St Athanasius

 Cast- Athanasius, friends (3), Bishop Alexander, Arius, Emperor Constantine, Bishops (2), Pope Julius, Pope Damasus, Pope Pius V

(Enter Athanasius, Friends)

There once was a boy named Athanasius, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt.  Being an Egyptian, Athanasius walked like an Egyptian, while the audience sang the song “Walk like an Egyptian”.  

One day while playing with his friends, Athanasius was pretending to be a Bishop, and was dunking his friends under water, saying “I baptize you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

(Enter Bishop Alexander)

Bishop Alexander saw their game, and laughed, and said “Congratulations!  You just baptized them for real! Now you are all Christians!”   Then the Bishop took Athanasius aside and said “I think you should become a priest!” 

(Exit Friends)

So Athanasius became a priest, lying on his face in front of the Bishop for his ordination.  Everyone cheered! Eventually he even became a Bishop! Bishop Alexander gave him a high five, saying "What up, Bish?"

(Exit Bishop Alexander, Enter Arius)

But there was another guy in town called Arius.  Arius told everyone “Jesus is not really God, you know. He was made by God.”

Athanasius said “Nu-uh, he is God!”

Arius said “Is not”

Athanasius “Is so!”

(Enter Constantine) 

This went on for some time, with Arius repeating “not- not- not” and Athanasius repeating “So-so-so” until finally Emperor Constantine said “Enough! Let’s get all the bishops together in Nicea to solve this problem.”

Athanasius said “Nicea? I hear it’s Nicea there this time of year!”  Then he tried to get a high five for his pun, but no one gave him one.

(Enter Bishops)

At the council of Nicea, all the bishops agreed that the Trinity is real, saying together "We Believe that Jesus is God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, Consubstantial with the Father, Begotten not made."

But Arius was mad. He held his breath and turned red until smoke came out his ears.  He said to Constantine “Athanasius is being a bully, and he’s hogging all of Egypt's grain.” 

So Constantine said “Athanasius, stop being a bully.  For that you are banished.”  

So Athanasius sadly walked off the stage.

(Exit Athanasius)

But then everyone else walked off the stage,

(Clear the stage)

 and since Athanasius is our main character, there was an awkward moment where no one was on stage.

(Enter Athanasius)

So Athanasius came back on stage, 

(Enter Emperor)

but the emperor came back and said “Nope… still banished.” And Athanasius left again.

This went on for some time, with Athanasius coming back on the stage and getting kicked off again by the emperor.  Finally the emperor let him stay, and Athanasius said “Can’t we all just get along?”

(Enter bishops)

The other Bishops shook their heads, and said "No, Arius was right!  Jesus was not God! Athanasius should be banished!"

(Enter Pope Julius)

But Pope Julius said  "No!  Athanasius is the legitimate bishop of Alexandria, and he is right!"

(Enter Pope Damasus) 

Pope Damasus said "Darn tootin!  Athanasius is a defender of the faith!"

The audience said "Athanasius is a saint!"

(Enter Pope Pius V)

Pope Pius V said "He's not only a saint, he's a doctor of the church!"

All three popes, who did not actually live at the same time, patted Athanasius on the back and said "Good work, m'boy!"

St Athanasius-   Pray for us!

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 hot tub?  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 man, Arab daughters (2), Italian Family (4), Nuns (3), young man

(Enter Bakhita, Family)

Josephine Bakhita was born into a good family in Sudan in 1869.  She used to play tag with her brothers and sisters, and eat good meals, and was always happy.  She always had a great big smile, and laughed all the time!  She would hug each person in her family and say "I love you."

(Enter slave traders)

One day Arab slave traders came. Her family screamed and pointed at them!  Then they ran away and hid. But the slave traders grabbed Bakhita and said "You're coming with us!"  Then they laughed maniacally.

Bakhita looked frantically for her brothers and sisters, but could not find them. so the traders took her away.

(Exit family)

They made her walk very far.  If she tripped, they would whip her until she got up again.  She was so sacred, that eventually she even forgot her name.  The Slave traders said "What's your name?"

Trembling, she said "I don't know!"

They threatened to whip her again, so she said "Bakhita!  My name is Bakhita!"  Bakhita was a word that meant Lucky, but it was not her real name.

