A Time for Miracles

I found this film while browsing Kate Mulgrew's acting credentials on her imdb profile and while this type of film does not speak to me at all i decided to give it a try. Because i was interested in her early career.

A Time for Miracles is a biography of a catholic saint Elizabeth Bayley Seton, i have no clue who this person is or why she is relevant in the catholic community. I dont know anything about its historical accuracy or relevancy.

With that said i liked the story, it starts on Christmas morning when a vessel dropped anchor in the harbor with a sole survivor of an attack from moroccan pirates.

Then consumption and yellow fever...

The acting, directing and cinematography is classic in style and well executed. Kate did a solid job, its weirdly interesting to see her in an early role, before she fully developed her skill and career you can see her own style beginning to take shape here and in the series Mrs. Columbo. All that was required for her to become one of the Greatest Starfleet Captains to traveling the universe and our tv's, monitors and screens for 100s of years.

I do not know any of the other actors but they did a decent job except Dominic Chianese and Ellen Barber they just bad performances.

The film, made for television, is a sincere biography of America's first native-born Catholic saint, Elizabeth Bayley Seton. Born of a wealthy Protestant family in New York City in 1774, Elizabeth at age 19 was happily married to a wealthy businessman in the import trade.

Before long, though, she began to suffer a series of trials, misfortunes, and tragedies beginning with her husband's loss of fortune and later his early death. She and her five children were initially rescued by kindly Italians (the Filicchi family) from which she discovered Roman Catholicism.

Her conversion took place at a time when Catholics were heavily persecuted in the United States. When a Huguenot relative complained that European Catholics wronged Huguenots, Elizabeth calmly replied that Catholics were equally persecuted in America. Gradually she was accepted by some family members, including her five children. Under the support of Bishop John Carroll, the only Catholic bishop in the USA, she began a school for girls in Maryland. While her achievements occurred, she sustained terrible heartbreaks: two of her children (both girls) died before they reached maturity. Tuberculosis took its toll.

Over time Elizabeth steadfastly began or influenced the growth of Catholic schools (the beginning of the parochial school system), orphanages, and hospitals. Non-Catholics were welcome. Elizabeth died of consumption (tuberculosis) at age 46 in 1821.

The acting is very good, and Kate Mulgrew shines in the lead role. In supporting roles, Lorne Greene and John Forsythe were effective as clergymen.

Last year, I came home from a twelve hour shift and found my wife watching this movie on DVD. I watched the remainder of the film with her and then the next day watched it in its entirety. I watched again this evening and guess it will be fun to watch each year. The movie is a great movie for Catholics (and others too I suppose). It tells the story of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton whose insístance on giving free education to the poor and needy in lieu of to only the wealthy made her dear and wise in her own time and her Charity spreader to other states. She was the widowed mother of five children after her wealthy husband died of consumption, now known a terburculosis, or TB. She went from being rich to suddenly without income and debt. While taking her ailing husband to Italy became in awe of Catholicism and used her new fairh to help children in need. She started a religious order and used love to help all children in her care. A great cast with Kate Mulgrew as Elizabeth Seaton and supporting roles played by John Forsythe and Lorne Greene, give this made for TV movie some credentials.