IN HONOR OF FILIPINO WRITER, LINDA TY-CASPER

Today, I'm honoring LINDA TY-CASPER, a Filipino writer of over fifteen books.

I've had the privilege of knowing Linda and have enjoyed her generosity in writing Introductions and blurbs for my book projects. She is the quintessential "lady" - quiet, well-mannered, and with a keen mind.  

She was born as Belinda Ty in Malabon, Philippines in 1931. Her father worked in the Philippine National Railways; her mother was a school teacher. It was her grandmother who told her stories about the Philippine struggle for independence, a topic she picked up in her novels. She has law degrees from the University of the Philippines and Harvard. However, erroneous and biased statements in books at Widener Library converted her into an advocate, through faithfully researched historical fiction, of Filipino's right to self-definition/determination.

Her numerous books are generally historical fiction. The Peninsulares centers on eighteenth-century Manila; The Three-Cornered Sun written on a Radcliffe Institute grant, deals with the 1896 Revolution; and Ten Thousand Seeds, the start of the Philippine American War. Contemporary events, including martial law years, appear in Dread Empire, Hazards of Distance, Fortress in the Plaza, Awaiting Trespass, Wings of Stone, A Small Party in a Garden, and DreamEden.

Her stories, collected in Transparent Sun, The Secret Runner, and Common Continent, originally appeared in magazines such as Antioch Review, The Asia Magazine, Windsor Review, Hawaii Review, and Triquarterly. One was included in The Best American Short Stories of 1987 Honor Roll.

She has held grants from the Djerassi Foundation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Wheatland Foundation. She and her husband, (literary critic and professor emeritus of Boston College) Leonard Casper, reside in Massachusetts. They have two daughters.

Educational Background:

            University of the Philippines (1949-1955)

Harvard Law (1956-57), Silliman (1963)

Radcliffe Institute (1974-75)

Publication History:

            Books Published:

The Transparent Sun (short stories), Peso Books, 1963

The Peninsulars (historical novel), Bookmark, 1964

The Secret Runner (short stories), Florentino/National Book, 1974
The Three-Cornered Sun (historical novel), New Day, 1979
 Dread Empire (novella), Heinemann, Hong Kong, 1980
 Hazards of Distance (novella), New Day, 1981

 Fortress in the Plaza (novella), New Day, 1985

 Awaiting Trespass (novella), Readers International, London, 1985
Top 5 Women's Fiction Choice, 1986 UK Feminist Book Fortnight.
 Wings of Stone (novella), Readers International, London, 1986
 Ten Thousand Seeds (historical novel), Ateneo, 1987  

A Small Party in a Garden (novella), New Day, 1988; Kindle & Nook, 2012

Common Continent (short stories), Ateneo, 1991
  Kulasyon: Uninterrupted Vigils (collected first chapters), Giraffe Books, Quezon City, 1995

 DreamEden (historical novel), Ateneo, 1996/University of  Washington Press, 1997 

Awards/Honors Received:

Djerassi 1984 
Filipino-American Women Network Award for Literature 1985
Top 5 Women's Fiction, Feminist Network, London  1986
Massachusetts Artists Foundation  1988
Wheatland 1990
UNESCO/P.E.N. Short Story  1993.
SEAWrite Award, Bangkok  1993.
Bellagio 1994

Employment History:

UNESCO Philippine Commission 1956


External Links re Linda Ty-Casper:

http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Groups/Ty_Casper.htm 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ty_Casper

http://bostonreview.net/BR18.1/casper.html

http://www.umich-cseas.org/eventsandnews/abstracts/ty-casper/CasperAbstract.htm

 http://www.palhbooks.com/Linda.htm

http://www.answers.com/topic/linda-ty-casper

Tags: literature, Philippines, Philippine, Philippine American, Filipina, author, writer, novelist, books

Happy Halloween! - Day of the Dead photos by Cecilia Brainard

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
PhotoS taken by Cecilia Brainard - exhibit at Desert Museum in Phoenix, AZ

Prayer for Protection from Hurricanes and Storms (thinking of the East Coast)

Thinking of those in the East Coast:

Prayer for Protection from Hurricanes and Storms;
God, our Father,
Eternal and Omnipotent,
Creator and Lord of the Universe,
you have set the earth on its foundation
and all elements of nature obey your command. You give food to all flesh,
cover the heavens with clouds,
and provide rain to the earth ─

We humbly beseech you
Lord, Most High,
to keep us safe from all dangers
and to calm all the storms of life that threaten us:
especially the attack of whirlwinds and tornadoes,
the calamity and destruction of hurricanes,
the din and damage of hail storms,
the striking of thunderbolts and lightning,
and the devastation of floods and tidal waves.

