Filmed and edited by Michael Frierson, film professor at UNC-Greensboro

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.

As I receive reader feedback, I am hearing that book clubs are reading My Cousin the Saint. That’s wonderful! To help with the discussion that is the heart and soul of every book club (until it veers off into good friends catching up with each other’s lives!), here is a set of questions to consider:

1.      How would you describe southern Italy at the turn of the 20^th century? How did Catanoso’s description of the land, the long history and the people surprise you? What role did those conditions play in the “great wave” of Italian immigration to America between 1880 and 1920?

2.      The central characters in Part I are cousins Gaetano Catanoso, the eventual saint, and Carmelo Catanoso, the author’s grandfather. How does the tenor of the times influence both men as they pursue their own profound, interior callings?

3.      My Cousin the Saint is divided into three parts – Faith, Family and Miracles. Each part begins with a short miracle story. How do those miracle stories set the tone for the chapters to follow in each part?

4.      Why does the Catholic Church, which has been doing so for 2,000 years, name saints? What is your reaction to the intricate, complex nature of this process?

5.      Pope John Paul II is still criticized by some for naming so many saints. This point is addressed in the book. Do you believe the criticism is fair?

6.      If you learned you had a saint in the family, someone whom the Vatican declares has actual miraculous powers, what would you pray for?

7.      Did reading this book temper your views on the Catholic Church or Catholicism?

8.      A central theme of Part I is America as a land of opportunity, and of biases and prejudices against recent immigrants. How does this story illuminate the current controversy over legal and illegal immigration?

9.      Catanoso, a lapsed Catholic, returns to church following the canonization of his relative and eventually comes to see that being lapsed, skeptical and doubtful is far more common in the church than he imagined. How does this story prompt you to reflect on your own faith or lack thereof?

10.  Catanoso goes off in search and faith and finds his family – scores of them in another country, most of whom don’t even speak English. It was almost as if they had been expecting him for 100 years. How much do you know about your own family history? If you connected with long-lost relatives in another place or country, what would expectations be? Is this something you would like to do?

Enjoy the discussion!

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.”

Pope John Paul II, who wanted new contemporary saints from new places (like Padre Gaetano from Reggio Calabria) would have been intrigued by this cause; details here. Maurice Otunga was the first Kenyan to become an archbishop and cardinal. Details here.

This video was shot in March, on location in Reggio Calabria, and filmed and produced by Michael Frierson, UNC-Greensboro film professor.

This afternoon, the Sons of Italy News Bureau in Washington, DC, announced its Top 3 Summer 2008 Book Club selections, and I’m happy to say that My Cousin the Saint tops the list. This is a wonderful endorsement, shared with 600,000 Sons of Italy members in 745 chapters across the United States.

From its web site: “The Sons of Italy Book Club chooses three or four titles each quarter for a total of 12 to 16 titles a year. The selections will be announced to the press, posted on the Sons of Italy web site — www.osia.org — and published in the Sons of Italy magazine, Italian America, the most widely read cultural publication for Italian Americans in the United States. The Sons of Italy encourages its 745 chapters around the country to choose one or more of the books each quarter and use as part of their monthly meetings for discussion.”

Frank Wilson, the former book editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s book review section, reviews My Cousin the Saint today in the Sunday paper. The review is here. I think he liked the book, and was really taken by Padre Gaetano Catanoso, the man who became a saint.

Excerpt: “The real miracle on display in this book is the life of Gaetano Catanoso. Here was a man unaffected by theological subtleties, spouting no mystical mumbo-jumbo, content to pray, celebrate Mass, and be unwaveringly good and kind. In short, a good priest … the soul of the book is Padre Gaetano. We all need to become better acquainted with him.”

On Aug. 7, I was a guest at American International College in Springfield, Mass., and had an opportunity to a give talk about my book. The people I’m pictured here with are the reason we made the trip: it’s a group from Reggio Calabria, Italy, led by Germaine (top, far left) and including my Italian cousins Daniela and Alyssia (left, in front of Germaine). Germaine was my interpreter during my research in Calabria two years ago, and most of those pictured here were making their first visit to the United States for English training and Amercian sightseeing. The college made a gift of my book to the Italian visitors — a generous gesture.

In the back row, next to Germaine, is Giuseppe Polimeni, a native of the Reggio, an international consultant to the school and my host. He and his colleagues at AIC did a wonderful job setting up the event, which was attended by people from the school and the community. They have promised to invite me back and I promised to return. Lots of proud Italians and Italian-Americans in Springfield.