Our guest today is the fictional don Camillo Tarocci, (+ A.D. … ?) parish priest of "The Little World" created by Giovanni Guareschi.
I begin a new project, namely, to read stories from The Little World of Don Camillo. These delightful pieces set in post-war Nothern Italy blend brilliant insight into the human condition with solid applied Catholic Faith. Today we hear three tales:
The Little World
A Confession
A Baptism.
Then I tackle some of your voicemail.
A listener askes advice on what arguments people might present to a pastor of a parish to obtain celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass according to Summorum Pontificum. I give three possible points.
Another fellow asked about the whole "pro multis" issue and I give a fairly detail response, though not exhaustine. For that you need the articles I wrote for The Wanderer and which are here on the blog.
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http://www.wdtprs.com/podcazt/08_07_25.mp3The iTunes feed is working again… mysteriously. Check it out!
Some of the last offerings (check out the PODCAzT PAGE):
065 08-07-19 St. Ambrose “On mysteries”; Interview: Fr. Robert Pasley
064 08-07-15 Bonaventure on Christ “the door”; Interview – Fr. Timothy Finigan
063 08-07-12 Interview: Fr. Justin Nolan, FSSP; consecrated hands, Holy Communion and the Rite of Baptism
062 08-06-26 Interviews with and by Fr. Z; What has Bp. Fellay really said?
061 08-05-17 Pope Leo I on a post-Pentecost weekday; Fr. Z rambles not quite aimlessly for a while
060 08-05-16 Pentecost customs; St. Ambrose on the dew of the Holy Spirit
059 08-05-15 Leo the Great on Pentecost fasting; Benedict XVI’s sermon for Pentecost Sunday
058 08-05-14 Ember Days; Chrysostom on St. Matthias; Prayer to the Holy Spirit
057 08-05-13 John Paul II on the unforgivable sin; Our Lady of Fatima and the vision of Hell
056 08-05-12 Octaves – Fr. Z rants & Augustine on Pentecost
055 08-05-03 Tertullian, again; Fr. Rutler and Fr. Z on Archbp. Marini’s book
054 08-04-29 Pro-Abortion Politicians and Communion; St. Ambrose and Emperor Theodosius
Hello, Father. I hope that you enjoy the Don Camillo stories as much as I do. I started to read them when I was about 10, and they were a significant factor in the beginnings of my move toward the Catholic Church and to ordination. In my apostolate with street-children in Colombia I always try to bear in mind these words from ‘Don Camillo and the Prodigal Son’:
“Christian charity doesn’t mean giving the crumbs from your table to the poor; it means dividing with them something that you need yourself. When Saint Martin divided his cloak with a beggar, that was Christian charity. And even when you share your last crust of bread with a beggar, you mustn’t behave as if you were throwing a bone to a dog. You must give humbly, and thank him for allowing you to have a part in his hunger.”
This story is, in all seriousness, adorable!
Wonderful! Thank you!
Thank you for reminding me how much I love Don Camillo! It’s a crime that the books aren’t in every public library.
And I have to say, it does gain something from being read by a priest…. :)
I read Don Camillo in junior high, and I loved those books.
It’s a shame Guareschi died so young. [He lives in his books. He wrote in his forward to Il piccolo mondo, “I refuse to die, even if they kill me”. – Fr. Z]
Father, those stories are simply delightful.
And is it just me, or does the cartoon of Don Camillo on the cover look a little like your picture?
Thom: I think it might just be you! o{]:¬)
Thom: LOL! Actually, I think I see a bit of our esteemed host’s mix of frankness of personality, humor and holiness in the good Don. :-)
Father: I really enjoyed this PODCAzT. You read very well. I listened to it this a.m. as I had breakfast and prepared for Mass. Thank you for your efforts.
If I may introduce a discordant note [Like a serpent, as don Camillo would put it.] into the literary love-in, I remember that when I read the Don Camillo books what always used to get me was this. Camillo regularly goes into his church and speaks. . . not to the Blessed Sacrament, as one might expect, but to a large crucifix. Which is alleged to speak to him.
I LOVE DON CAMILLO! I read them in my early teenage years and then again
once I started serving the Extraordinary form. It is so much funnier in this
context.
I look forward to further posts. I have forwarded to friends who have had a
deprived childhood without Don Camillo.
Thank you! This made my chores so much easier!
Question from the “serpent”: But what do you (or others) say about my actual point, dear Fr Z? I always felt it was the Blessed Sacrament he should be talking to. [I think you are blowing this up out of proportion. – Fr. Z]
…holding conversations with.
I played this for my three oldest boys (13, 11 and 7), and they LOVED hearing the stories. They wanted
to hear more and I told them that Father Z was planning to continue. Boy were they thrilled and we’re all
looking forward to the next installment! Thanks Father Z!
I have just discovered these wonderful stories.
I, too, talk to a statue of Christ rather than the Blessed Sacrament which is
in a side chapel. I believe it is because I am culturally conditioned to
respond to a “human shape.” Maybe it’s just enough that I’m not embarassed to
talk to statues at all?
Thank you Fr. Z for introducing me and my family to these wonderful stories. They are a delight! We give up television for lent so we spent one Sunday afternoon listening to your podcast reading Don Camillo. It was wonderful. I have since bought a used paperback edition from Amazon. I spent last night reading a chapter to my daughter before she went to bed. We were both giggling our heads off! Thank you again. i think we may give a copy to our Msg. for his birthday.