In case you really, really wanted to see me talking with host D.G. Martin on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch on July 12, but just couldn’t get to a television, stop worrying! Just click here and enjoy the video.
Shot in Reggio Calabria, Italy by Michael Frierson, of UNC-Greensboro.
Author and critic Mary DeTurris Poust wrote this brief review of My Cousin the Saint for Our Sunday Visitor, the nation’s largest circulating Catholic newspaper:
“Ever since I read the hardcover version of this book, I have been recommending it to friends who are Catholic, friends who are Italian, friends who like adventure travel stories because it is at once a story of pilgrimage, a story of heritage, a story of newly discovered family love. Justin Catanoso’s search for the history behind Padre Gaetano Catanoso, his grandfather’s cousin who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI, unfolds in beautiful prose that allows the reader to enter into the author’s own spiritual struggles and family celebrations. You will walk away from the book wondering how it is possible you didn’t know about Padre Gaetano long before you joined Catanoso on his quest for faith and knowledge.”
You’re welcome to judge for yourself. Click here.
Shot on location in Reggio Calabria by Michael Frierson, film professor at UNC-Greensboro.
The web site “31 Days of Italians,” which celebrates Italy, Italians and Italian-Americans every day of the month, reviews My Cousin the Saint here. Just in time for the paperback release in four days! (But who’s counting?)
With the paperback version of My Cousin the Saint printed and being shipped to stores, I’m happy to provide this link on Amazon to where you can order your very own copy! Orders will ship in mid June. I would love to hear your thoughts on the new cover design and subtitle (posted below). Tell your friends!
In this video, shot in March 2008 in Reggio Calabria, you can see the room in which Padre Gaetano died on April 4, 1963. Of this day, his close friend, Don Basilio Guzzo, said: “That day a light went out, a light that had illuminated the road to the Lord for so many men and women. A star had gone out, too, a star that had shown holiness for years and years.”
Forty-six years ago today, in the Santo Spirito neighborhood of Reggio Calabria, priests, nuns, parishioners and family members crowded the small bedroom of 84-year-old Padre Gaetano Catanoso, who was near death. Among the visitors, Monsigor Aurelio Sorrentino, who told his mentor that he had just spoken with seminary students in Reggio about St. Francis of Paolo, the last saint ever named from Calabria. Overhearing the conversation, Mother Anastasia, who led Gaetano’s order of nuns, whispered, “Calabria needs saints.” Sorrentino nodded his agreement. More importantly, some 15 years after Padre Gaetano’s death, Sorrentino would launch the cause of canonization.
Talk of JPII’s beatification is in the air. JPII helped Saint Gaetano get there. Here’s how. Filmed in Reggio and Rome by Michael Frierson, UNC-Greensboro.