May we be secure in your loving protection,
seek your Will in all our experiences,
and serve you always with grateful hearts.
We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Miraculous Stairs of Loretto, Santa Fe, NM

The Miraculous Stairs of Loretto, Santa Fe, NM - the stairs have no discernible support and was reportedly built by St. Joseph. (Photo by Cecilia Brainard)

I looked forward to seeing this chapel, having heard it's history, but the minute I walked on it's grounds felt no religiosity whatsoever. There is a fee to enter the church, and there is a huge gift shop, restaurants and other stories nearby; the church butts up against the Loretto hotel. With some research I learned that the Loretto Church had been deconsecrated decades ago.

The San Miguel Mission Church and Basilica Cathedral of St. Francis in Santa Fe "felt" so much better.

Go Bruins! UCLA Wins on Last Second Field Goal!

Go Bruins! UCLA wins on last second filed goal!
UCLA - ASU Football Game, October 27, 2012

Crucified Christ at Chimayo, photo by Cecilia Brainard

I love this Crucified Christ at Chimayo, New Mexico. Even while hanging on the Cross, Christ still wraps his right arm around a person to comfort him. I took this picture. - Cecilia Brainard

You are Invited Philippine Expressions Book Launchings - Saturday, October 27, 2012

Los Angelenos - you are invited to this wonderful event! Linda Nietes of Philippine Expressions is hosting, and she always has fun and educational events, great books available, opportunity to meet authors, to network with other book lovers, etc. Do attend and tell others - and do pick up a copy of the bestselling MAGNIFICAT: MAMA MARY'S PILGRIM SITES - Linda Nietes will be signing this best-selling religious title:

Twenty Fil Am Authors to Sign at
Launching of the Philippine Heritage Collection

Echo Park Public Library
1410 W Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Saturday, October 27, 2012
11:00am - 3:00pm


October has been designated as Filipino American History Month all over the US. In celebration of this event, the Echo Park Community Group (EPCoG) in collaboration with the Los Angeles City Public Library is launching the Philippine Heritage Collection at Echo Park Public Library. The collection will be the foundation of the literary, historical and cultural documentation of the Filipino American and Philippine experience. The "story"or experience will also highlight
the contributions and sacrifices made by Filipino Americans as immigrants to this land and will showcase literary works of local Filipino authors, especially those writing about their Filipino American experiences and the development of Historic Filipino Town. Future programs will include book talks and signings, lectures and cultural presentations.

An open house open to the public will be held from 11:00am to 3:00pm on Saturday, Oct 27, 2012. It will feature two Keynote Speakers – Cathy Serafica Deleon and Greg Villanueva. Ms DeLeon is the Branch Manager of the Los Alamitos-Rossmoor Library of the Orange County Public Libraries. She will speak on the importance of libraries to our community and what a historic phenomenal event this is - the establishment of Philippine Heritage Collection in the Los Angeles Public Library. Greg Villanueva is an Echo Park native and successful architect who brought up the idea of a Philippine Heritage Collection as part of the Echo Park Library. He will share the reasons that sparked the creation of the collection. Michelle Magalong of the MyHiFi group will present a Filipino-American Historical Perspective.

Thirty-five Southern California Filipino American authors were sent invitations for the event. Linda Nietes, owner of Philippine Expressions Bookshop, a mail order bookshop located in Rancho Palos Verdes, (310) 514-9139 http://philippineexpressionsbookshop.wordpress.com/ will be on hand with books for purchase or for donation to the collection. Donations from authors and the community are encouraged in order to support the Filipino Heritage Collection project of the Library.

The Southern California authors who will speak and sign their books are:
*Noel Alumit, author of Talking to the Moon, a novel set in Historic Filipinotown;
*Lorna Dumapias, author of Filipino American Experience: The Making of a Historic Cultural Monument;
*Sumi Haru, author of Iron Lotus, Memoirs Sumi Sevilla Haru will share her experiences in her successful Hollywood career ;
*Lorenzo Paran III, author, Pinoy in America: The stateside life in the time of Barack Obama, Facebook and Pacquiao -mania and all about life in America;
*Leslie V. Ryan, author, I am Flippish, a book for juveniles, which tells a story about mixed parentage, and in this case, pride in being Filipino and Irish;
*Juanita Santos Nacu, author of Storytelling. Project heart to heart: A Means to Bridge Generational Gap in post-1965 Filipino Immigrant families;
*Carlene Sobrino Bonnivier, author of Seeking Thirst, a novel with an Echo Park setting;
*Zosimo Quibilan, who will read from his book-in-progress, a poetry regarding the Filipino American and
*Percival Cruz, will read from his book, The Drama Queen and a two-minute story entitled My Way, about an ex-jeepney driver who became an American Idol contestant.

