Instant Download Catholic films, Lives of the Saints and English Martyrs

This week Mary's Dowry Productions has been organizing many of our Catholic films for Instant Digital Download so as to be enjoyed on all digital devices such as iPhones, iPads and laptops, Smart TVs etc...

With the option to NOW rent or purchase any of our Catholic films, this service is being made available through the safe, secure, high-quality and reliable service 'Vimeo' with a direct link on our website here: INSTANT DOWNLOAD

Films such as Saint John Fisher, Saint Dominic Savio, Saint Julian of Norwich and Our Lady of Walsingham are available NOW to rent or buy and stream instantly. We will be adding more over the next few months and hope to have all of our films available for people who enjoy streaming Catholic content on digital devices.

We will also be 'show-casing' certain productions through this media. Trailers are available to view for each of our films in Instant Download so take a look today and check back for more films as they are made available.

Screenshots from our upcoming film about John Henry Newman

Last week Mary's Dowry Productions went out with a parishioner of ours, who was extremely keen and excited, and filmed some inspiring footage recreating Blessed John Henry Newman in prayer, reading, writing and contemplation later in his life for our upcoming film about John Henry Newman.

This week on Monday 22nd July we hope to set off our again and capture similar imagery portraying Blessed Dominic Barberi, the Passionist priest who received John Henry Newman into the Church.

I am busily sewing a Passionist badge onto a cape we used for our film about Saint Gemma Galgani. We are fortunate to have a First Class Relic of Blessed Dominic Barberi for Mary's Dowry Productions DVD apostolate and have been keen to produce a film about his life because he is so closely linked to England, the conversion of England and England as Our Lady's Dowry.

Our film about Dominic Barberi will look at his life and connection to Newman and to England and Our Lady's Dowry. If you were to mention Blessed Dominic Barberi to most people in England they wouldn't have heard of him. But Cardinal Bourne of Westminster said of Dominic Barberi:

"Of all the preachers of the Divine Word who have worked for the salvation of England, there is no one in our opinion to whom we are more indebted than the Servant of God, Dominic of the Mother of God. I should consider myself happy if I had the power and right to dedicate this whole Diocese to his care and protection and be allowed to honour him as our Patron and Protector in England."

These are powerful words from Cardinal Bourne and very interesting. Who was Blessed Dominic and why is he so very important for England and indeed the Church? We are looking forward to making our film about him available in August (hopefully) alongside our film about Blessed John Henry Newman to make people aware of his importance, indeed of both men's great importance for England, as we walk towards the canonization of Newman in October.

Recreating moments from the lives of the Saints is one of the most exciting aspects of Mary's Dowry Productions. Even though we work on the tiniest budgets (our budget for our film about John Henry Newman was £50 and our 'actors' portray our Saints out of the goodness of their hearts) we are always thrilled with the finished result.

There is something very beautiful, that lifts the mind and the soul, watching the image of a Saint walking besides an old church, praying their rosary, sitting reading, writing their famous and important works or letters or prayers or simply sitting contemplating God in peace.

We are very pleased with how our portrayals of Blessed John Henry Newman for our film turned out and look forward to filming for Blessed Dominic Barberi too.

We will be making our films available in individual DVDs and also in a special two volume DVD box set especially to celebrate Blessed John Henry Newman's canonization in October 2019.

Meanwhile we will keep our blog readers up to date with progress and new Catholic film releases, sharing the lives of the Saints and English Martyrs through the new media.

Mary's Dowry Productions is a Catholic film apostolate founded in 2007.

All of our films are produced in our spare time.

We are a tiny staff of volunteers, parishioners, friends and family on the south coast of England who are inspired by the lives of the Saints and English Martyrs.

Several of our films are available to watch on Mary's Dowry YouTube channel!

We make our films available on DVD and all sales go towards funding films, materials and future projects.

Take a look at our website here:

www.marysdowryproductions.org

Filming for Saint John Henry Newman, NEW DVD - filming morning, Blessed Dominic Barberi

This morning Mary's Dowry Productions spent a few hours out on location at Clapham Woods in Sussex filming footage to represent the latter years in the life of our future Saint John Henry Newman who will be canonized this coming October (2019).

With us on our filming trip came a very special First Class Relic of Blessed Dominic Barberi, the Passionist who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church. We have a particular love for this Blessed who is specially linked to England. Filming for an accompanying DVD about him will begin next week.

We like to take one of our relics along with us on filming days and thought this was especially nice because we were filming visuals for our DVD about John Henry Newman and we hope he was pleased.

The location we chose was local to us with a lovely old church and graveyard and close to some pretty woodland walks. We wanted to represent Newman in his latter years throughout our film as we present a biography of him that will be easy to digest in the usual Mary's Dowry Productions film-making style: devotional, informative and clear.

Our 'actor' is a parishioner we have known for over twenty five years, an enthusiast for the lives of the Saints and for Mary's Dowry Productions. He is a devout man and looked perfect for the role. He spent the morning reading, writing, walking, praying his rosary and giving us a wonderful representation of John Henry Newman for us to use in our upcoming film.

We also captured a nice selection of scenery in the wild walks of Clapham wood. While filming John Henry Newman walking along a path a large red deer walked into the shot and stood for a while with our actor. We're looking forward to seeing how that turns out - we couldn't have planned it!

This week we will be capturing the footage onto our editing computer, writing the narration and will send off the selected quotes for one of our voice actors to record at the BBC for us. This will be merged with our biographical narration over the acquired footage, original photographs and paintings and scenery to make available a new Catholic film resource on this great NEW Saint of England!

Coming soon from Mary's Dowry Productions.

John Henry Newman and the English Martyrs, Mary's Dowry Productions, new film coming soon

This month, July 2019, Mary's Dowry Productions hopes to begin production on a NEW film about John Henry Newman in preparation for his Canonization this October.

The DVD will present an introduction to his life with a variety of quotes from his writings in the usual Mary's Dowry Productions film making style.

We will be filming visuals of John Henry Newman within the next few weeks, out on location, looking to present him in his later years, with reflections upon key moments of his important life.

The DVD will be made available this August 2019 from Mary's Dowry Productions online shop, also on our YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, here is our YouTube video produced 10 years ago showing John Henry Newman's thoughts about our great English Martyrs:

Saint Frideswide of Oxford - a new film available this month from Mary's Dowry Productions, July 2019

This month we have been working on a new film about Saint Frideswide of Oxford which will be released in July 2019.

Saint Frideswide (c. 650 – 19 October 727) also known as Frideswith, Fritheswithe, Frevisse, or simply Fris, was an English princess and Catholic abbess. She is one of our early British Saints with an uplifting and inspiring life that reflects upon the Catholic Sacraments, monastic life and virtue.

For this DVD Mary's Dowry Productions filmed visuals of Saint Frideswide in the poppy fields of Sompting village, West Sussex.

Mention is made of Saint Frideswide's love of the psalms and playing the harp. This was something we recreated for the film.

We touch upon Saint Frideswide's battles with the devil especially in the war for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls. We look at her most famous battle with him as he stirred up the illicit desires of the Mercian king Algar who was determined to abduct Saint Fridewide from her nunnery and make her his bride.

We also look at the history of Saint Fridewide's priory following her holy death; the desecration of her relics specifically by the Calvinist James Calfhill and the recent reconstruction of her shrine in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

Saint Frideswide will be available on DVD from our online shop and website 'Mary's Dowry Productions' this July 2019.

This month we will also begin production on a NEW DVD about John Henry Newman, specifically for an introduction on his life. More information coming soon.