SAINTS
A list of films based on the lives of saints officially declared by the Catholic Church, the lives of men and women who gave their lives to God, in the most diverse ways.
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- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsHoward KeelJohn SaxonSusan KohnerExploring the life of Peter, from being a successful fisherman to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and being dependent on Jesus Christ.
- DirectorGiulio BaseStarsOmar SharifDaniele PecciFlavio InsinnaSaint Peter, a reluctant but passionate leader, from the crucifixion of Jesus to his own. The film's first half dramatizes the New Testament's "Acts": early fear, the renewal of Pentecost, Saul's conversion, the decision to baptize pagans, and the Apostles' dispersal. In the second half, an aged Peter goes to Rome to join Paul, arriving on the day of Paul's arrest. Paul's death brings a crisis to Rome's Christians and to Peter; lessons from Jesus's teachings guide his decision to stay. Events within the fictive household of Persius, a Roman aristocrat, capture the upheaval that Christian teachings bring to the Eternal City.
- DirectorRobert DayStarsAnthony HopkinsRobert FoxworthEddie AlbertPeter the Fisherman and Paul of Tarsus assume leadership of the Church as they struggle against violent opposition to the teachings of Jesus Christ and their own personal conflicts.
- StarsJohannes BrandrupThomas LockyerBarbora BobulovaBiblical epic from the book of Acts and Paul's epistles covering the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and his ministry to the Gentiles now known as Paul. Pursued by fellow Jew Reuben, who wishes him dead, Paul takes the Gospel of Jesus throughout the known world to Rome.
- DirectorAndrew HyattStarsJim CaviezelJames FaulknerOlivier MartinezLuke risks his life to visit Paul, who is captive in a Roman prison under Nero's rule. Together, they struggle against a determined emperor and the frailties of the human spirit to live out the Gospel and spread the message to the world.
- DirectorRaffaele MertesElisabetta MarchettiStarsRoberta ArmaniMathieu CarrièreMaria Grazia CucinottaWhen Jesus is taken off the cross at Golgotha, THOMAS arrives there. Like most of the other disciples, he had worriedly taken refuge with friends in Jerusalem after Jesus's arrest. After Jesus's burial, the disciples decide to leave Jerusalem quickly, but Thomas refuses to leave Jesus' body behind, as he fears that the tomb may be desecrated. When MARY MAGDALENE tells the disciples that the resurrected Jesus has appeared to her, they are all convinced of his god-like nature apart from Thomas. He sets off to look for the corpse. Thomas still has his doubts even when the disciples tell him that Jesus appeared to them, too. Therefore, he meets a legionary who pretends to know where the body can be found. The man leads Thomas into the catacombs for money # but the corpse he shows him is someone else's. Thomas is told to announce to the others that he has seen Jesus's corpse, and put an end to the belief in resurrection once and for all. When Thomas refuses to do so, a life-or-death struggle ensues. Torches fall from the walls, transforming the underground labyrinth into a sea of flame, and Thomas saves the soldier's life. Out of gratitude, the man sends him to see his superior LONGINUS, who was rejected from the army as a "madman" and almost beaten to death. Longinus now tells Thomas how he witnessed the resurrection. This doesn't convince Thomas either. In despair he starts to reproach himself to Joanna, saying because of his doubts he can no longer be a worthy disciple of Jesus. But Joanna takes him back to the disciples. Then Jesus appears to all of them and convinces Thomas of the resurrection. Overjoyed, Thomas is now prepared to spread the Christian faith.
- DirectorCarlo Ludovico BragagliaStarsYvonne De CarloJorge MistralRossana PodestàSet against the magnificent backdrop of classic Rome, "The Sword and the Cross" is the story of a notorious harlot who must choose between her lascivious lifestyle and the love and affection of her decent-minded brother.
- DirectorRaffaele MertesElisabetta MarchettiStarsMaria Grazia CucinottaMassimo GhiniGiuliana de SioWhen the marriage between AMOS and MARY MAGDALENE turns out to be childless, he casts her out and gets a divorce. Mary has to leave Magdala. She befriends SILVANO, a Roman prefect, who promises her a new life at his side. A few days after her departure Mary meets the prophet JOHN THE BAPTIST, whom Silvano suspects of being a revolutionary. The prefect tells her to cultivate John more intensively. In this way Mary becomes acquainted with the teaching of the coming Messiah, and it begins to interest her. To protect John from the Romans she pretends to Silvano that he is harmless # but when the prefect finds out that how dangerous John is in the eyes of the tetrarch HEROD ANTIPAS, he feels he was wronged and purposely tricked by Mary. He casts her out as well. After a suicide attempt, Mary lowers herself to prostitution. HEROIDAS, the wife of Herod Antipas, invites Mary to come to her because of her knowledge of the healing arts. In this way she gets to know SALOME, who later asks for the Baptist's head. Mary is also drawn into the war for Galilee, in the course of which her home town of Magdala goes up in flames. She tries in vain to save the life of SAMUEL, the son of her friend JOANNA. He dies in her arms. She then takes him to JESUS # who brings him back to life. Mary recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, and becomes one of his disciples.
