Saint Alexander Briant, English Martyr, executed with St. Edmund Campion, 1st December

COMING SOON a new film on the life of St. Alexander Briant, one of our heroic English Martyrs. St. Alexander Briant was only 25 when he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn after having to witness his friends Fr. Edmund Campion and Fr. Ralph Sherwin brutally executed before him. He had suffered greatly in the Tower of London, enduring the thumbscrews, iron spikes thrust under his nails, ‘The Scavenger’s Daughter’ and the infamous ‘Rack’ several times, but he had remained calm and had even laughed at his tormentors saying “Is this all you can do?” St. Alexander Briant is here presented in a new film using specially recreated moments of his life, combined with sacred art, historical images, narration, and more for an encounter with this heroic Catholic priest. COMING SOON.

Meanwhile, check out our two DVDs on St. Edmund Campion: Saint Edmund Campion: a Hero Returns (1 hour) is available exclusively from our online shop and God’s Champion: St. Edmund Campion (30 minutes) is available from Amazon COM and Amazon UK.

St. Thomas More DVD, Tudor figure, Catholic Saint, Wolf's Hall, High Chancellor, Catholic

Saint Thomas More film, Saint Thomas More DVD.

 

Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), was the Chancellor of England, a Tudor figure in English history and is venerated by Catholics as Saint Thomas More. Saint Thomas More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.

Saint Thomas More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. He also wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about the political system of an imaginary ideal island nation. Saint Thomas More opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded.

Saint Thomas More with Cardinal Wolsey
© 2012 Mary's Dowry Productions
Screenshot from 'Saint Thomas More'

Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians."

He is often portrayed in secular entertainment, such as 'Wolf's Hall' by Hilary Mantel, as a villain since England bears the fruit of the protestant rejection of Catholic faith, morals and understanding.

In 2012 Mary's Dowry Productions filmed over a few days scenes from the lives of Saint Thomas More and Saint John Fisher. Our film about Saint Thomas More runs for one hour and covers his whole life, beginning with his life as a child.

Saint Thomas More reading to his family in Chelsea
© Mary's Dowry Productions 2012
Screenshot from 'Saint Thomas More'

Our visuals and portrayals run beneath a narrative using Saint Thomas More's own words, with an original soundtrack composed for the film that is contemplative and atmospheric. While the film is full of historical facts, information, writings and more, it is first and foremost a spiritual encounter with Saint Thomas More and should be watched prayerfully.

Saint Thomas More spends his time in prayer in the Tower of London
© Mary's Dowry Productions 2012
Screenshot from 'St. Thomas More'

In secular media, Saint Thomas More is often portrayed as a villain by writers and television producers who do not understand history or the Catholic Faith. This is the fruit of the reformation during Saint Thomas More's own day. Our film is from a Catholic perspective and is historically factual and detailed.

From the Guardian - an article regarding secular thought on Saint Thomas More:
Author Hilary Mantel’s 2009 story of political intrigue in the court of Henry VIII in Wolf's Hall has already persuaded hundreds of thousands of readers that Thomas Cromwell, played by Mark Rylance, was an admirably modern man and not simply a grim political fixer for a self-indulgent king. But the actor Anton Lesser appears in the role of Sir Thomas More in the new BBC2 series, he will also be taking up arms in a second long-running battle for the public image of a famous man. And unlike Cromwell, More was not only a key political figure in England’s history: for many he remains a revered saint.

Thomas More (1478-1535), lawyer and moral philosopher, is still regarded by many Catholics as the quintessential good man. He has been held up to schoolchildren for centuries as the most significant English defender of the true Catholic faith. Mantel’s portrait, however, is of a torturer of heretics with a penchant for self-punishment and a misogynist to boot.

Always concerned for the souls of those around him, Saint Thomas
More shows King Henry VIII proofs from history and scripture against
the King's desires to annul his lawful marriage.
© 2012 Mary's Dowry Productions
Screenshot from 'St. Thomas More'

The Catholic writer Peter Stanford suspects that many Catholics, lapsed or otherwise, will be dismayed when Mantel’s well-researched yet passionately argued slant on the merits of Cromwell versus More reaches a wider TV audience. “As a child I was told that More was a very clever man who defended the pope against a parvenu king and who would not let him fiddle around with the eternal truths so that he could have his way with another woman,” he said. “He is still revered, often alongside John Fisher, the bishop and martyr, who was beheaded by Henry VIII in the same year as More. He is important as a defender of the faith, even though we are not persecuted any more in this country. Wolf Hall is going to be hard for some people to watch because there are lots of churches named after More and several of the old recusant stately homes have relics. They frequently have part of Mary Queen of Scots’ rosary, a bit of the stick that John Fisher used to stagger up to the gallows on and something claimed to have been written by More.”

