Happy feast of St. Valentine! . . .Thanks be to God and Our Lady, the writing of The Hostage is going very well! I am about to begin Chapter 26, and we are now well within the final arc, with only some major brainstorming and a few more chapters left to go! Please keep praying for us!
During this Lenten Season, Renae and I will be making an effort to continue with the editing of the Catholic Colonies Series. God willing, we may be able to make these books officially available soon after Easter/throughout the summer. I will give an update when I write my next Author’s Note in early April. I’ll also have an exciting announcement to make at that time!
In the meantime, I would like to give a hearty recommendation for a book that was recently published and made available on Amazon, entitled A Collection of Poems by Eleanor C. Donnelly. Here is the book description, copied over from Amazon:
This is a collection of poems, articles, and a short story by the “Poet of the Pure Soul,” Eleanor C. Donnelly (1838 — 1917). They were culled from several books and miscellaneous sources, including:
Out of Sweet Solitude;
Legend of the Best Beloved;
Domus Dei;
Crowned with Stars;
Children of the Golden Sheaf;
Prince Ragnal and Other Holiday Verses;
Christian Carols of Love and Life;
A Tuscan Magdalen;
Blessed Youth;
Little Compliments of the Season, and Other Tiny Rhymes for Tiny Readers;
Amy’s Music Box;
The Conversion of St. Augustine; and,
The Secret of the Statue.
The carefully selected contents have been arranged in a general order of the months and seasons, beginning with the close of December/opening of January, and ending with Christmastime. — The compiler believes these verses and writings to be some of the best from the pen of Miss Donnelly, and hopes that the reader will derive much enjoyment and spiritual benefit from them. . . .May they “distract for a space . . . one tired heart from its pressing personal sorrows” and “gladden . . . a few earnest souls with the graceful accomplishment of a divine decree,” was Miss Donelly’s expressed wish in the introduction to the first published volume of her verses in 1873.
I greatly admire the majority of Eleanor C. Donnelly’s works and am happy to have read nearly all of her printed books. I have included her poems in several of my stories; among them, Operation: Apocalypse and The Catholic Colonies Series. This compilation (filled with accompanying illustrations) is an 8.25 x 11 inch hardcover, with a length of 384 pages, priced at $25.00. The cover, pictured below, is beautiful and would look great if kept displayed on a “coffee table” for frequent perusal by family members or houseguests.
Also below are two sample poems for this St. Valentine’s Day and the upcoming penitential Season of Lent (beginning Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, and culminating with the Sacred Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday/Easter Sunday, April 6th — 9th). Please enjoy!
The First Valentine
Ah! ’twas not a soulless ditty
From some love-lorn cavalier;
But warm words of loving pity,
Strong with counsel, rich with cheer,—
Writ by Valentine the holy
To a martyr of old Rome,
Christ’s confessor, poor and lowly,
In some dungeon’s living tomb.
And its reader thrilled with ardor,
Burned and glowed with love divine,
And the last breath of the martyr
Bless’d that first pure Valentine!
Keeping the Fast
If fragile health or toil prevent
A strict observance of the Lent,
Will there remain no penance still
For ailing sinners to fufil?
Ah! yes, dear Lord, Thou dost supply
A hundred ways to mortify
Our pride, self-love and passions bold,
Our greed for honors and for gold.
The curious eyes, (these Lenten days),
On Christ’s dear Wounds must fix their gaze;
The gossip-loving ear forego
The spiteful tale, sharp jeu de mots;
And fashionable devotees
Forget their accustomed luxuries.
The opera-box and banquet-room,
Fastidious dress and rich perfume,
The call, the play, the dance, the ride,
Give place to Jesus Crucified.
While clubs are shunned, late suppers feared,
And billiards for the time cashiered
Let novel-readers quit their books
For prison-wards and pauper nooks;
And, (surest test of all), at last,
Loquacious tongues in silence fast.
Dear Lord! the paths of self-denial
Are paved with many a precious trial,
Sharp, shining stones o’er which we flee
Into the desert, Love, with Thee!
Thrice-happy, tho’ our bleeding feet
Track every step to that retreat,
If in its cool, sequestered air,
Our eyes, long-blinded by the glare
Of passion’s lamps, begin to see
How full of sweetness life can be,
When every trifle meets reward
If offered freely to the Lord.
One basket of champagne denied,
One case of rare cigars untried,
One set of diamonds for Christ
And Christ’s dear paupers, sacrific’d,—
And lo! we grasp the means to save
Some soul from ruin or the grave.
The means to light some drear hearth-stone
Where shiv’ring widows sit and moan,
Till brighter far than gems or wine,
The tears of grateful orphans shine!
O Heaven! on every side we hear,
“I am not keeping Lent this year,
I cannot fast.”—Dear heart! if thou
Wouldst put thy weak hand to the plough,
And drive it, firm and fearless both,
Across the fields of pride and sloth:
Unsparing zeal, repentance thorough,
Crushing a vice in every furrow—
Tho’ thou wert fragile as a pet
Camellia, in a hot-house set:
(Not even to thy zealous pain,
Permitted simply to abstain),
—Yet shall thine Easter sun, in time,
Illume a harvest so sublime,
That, gazing on the golden yield
Of sacrifices sown a-field,
(Thy grateful wonder finding vent,)
Thou shalt cry out in glad content:
“Thank God! I’ve kept the fast of Lent!”