(Vatican Radio) The 4th edition of the Mirabile dictu (Wonderful
to relate) International Catholic Film Festival took place this week at the Vatican
Auditorium here in Rome. The 2013 Festival was dedicated to Kateri Tekakwitha, the
first Native American saint, canonized by Benedict XVI last fall.
On the occasion
of the final evening of the event, the prestigious “Capax Dei” prize was awarded to
the film “In Her Footsteps: the Story of Kateri Tekakwitha” produced by Canada's Salt
and Light TV.
“We were very surprised to hear that we received the Capax Dei
prize,” said Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., the Founder and Chief Executive Officer
of Salt and Light TV. “The film is one of our best films. We’ve done 45 or 47 documentaries
in the past 10 years. The Kateri one is the most recent one . . . it’s quite extraordinary.”
He
spoke about the world’s first canonised Native American Saint: “Kateri is an extraordinary
figure. It’s a saint of the sixteenth century, that we were able to open up her story
400 years later. She’s a bridge with the native people, she’s a great instrument of
reconciliation. She’s a model of chastity, of purity for young people, a bold model
of courage. A model of holiness, a young lay woman. Many, many people have responded
beautifully to her story.”
Father Rosica spoke about the significance of Saint
Kateri today. “The meaning is holiness. Holiness has no dateline, it’s not limited
to a particular moment in time.” He described her as an “instrument of the New Evangelisation”.
“Though the story is old,” he said, “the story is ever new, because it’s a story of
holiness which never grows old.”
Listen to Father Thomas Rosica, speaking
with Christopher Wells: