Snickerdoodles for the Humorous Saint, Philip Neri

St. Philip Neri (feast day May 26), is known by many names including the “laughing saint,” the “humorous saint,” and the “patron saint of joy.” This Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory was a practical joker, as exemplified by him showing up to an event with his beard half shaved off. He inserted humor into his homilies, was known to keep a joke book, and also hung a sign on his door that said, “The House of Christian Mirth.” In all things St. Philip maintained a light-hearted view of the world, using humor to keep him from being too prideful or vain. 

For St. Philip's feast day don't take yourself to seriously...and enjoy some snickerdoodles, the cookies with the funny name that sounds like they are laughing. 

Snickerdoodles 

Ingredients: 

1 cup butter or margarine, softened 

1 ½ cups sugar 

2 eggs 

2 ¾ cup flour 

2 t. cream of tarter 

1 t. baking soda 

¼ t. salt 

Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture: 

1/4 cup Sugar 

1 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon 

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Thoroughly cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and cream together. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt, just until combined. In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough into small balls until round and smooth. Drop into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and roll to coat well. Place on ungreased sheet or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. 

 “A heart filled with joy is more easily made perfect than one that is sad.” 

 St. Philip Neri, patron of joy, Pray for us 

Additional Note: There are other saints who saw the value and importance of humor - St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa, St. Ignatius, and St. John Vianney to name a few. Check out this Catholic Exchange article for some insight into other saints whose feast days would be also be opportunities to partake of some snickerdoodles.

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Blood Orange and Pomegranate Sparkling Sangria

This is a lighter sangria for July, but one with some significant symbolism for the month of the Most Precious Blood. One of the ingredients, blood orange, by name makes it very fitting for a drink to remember the blood of Christ poured out for us. The other unique ingredient to this recipe is the pomegranate arils (seeds). Pomegranates in Christian art symbolize the resurrection and eternal life in Christ. It is fitting as it is through the blood of Christ that we might have eternal life.  As a summer drink, this recipe was a little hard to fulfill since both blood oranges and pomegranates are out of season.  But it is possible to find packaged pomegranate arils in the refrigerated produce section of natural grocers.  I also substituted the blood oranges for regular oranges and then used a bottled blood orange sparkling drink in place of the club soda.  These substitutions made it possible to still make a delicious sangria which included the symbolic elements of blood orange and pomegranate.

Blood Orange and Pomegranate Sparkling Sangria

Ingredients: 
3 blood oranges (or other oranges if unavailable)
Arils (seeds) from 1 pomegranate
¼ cup brandy
¼ cup simple syrup
1 bottle dry sparkling rosé or white sparkling wine
1 cup sparkling water (use blood orange Italian soda if not using blood oranges as fruit)

Instructions: 
To make simple syrup, pour equal parts sugar and water into a saucepan and heat ingredients until dissolved. Cool. Juice two of the oranges. Slice the remaining orange into thin rounds, then cut into halves or quarters for garnish. In a pitcher, combine the simple sugar,  blood orange juice, blood orange slices, pomegranate arils and brandy. Let the fruit marinate for a few hours, covered and chilled in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, pour in the rosé and sparkling water. Ladle sangria and fruit into glasses and serve. Makes approximately 6 glasses.

Precious Blood,

Ocean of Divine Mercy:

Flow upon us! 

Precious Blood,

Most pure Offering:

Procure us every Grace! 

Precious Blood,

Hope and Refuge of sinners:

Atone for us!

Precious Blood,

Delight of holy souls:

Draw us!

Amen.

~St. Catherine of Siena

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Summer Sangria in this Month of the Most Precious Blood

July is drawing to a close, but there is still time to enjoy a classic summer drink - sangria - perfect for the month dedicated to the Most Precious Blood. Sangre means blood in Spanish and the drink sangria took it's name from the red wine used, as it resembled the color of blood. Living in Colorado where there is a spectacular mountain range which extends into New Mexico named Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ), I always think of the word sangre/sangria as associated with Christ's blood.

In addition to the dedicated month there are many saints with devotion and insights into the saving power of the Precious Blood and isn’t it convenient that several of them have summer feast days – perfect days to toast with a sangria and offer prayers through the saving power of the most precious blood.

St. Gaspar del Bufalo (feast: December 28), founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood said, “We must let it be known how the Blood of Christ cleanses the souls and sanctifies them, particularly by means of the sacraments.”