- DirectorGarth DavisStarsRooney MaraJoaquin PhoenixChiwetel EjioforTwelve men heard and spread the message of Jesus. Only one woman understood it.
- DirectorCarmine EliaStarsVanessa HesslerThomas TrabacchiMassimo WertmüllerDioscuro, governor of Scandriglia, is willing to do anything to get to the Roman government. His daughter Barbara, instead she is disinterested in everything and continued her studies in astronomy from Polycarp and along with her friends: Giuliana, Tito, Crio and the soldier Claudio. With them she will starts a spiritual journey that will totally change her life, also marked by the death of her mother, making the Christian faith its raison d'etre. All this will bring it into conflict with the government, including the prefect Marciano and especially with the father who does not share her choice and that she had not predicted this future course.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsDary BerkaniVirgilio GazzoloCesare BarbettiThis biography tells the life story of Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, a North African region during the last years of the Roman Empire. The film details Augustine's struggle to maintain religious decorum in a civilization on the verge of plunging into the Dark Ages.
- DirectorChristian DuguayStarsAlessandro PreziosiMonica GuerritoreAlexander HeldThe story of the life and conversion of Aurelius Augustinus to Saint Augustine of Hippo.
- DirectorMichael RedwoodStarsNicole CernatPeter O'TooleJoss AcklandConstantine joins the Roman army to find his missing childhood friend. Once alerted to his friend's whereabouts, he prepares for an all out war between the East and the West.
- DirectorMargarethe von TrottaStarsBarbara SukowaHeino FerchHannah HerzsprungThe life story of the multi-talented German nun Hildegard von Bingen. The film portrays an original woman - best known as a composer and religious visionary - whose grand claims often run counter to the patriarchal world around her. The monks and nuns at the convent become a kind of family, offering both confidants and enemies. For example Jutta, struggling with her jealousy of Hildegard's success, and the young Richardis who worships Hildegard both as an intellectual role model and a mother figure.
- DirectorPeter GlenvilleStarsRichard BurtonPeter O'TooleJohn GielgudKing Henry II of England comes to terms with his affection for his close friend and confidant Thomas Becket, who finds his true honor by observing God's divine will rather than the King's.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAldo FabriziGianfranco BelliniPeparuoloA series of vignettes depicting the lives of the original Franciscan monks, including their leader and the bumbling Ginepro.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsBradford DillmanDolores HartStuart WhitmanIn 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his own religious order, sanctioned by the Pope.
- DirectorJosé Antonio Nieves CondeStarsVicente ParraDidier HaudepinJosé BódaloThe plot is loosely based on the legend from Galicia in north-west Spain of the founding by St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) of the Convent of San Francisco near Santiago de Compostela in 1214 with the help of a poor charcoal burner named Cotolay, who found a buried treasure which paid for the construction. This slow moving but engaging film opens with St Francis arriving in Santiago with two other monks - Juan of Florence and Bernardo de Quintavalle - during a pilgrimage there to visit the tomb of St James the Apostle in the cathedral. He receives a divine revelation to tarry there until the meaning of his vision becomes clear. Faint with hunger he meets Cotolay (the 14-year-old Didier Haudepin) who gives the monks (stolen) figs to eat and leads them to the nearby Mount Pedroso where logging-master Tarna gives them food and lodging in return for work during their stay. While praying on the mountain St Francis believes he has been divinely instructed that his order of mendicant friars should found convents, starting at Santiago. Because St Francis is struck down with fever and blindness, Cotolay promises him that he will build it for him. Believing his grandfather's tales of buried treasure at a ruined abbey Cotolay vainly goes in search of it, until St Francis tells him that real treasure lies in one's self, in faith, humility and obedience; with these qualities one can build a whole world, not just a convent. With charm, piety, zeal and kindness Cotolay sets about his task, persuading the abbot of St Martin's Benedictine Monastery to grant a parcel of his land as large as a bull's skin in return for a basketful of fish. The abbot agrees but Cotolay cuts the skin into thin strips and marks out a far larger plot of land than expected in the Val de Dios (Valley of God). Next Cotolay gets the cathedral master mason Mateo to donate a pile of stones and has the loggers transport them to the chosen site in a competition of strength. After Mateo has constructed the convent St Francis is taken to the new building where his sight is restored. The film ends with St Francis taking his leave of a tearful Cotolay, who wants him to stay. (It should be noted that the version of the film with English subtitles is usually known as Cotolay, rather than by the original Spanish title of El Nino y El Lobo - The Boy and the Wolf.) The wolf of the Spanish title plays only a very minor part in the story and is eventually tamed by St Francis.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsGeraldine FarrarRaymond HattonHobart BosworthA WWI English officer is inspired the night before a dangerous mission by a vision of Joan of Arc, whose story he relives.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsGraham FaulknerJudi BowkerLeigh LawsonDramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare.