Because the event is in celebration of Filipino American History Month, the themes of the authors' talks and readings were chosen to fit the occasion.

Other Fil Am and Southern California authors who are expected to attend and sign their books are:
*Ben Aniceto, author of Stay Tuned: The Golden Years of Philippine Radio;
*Nenita (Tita) Pambid Domingo of UCLA and author of Come On, Let's Speak Tagalog;
*Marc Lawrence, who is married to a Filipina, a martial arts teacher and author of a primer, The Basics of Filipino Martial Arts;
*Albert J.Mortiz, author of Discover the Philippines Cookbook;
*Ruben V. Nepales, author of My Filipino Connection: The Philippines in Hollywood;
*Giovanni Ortega, author of Leaves from the Silverlake Barrio;
*Arturo R. Garcia, author of Unrecognized American Veterans: Memory, History and Equity for Filipino WWll Veterans;
*Frank Tinio Lopez, author of Gallant Warriors from the Sea: The Philippine Marine Corps Today;
*Carina Monica Montoya, author of Los Angeles's Historic Filipinotown as well as Filipinos in Hollywood. Carina Monica Montoya, also known as Carina Forsythe, likewise wrote a juvenile storybook called Let's Cook Adobo;
*Eliseo Art Silva, author of Filipinos of Greater Philadelphia.

*Linda Nietes-Little who will sign as a contributor to the book, The Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites. The Editor, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is out of town. The Magnificat has over twenty contributors who have shared their personal experiences of healing of mind, body and spirit after their pilgrimages to sites dedicated to the Blessed Mother in Lourdes, France; Fatima in Portugal; Our Lady of Vailankanni by the Bay of Bengal in India; the Black Madonna in Poland; Our Lady of Medjugorie in Bosnia-Herzegovina; Shrine of Saint Maryam in Keren, Eritrea; The Maryam Monastery in Ethiopia; Shrine of the Miraculous Medal at Rue du Bac in Paris, France; Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico; Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain; the House of the
Virgin Mary in Ephesus, Turkey; Shrine of Maria Lanakila in Honolulu; Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin, as well as over eight other Marian pilgrim sites in the Philippines such as in Antipolo and Our Lady of Peñafrancia in Bicol; Shrine of our Lady of the Abandoned in Santa Ana, Manila; Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Sukat, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila; Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan; Immaculate Concepcion Church in Labac and Basilica of St Martin of Tours in Taal, Batangas; Shrine of Our Lady of Remedios in Odlot, Cebu and lastly, Schoenstatt Shrine in Lawaan, Talisay, Cebu.

Co-chairs of this booklaunching event are EPLCoG Board members Caroline Lorenzo and Jose Sigala. Also on the EPLCoG Board are Joselyn Geaga-Rosenthal, President; Lisa Baca-Sigala, Treasurer; Carlene Sobrino Bonnivier, Secretary; Dr. Marc Caratao; Cora Marte; Isa Meksin and Ramona Souza.

We hope that you will come and support this project which is a wonderful outreach to build the Filipino American community in Los Angeles, and is part of the continuing outreach program of Philippine Expressions Bookshop. The bookshop which was established in 1984 has served the community quietly for the last twenty-eight years, trying to build a literary community within the bigger Filipino American community all over the United States.
---

Church of Chimayo,New Mexico, photo by Cecilia Brainard

Church of Chimayo, New Mexico, also known as the Lourdes of America because of the miracles that happen there - photo by Cecilia Brainard

Cecilia Brainard in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

Taos Pueblo in New Mexico is a fascinating place - Cecilia Brainard in front.

