'Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it hardly worth his while To waste his time on the old violin, but he held it up with a smile. "What am I bid, good people", he cried, "Who starts the bidding for me?" "One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?" "Two dollars, who makes it three?" "Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three," But, No, From the room far back a gray bearded man Came forward and picked up the bow, Then wiping the dust from the old violin And tightening up the strings, He played a melody, pure and sweet As sweet as the angel sings. The music ceased and the auctioneer With a voice that was quiet and low, Said "What now am I bid for this old violin?" As he held it aloft with its' bow. "One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?" "Two thousand, Who makes it three?" "Three thousand once, three thousand twice, Going and gone", said he. The audience cheered, But some of them cried, "We just don't understand." "What changed its' worth?" Swift came the reply. "The Touch of the Masters Hand." "And many a man with life out of tune All battered and bruised with hardship Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd Much like that old violin A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, A game and he travels on. He is going once, he is going twice, He is going and almost gone. But the Master comes, And the foolish crowd never can quite understand, The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought By the Touch of the Masters' Hand.
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Like its protagonist, Saint Joseph Desa of Cupertino, throughout much of his lifetime and most of the film, Edward Dmytryk’s 1962 film The Reluctant Saint is a modest affair that has attracted little attention, but has more to offer than meets the eye.
Critics were not kind to the film at the time of its release. As Les and Barbara Keyser note in Hollywood and the Catholic Church, a review in Esquire complained that star Maximilian Schell’s clumsy, buffoonish behavior seemed more slapstick than saint-like, and a writer for Saturday Review dismissed the humorously uplifting final shot as a gag shot worthy of Laurel and Hardy. Such complaints bespeak a misunderstanding of the film nearly as notable as the misunderstanding of its subject by his contemporaries. It is true that The Reluctant Saint, though a pious, respectful production, is marked by an earthy humor and an absence of the dignified reverential gravity typical of devout productions of Hollywood’s Golden Age. For example, the heroine of The Song of Bernadette was also an unlettered peasant who was misunderstood and mistreated by her neighbors — but she always maintained her composure and equanimity, and never looked silly or was at a loss. And while Becket is full of humor, most of it belongs to Peter O’Toole’s choleric Henry II, not Richard Burton’s ultra-serious archbishop. By contrast, consider The Reluctant Saint’s very first scene, almost its first shot, in which Giuseppe, falling out of the pack of young classmates among which he has just emerged from the school, produces a bird he has evidently been carrying inside his jacket, cradles it lovingly in his hand, and releases it — then looks at his palm in chagrin and wipes it on his jacket. One can hardly imagine a bird-poop gag at the expense of any other Hollywood saint. Following in Saint Francis’ Footsteps Though very different in mood from The Song of Bernadette or Becket, The Reluctant Saint is not therefore frivolous or unserious. English dialogue notwithstanding, it feels in certain respects less akin to, say, the previous year’s Francis of Assisi by Michael Curtiz than to Italian neorealist Roberto Rosselini’s lovely 1950 film The Flowers of Saint Francis — a film that, in keeping with its original title, Francesco, giullare di Dio (“Francis, God’s Jester”), offers a gently comic depiction of the early Franciscans as slow-witted “holy fools,” much given to stumbling in their efforts to follow in Francis’ footsteps. In fact, given St. Joseph’s Franciscan context, The Reluctant Saint could almost be viewed as a spiritual sequel of sorts, or at least a follow-up, to The Flowers of Saint Francis. Filmed on location in the Lazio region of Italy with a supporting cast of Italian players, The Reluctant Saint evokes an authentic sense of time and place eluding most period productions of Golden Age Hollywood. Like Rossellini’s films and other works of Italian neorealism, The Reluctant Saint offers an Italian peasant milieu rich with authenticity and persuasive detail. From the opening scene in the cobbled town square with its central fountain and the blacksmith’s shop, where people mill about rolling barrels or wheelbarrows and women walk with baskets or other burdens on their heads, to the disarray of the farmyard and the thick stone walls of Giuseppe’s home, to the fields of the nobleman where Giuseppe comes to grief driving a horse-drawn plow, The Reluctant Saint never feels staged or inauthentic. Few similar Hollywood productions, even when shot on location like The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, manage a comparable sense of realism. Adding to the authentic Continental feel is the effective score by Italian