- DirectorMichele SoaviStarsRaoul BovaAmélie DaureGianmarco TognazziThe life of Saint Francis, a saint who was born rich, in the medieval Tuscany, and abandoned all his goods to live closer to the population and is nowadays remembered as the saint protector of Italy.
- DirectorLiliana CavaniStarsMickey RourkeHelena Bonham CarterAndréa FerréolDocudrama about the life of St-Francis of Assisi.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsIngrid BergmanJosé FerrerSelena RoyleThe abbreviated life of the 15th-century French heroine.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsIngrid BergmanTullio CarminatiGiacinto PrandelliSurreal musical about the time of the execution of Joan of Arc.
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsSandrine BonnaireAndré MarconJean-Louis RichardFilm about the later life of Joan Of Arc including her trial and execution.
- DirectorJacques RivetteStarsTatiana MoukhineSandrine BonnaireJean-Marie RichierA part of Joan of Arc's life. At the beginning, Jeanne (Joan) has already left Domremy, she is trying to convince a captain to escort her to the Dauphin. It ends during Jeanne's first battle, at Orleans. Meanwhile, Jeanne is depicted more as a warrior than a saint (all cliches are avoided), with only her faith for strength.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsMilla JovovichJohn MalkovichRab AffleckA young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.
- DirectorBruno DumontStarsLise Leplat PrudhommeJeanne VoisinLucile GauthierFrance, 1425. In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young Jeannette, at the still tender age of 8, looks after her sheep in the small village of Domremy. One day, she tells her friend Hauviette how she cannot bear to see the suffering caused by the English. Madame Gervaise, a nun, tries to reason with the young girl, but Jeannette is ready to take up arms for the salvation of souls and the liberation of the Kingdom of France. Carried by her faith, she will become Joan of Arc.
- StarsLeelee SobieskiChad WillettPeter O'TooleSpurred by divine voices and visions, fifteenth century teen Joan d'Arc leads French forces against the English.
- DirectorGiorgio CapitaniStarsVittoria BelvedereMartin CrewesSimone AscaniThe story of St. Rita of Cascia and her virtue.
- DirectorCharlton HestonStarsCharlton HestonVanessa RedgraveJohn GielgudKing Henry VIII wants to divorce his wife, and seeks the approval of the aristocracy. Sir Thomas More is a man of principle and reason, and is thus placed in a difficult position: should he stand up for his principles, risking the wrath of a corrupt King fond of executing people for treason? Or should he bow to the seemingly unstoppable corruption of King Henry VIII, who has no qualms about bending the law to suit his own needs?
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsPaul ScofieldWendy HillerRobert ShawThe story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
- DirectorPaolo DyCathy AzanzaStarsAndreas MuñozJavier GodinoJulio Perillán'If you could hear the voice of God, would you want to keep it secret?' A historical drama based on the memoirs of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. This is the story of a soldier, a man of vice and violence who, in his attempt to turn to the light, was forced to wrestle with his inner demons to the very brink of death. A Filipino production shot in Spain and the Philippines, the film chronicles his valiant but futile defense at the Battle of Pamplona, his struggles with depression and near-suicide, his trial before the Inquisition, and his ultimate vindication.
- DirectorJuan de OrduñaStarsAurora BautistaEugenia ZúffoliJosé BódaloThe life and tribulations of Carmelist nun Teresa de Jesús, who had transcendental experiences. She would write several works and would reform the Carmelist order.
- StarsConcha VelascoMaría MassipAntonio CanalSt. Teresa de Jesús struggles against all odds to reform the Order of Carmelites in the sixteenth century Spain.
