Francis of Assisi

Francis of Assisi

Francis (Francesco), dad, Bishop, Lepers (2), friends (2), girls (2), the enemy (2), crucifix, Poor (2)

(Enter Francesco, friends, girls)

There once was a rich young man named Francesco.  Francesco loved to party with his friends.  They would dance and drink and be raucous.

And the girls would swoon when they saw Francesco!  They would say “He’s so cute!” and “Such a snazzy dresser.”
Francesco would strut around like a peacock, saying “Flaunt it if you got it!”  And the girls would giggle.
(Exit Girls.  Enter Lepers)

But Francesco hated lepers.  Lepers were people who had a disease that made their skin rot while they were still alive. They smelled bad, and pieces of them would fall off. The audience would point at them and say "Ewww" and put "L"s on their foreheads and say "Leper!".  The Lepers would just be sad and lonely.

Francesco would make fun of them with his friends, saying “What do you call 5 lepers in a hottub?  Porridge!”  And they would all laugh.

But if any of the lepers came too close, asking for money,  Francesco would freak out and say “Aaaah!  It’s the zombie apocalypse!”  And he would run away.

(Exit Lepers, enter the enemy)

One day there was a war with a neighboring city.  Francesco and his friends rode off to fight the enemy.  They fought a sword fight, but  Francesco was captured and thrown in jail, and guarded by his enemies.

(Exit Friends)
 While in jail, he started reading the Bible.  In the Bible he read that Jesus told his disciples that they should give everything they had away.  Francesco exclaimed loudly "Now I know what I must do!"  Eventually his enemies let him out of jail.

(Exit enemies, enter poor, lepers)

So when Francesco came home, he went into his Fathers clothing store, and started giving away all of the clothes to the poor!  Even lepers came in to the store for the handouts.  Francesco threw up in his mouth a little bit, but instead of running away screaming, he gave the lepers clothes and even kissed them!

(Enter Father, exit lepers, poor)

His dad was furious!  He yelled “Who do you think you are giving all of our stuff away?”  

Francesco said. "Jesus told me to.”  

His dad said “Oh yeah? Well tell it to the bishop!”

(Enter Bishop)

So they went to the bishop, and the dad said “The thing is, it’s not even Francesco’s stuff to give away!  Everything he owns is mine!”

At that Francesco took off all his clothes, and said “Then I have nothing of yours anymore.”  The crowd got a little rowdy for a moment, but the Bishop covered Francesco with his own cloak. The Bishop gave Francesco a church to live in, and a plain brown robe.

(Exit Bishop, enter crucifix))

 In the church one day while praying in front of the crucifix, the statue of Jesus opened his eyes and said “Francis, rebuild my Church.”

(Exit Crucifix, enter friends, girls)

Eventually, all of Francesco’s friends gave all of their clothes and stuff away, and came to join Francesco.  Even the girls started their own convent. Within a few years, thousand of rich people had done this, and they known as the Franciscans.

St Francis-  Pray for us!

Bakhita

Bakhita, family (3), Slave traders (2), Arab family (1b, 2g), Italian Family (4), Nuns (3), young man

(Enter Bakhita, Family, slave traders)

Josephine Bakhita was born into a good family in Sudan in 1869.  She used to play with her brothers and sisters, and eat good meals, and was always happy.  Then one day when she was nine she was kidnapped by Arab Slave traders! (Exit family)

They made her walk very far,  and treated her badly, whipping her and beating her.  So badly in fact that eventually she forgot her name!  So she started to go by the name “Bakhita”, which is Arabic for “Lucky”.  The slave traders even forced her to become Muslim, saying “Become Muslim or we will kill you!”

(Enter Arab family)

One day she was sold to a very Wealthy Arab man, and made to serve his 2 daughters.

(Exit slave traders)

 At first they treated her well, but then one day she accidentally broke a vase.  Her owner kicked her so hard that she could not move.  Then they began to whip her.  Finally, they drew a pattern on her skin in flour, then traced the pattern with a razor, then poured salt in to the pattern so that it would leave permanent scars.  Bakhita cried because of the great pain!

