Actor brings saints to life
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Traveling player Leonardo Defilippis has been on the road with the saints for nearly four decades.
Over the years, the one-time Shakespearean actor has literally lived his dream of dramatizing the life of Christ and the saints before audiences in back waters, boroughs and big cities around the English-speaking world.
On a self-created mission, he’s brought the Gospel of John, the Passion of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Maximilian Kolbe to life on stage and produced a well respected film on the life of St. Therese.
Those who keep tallies on such things might be interested to know this translates to an audience of more than one million in the territory he claimed back in 1980.
Despite those numbers, Defilippis, based in the state of Washington, expresses a bit of surprise when he talks about the outpouring of interest in his latest venue: a one man, multi-media production on the life and times of St. John Vianney, entitled simply, VIANNEY. He opens a five-stop tour in the Trenton Diocese in St. Raphael Parish, Hamilton, Feb. 9.
“We’re having a pretty unbelievable response,” Defilippis said during a telephone interview from his dressing room “in the middle of nowhere,” which actually turned out to be a small town in the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa. “I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years and I’ve never seen a reaction like this.”
He has been on the road constantly since the play opened in Houston Aug. 4 – feast of the 150th anniversary of the death of the provincial parish priest who did battle with the devil to save souls, healed to great degree the gaping wound left on the Catholic faith by the French Revolution and became the patron saint of diocesan priests.
Though the play has been booked in dioceses around the nation as part of celebrations of the Year for Priests, Defilippis didn’t anticipate either the huge turnouts or the audience reaction. “You see a lot of weeping in the audience at the end,” he said. “A lot of tears.”
That pleases Defilippis, who took a chance on creating a play about Vianney knowing most people were unfamiliar with the story of the shy, saintly man soon to be named patron of all the world’s priests.
“I was drawn to St. John Vianney, an important saint, a remarkable saint, but he was unknown to most people. But I decided to do a show on him. I knew the 150th anniversary of his death was coming Aug. 4, 2009 and I decided to prepare an artistic work.”
That work was in progress by the time Pope Benedict XVI announced the Year for Priests.
Defilippis thought he’d have to work on convincing people to book the show, but when the Year for Priests was announced, vocations and communications directors around the nation sent immediate signals they were interested to his St. Luke Productions company.
“We were booked (solid) in three weeks,” Defilippis said. “A lot of people started calling at the same time. There was an enormous amount of interest not so much because they knew the man but because the man is the focal point of the year,” Defilippis said.
The show has been performed at parishes and public forums and colleges before audiences of as many as 3,000 faithful. Secular universities have booked it as well, he said. Cardinals and bishops have been in attendance as have scores of priests. People in the pews have been turning out in record numbers, he said.
The multi-media features a series of projected “set pieces” on the highlights of Vianney’s life. “Characters appear and disappear, the music is very intricate and fast moving,” said Defilippis, who described an ongoing flow of powerful background images of the children, villages and people who figured in the saint’s life, not to mention the devil.
He wrote and designed the production with the specific aim of reaching audiences of all ages. “It’s a challenging show. One of my goals was to make sure that teens, young adults and even children enjoyed it.
“This show captures their imagination with a spiritual battle with the devil, which the teens find very exciting,” said Defilippis, who recommends the event for ages nine and up though some people do bring younger children.
Defilippis said he’s very struck by the reaction of priests – the very people who look to Vianney as their patron. “It’s been performed for over 1,000 priests and seminarians,” he said. Many bishops had a chance to attend a performance when they attended a meeting of the USCCB, he noted. The production, he said, often sparks an emotional response.
“They understand that he is part of the structure of the Church and he resonates in the hearts of the vast majority of the people who come to see it”
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Traveling player Leonardo Defilippis has been on the road with the saints for nearly four decades.
Over the years, the one-time Shakespearean actor has literally lived his dream of dramatizing the life of Christ and the saints before audiences in back waters, boroughs and big cities around the English-speaking world.
On a self-created mission, he’s brought the Gospel of John, the Passion of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Maximilian Kolbe to life on stage and produced a well respected film on the life of St. Therese.
Those who keep tallies on such things might be interested to know this translates to an audience of more than one million in the territory he claimed back in 1980.
Despite those numbers, Defilippis, based in the state of Washington, expresses a bit of surprise when he talks about the outpouring of interest in his latest venue: a one man, multi-media production on the life and times of St. John Vianney, entitled simply, VIANNEY. He opens a five-stop tour in the Trenton Diocese in St. Raphael Parish, Hamilton, Feb. 9.
“We’re having a pretty unbelievable response,” Defilippis said during a telephone interview from his dressing room “in the middle of nowhere,” which actually turned out to be a small town in the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa. “I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years and I’ve never seen a reaction like this.”
He has been on the road constantly since the play opened in Houston Aug. 4 – feast of the 150th anniversary of the death of the provincial parish priest who did battle with the devil to save souls, healed to great degree the gaping wound left on the Catholic faith by the French Revolution and became the patron saint of diocesan priests.
Though the play has been booked in dioceses around the nation as part of celebrations of the Year for Priests, Defilippis didn’t anticipate either the huge turnouts or the audience reaction. “You see a lot of weeping in the audience at the end,” he said. “A lot of tears.”
That pleases Defilippis, who took a chance on creating a play about Vianney knowing most people were unfamiliar with the story of the shy, saintly man soon to be named patron of all the world’s priests.
“I was drawn to St. John Vianney, an important saint, a remarkable saint, but he was unknown to most people. But I decided to do a show on him. I knew the 150th anniversary of his death was coming Aug. 4, 2009 and I decided to prepare an artistic work.”
That work was in progress by the time Pope Benedict XVI announced the Year for Priests.
Defilippis thought he’d have to work on convincing people to book the show, but when the Year for Priests was announced, vocations and communications directors around the nation sent immediate signals they were interested to his St. Luke Productions company.
“We were booked (solid) in three weeks,” Defilippis said. “A lot of people started calling at the same time. There was an enormous amount of interest not so much because they knew the man but because the man is the focal point of the year,” Defilippis said.
The show has been performed at parishes and public forums and colleges before audiences of as many as 3,000 faithful. Secular universities have booked it as well, he said. Cardinals and bishops have been in attendance as have scores of priests. People in the pews have been turning out in record numbers, he said.
The multi-media features a series of projected “set pieces” on the highlights of Vianney’s life. “Characters appear and disappear, the music is very intricate and fast moving,” said Defilippis, who described an ongoing flow of powerful background images of the children, villages and people who figured in the saint’s life, not to mention the devil.
He wrote and designed the production with the specific aim of reaching audiences of all ages. “It’s a challenging show. One of my goals was to make sure that teens, young adults and even children enjoyed it.
“This show captures their imagination with a spiritual battle with the devil, which the teens find very exciting,” said Defilippis, who recommends the event for ages nine and up though some people do bring younger children.
Defilippis said he’s very struck by the reaction of priests – the very people who look to Vianney as their patron. “It’s been performed for over 1,000 priests and seminarians,” he said. Many bishops had a chance to attend a performance when they attended a meeting of the USCCB, he noted. The production, he said, often sparks an emotional response.
“They understand that he is part of the structure of the Church and he resonates in the hearts of the vast majority of the people who come to see it”
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