- DirectorRay LorigaStarsPaz VegaLeonor WatlingGeraldine ChaplinA drama based on the life of Spain's feminist mystic Saint Teresa (Vega).
- DirectorMaurice ClocheStarsPierre FresnayAimé ClariondJean DebucourtSt. Vincent de Paul struggles to bring about peace and harmony among peasants and nobles in the midst of the Black Death in Europe, carrying on his charitable work in the face of all obstacles.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsMaximilian SchellRicardo MontalbanLea PadovaniIn 17th century Italy, a simple and clumsy young man joins a Franciscan order, pursues full priesthood and performs a miracle that eventually ensures his sainthood.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsJennifer JonesCharles BickfordWilliam Eythe14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, living in a small town in the south of 1850s France, claims to have seen a divine vision, prompting extreme skepticism, concern from her family, and religious and political turmoil.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsSydney PennyEmmanuelle RivaCatherine de SeynesBernadette knows she's been chosen to be the Bride of the Lord.
- DirectorJean DelannoyStarsSydney PennyJean-Marc BoryJean-Marie BernicatIn 1857, an unemployed miller moves his family into grim lodgings; his wife takes in laundry. In February of 1858, at the Massabielle grotto, their 14-year old asthmatic, illiterate daughter, Bernadette, sees a light she later distinguishes as a beautiful young woman. The girl converses with the woman over the next few months. Crowds follow her and people are cured by the waters from a spring Bernadette has cleared. Secular authorities are threatened by the popular gatherings and subject the girl to police inquiry and medical review. The local monsignor is also skeptical, then becomes Bernadette's champion. She maintains her forthright simplicity and untutored wisdom throughout.
- DirectorLodovico GaspariniStarsAlessandro GassmannAngèle OsinskyFlorence DarelThe young, sickly girl Bernadette comes from a poverty-stricken family. When the Virgin Mary appears to her in a cavern near Lourdes, no one takes the girl seriously, even when she digs up a wellspring at the Virgin's instructions The local authorities even try to hush up the entire incident. In vain, however, because when Empress Eugénie requests water from the spring for her sickly son, they are forced to acquiesce. And even the local priest is finally convinced. While taking his tuberculosis-stricken fiancé Claire to a sanatorium, the young doctor Henri Guillaumet meets Bernadette. The water from Lourdes' spring heals Claire's disease overnight, but the scientist in Henri doubts the miracle and wants to expose Bernadette as a liar. It is not until Henri again meets Bernadette, who has in the meantime become a nun and works as a nurse, that he finds a way to balance belief and modern science. And his love for Claire is strengthened as well.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsGilbert RolandAngela ClarkeFrank SilveraIn this story based on true events of 1917, three Portuguese children share a miraculous, prophetic vision of the Virgin Mary.
- DirectorPietro FrancisciStarsAldo FiorelliSilvana PampaniniCarlo GiustiniFernando, a boy growing up in 1920's Italy, is inspired by reading a biography of Saint Anthony of Padua (after whom the city of San Antonio, Texas is named.) The wife of a young Roman painter who disappeared at the end of WWI goes to church with her son Fernando to pray to Saint Anthony for his return. After some time, the painter actually does return. Due to a head wound, he had lost his memory and recovered it on the same day his wife had invoked St. Anthony. The family visits St. Anthony's Basilica and purchases a book dedicated to Saint Anthony. The reading recalls the scenes and images in the life of the saint. The story is told entirely in flashbacks, as the adult Fernando recalls scenes from his childhood and, in turn, scenes from the life of the Saint.
- DirectorRafael GilStarsInes OrsiniFernando ReyTito JuncoThe story of the 1917 miracle of Fatima, in which the Virgin Mary appeared to three children--two girs and one boy.
- DirectorLuis LuciaStarsJavier EscriváRoberto CamardielGérard TichyBiography of the father Damian de Veuster, Belgium missionary of the Holy Heart order in an island of Hawaii.
- DirectorUmberto MarinoStarsDaniele LiottiEnrico BrignanoJosé SanchoDepiction of the life of St. Anthony, beginning with his initial calling to the priesthood as a young Portugese nobleman, and following him as he becomes a Franciscan monk and preaches across Africa and Europe.
- DirectorLodovico GaspariniStarsFlavio InsinnaLina SastriCharles DanceThe life of Saint Don Bosco.
- DirectorPaul CoxStarsDavid WenhamKate CeberanoJan DecleirThe true story of the nineteenth century priest who volunteered to go to the island of Molokai, to console and care for the lepers.