(Enter Italian family)

Eventually the Arabs sold her to an Italian Family. 

(Exit Arab Family)

The Italian man said “Bakhita, you will come with me to Italy, and look after my kids.  You will be their nanny!”  The Italians treated her very well.  But eventually, they decided to sell everything they had and move back to Sudan!  Before they left, Bakhita and the girl she nannied for, Michelle, went to stay a few days in a convent with some nuns.

(Enter Nuns) When it was time to go to Sudan, the Italian man said “Ok, Bakhita, come on now!”

But Bakhita said “No!  I want to be a nun!”

The man said “Bakhita, you are our slave, and you cannot choose that.  Come on.”

But one of the nuns said “Slavery is illegal in Italy, and in Sudan, so you can’t have any slaves.   She is free to make her own choice!” 

So the Italian family left, and Bakhita was welcomed to join the nuns!

(Exit Italian family)

When she became a Catholic, she took the name “Josephine” and so became known as Sister Josephine Bakhita.  She soon had a reputation for being holy! 

(Enter young man)

 When a young man once asked her “What would you do if you met your captors again?”  she said “I would kneel at their feet and kiss their hands, because if it were not for them I would never have become Catholic!”

In her old age, Bakhita was confined to a wheelchair.  But she remained cheerful, even when sick.  The last thing she ever said was “I am so happy-  Our Lady, Our Lady!”  Then she died.

St Josephine Bakhita-

Pray for us!

Maximilian Kolbe

Maximilian Kolbe

Maximilian, mom, dad, Russian soldiers (2), Mary, Free Masons (2), Nazis (2), Jews (3), Priests (2), escaping prisoner, crying prisoner

(Enter Max, Mom, dad) on stage)

When  Maximilian was 10 years old, living in Poland, he was eating dinner with his mom and dad, when they heard a knock at the door.  

(Enter Russian Soldiers)

They opened the door, and 2 Russian soldiers walked in. Speaking to Maximilian’s dad, in ridiculous Russian accents, they said “You are under arrest for fighting for the freedom of Poland against Russia.”

Maximilian’s dad was brought out, and was hung to death.  (mom, dad, soldiers leave stage)

Maximilian cried about losing his dad, and while he was praying he said to God “What do you want from me?  What will become of me?”

(Enter Mary)

Suddenly, Mary appeared to him. In her hands she held 2 crowns, a red one and a white one.  Mary said “Choose your crown.  The red one is martyrdom, meaning you will die for your faith.  The white one is purity, meaning you will be celibate.”

Maximilian said “I choose both.” 

(Exit Mary, enter Free Masons)

When Maximilian grew up, he became a priest.  One day in Rome he saw a protest by Free Masons, a group of men who hated the Catholic Church. They raised banners at the Vatican that mocked the Church. They made moose antlers with their hands and said "Nanana booboo. The church is weak and nasty!"

Maximilian said “We need to create our own little army that fights for the Church!”

(Exit Freemasons)

So when he got back to Poland, he started a magazine to get Catholic information and ideas out. Maximillian declared "I will call my magazine Rycerz Niepokalanej!"

The audience yelled "What?"

Maximillian repeated "Rycerz Niepokalanej!"

The audience yelled "What?"

Maximillian shook his head and said "It's Polish for "The Knight of the Immaculata""

The audience nodded and said "Oh!"

But some audience members said "I still don't know what that means.

(Enter Nazis, Jews, Priests)

But those were the days of the rise of the Nazis. The audience booed. Nazi soldiers marched around, doing the Hitler salute, and yelling at people in German. They invaded Poland. The Jews and Priests were terrified

Maximilian wrote an article in his newspaper that said “Nazis are bad guys. Go back to Germany.” So the Nazis arrested him, along with many Jews and other priests, and sent them to a concentration camp.