Saint Thomas More with Erasmus, two great minds of Tudor England
Screenshot from 'St. Thomas More'
© Mary's Dowry Productions 2012

Hilary Mantel, who received a Catholic education at a convent school, uproots More and places Cromwell, the king’s chief adviser, much closer to the moral core of her story – although he is rendered as complex and enigmatic. More, in contrast, cuts a dry and uncompromising figure. “Mantel may portray Thomas More as a callous religious obsessive, but for us growing up he was the exact opposite,” said Stanford. The biographer of Lord Longford adds that a religious education is such a powerful tool that many with a Catholic background will, like him, never have questioned More’s saintly status. - Taken from an online article by Vanessa Thorpe.

Saint Thomas More's daughter, Margaret Roper, tries to
see her father one last time as he is led from Westminster to
the Tower of London, a condemned man
© 2012 Mary's Dowry Productions
Screenshot from 'St. Thomas More' DVD

Our film about Saint Thomas More is taken from his own historical writings and the documents of his day. In a spirit of meditation and prayer, our film offers the viewer a source of reflection and spiritual insight into the life, writings and spirit of Saint Thomas More, a man who so loved God and those around him that he was revered even abroad. His life and example has stood the test of time and will continue to give light and hope in the darkness of difficult days.

Saint Thomas More calmly fixes his blindfold as he kneels before the block
© Mary's Dowry Productions 2012
Screenshot from 'St. Thomas More'

 

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this inspiring Tudor Saint.

 

Saint Thomas More is available on DVD through

www.marysdowryproductions.org

We ship worldwide and region free

 

St. Simon Stock, DVD about England and the Brown Scapular, Carmelite Saint, Englishman, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Popes

 Saint Simon Stock, an Englishman who lived in the 13th century, was an early prior general of the Carmelite religious order. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and gave him the Carmelite habit, the Brown Scapular. Thus, popular devotion to Saint Simon Stock is usually associated with devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

 

In this film, Pope's and Saints recommend wearing the Brown Scapular as a sacramental filled with graces to assist us on life's journey. Beautiful uplifting and contemplative original music draws our spiritual senses into a prayerful encounter with one of our early and important Catholic Saints.

 

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this inspiring Carmelite Saint.

 

Saint Simon Stock and the Brown Scapular is available on DVD worldwide, all region formats through Mary's Dowry Productions

www.marysdowryproductions.org

Saint Benedict. New film from Mary's Dowry Productions. saint Benedict of Nursia, Benedictines, DVD

On the occasion of the dedication of the rebuilt monastery of Monte Cassino in 1964, Pope Paul VI proclaimed St. Benedict the principal, heavenly patron of the whole of Europe. The title piously exaggerates the place of Benedict but in many respects it is true. St. Benedict did not establish the monastery of Monte Cassino in order to preserve the learning of the ages, but in fact the monasteries that later followed his Rule were places where learning and manuscripts were preserved. For some six centuries or more the Christian culture of medieval Europe was nearly identical with the monastic centres of piety and learning. Saint Benedict became a monk as a young man and thereafter learned the tradition by associating with monks and reading the monastic literature. He was caught up in the monastic movement but ended by channelling the stream into new and fruitful ways. This is evident in the Rule which he wrote for monasteries and which was and is still used in many monasteries and convents around the world (see Rule of Benedict).
 St. Benedict lived from 480 to 547.  His biographer, St. Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 604, does not record the dates of his birth and death, though he refers to a Rule written by Benedict.
Saint Gregory wrote about St. Benedict in his Second Book of Dialogues, but his account of the life and miracles of Benedict cannot be regarded as a biography in the modern sense of the term. Gregory's purpose in writing Benedict's life was to edify and to inspire, not to seek out the particulars of his daily life. Gregory sought to show that saints of God, particularly St. Benedict, were still operative in the Christian Church in spite of all the political and religious chaos present in the realm.
According to Gregory's Dialogues Benedict was born in Nursia, a village high in the mountains northeast of Rome. His parents sent him to Rome for classical studies but he found the life of the eternal city too degenerate for his tastes. Consequently he fled to a place southeast of Rome called Subiaco where he lived as a hermit for three years tended by the monk Romanus.
The hermit, Benedict, was then discovered by a group of monks who prevailed upon him to become their spiritual leader. His regime soon became too much for the lukewarm monks so they plotted to poison him. Gregory recounts the tale of Benedict's rescue; when he blessed the pitcher of poisoned wine, it broke into many pieces. Thereafter he left the undisciplined monks.
Benedict left the wayward monks and established twelve monasteries with twelve monks each in the area south of Rome. Later, perhaps in 529, he moved to Monte Cassino, about eighty miles southeast of Rome; there he destroyed the pagan temple dedicated to Apollo and built his premier monastery. It was there too that he wrote the Rule for the monastery of Monte Cassino though he envisioned that it could be used elsewhere.
The thirty-eight short chapters of the Second Book of Dialogues contain accounts of Benedict's life and miracles. Some chapters recount his ability to read other persons' minds; other chapters tell of his miraculous works, e.g., making water flow from rocks, sending a disciple to walk on the water, making oil continue to flow from a flask.
Benedict is viewed as a monastic leader. The Rule is the sole known example of Benedict's writing, but it manifests his genius to crystallize the best of the monastic tradition and to pass it on to the European West.

