By Erin Albanese
The Grand Rapids Press
May 1, 2010
http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/05/vianney_actor_aims_to_clarify.html
 |
| Leonardo Defilippis stars as St. John VIanney in a play about the priesthood next week at St. Isidore Church, 628 Diamond Ave. NE. |
Actor Leonardo Defilippis wants to remind people of the true meaning of the priesthood during a time when the vocation’s image is tainted.
So he plays St. John Vianney, whom he calls one of the greatest priests of all time.
His show “Vianney,” portrays the patron saint of priests as an underdog who fought the desecration of the Catholic Church and battled the devil.
Defilippis has performed one-man productions based on the lives of saints for 30 years and is receiving his biggest response yet with “Vianney,” on tour since Aug. 4 to mark the Year of the Priest, declared by Pope Benedict XVI.
In its first seven months, 52,000 people watched the play and, in November, it was performed at the fall assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Defilippis, a Shakespearean theater and film actor and director, and his production company, St. Luke Productions, based in Battle Ground, Wash., will present the play next Saturday at St. Isidore Church, with many local priests invited.
“Vianney” opens during the French Revolution, a time of secularization, materialism and anti-religious sentiment when Catholics were executed. The unlikely peasant priest begins to transform the town of Ars, reconnecting people with their faith and healing them.
Defilippis performs six days a week, taking on several characters.
“It’s very overwhelming but in a positive way,” said the silver-haired Italian actor during a recent phone interview from Minneapolis.
Honoring the priesthood
Inspired after reading Vianney’s life story for a movie that was never made, Defilippis was compelled to bring it to stage. The tour began on the 150th anniversary of Vianney’s death, and the Grand Rapids performance marks his 224th birthday.
Mary Lou Harig, a St. Isidore parishioner, said it’s a great way to honor priests.
“We have a great love of our priests,” she said. “It’s just really just energizing the local church and maybe will result in vocations and even a few conversions, you never know,” she said.
St. Isidore’s pastor, the Rev. Don Lomasiewicz, said a goal is to pray for religious vocations, including the priesthood, deaconate, sisterhood and consecrated life.
“The priesthood is really the key in this whole process of thinking about St. John Vianney,” Lomasiewicz said.
The actor’s journey
Defilippis, 57, was raised Catholic but did not always practice his faith.
He was transformed while working in secular theater when he tried to help an actress afflicted with a drug addiction. He prayed and found himself humbled and ready to turn to God.
Defilippis said the priesthood has become marred by what he believes are a lot of misconceptions.
“Vianney” has become a movement of inspiration, challenging Catholics and non-Catholics, he said. He has seen many teenagers respond with emotion, especially girls.
“They end up weeping in the end because they are so inspired by this man,” he said. “When you see a man, a priest, who sacrifices his life for all people, it moves them to immense inner tears. It’s an awakening for them.”
Defilippis also has taken on the roles of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Augustine, St. John of the Cross and St. Maximillian.
“Vianney” uses projected images that appear and disappear on stage. Perhaps most striking is the battle with the devil, Defilippis said.
The show is appropriate for children age 9 and older.
“Vianney may be one of the most attacked people by the devil,” said the actor, who believes he has felt Satan’s presence at times during production when strange technical difficulties occurred.
“I have had to be reassured that God is in charge here. Once we realize the presence of evil, we become more responsive to the presence of good,” he said.
Defilippis, who has seven children with his wife, Patti, at one time considered becoming a priest. Another priest suggested performing dramas based on saints’ lives.
“I realized this was a unique vocation that was giving people great hope,” he said.
Part of his mission now is to inspire people to pursue priesthood as a vocation during a time when Catholicism has been overshadowed by the sexual abuse scandal.
“What Vianney does is it brings a light to this darkness. He puts it all in the true light,” he said.
E-mail the author of this story: localnews@grpress.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.