VIRTUE NEWS
Virtue in History: French Louisana
Recommendations for Grownups, Teens, Parents | Posted: Spring, 2024 | Posted By CC Gilmore
Spring is the season that spans between winter and summer, and signifies movement from death to life. This edition of Virtue News focuses on fresh storytelling set in the early days of American Louisiana, at a time in French and American history when entire nations were struggling between death and life.
READ: To Crown With Liberty
Author Karen Ullo
The novel, To Crown With Liberty, by Karen Ullo is a rare treat that grownups and teens can both enjoy. This talented author chooses to create excellence in storytelling and does NOT pollute her pages with eroticism or gory violence. For this reason, refreshingly, the book has mulit-age, cross-generational appeal. This is a story that powerfully depicts heroic virtue within the drama of history.
Enjoy this soul-satisfying story, perhaps with a little Cafe-au-lait and French pastry on the side.
Synopsis from Chrism Press:
"New Orleans, 1795. In the wake of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, Alix de Morainville Carpentier—a former lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette, now married to her gardener—seeks peace and security in the Spanish colony of Louisiana. But her journey into the man-eating swamp called Attakapas reopens the wounds of her old life in France. Alix is forced to reckon with the choices that saved her life at the cost of her honor—and perhaps her soul.
In revolutionary France, the Old World is dying; the quest for liberty, equality, and fraternity has become a nightmare where the price of dissent is blood. In the wilderness of Spanish Louisiana, a new civilization is beginning to emerge—but in this budding New World, the slave trade perpetuates the systems of oppression that sparked the revolution. Caught between old and new, scarred by trauma and grief, will Alix ever find a home where she can truly be free?
To Crown with Liberty is a historical novel based on riveting legends from George Washington Cable’s Strange True Stories of Louisiana (1888)."
To Crown With Liberty by Karen Ullo, from Chrism Press
Praise for To Crown With Liberty:
“In stepping into the pages of To Crown with Liberty the reader steps into revolutionary France and colonial Louisiana. We find ourselves living among those who are fighting for their lives and struggling with conscience-seducing temptation in times of terror. Ultimately, we find ourselves led into the dark on a quest for light and life.”
—Joseph Pearce, author of Catholic Literary Giants
WATCH: The Scarlet Pimpernel and The War of the Vendee
The Scarlet Pimpernel film, based on the novel of the same name by Baroness Emma Orczy, was released in 1935. It portrays a dramatic story of a heroic nobleman in revolutionary France who, through the use of elaborate disguises, saves people from the blade of the guillotine. This story was the inspiration for both of the modern characters: Batman and Zorro. Find out more on IMDB.
The Scarlet Pimpernel, released in 1935 B/W
The War of the Vendee movie, released in 2011
Families are encouraged to watch the film, The War of the Vendee, to see the battle to defend faith and virtue in revolutionary France. This movie, directed by Jim Morlino, is the finest example of a professional film with a cast entirely of children and teens. The story itself is both exciting and inspiring, especially for young primary grade children. They can imagine themselves acting in a powerful movie. They also grow in the desire to follow the example of faith and courage portrayed by role models who are young, like they are. Watch the trailer below. Watch the film on DVD or streaming on Formed.com.
LISTEN: Light Opera and Lightning Bugs
Step into the joyful beauty of a song from the film, Naughty Marietta. This classic operetta follows a princess who escapes from her aristocratic French lifestyle to find true love and adventure in colonial New Orleans, Louisiana. Watch the music video of the French tune, "Chansonette," (meaning: little song) It is a moment in the story where actress/vocalist, Jeanette McDonald, demonstrates her utter joy at sharing her musical talent. Watch the full film on DVD.
"Chansonette" song/scene from the movie, Naughty Marietta.
"Gonna Take You There" with Jim Cummings, featuring Terrance Simien from the Animated movie: The Princess and the Frog
Use the link below to share the song "Gonna Take You There" with children. It's a short but charming visit to the French Cajun Louisiana bayou with an adorable family of lightning bugs who sing and fly with some very entertaining choreography. They lead the two frog characters in the story to find a friend who might help them escape from the evil spell that has trapped them as frogs.
The Princess and the Frog animated movie is based on the original fairy tale made famous by the Brothers Grimm. Enjoy the original story, illustrated by French artist: Walter Crane.
PRAY: The Prayer - Bring Him Home from Les Miserables
This edition of Virtue News wraps up with an invitation to pray. We know that, not unlike the period of the French Revolution, our modern world is engaged in a monumental spiritual battle.
This contemporary battle is being waged through wave upon wave of entertainment and media designed to numb our minds and hearts and to poison the souls of our children.
Listen to the song, Bring Him Home, from the musical, Les Misérables, based on tumultuous times in 19th century France. Reflect as you listen and pray with us, that through God's grace, Our Lord will bring all our children and youth through this gauntlet on a path that ultimately will bring them home...to heaven.
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The Virtue News is a digital publication produced by the Virtue Literacy Project. It is an outreach that helps families grow in Virtue Literacy: the knowledge and practice of virtue through the experience of reading and media. Each edition includes short recommendations for books, movies and music for grownups, teens or children to enjoy.
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The deeper goal of the Virtue News is to assist people of all ages on their journey to grow in habits of heroic virtue. We help energize souls by providing readers exposure to powerful positive role models, experienced through stories. We point readers to see the value of characters in virtue-rich fictional stories, and the power of heroic figures in virtue-packed memoirs and biographies. Plus, we help readers appreciate the heroic efforts of the creative authors and film-makers who bring those stories to us.
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