W.H. Auden
W. H. Auden was only a few years older than I am now when in my early 20s he seemed to me half as old as time.
W. H. Auden was only a few years older than I am now when in my early 20s he seemed to me half as old as time.
If ever a tiny child began life with nothing in his favor it was Joseph of Cupertino; he had only one hopeful and saving quality that he knew it.
In preparing America's Bishop: The Life and Times of Fulton J. Sheen I discovered a brilliant, charismatic, and holy man who has been underestimated by historians, largely overlooked by the contemporary mass media, and forgotten by too many Catholics. Indeed, I came to the conclusion that Fulton J. Sheen was the most important Catholic of twentieth century America.
Strange to say, I cannot remember our first meeting, which was in 1980 when I was studying in Rome.
Fr. Thomas Cook of the Diocese of Winona, MN, got an early start discerning his vocation.
High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword hilt.
His legs imparted security as I leaned my little body into them. My babble continued, fired by desire to entrust to my beloved daddy all the secrets a three-year-old heart could hold. When finished, silence pervaded the darkening shadows. He sat there, fingering his rosary and gazing out at the evenings first stars. Even at that tender age, I knew my father wasnt always present to this world.
Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant's garden.