composer Nino Rota (La Strada, 8½, Il Gattopardo — all Vatican list films, incidentally). Brother Ass Maximilian Schell plays Giuseppe with his shoulders in a perpetual hunch, as if half braced for a blow that might come at any moment, from any direction. Schell, who won the Academy Award the previous year for his fiercely intelligent defense attorney in Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg, projects only sweet simplicity, uncomprehending patience and uncomplicated joy as Guiseppe. There is little sign here of the “hot and irascible temper” noted by the old Catholic Encyclopedia, though in one scene he does drive a bitter rival out of the monastery stables for which they are alternately responsible. But the saint’s childlike innocence, resignation to abuse and spiritual ecstasies are the essence of the film’s portrayal. Giuseppe is a defenseless sheep, bereft of serpentine wisdom. Or rather, a donkey. “Brother Ass,” St. Francis half-jokingly called his body. It is an epithet that Giuseppe embodies in mind and body. Appropriately, donkeys are a recurring motif in the film, starting with the very first scene in the town square, where a donkey stands at the door of the blacksmith’s shop where two boys play a cruel prank on Giuseppe. In the same scene, another donkey carrying a load of sticks passes in front of Giuseppe and the nun speaking to him, momentarily obscuring the subjects of the shot; in the next scene, we see a donkey with a similar burden bound to its back at the farmhouse of Giuseppe’s mother, and there is the donkey that is stolen from Giuseppe when he and the other postulants are first sent out to beg. This asinine imagery is explicitly paid off when Giuseppe is witnessed miraculously levitating in the stable in a prayer of ecstasy. The friar who sees him, the hunchbacked stable hand Gobbo (Carlo Croccolo) who has been one of Giuseppe’s chief tormenters, runs to report the miracle to the rest of the friars, and reports that Giuseppe’s is flying “like an angel.” When the skeptical Don Raspi (Ricardo Montalban) questions Giuseppe about this report, he shakes his head with a sheepish smile. “No,” he says radiantly, “like a donkey!” Attentive viewers may notice that the first time Giuseppe flies, kneeling in the stable before his beloved broken head of the Madonna statue, lips moving wordlessly in rapturous prayer, it is the braying of a donkey that causes Giuseppe to become aware of his situation. Reportedly, animals could sense the miraculous aura around the historical Giuseppe; in this scene, the donkey’s raucous bawling gives voice to the prayer that the donkey-like Giuseppe offers in silence. Holy Nonchalance Going against conventional Hollywood wisdom, Dmytryk takes his time getting to the miracles for which Joseph of Cupertino is known. A friend and fellow critic maintains a rule of thumb that all the rules of a story, especially extraordinary or exceptional ones, should be established by the end of the film’s first act, usually within the first half-hour. Dmytryk lets over an hour expire with no sign of anything miraculous, or possibly even extraordinary, regarding Giuseppe, before the first levitation incident in the stable. This could be regarded as a dramatic mistake — or it could be a strategic decision to treat Giuseppe’s miraculous feats with the same lightness and even carelessness with which Giuseppe himself regards them. Once he gets over the initial shock, it seems that Giuseppe finds it neither particularly important or even particularly interesting that he sometimes levitates in ecstasy while meditating on holy things; it is the holy things themselves that matter, not his response to them. This holy nonchalance to Giuseppe’s miraculous experiences is perfectly expressed, with typical humor, in the coda that the Saturday Review critic found so frivolous. As the Franciscans process along the countryside chanting, Giuseppe begins to float upward, whereupon Don Raspi — until the end the most violent of Giuseppe’s skeptics, the one who insisted that he was possessed by the devil and performed the climactic exorcism on him — merely reaches out, without breaking stride or ceasing to sing, and takes hold of Giuseppe’s robe to prevent him drifting off … and the procession continues, with Giuseppe tethered like a parade float by Don Raspi’s grip on his robe. (The VHS edition of the film omits this coda, probably in deference to those who, like the Saturday Review critic, failed to appreciate its holy lightheartedness.) One Man’s Dream More important than Giuseppe’s flying, in the film’s schema of values, is the saint’s humble love of obscurity and of animals, both of which mark him as a true son of Francis. Mocked and misused outside the monastery, Giuseppe continues to be misjudged and mistreated by his fellow monastics who lack this true Franciscan spirit, particularly by his chief nemesis Don Raspi and his rival Gobbo. As played by Montalban, Don Raspi is poised, confident, eloquent — everything that Giuseppe is not. He is also, obviously, proud and attached to his dignity, and like many religious antagonists in pious films is offended by the suggestion that someone of Giuseppe’s simplicity and lowliness might be God’s favored vessel. Gobbo, the peevish, vindictive stable hand, hates