Gregory presents Benedict as the model of a saint who flees temptation to pursue a life of attention to God. Through a balanced pattern of living and praying Benedict reached the point where he glimpsed the glory of God. Gregory recounts a vision that Benedict received toward the end of his life: In the dead of night he suddenly beheld a flood of light shining down from above more brilliant than the sun, and with it every trace of darkness cleared away. According to his own description, the whole world was gathered up before his eyes "in what appeared to be a single ray of light" (ch. 34). St. Benedict, the monk par excellence, led a monastic life that reached the vision of God.

From The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia (A Michael Glazier Book), Liturgical Press (1995) 78-79.

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this inspiring early Saint.

Saint Benedict of Nursia is available on DVD worldwide, all region formats:
www.marysdowryproductions.org

 

 

Saint Clare of Assisi. New film from Mary's Dowry Productions, Saint Clare, Saint Francis, Poor Clares, DVD

 A fresh and detailed account of the life of Saint Clare of Assisi in a simply yet hightly informative film capturing Saint Clare's life in 13th Century Italy as well as her Franciscan spirituality.
Available on DVD through www.marysdowryproductions.org/shop/

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this inspiring Saint.

St. Francis of Assisi. A new film from Mary's Dowry Productions. Saint Francis, Seraphic, Catholic Saint

A film about Saint Francis of Assisi.


This is a half an hour film that takes a prayerful and spiritual look at Saint Francis of Assisi.

The film was produced in 2011 on a very small budget.
It has Saint Francis tells us his own journey in a format that is a perfect introduction to the Saint but also a quiet and personal encounter.
Like all of our films, Saint Francis was made as an introduction.
Our inspiration for making these films was ignited in 2007 after college degrees in music for film and media and a desire to share the lives of the Saints with others, especially the youth using this powerful means.
Gentle, informative yet prayerful and spiritual, the films of Mary's Dowry Productions use very simple visuals, sacred art, nature and music to offer a unique way of learning about a Saint.
Although our target audience is mainly young people, so many people have enjoyed this way of spending half an hour with the Saints. 

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this inspiring Catholic Saint.
Recommended by many third order Franciscan groups with very good feedback our film is available through www.marysdowryproductions.org/shop/

Ships worldwide.

Blessed Francisco Marto, DVD, Blessed Francisco, Fatima seer, Hidden Jesus, Portugal

 Blessed Francisco's inspiring example is presented prayerfully and contemplatively with original beautiful music and narration.