In both the Dialogue and her letters, St. Catherine of Siena (feast: April 29) talks much about the blood of Christ as fundamental to salvation. Her dying words were, “Blood! Blood! Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”

The Carmelite saint, St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi (feast: May 25) when in a rapture, saw that, “every time a human being offers up the Blood by which he was redeemed, he offers a gift of infinite worth, which can be equaled by no other.” Inspired by her vision, St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi offered the Precious Blood fifty times for the souls of the living and the dead, and then God rewarded her with visions of the multitudes of souls that had been saved from perdition or delivered from Purgatory.

The Curé of Ars, St. John Vianney (feast: August 4), drew on the most perfect way of offering the Most Precious Blood: he asked Our Lady to offer it for him, and said that it never failed to obtain for him the grace or favor he sought.

St. Dominic (feast: August 8), actually had a vision of Our Lady sprinkling devout people in his congregation with the Precious Blood.

St. Maria De Mattias (feast: August 20), founder of the religious congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ had a consuming desire that "not even one drop of the Divine Blood would be lost"; that it would reach all sinners to purify them and so that, washed in that river of mercy, they would rediscover the right way to peace and union among people.

Classic Sangria

Ingredients:
2 bottles chilled dry red wine, like Rioja

1 cup brandy

1 cup orange juice

1/4 cup superfine granulated sugar

2 oranges, cut into thin rounds & quartered

2 lemons, cut into thin rounds & quartered

3 limes, cut into thin rounds & quartered

2 apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2 cups cold club soda or sparkling water

Directions:

In a large pot or pitcher, combine the wine, brandy, orange juice, and sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the orange, lemon, lime slices, and the apples then refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator and add the club soda. Serve in glasses over ice.

  *    *    *    *    *     *     *

“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, in satisfaction of my sins, in supplication for the holy souls in Purgatory and for the needs of Holy Church (name a soul).”

“Immaculate Heart of Mary, do thou offer to the Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the conversion of sinners, especially, (name the soul).”

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Orecchiette "Little Ears" Pasta Ideas for Saint Days

Orecchiette from the Italian orecchia, meaning "ear", and -etta, meaning "small" is a variety of pasta from southern Italy. Its name comes from its shape, which resembles a small ear.  The ridged exterior and cup-like interior holds chunky sauces and scoops up small vegetables, making orecchiette perfect to serve with sautés. 

Last year, I posted an orecchiette recipe called tuoni e lampo which is a traditional Italian pasta dish with chickpeas. Its name, I thought, linked it well to the story of thunder and lightning associated with St. Scholastica and St. Benedict. But focusing specifically on the ear shape and its name, this pasta would be a fun one to use for a variety of saint feast days associated with ears and hearing.

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests and confessors. St. John Vianney was especially known for his gift as a confessor. He  drew thousands of penitents to line up, sometimes days in advance, to experience what many recalled as his ability to see into the deepest recesses of the soul.  For this humble priest who was known to hear confessions for up to 16 hours a day, the ear pasta seems a fitting symbol.

Some other saints who have connections associated with hearing and ears are listed here – many coming up soon in September.

• St. Francis de Sales (January 24)  -  He was known as powerful confessor during the Counter-Reformation. His masterpiece of the spiritual life, Introduction to the Devout Life includes the well-known, “How To Make A General Confession.”   He is the patron of the deaf and hearing impaired.  
• St. Benedict (July 11) - St. Benedict in his rule begins the Prologue with these words: "Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart." 
• St. Alphonsus Liguori (August 1) – He is a patron of confessors and wrote much on the sacrament of confession. 
• St. John Vianney (August 4) – He was known for hearing confessions up to 16 hours per day and is a patron of confessors. 
• St. John Chysostom (September 13) – An early Church Father, he interpreted the epistles of St. Paul. He is often depicted in iconography with St. Paul whispering into his ear. His ear is incorrupt. 
• St. Cornelius  (September 16) – Pope St. Cornelius is a patron of hearing ailments due to his name coming from the Latin for horn, and in art is usually shown holding a horn, the type that was used in the Middle Ages to rally troops in battle. These horns had a similar shape as the ear horns that hard-of-hearing people once used to amplify sounds. By this process, he became the patron of ear ailments.
• St. Pio of Pietrelcina (September 23) – Confession was his primary activity of the day. He was known for reading souls in the confessional.