San Geronimo Church, Taos, New Mexico, photo by Cecilia Brainard

San Geronimo Church, Taos, New Mexico, photo by Cecilia Brainard

Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde, Colorado, photo by Cecilia Brainard

Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde, Colorado, photo by Cecilia Brainard

Arches, UT, photo by Cecilia Brainard

Arches, Utah, photo by Cecilia Brainard

Photo of deer taken at Grand Teton National Park, by Cecilia Brainard

Photo of deer taken at Grand Teton National Park, by Cecilia Brainard

Yellowstone spring, photos by Cecilia Brainard

Yellowstone spring, photos by Cecilia Brainard

NUNS ON BARSTOOLS - picture of Catholic Nuns

"Nuns on Barstools" - 
This image was floating around a couple of years ago. I attended Catholic convent schools for most of life and find the picture very amusing. (I did not take this picture.)

FROM HANOI TO HO CHI MINH CITY, By Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Hi, the following article appeared in The Freeman in Cebu, and has been reprinted online by the Philstar.com - Enjoy, Cecilia Brainard

From Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City
By Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (The Freeman) Updated October 07, 2012
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=856918&publicationSubCategoryId=111

CEBU, Philippines - Last year my husband Lauren, friend Doug Noble, and I booked our trip to Vietnam via Overseas Adventure Travel. The plan was to start North in Hanoi, and make our way South to Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon). Along the way, we would see Halong Bay, Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, and Dalat for two weeks.

 My companions were Americans and we all still remembered the Vietnam War. I wondered if the Vietnamese harbored bitterness at American involvement from 1955 to 1975. How did they feel about Americans who had been the enemy of the North Vietnamese? Had the land and its people recovered from the effects of the war?

It was February when our group of sixteen flew from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. It was surprisingly cold when we arrived. All of us felt the chill, and even our hotel was caught off-guard. The central heating wasn't working; they didn't have enough portable heaters and blankets. We slept with our sweaters and jackets on; in the daytime, we layered our clothes. The cold weather, far different from the tropical weather in southern Vietnam, made us realize the great distance between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam is long and narrow, curving around the South China Sea, sharing borders with Cambodia, Laos, and China.

Hanoi was the seat of the North Vietnamese government. The older people in Hanoi would certainly have remembered the war. What I learned was that the median age in Vietnam is 26.4 years, meaning the majority of Vietnamese didn't even experience the Vietnam War. Right away, I observed that there was no overt animosity towards Americans; they treated Americans in the same way they treated other tourists. It is a generalization, but the Vietnamese are friendly and lovely people. The children in particular are very open, and they look you straight in the eyes without fear or hesitation.

We were there during Tet, or the Vietnamese New Year, the most important Vietnamese holiday. People were hurrying back to their ancestral villages; they scrubbed their homes, especially their kitchens, home of their three Kitchen Gods who observed what went on in the household and who would report to the supreme divinity of the Taoist Heaven on Tet. The people decorated their homes and offices with yellow and pink flowers and small trees; market stalls displayed rice cakes and delicacies. There was the same anticipatory and joyous excitement that happens during Christmastime at home.

Hanoi is a beautiful city. It has a lake, the Hoam Kiem Lake in the heart of the city. There are French colonial buildings, pagodas and temples; and the avenues around the lake are simply lovely with their benches and multitude of flowers. The city has a feeling of formality; more women wore oa dais than in Ho Chi Minh.
We visited the Ho Chi Minh complex, which included Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, his house, the Presidential Palace, pagodas, and the Temple of Literature where aspiring scholars took their exams in ancient times. To better experience the Old Quarter, we each rode a cyclo that meandered through narrow busy streets that throbbed with life and commerce, some parts of which are over 1,000 years old.

On thousand years is a long time. Americans refer to 200 years ago as "old" but the Vietnamese talk about the heroic Trung Sisters who rebelled against Chinese rule in 40 A.D. and the Champa Kingdom in Central Vietnam that existed in the 7th to 18thcenturies. Hue was the ancient capital of Vietnam from the 19th to 20th centuries. The Vietnamese have a longer sense of time, so what happened in 1955-75 (the Vietnam War) was, in a sense, a drop in the bucket of their history. This may have accounted for their forgiving attitude towards Americans.

As we traveled south, we marveled at the natural beauty of Vietnam. The cold and somewhat Spartan terrain of the north softened with Ha Long Bay's emerald water and limestone rocks and islands. One of my favorite places in Central Vietnam was Hoi An, an ancient port that was mentioned by Marco Polo. From the 15th to the 19th century, it was an important South-East Asian trading port until it silted up and the trading port moved to Da Nang. The result was that Hoi An did not change and so today it still looks like the port of 200 years ago, with a charming winding river and old buildings along the riverfront.