The slave traders said "Become Muslim, or we will kill you!"

Bakhita just shrugged and said "Ok!"

(Enter Arab family)

One day she was sold to a very Wealthy Arab man. The arab man sang "If I were a rich man..." and danced around, jiggling his portly belly. The Arab Man stroked his beard as he looked Bakhita up and down. He said “Yes, you will do nicely! You will be the servant to my daughters.”  

The arab man paid the slave traders. 

The Slave Traders gave each other high fives, then said "Let's go kidnap some more slaves!"  And they skipped away gleefully.

(Exit slave traders)

 At first the Arab Family treated Bakhita well, but then one day she accidentally broke a vase.  The two daughters gasped and pointed fingers of accusation at her. The Arab man was outraged! he yelled “You no good slave!”  Then he kicked her so hard that she could not move.  

Then the girls began to whip her. Finally, they drew a pattern on her skin in flour, then traced the pattern with a razor, then poured salt into the pattern so that it would leave permanent scars.  Bakhita cried because of the great pain!

But the girls stood back and admired their artwork, saying “It’s so beautiful!”

(Enter Italian family)

One day an Italian Family came by, squabbling as they walked. They gestured dramatically with their hands, and said things like “mama mia!” and “I want a gelato” and “Silenzio Bruno!”.

The Arab man said “Hey guys, wanna buy a slave?”

The Arab girls said “We decorated her for you!”

One of the Italians said “Mama mia! She is the Ferrari of slaves!”

So they bought her.

(Exit Arab Family)

The Italian man said (in his best Italian accent) “Bakhita, you will come with me to Italy, and look after my kids. You will be their nanny!”  The Italians treated her very well. One of the girls, named Michelle said “Would you like some gelato?”

The Italian man said “Baklhita, I want you to take Michelle to the convent for a few days, to see if she would like to become a nun.”

Bakhita smiled and said “Yes sir.”

(Enter Nuns) When it was time to leave the Italian man said “Ok, Bakhita, come on now!  we are going back to Sudan!”

But Bakhita said “No! Please, I want to be a nun!”  And she clung tightly to the nuns.

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!  Bakhita and the Nuns danced happily, while the Italian family left.

(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)

Maximilian was 10 years old, living in Poland, and was eating dinner with his mom and dad.

Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door.  Mom squealed in fear, and Maximillian jumped. But Dad just got to his feet, wiping hsi mouth with his napkin.

(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.”

Mom cried out "Nooo!", fell to the ground, and clung to her husband's knees. 

But dad was brought out, and was hung to death.  

Mom and Maximillian cried as they hugged each other.

(mom, dad, soldiers leave stage)

Maximilian cried and cried about losing his dad. 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 “Celebrate? I like celebrating!” 

Mary shook her head. "Not celebrate. Celibate. It means you'll never get married."

Maximillian said "Oh. So either never get married or die for my faith. Tough choice. Can't I have both?'

Mary smiled, and placed both crowns on Maximillians head.

(Exit Mary, enter Free Masons)

When Maximilian grew up, he became a priest. He gave his pastoral blessing to the audience.

 One day in Rome he saw a protest by Free Masons. Free Masons were 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 stiff legged, doing the Hitler salute, and yelling at people in German. They invaded Poland. 

The Jews and Priests were terrified. They trembled and hugged each other.

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!

Perpetua and Felicity

Sts Perpetua and Felicity.

This week’s saints were forced to deny their faith or die under brutal circumstances.  They chose to stand for faith, even though it would cost their lives.

Perpetua, Baby boy, Felicity, Perpetua’s Dad, Guards (2), baby girl, Christian men (3), boar, bear, leopard, mad cow.

(Enter Perpetua and Baby Boy)

There once was a woman named Perpetua.  Perpetua was 22 years old, she was beautiful, and she had a baby boy. She would cuddle her baby, and sing lullabies to him.

(Enter Felicity)

Perpetua also had a servant, named Felicity.  Felicity was pregnant, and the two women excitedly shared stories about how they would raise their kids together.  Felicity and Perpetua were Christians, and they would dance around, singing love songs to God.

(Enter Perpetua's Dad)

Perpetua’s dad did not like Christianity, and he came to the women and said “Listen girls.  Christianity is illegal. You’re gonna get captured and killed if you keep up this nonsense! No more being Christians!”

