K.M. Lucchese - Folk Like Me: The Read-Aloud Book of Saints

Copyright 2008 by Kathryn M. Lucchese

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Morehouse Publishing, 4775 Linglestown Road, Harrisburg, PA 17105

Morehouse Publishing, 445 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.

Cover art and interior illustrations: Cathy Rylander

Cover design: Laurie Klein Westhafer

Interior design by Beth Oberholtzer

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lucchese, K. M.

Folk like me : the read-aloud book of Saints / by K. M. Lucchese ; illustrations by Cathy Rylander.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8192-2289-3 (pbk.)

1. Christian saints. I. Rylander, Cathy. II. Title.

BR1710.L83 2008

270.0922dc22

[B]

2008009245

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

James P. Spencer, 19322000

Once upon a time, there was a scientist who wore red socks. He was nearly deaf because he had stood too close to too many guns in the Navy. He liked hard candy, astronomy, Mickey Mouse, and Christmas. He wanted to teach and serve the little folks, and so he and his family and friends started a school.

Cruelty he did not tolerate, nor a lack of due order. He took prayer awfully seriously, but himself, rarely. He loved and served the Lord, and the Lord sent him the mighty and glorious Archangel Michael to shield him and his little flock, and to name his new school after.

At the scientists school, each year brought new sheep to the flock. Some were sheep that did not know their masters voice, sheep who had been fed on slim pickings and thin air. But there were others already dear to the shepherd, who came sweetly and eagerly, knowing that the finest fodder was only to be reached in the highest and deepest places.

And though the scientist left them and walked among the spires and gardens of Paradise, his flock meanwhile grew tall and broad, and its united members resisted the powers of evil as best they could, clinging to that which is good and walking before the Lord in holiness and righteousness, all their days.

K. M. Lucchese

To my best beloved student Jonathan,
who taught me more than ever I taught him.
Jonathan Aurand 19832004
Cathy Rylander

The week-by-week format of this book might make finding your favorite saint a laborious process, especially if you cannot recall her or his saints day. Please make frequent use of the two indices at the end of the book: one index lists the saints all in alphabetical order and then directs you to his or her specific date and thus their book location, and the other indexif even the saints name escapes youreminds you of the name by some memorable characteristic, like the fact that he was French and walked around with his head cut off (Saint Denis).

Do also recall that there are two sequential years of listings, so that people like me, who cannot remember which saint they told about in, say, October Week Two of Year One, can at least be certain that it was from last year and will be quite safe, by choosing one from October Week Two of Year Two, for example, from repeating themselves too often. Also note that each story begins with the saints name, dates of birth and death (sometimes approximate), what their primary job was, and their feast day, that is, the day on which a mass might be celebrated in their honor; usually the date of their death, but often placed over an existing pagan holiday.

These stories arose from a weekly saint story told in chapel every Friday at the Episcopal day school where I have taught for the past twenty years or so. They began with Saint Nicholas and Saint Lucy, then Saint Valentine, Saint Brendan and Saint Francis were added, until, for the past three years, there have been nearly weekly saints. The age range in our daily chapel is very broad: from Kindergarteners just barely able to sit through morning prayers to hardened Upper Schoolers, and in choosing which stories to tell I had to consider that some stories were too gory for the younger children or too sappy for the elder. The most successful stories were those with a core theme, or anything to do with animals, and upon the basic facts of each story I freely extemporized.

This book is a primer for children, and it is meant to be read aloud, ideally once a week in a school chapel, Sacred Studies or Sunday School setting, with as much feeling and emphasis as is possible. Although the most violent and disturbing aspects of the lives of the saints are for that reason left out or somehow softened, it is of course impossible and unwise to remove all sadness and brutality. After all, most saints sacrificed their worldly hopes on the altar of service and faith, hopes that often included good health and a family life, material wealth and physical security.

Children will always need to know that there is happiness beyond material wealth and in spite of poor health, that goodness is more important than beauty, and that beauty can be found in unexpected places but most children know this already, and can easily spot the saint in a crowd! What they need is the fuel to keep that childhood gift burning, the light to keep that inward eye seeing, all their lives. Children want to be good, they want to be heroes and saints. As Lesbia Scott put it in our top favorite hymn (and the source of this books title and subtitles) at Saint Michaels, They were all of them saints of God, and I mean, God helping, to be one, too. Children need true stories of daring, kindly people, as well as a permanent stock of improbablebut well-attestedmiracles to keep their minds open to mystery. I only hope that this little book will help to do that for them.