The further south we went, the greener the country became. The Hill Station of Dalat astounded us with their extensive agriculture. This "City of Thousands of Pine Trees" supplies vegetables, fruit and flowers, not only to the rest of Vietnam, but to Japan, Australia, Russia, Taiwan, and other countries. Dalat has cool temperature and the French colonial government had used the place as their playground to escape the heat and humidity of Ho Chi Minh and the coast. In Dalat I discovered what I consider to be the best coffee I've ever tasted, Moka coffee (not to be confused with Mocha). Moka has a suave coffee taste, with a hint of chocolate; it is not brassy or strong like Robusta or Arabica coffee. Moka is best taken with condensed milk, the Vietnamese way.

By the time we got to Ho Chi Minh City, it was Tet and the frenzy of the festivities was at its height. Ho Chi Minh hummed with people on motorcycles and people promenading in parks that were decked up with floral decorations. People wore their finest clothes and the children wore silk ao Dais, looking like little emperors and empresses.

The city of Ho Chi Minh sprawls with many districts, reminding me of Manila. Most of our sightseeing was in the center of the city, which has French colonial buildings, including the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. Not too far away is the Reunification Palace which used to be the presidential palace when Ho Chi Minh was the capital of South Vietnam. There are pagodas, temples, and lively markets, Ben Thanh market being best known. I must pause and mention here that shopping in Vietnam was wonderful: they have clothes, lacquer ware, carvings, shoes, paintings, coffee, and countless other things to buy. Prices were great although one had to haggle.

It was in Ho Chi Minh, in the Vietnam War Memorial Museum where I felt tension between the Vietnamese and Americans. There was nothing personal; no one was ever rude to Americans, but there was a feeling of Vietnamese blame as we looked at the documentation of the war, in pictures, in film, in war machines, and even in the presence of some Vietnamese disabled because of the effects of Agent Orange. There, it was painful to see the evidence of American aggression during that war, although some Americans in our group pointed out that the museum focused only on the Americans, not on the French (who were in that war before the Americans) and that the museum did not show the Tiger cages used for captured Americans. Our companions who went to the Cu Chi tunnels, the underground network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong, felt some of this discomfort.

From Ho Chi Minh City, we took a daytrip to the Mekong Delta where we saw rice fields, small villages, and the peculiar Cao Dai Temple which has the image of Jesus Christ along with Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Tzu. The Mekong River itself is big; the river is the twelfth longest river in the world and runs from China through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Our short river cruise showed us fishing boats and markets and a sense that life teems along this great waterway.

The Vietnamese are very entrepreneurial. Businesses thrive everywhere: lacquer ware, clothing, agricultural products, even fishing. In Ha Long Bay, to backtrack, I was surprised when we witnessed dynamiting in the sea to catch fish; and in Dalat, I noted the extensive use of the land to extract year-round produce. Environmental protection, at least when we were there, was not in the forefront of Vietnamese thinking.
Vietnam has a communist government, which even now discriminates against Catholics and those who had sided with the South Vietnamese government or American government. Politics is not discussed openly, and people are still fearful of being bugged. But despite these and even though some people still dream of migrating to the West, Vietnam is vibrant and progressive with a lot of future. (FREEMAN)

~~~
tags: travel, Vietnam, Hanoi, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, Mekong Delta, Vietnamese

Photo of Sainte-Chapelle by Cecilia Brainard

Good night!
Psalms 32:7 ~ “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall compass me about with songs of deliverance.”
~ photo taken in Sainte-Chapelle, by Cecilia Brainard

IN HONOR OF FILIPINO AMERICAN WRITER, PAULINO LIM, JR.

Today I'm honoring PAULINO LIM, JR.

 Paulino Lim Jr. is a Filipino author of two short story collections and a novel quartet. He was born in 1935 in Camalig, Albay. He is professor emeritus of English at California State University, Long Beach. He has a bachelor's and master’s degree from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA). He was a Fulbright lecturer in Taiwan, and visiting professor at De La Salle University in Manila for more than a decade. He received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant at Indiana University, spent a sabbatical at Göttingen, Germany, and was the first prize winner of the Asiaweek Short Story Competition of 1985.

He is the author of a scholarly monograph, The Style of Lord Byron’s Plays. His other published works include: two short story anthologies (Passion Summer and Other Stories, & Curaçao Cure and Other Stories); a quartet of political novels (Tiger Orchids on Mount Mayon, Sparrows Don’t Sing in the Philippines, Requiem for a Rebel Priest, & Ka Gaby, Nom de Guerre); and two dramas (It’s All in Your Mind, & Ménage Filipinescas).

He has written the following: 

Novels

• Tiger Orchids on Mount Mayon (New Day Publishers 1990)
• Sparrows Don't Sing in the Philippines (New Day Publishers, 1994)
• Requiem for a Rebel Priest (New Day Publishers, 1996)
• Ka Gaby, Nom de Guerre (New Day Publishers, 2001)

Short Story Collections

• Passion Summer and Other Stories (New Day Publishers, 19__)
• Curacao Cure and Other Stories (Anvil, 20__)

Monograph

• The Style of Lord Byron's Plays (Inst. F. Engl. Sprache U.Literature,Univ. Salzburg, 1973)

Dramas

• It's All in Your Mind
• Menage Filipenescas 
• 

