet with my pre-teen pals to see Steve Carlton pitch for a team that lost 100 games. If the Phillies win this series - their first since 1980 and second in franchise history — it won’t be a miracle. This team is really good!
As part of this virtual book I’ve been on the last couple of weeks, I have a guest post at the blog Catholic Dads. The link is here. I appreciate the invitation!
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.’ “
