St Margaret Clitherow was martyred on 25 March 1586 for the "crime" of harbouring priests. She refused to enter a plea for fear that her children and servants would be forced to give evidence against her. The penalty in such a case was to be pressed to death. She was laid on the floor, a sharp stone was placed under her back, a door was put on top of her and weights put on the door. She took fifteen minutes to die. Her last words were "Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! have mercy on me!"
Mary's Dowry Productions have issued the following trailer for their forthcoming DVD about St Margaret Clitherow:
6 comments:
A particularly gruesome wrinkle in common-law criminal adjudications, that. She was right, of course: if she had been convicted the crown would have seized her family's property and leveled various disabilities against her family. But the right to enter a plea wasn't waivable, so the consequences of conviction couldn't follow if you refused to plead: they simply pressed you instead.
The words at the beginning of the video had me thinking: would I be able to give my life for my Faith? I honestly don't know. I hope so but I don't really know. Pray God I not be put to the test lest I fail.
The DVD though looks a bit amateurish - the obviously new clothes, the stagey, super clean, setting and would the door which pressed her have looked like my bedroom door?
I'm glad to see something done to make St. Margaret's story better known. However, like so many well-intentioned Christian films, it appears that the production values don't rise above the amateur level. Sets generally look like they were built yesterday. Costumes look like average-quality Renaissance Fair garb. Lighting is flat and undramatic. Haircuts are mostly modern.
Unless the writing is dynamite, this DVD will have a small audience among devout Catholics, and very little impact beyond. Sad.
I'm sorry to sound so negative, but today's audiences expect more if they're to give us their attention. If we want to reach them, we have to produce films that will grab them and hold them long enough to hear our message -- and for starters, that demands arresting, authentic-looking visuals.
Well, guys, I'm sure if someone were to sub them a couple of million, they could build really snazzy sets etc. In the meantime, these are good people who are doing something rather than just thinking about it ...
Dear Father Finigan
As Community Liaison Officer for London on Jordon's film for Hollywood, 'Interview with the Vampire' at St Paul's C of E in Deptford SE8, I was partly responsible for getting all the scenes of occult gratuitous violence involving Brad Pitt and the poet Heathcote Williams cut.
I presented the script to Father John Collier of St Lawrence's R.C Church in Sidcup, and told him that I believed that the scenes involving Brad Pitt's vampire attack, and murder, of the priest played by Heathcote Williams on holy ground, were so violent that they had deliberately been omitted from the main shoot at rich New Orleans R.C Cathedral, and transferred to the poor Baroque backdrop at St Paul's C of E Deptford, who couldn't afford to say NO.
All the St Paul's SE8 scenes were cut after Father Collier's subsequent intervention, and I seem to recall Dustin Hoffman using our very words 'gratuitous violence' in an SOS film industry campaign response.
The film had a star cast, a multi million dollar budget and a 666 script.
In my professional opinion Hollywood owes poor England 999 serious damages for that piece of artwork, which I consider to be a malevolent attack on our group soul.
St Margaret Clitherow pray for us!
Congratulations to Mary's Dowry Productions for all they are doing to spread the Faith in these lands!
With regards the comments about sets and costumes etc - Please do not underestimate the power of these films to touch hearts. A lot of Grace is clearly at work in these films and the folks who produce them. And of course Grace builds on nature.
In the early period of the Church it seemed to some that the classical writings of the Greeks had much more style and satifaction as prose than the Hebrew Sacred Scriptures. But of course, those classical texts had none of the supernatural power to transform as the Word of God.
Does anyone recall Malcolm Muggeridge's movie of Mother Teresa which had to be filmed with basic equipment and in poor light conditions? And yet when produced it had such physical light that he interpreted it as being of spiritual significance. And of course that film touched and challenged many thousands. Indeed it continues to do so...
The beauty of truth shines through these Bevans productions. Thanks guys.
God bless
Alan and Angeline
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