(Enter escaping prisoner and crying prisoner)

In the death camp, the Jews, priests, Maximilian and the other prisoners had to work very hard, while the Nazis bossed them around. They knew that eventually they would be killed. One of the prisoners managed to escape while the Nazis weren't looking. (escaping prisoner leave stage like secret agent)

 The Nazis made the prisoners stand in front of them, and said “Because one prisoner escaped, 10 of you will be starved to death.” Then he counted off 10 prisoners, not including Maximilian, and said “Follow me.”

One of the prisoners began to cry, and said “Please, not me! I have a wife and kids!”

Maximilian stepped forward and said “Pick me instead. I’m a priest, I don’t have a wife.”

So the Nazi said “Fine.” (Crying prisoner leave the stage)

The selected prisoners were locked into a room, where they were given no food or water. Maximilian led them in singing praise songs to God, like "My Lighthouse" and "Jesus loves me this I know".  One by one they died. Last of all, Maximilian was still alive, so the Nazi said “We need this room. Since you are taking too long to die, we will have to inject you with carbolic acid.” 

So Maximilian was given the needle and he died. 

Maximilian Kolbe-  pray for us.

St Faustina

Faustina( F-aw-stee-na) , Natalia, dancers, Jesus, 1st group of Nuns (2), 2^nd group of nuns (2), 3^rd group of nuns (2), artist, Angel, People in the vision

St Faustina

St Faustina was a polish nun who had many visions, and her diary has become an inspiration to Catholics all over the world.  Among her visions were visions about Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

(Enter Faustina, Natalia, Dancers)

There once was a young girl named Faustina.  One day she went to a dance with her sister, Natalia.  Everyone was dancing the disco.  When Faustina started dancing, the others stopped, and clapped to the beat, saying "Go Fausty, go Fausty go."  Faustina showed everyone her sweet breakdancing moves.

But suddenly it looked to Faustina like everyone else froze!  (Enter Jesus) Faustina suddenly saw a vision of Jesus dying on the cross. Faustina stopped dancing immediately.  Jesus said “Faustina, I want you to become a nun!”  Then he disapeared.  

Faustina's friends said "Hey Fausty, show us some more sweet moves!"

But Faustina said "I'm sorry, but I have to go!"

(Exit Friends, sister.  Enter first group of nuns.)

So Faustina went home, packed her bags, and went to Warsaw.  When she came to a convent and asked to become a nun, the nuns said “No.”

 (1^st group of nuns leave the stage, enter 2nd group of nuns)

 She went to another convent, but the nuns said “no.”

(Exit second group of nuns, enter 3rd group)

Finally she found a convent where the nuns said  “Ok, fine.  Get to work” and made her their servant. 

 She had to wash floors and clean up after the other nuns.

(Enter Jesus)

In the convent, Faustina had another vision of Jesus.  Once more the other people on stage became like statues. Jesus said "You need to pray for mercy.  Say 'For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world'."

Faustina said "For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

Jesus said “Great, now say that 50 times every day for the rest of your life!  Get a picture of me painted."

(Exit Jesus, Nuns, enter Artist)

So she told an artists what Jesus looked like, and the artists painted him.  

(Exit Artist, enter Angel)

One day in a vision, an angel appeared to Faustina, pointed and said “Look”.

(enter people)

Faustina looked, and the people in her vision were skipping along on a nice road way, but at the end of the road they were falling off a cliff into Hell.  They screamed in terror as they fell!

Then she looked somewhere else, where people were climbing a difficult and rocky mountain, but at the top they entered a beautiful garden that was Heaven, and they had a party!

Faustina’s angel also brought her to Hell, where it was dark and she had to crawl into a hole.  And the audience shrieked and laughed like demons.

Then she went to Purgatory, where the audience cried as they suffered.

Then she went to Heaven, where the audience sang like angels.

Faustina's angel said.  “See Faustina?  Now you know what Hell is like, where you deserve to go.  But God has made a home for you in Heaven instead, because he loves you so much!”

St Faustina-  Pray for us!