~~~
Bottom Picture, l-r: Cecilia Brainard, Herminia Menez, Paulino Lim, Jr. Helen Brown, Susan Montepio

Read also:  Philippine Literature: Filipino and Filipino American Writers 

Tags: Filipino writers, Filipino American writers, Philippine writers, Philippine literature

MAGNIFICAT IN BESTSELLER LIST - NATIONAL BOOKSTORE PHILIPPINES

2024 Update: A Catholic religious book that I collected and edited has a new edition - MAGNIFICAT: MAMA MARY'S PILGRIM SITES gathers 24 people's accounts of Marian sites wherein they found comfort, solace, and sometimes miracles. The pilgrim sites include familiar shrines in Lourdes, Vailankanni, Guadalupe, Fatima, Ephesus, as well as lesser known ones including several in the Philippines (Antipolo, Manaoag, Odlot, Caysasya and more).  It is available from Amazon.

MAGNIFICAT IN BEST SELLER LIST IN NATIONAL BOOKSTORE - HURRAH!

Re Magnficat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites: 
Collected and Edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, this book collects 24 Marian devotees' accounts of their experiences in Marian pilgrim sites. The sites are found in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, India, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United States, and there are eight Pilgrim sites in the Philippines. The book includes short writeups of other international pilgrim sites and some Catholic Prayers. Archbishop Tagle of Manila has issued an Imprimatur for the book, Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites.

Contributors are: Lucy Adao McGinley, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Angelita Caluag Cruz, Maria Ciocon, Celeste, Ma. Ceres P. Doyo, Millicent Dypiangco, Ma. Milagros T. Dumdum, Penelope V. Flores, Almira Astudillo Gilles, Ma. Teresita Herrera-Tan, Fe Aida Lacsamana-Reyes, Jaime C. Laya, Guia Lim, Linda Nietes-Little, Ma. Teresa Z. Lopez, Aimee Gaboya Ortega Lucero, Lynley Salome R. Ocampo, Ma. Cristina Padilla-Sendin, Marsha C. Paras, Rev. Dr. Sebastian Periannan, Brian Ascalon Roley, Julia H. Wolski, and Linda Yamamoto.

Blurbs:

This is another outstanding book by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. Profoundly Marian and beautifully written by the contributors as these are their personal experiences! To our fellow devotees and would-be devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary, you will surely fall in love with "Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites" and love Our Blessed Mother even more. - Bishop Leopoldo C. Jaucian, SVD, DD, Bishop of Bangued, Philippines"

The devotion to Mama Mary is strong in the hearts of every Filipino. - Father James B. Reuter, SJ

The Magnificat has always been a testament to God’s paradoxical dealings with his people. This book assembles a tableau of witnesses to how a fleeting visit with Mary can turn into a life-changing introduction to her Son. Through their stories the author offers their readers the distinct possibility of setting the stage for a personal, if vicarious, epiphany. - Father Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD , President . University of San Carlos

Running as a leitmotif in all the essays in this book is the writers’ palpable love for Mama Mary. Each writer has undergone a change in his or her life or outlook following a visit to a Marian site. Some may have experienced a “miracle,” or felt consoled and renewed; others a deepening of spirituality, or an epiphany, an insight into the divine. Although we know that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, it is our belief in the power of Mary’s intercession to her Son, borne out of the Bible’s Cana story, that makes us all turn to Her, whom Her divine Son will never refuse. Kudos to Cecilia Manguerra Brainard for putting together an engaging collection of stories that magnify the humble handmaid of the Lord. - Erlinda E. Panlilio, Writer and Editor


In the US, Magnificat is available from Philippine Expressions:
Magnificat is also available in Kindle and Nook.