the smelly, messy barnyard work — so much so that he refuses to believe that Giuseppe is first overjoyed to be assigned to the stables, and then crestfallen when he is ultimately removed from his favored office and the stables reassigned again to Gobbo. In the same way, the prospect of begging makes other faces fall but Giuseppe’s face light up. One man’s dream is another man’s nightmare, and vice versa. Giuseppe’s sanctity is not merely a matter of humility and simplicity, but also of charity, as seen in a key sequence in which, like Brother Juniper in Rossellini’s Flowers — who regularly returns naked from begging, having given away his robe to another beggar — Giuseppe gives what little he has to a nursing mother at the roadside. The Hand of God Until the arrival of Bishop Durso (Akim Tamiroff), the vicar-general of the Franciscan order, Giuseppe’s simplicity and innocence are consistently misunderstood. At first, the prelate’s inspection of the stables looks to be only the latest disaster in Giuseppe’s hapless existence: The disarray that so worried Giuseppe the previous day appears scarcely improved. Worse, Giuseppe is then discovered asleep under a pile of hay — where it turns out he has been caring for two newborn lambs. Then the other shoe drops: Despite his high office, the bishop is not only a true Franciscan, but a peasant son of a farming family who sometimes finds his office as burdensome as Giuseppe would. At once this rustic hierarch sees that he has found the monastery’s most deeply Franciscan soul, while Giuseppe for his part has no idea that he has found a lifelong friend and advocate. Durso is moved to quote Jesus’ retort to the Pharisees and scribes from Luke 15 (“What man of you, having a hundred sheep…”). Luke, of course, is the Gospel of the shepherds, the poor, the outcast, and the pastoral imagery of this passage speaks to Giuseppe in words he can well understand. Luke 15 becomes Giuseppe’s favorite scriptural text, and when at Durso’s direction Giuseppe is forced to study for ordination he learns scarcely anything else. That his examination for the subdiaconate turns out to hinge this very passage could be regarded as a mere Gumpian farcical coincidence — but by the time he returns to be examined for the priesthood, the cat is out of the bag: Giuseppe’s first flight occurs in the interim, and so we see the hand of God at work when it turns out that the candidates for priestly ordination are to be examined by none other than the beloved Bishop Durso. Passive Helplessness Dmytryk typically shoots conversations with Giuseppe in right profile looking left, with his (often hostile) interlocutors — his mockers in the opening scene, his mother, the panel inquiring into reports of Giuseppe’s flying — in left profile facing right. By placing Giuseppe on the right with those speaking to him on the left, Dmytryk suggests Giuseppe’s passiveness as a target of the projections, intentions and actions of others (since there is a preference for left-to-right action in Western cinema, paralleling the direction in which we read). This strategy is most notably utilized during the long exorcism scene, in which Giuseppe, kneeling in silent prayer and fettered to the floor, is shot in right profile looking left with the light of the torches falling full on his face — the picture of passive helplessness — while Don Raspi stands above him in left profile looking right, reciting the words of the ritual with the light behind him casting the whole left side of his face in shadow. Then, when the ritual is over and Don Raspi turns to leave, the schema is dramatically overturned: Giuseppe’s chains fall away as he rises from the floor, and a blazing miraculous light falls full on the face of Don Raspi, dazzling him as he drops to his knees, now in right profile looking left, as helpless as St. Paul knocked off his horse. Vivid details add immediacy to many scenes, from the cat in the window watching the bird Giuseppe releases in the opening sequence to Giuseppe hastily wrapping a morsel of food in his hat and then rolling his hat into his sleeve when called for his subdiaconate interview. Watch also for slow fades used to highlight the emotion of a poignant moment, particularly the lingering transition in which Giuseppe learns of his father’s death. Simplicity and CommunionIn A film in which every supporting player shines, The Reluctant Saint’s funniest moments undoubtedly belong to Lea Padovani as Giuseppe’s formidable mother, a woman who is the terror of every man who knows her, from Giuseppe to her shiftless husband to her brother, the kind-hearted abbott of the monastery (Harold Goldblatt). My favorite scene, though, belongs to Tamiroff as Bishop Durso, who has been wearily nodding while listening to a learned discourse on the Holy Trinity, and slips out into the night to enjoy a low-key chat by a fire with Brother Giuseppe. Giuseppe’s attempt to explain the Trinity may illuminate nothing, but the incident itself is an icon of charity and a moment of grace in the life of an important man great enough to remember how simple he is, with sense enough to crave simplicity and communion above accolades and honors of men. ![]()
When the initial battles in the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered radical.