Blessed Francisco was born 11 June 1908, the sixth of seven children of Manuel and Olimpia Marto. He was a handsome boy, with light hair and dark eyes. He loved games and other children, yet without the spirit of competition. He would not complain when treated unfairly, and gave up a treasured possession (a handkerchief stamped with the image of Our Lady) rather than contend for it. He was a peacemaker, but courageous, as his conduct under questioning by the Mayor would later show. He also had a mischievous turn. He was known to drop strange and inedible objects in his sleeping brother’s mouth. He had a love for nature, and animals in particular. He played with lizards and snakes, and would bring them home, to his mother’s chagrin. Once he gave a penny, all the money he had, to a friend for a captured bird, only to set the bird free. He played a reed pipe, to which Lucia and his sister Jacinta would sing and dance. In short, he was a kind, gentle boy, not yet a Saint, but one predisposed by God for the graces soon bestowed on him.
Alone among the three, Francisco never heard the Lady’s words, although he saw her and felt her presence. After the first apparition, Lucia conveyed the Lady’s message to him, that he would go to heaven if he prayed many Rosaries. In the second apparition, Lucia asked to be taken to heaven, and the Lady replied that Francisco and Jacinta would be taken soon, but Lucia would have to wait for a time. (She is still alive.)
In the third apparition, the children were given a secret, including a vision of hell, which so changed them that they became more like adults than children. At this time the Mayor of the district, Artur de Oliveira Santos, a Freemason, devised a scheme to discredit the apparitions by terrorizing the children. He tried to bully them into admitting they lied, threatened to boil them in oil if they withheld the Lady’s “Secret” (Francisco showed extravagant courage in anticipation of going to heaven), and jailed them to keep them from their appointment with the Lady on the day of the fourth apparition (August 13). They kept their appointment two days later.
For the fifth apparition, tens of thousands attended, having been alerted by the press to the Mayor’s controversy with the children. Among the curious was a seminary professor from Santarem, Dr. Manuel Formigao, who questioned the children afterward and became convinced of their veracity.
When the public learned of a miracle promised for the next appointed day, many resolved to be there, and on October 13 perhaps 70 thousand people were present for the miracle of the sun.
After the apparitions ended, Francisco was enrolled in school but played truant as often as possible. He preferred to spend time praying to the “Hidden Jesus” in the Tabernacle. His great concern was to console His sorrowing Lord and the Heart of His Mother. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Francisco answered, "I don't want to be anything. I want to die and go to heaven."
In August 1918, when World War I was nearing an end, Francisco and Jacinta both contracted influenza. They had short reprieves, but their decline was inevitable.
In April of the following year, Francisco, knowing his time was short, asked to receive the Hidden Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion. The next morning, April 4th, at ten o’clock, he died with a glow on his shrunken face. He was buried the next day in a little cemetery in Fatima, across from the parish church, and later translated to the Sanctuary at Cova da Iria. (Source - EWTN)
 

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this important Blessed.

This 30 minute documentary is presented on DVD and has been shown on EWTN.

Available through our online shop:

www.marysdowryproductions.org

Saint Swithun Wells new film, English Martyr, English Saint, Elizabethan, safe house, DVD, Mary's Dowry Productions

Longing to share the Catholic faith with his friends during a very troubled time in Elizabethan England, Saint Swithun built a secret room in his house where the outlawed Catholic Mass could be celebrated. When it was eventually discovered, Saint Swithun Wells gave a beautiful witness to love and fellowship even in the face of hostility.

Our film about Saint Swithun Wells - the Secret Mass Room is available on DVD.

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this inspiring Elizabethan Saint.

www.marysdowryproductions.org

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Film, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Catholic Saint, DVD

 Saint Kateri Tekakwitha lived a heroic life of virtue and love, dying when she was 24 years old and leaving us a beautiful account of her kindness, devotion and love of her fellow man.
Mary's Dowry Productions produced a film giving a contemplative and spiritual account of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha's life and devotions in 2010/2011. 

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates stunning silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this inspiring Catholic Saint.

The film is available on DVD through www.marysdowryproductions.org/shop/

New film Saint Francis of Assisi from Mary's Dowry Productions, Saint Francis, Francis of Assisi, DVD

AVAILABLE ON DVD WORLDWIDE

SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI BY MARY'S DOWRY PRODUCTIONS

He was "the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation." (- Pope Francis).

In this film we look at the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, probably the most popular Saint in the Catholic Church. He was an Italian Roman Catholic friar, deacon and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land and remains one of the most venerated religious figures in history, not because of his achievements but because of his life and message of simplicity, love and peace as well as his profound love for the Church, the Passion of Christ and his great example of prayer.

We journey with Saint Francis through his whole life including his conversion, his miracles, prayers, devotions and his legacy which is especially relevant today.

In 2007 Mary’s Dowry productions created a new form of film media to present the lives of the saints. Mary’s Dowry Productions recreates silent visuals, informative, devotional narration, and original contemplative music that touches your spirit to draw you into a spiritual encounter with the saint. Watch with your spiritual eye, listen with your spiritual ear. Our films seek to offer a window into the lives of our saints. Using your spiritual senses we invite you to shut out the world, sit prayerfully and peacefully and go on a journey of faith, history and prayer with this Holy Saint and Founder.

Length and Format:

The film runs for 45 minutes and is available on Region Free DVD worldwide..

Available on DVD worldwide through www.marysdowryproductions.org