But Perpetua said “Daddy, I cannot deny the truth, and the truth is that Jesus is Lord!”

And the audience yelled “Amen!”

Her father said “We’ll see about that!” 

(Enter guards)

Then he called 2 guards, saying “Guards!   These girls are Christian!  Arrest them!”

Turning to Perpetua he said “I bet when your life is on the line, you’ll deny Jesus!”

(Exit Dad)

So Perpetua and Felicity were thrown into prison.  Perpetua's son cried when he was taken away from her, so Perpetua bribed the guard to let them into another part of the prison and let her keep her son.

Felicity said “Perpetua, you are so lucky! You get to be a martyr!  I don’t get to because I’m pregnant.”  In those days they wouldn't throw a pregnant woman into the arena because it would hurt the unborn baby.

But then she gave birth to a baby girl.

(Enter baby girl)

Felicity said “Yay!  Now I can be a martyr too!”  Her baby girl just made gurgling sounds.

(Exit Perpetua, Felicity, and babies. Enter Christian Men, boar, bear and leopard)

The day of the executions came.  First the Christian men were sent out into the arena.  They were attacked by a wild boar, a bear, and a leopard.  The crowd cheered, and chanted “One more Christian! One more Christian!”

(Exit Christian men, boar, bear and leopard. Enter Perpetua and Felicity and Dad)

Perpetua and Felicity trembled with fear.  Perpetua's Dad said “See Perpetua!  Is that how you want to die?  Deny Jesus and live!”

But Perpetua said “We will never deny Jesus-  instead we will die for him!”

Dad said "What about your babies?"

Perpetua said "They were adopted by Christians while we were off stage."

(Enter mad Cow)

So Perpetua and Felicity were sent out into the arena by the guards.  A mad cow was released, and after mooing maniacally, it gored them to death. 

Sts Perpetua and Felicity-  Pray for us!

Jerome

Jerome, Christians (2) friends (2), Paula, Blaesilla, people (2), Bishop

(Jerome, Christians on stage)

When Jerome was a teenager, he lived in Rome.  He practiced Greek, by smashing things on the ground and yelling "Opa!", and he practiced Latin, by singing Opera.  But when he saw Christians,  he would shake his head and pat them on the head like they were puppies, saying "You Christians are nice... but not very bright!"

(Enter Bishop) But eventually Jerome became Christian himself, and the bishop baptized him.

(Exit Bishop, Christians, Enter friends and Paula and Blaesilla) 

 But he loved to party! He and his friends and Paula and Blaesilla would dance and sing, and would do all kinds of crazy things, and get drunk, staggering around and puking and flirting with lamposts, and he and his friends would laugh and laugh about the sins they committed.

(friends, Paula and Blaesilla leave)

But after the party his friends would leave,  and Jerome would go to the graves of the martyrs, and he’d feel really bad.  He started thinking about Hell, and how awful that would be, and he was terrified.  He trembled, and chewed his fingernails.  He would start striking his chest and crying and saying “Help me to be better, God!”

(Bishop, friends, Paula + Blaesilla enter)

The local bishop ordained Jerome a priest, laying his hands on him.  His friends congratulated him. When Jerome preached, he would say “We party way too much, and just live for our own pleasure.  I think we should fast and pray and work, and live a simple life.”  His friends, including Paula and Blaesilla, changed their lives, and started making sacrifices.  But Blaesilla quickly got sick, and died.

(People enter) 

People said “See?  Jerome made her make sacrifices and now she’s dead, it’s all his fault!” 

Other people said “I also think there’s some hanky panky going on between him and Paula.”

The crowd said "Ooooh..."

Jerome and Paula both said “No.”  but the people suspiciously crossed their arms and said “MMM-hmmm” and looked at them in a knowing way.

(Scene Change- everyone leave but Jerome)

So Jerome left Rome all together, and became a hermit, a kind of monk who lives alone, near Bethlehem.   He spent his time writing, and translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.  The books he translated would become known as the “Latin Vulgate” Bible, and would become the first full Bible translated into the language of the people.

Jerome died as a hermit, and was buried near Bethlehem.

St Jerome-  Pray for us!