By the middle of the following year, however, many more colonists had come to favor independence, thanks to growing hostility against Britain and the spread of revolutionary sentiments such as those expressed in the bestselling pamphlet “Common Sense,” published by Thomas Paine in early 1776. On June 7, when the Continental Congress met at the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, the Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a motion calling for the colonies’ independence. Amid heated debate, Congress postponed the vote on Lee’s resolution, but appointed a five-man committee – including Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York – to draft a formal statement justifying the break with Great Britain.
Early Fourth of July Celebrations
In the pre-Revolutionary years, colonists had held annual celebrations of the king’s birthday, which traditionally included the ringing of bells, bonfires, processions and speechmaking. By contrast, during the summer of 1776 some colonists celebrated the birth of independence by holding mock funerals for King George III, as a way of symbolizing the end of the monarchy’s hold on America and the triumph of liberty.
Festivities including concerts, bonfires, parades and the firing of cannons and muskets usually accompanied the first public readings of the Declaration of Independence, beginning immediately after its adoption. Philadelphia held the first annual commemoration of independence on July 4, 1777, while Congress was still occupied with the ongoing war. George Washington issued double rations of rum to all his soldiers to mark the anniversary of independence in 1778, and in 1781, several months before the key American victory at Yorktown, Massachusetts became the first state to make July 4th an official state holiday. After the Revolutionary War, Americans continued to commemorate Independence Day every year, in celebrations that allowed the new nation’s emerging political leaders to address citizens and create a feeling of unity. By the last decade of the 18th century, the two major political parties – the Federalist Party and Democratic-Republicans – that had arisen began holding separate Fourth of July celebrations in many large cities. Fourth of July Becomes a Federal Holiday
The tradition of patriotic celebration became even more widespread after the War of 1812, in which the United States again faced Great Britain. In 1870, the U.S. Congress made July 4th a federal holiday; in 1941, the provision was expanded to grant a paid holiday to all federal employees.
Over the years, the political importance of the holiday would decline, but Independence Day remained an important national holiday and a symbol of patriotism. Falling in mid-summer, the Fourth of July has since the late 19th century become a major focus of leisure activities and a common occasion for family get-togethers, often involving fireworks and outdoor barbecues. The most common symbol of the holiday is the American flag, and a common musical accompaniment is “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States. ![]()
Abuse can take a number of forms—physical, verbal, emotional, psychological, sexual, etc. But any form of abuse is opposed to the ruling principle of God’s kingdom—unselfish love. An abusive person does not know love and does not know God. It’s in the Bible, 1 John 4:7, 8, NKJV. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
The Bible forbids physical or verbal spouse abuse. It’s in the Bible, Colossians 3:19, NIV. “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.” Persons given to verbal abuse reveal their true selves in their words. It’s in the Bible, Proverbs 13:3, NIV. “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.” Violence is a characteristic of the unfaithful. It's in the Bible, Proverbs 13:2, NKJV. "A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, but the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence" We are not to admire violent persons or pattern our lives after them. It's in the Bible, Proverbs 3:31, NIV. "Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways." God forbids incest—one form of sexual abuse. It’s in the Bible, Leviticus 18:6, NIV. “No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations.” Victims of abuse often feel guilty as if they have done something to provoke their abuser or that they somehow deserve the abuse they receive. Abusers are often skillful at making their victims feel responsible. But no one deserves to be abused by another, and abusers are responsible for their own choices and actions. The Bible offers comfort—not guilt—for the victims of abuse. It’s in the Bible, Psalm 91:1-16, NKJV. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. with long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” Eventually abusers will get their due. It's in the Bible, Romans 12:19, NKJV. "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." With God’s protection and blessing, we are safe and can sleep without fear. It’s in the Bible, Proverbs 3:24-26, NKJV. "When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught" Jesus came to the world for abused victims. It's in the Bible, Isaiah 61:1, NKJV. "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound" You are not all alone. It's in the Bible, Hebrews 13:5, NKJV. "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Fatalities from U.S. Wars and Conflicts
American Revolution (1775-1783 )4,435 War of 1812 (1812-1815) 2,260 Mexican War (1846-1848) 13,283 Civil War (1861-1865) 620,000 Spanish-American War (1898-1902) 385 World War I (1917-1918) 116,516 World War II (1941-1945) 405,399 Korean War (1950-1953) 36,574 Vietnam War (1964-1975) 58,220 Gulf War (1990-1991) 383 Afghanistan War (2001-present) 2,381 Iraq War (2003-2012) 4,500 St. George
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Author
Christopher Archives
September 2018
Categories"It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade." Mark 4: 31-32
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