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Priestly Brownies

Happy Feast of St. John Vianney, Patron Saint of Parish Priests!

How about making these fun Priestly Brownies for your pastor or your family?

Ingredients (Needed items):

Boxed Brownie Mix

T-shirt Cookie Cutter

Powdered Sugar

Black and white decorating gel

1. After baking brownies, place the cookie cutter gently on top.

2.  Sprinkle powdered sugar around the outer edges to highlight the shirt.

3. Use black decorating gel to outline and fill in the shirt.

4. Use black and white decorating gel to draw the priestly collar.

"The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus, when you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ."~St. John Vianney~

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St John Vianney's Feast Day

Here is our feast for the feastday of St John Vianney and the 150th anniversary of his death and entry into Eternal Life.

We kept the table setting austere, with no table cloth, in keeping with the simple and mortified life of the Cure.

The highlight of the meal was the cake which was quite simple, two cakes - a chocolate mud cake and a white chocolate mud cake, both cut in half hortizonally and then layered making sure the white, iced top was the last layer. Last night I had made the silhouette of The Cure as he was on the last leg of his journey to Ars for the first time. He ran into a local boy and he asked for the way...the famous and beautiful quote goes like this:

"Show me the way to Ars and I'll show you the way to Heaven."

That quote makes me teary, it's touching and profound, this was a priest that would be giving his whole being to saving souls, nothing would be held back.

The silhouette I traced from the photo below. If you click on the image to enlarge it and then save it to your computer, you can print it up to full size on paper, cut out and then trace onto heavier cardboard. I'll keep that silhouette image for next year. On the cake is the quote I mentioned above and further below you will see the quote I printed up and laminated to go on the top of the cake.

We had a lovely discussion time when getting ready to cut the cake as I talked about the image, the quote and then I asked the children why had I layered the cake, dark, light, dark, light? Discussion started. I told them how The Cure had grappled and fought with the devil throughout his priestly life, particularly on the evenings before a 'big fish' were to approach the town. {Big fish was the term The Cure used for describing the soon-to-be converted sinner.}

So the cake is a representation of that constant battle with the iced white cake on top, The Cure being victorious!! In fact the devil once said that if there had been four Cure's at that time in history his dominion on earth would have been conquered.

Click on this image to enlarge if you wish to cut and paste as a template.

Our main meal was symbolic as well. We served homemade Chicken Mustard & Vege Pasties, with a cross on top. Pasties being a French cuisine. Making the casserole filling was easy, I used 2 chicken marylands and diced them up, fried them with two small onions and garlic. Then I added finally diced brocoli and yellow squash {could be any vege} and threw in a bottle of Chicken Mustard sauce and thickened it slightly with arrowroot powder.

Then I made the dough by adding 4 cups of plain flour in a bowl, I rubbed 360 grams {12.7 ounces} of softened butter into the flour and added two egg yolks and 6 Tablespoons of lemon juice {I used lime juice as well when I ran out of lemons} I then kneaded it into a dough and separated it into 8 portions {to feed 8} and rolled them out individually, using a regular eating bowl as the template for cutting out my circles, placed a heaping of casserole in the center and folded the dough over and pressed with my thumb, the edges together and cooked them in a medium oven for a good 30 mins.

Then we had 'Devils on Horseback' with two spiced, port soaked prunes wrapped in bacon, this symbolized The Cure's war against the devil constantly. I fried the bacon and wrapped two prunes in each strip, {you can secure them with toothpicks if you like} I popped them in the oven for 10 mins or so.

Then we had a side serving of boiled potatoes, this being the staple and constant diet of The Cure who mortified himself greatly with denying himself pleasurable food. Beans were an added green to the dish and it was topped with some butter and dried herbs. The meal was delicious but looked simple as you would imagine it would have been like in rural France at The Cure's time.

As we enjoyed our meal we discussed these symbolic elements, the little children were particularly enthralled.

Here is a cross section of our yummy cake.

I've added below, Charlotte's lovely Cure of Ars cake, a beautiful job as always. Charlotte had this to say about her creation:

"One was a white chocolate cake and the other a devil's food mocha cake. The layers were stuck together with a chocolate ganache and the whole thing was glazed with a white chocolate ganache."

I thought that was great too, because the whole cake is covered in white - The Cure is victorious! When the cake is cut and served the life long 'battle' between The Saint and Satan can be seen. Lovely Charlotte!

Happy Feast Day!

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