- DirectorGiulio BaseStarsMichele PlacidoBarbora BobulovaFabio CamilliThe story of Padre Pio (1887-1968) from the onset of the stigmata during World War I, when he prayed that soldiers' suffering be his, until his death. The story is told by Emilia, Pio's friend, to a Vatican official reviewing Padre Pio's potential canonization. We watch local people venerate the humble Capuchin monk, we see petty jealousies within the Church almost bring him down, and we experience his decision to build a Home for the Relief of Suffering, a labor of love begun just after World War II. Emilia and her husband Dr. Sanguineti work tirelessly beside the humble but sensible Pio.
- DirectorLeonardo DefilippisStarsLindsay YounceLeonardo DefilippisPatti DefilippisThe mesmerizing story of a young girl's romance with God. Her faith, trials, and sacrifices reveal a way of life based on love and simplicity. A contemplative film based on the true story of Saint Therese of Lisieux, the most popular saint of modern times.
- DirectorLeandro CastellaniStarsBen GazzaraPatsy KensitKarl ZinnyThis film depicts the life of Saint John Bosco (1815 - 1888). He dedicated his life to rescuing abandoned and exploited street children in Turin. He was the founder of the Salesian order, which today runs schools and vocational centres about the world. Don Bosco strives against official obstruction in Church and State to establish his refuges. Escaping an assassination attempt, he goes to Rome, where the Pope endorses his work. He dies with his work complete.
- DirectorPablo MorenoStarsInés AcebesAinhoa AldanondoFede AlonsoBiopic film about Saint Soledad Torres Acosta
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsCharlie CoxWes BentleyDougray ScottArising out of the horror of the Spanish Civil War, a candidate for canonization is investigated by a journalist who discovers his own estranged father had a deep, dark and devastating connection to the saint's life.
- DirectorGiacomo BattiatoStarsPiotr AdamczykMalgorzata BelaKen DukenThe life of the pope John-Paul II, from his youth as a writer, actor, and athlete in war-torn occupied Poland to his election as Pope at the age of 58.
- StarsChristopher LeeBen GazzaraDaniele PecciFollowing the premature death of his mother, Karol Wojtyla is brought up by his father in the Polish city of Krakow during the first half of the 20th century. An outstanding student with a magnetic personality, he dreams of becoming an actor. When his homeland is invaded by the Nazis in 1939, he and his friends secretly oppose the systematic persecution of their Polish culture. But, with the death of his father and the lacerating solitude which accompanies this loss, Karol's personal "resistance" takes on a new form and he decides to follow a priestly vocation. At the end of the war, Poland falls into the grip of Soviet totalitarianism. The newly ordained Karol is constantly surrounded by young people whom he teaches to safeguard and defend human dignity. He could be considered a serious threat to the regime, but the Communist authorities merely see him as an innocuous intellectual and even encourage his nomination for the position of bishop. Karol Wojtila is the youngest bishop in the history of Poland. When he is appointed Cardinal, Karol is more intransigent in the spiritual guidance of his homeland, becoming a real and proper thorn in the side of the Communist government. And the whole Catholic world begins to wonder who he is. On the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978, the cardinals of the Conclave decide that Woytjla is the right man to replace him. Thus Karol leaves his beloved Poland to become Pope John Paul II. His free, unconventional attitude alarms several prelates, but immediately wins the hearts of the people. In an age paralyzed by fear and ideology, the new Pope once again shows everybody the overwhelming fascination of Christianity: this is the beginning of a deep change, which will affect the whole world and the Church itself, as a sort of "contagion". He miraculously survives an attempt on his life in 1981, and not even this event curbs his mission. Thanks to his unshakable tenacity, Pope John Paul II helps to change the course of history: the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 decrees the collapse of Communism. But the Pope does not stop being the voice of Christ, even among the injustices of the capitalistic Western world, and even among the provocations and challenges of modern times. The Great Jubilee of 2000 is the most moving evidence of his mission: 3 million young people in love with the Pope gather in Rome, bringing with them the whole world's hopes. This world has learned to look to him, now old and shaky, as a ray of light in the heart of darkness.
- DirectorKevin ConnorStarsGeraldine ChaplinKeene CurtisHelena CarrollA story of Mother Teresa, beginning in Calcutta, India, where she faces adversity from every direction and where she lays the foundation for her crusade to help the poorest of the poor.
- DirectorFabrizio CostaStarsOlivia HusseySebastiano SommaIngrid RubioMother Teresa's life is portrayed from the beginning of her ministry to her death. She seeks to serve the poor by creating a new "congregation" in the Church, establishing refuges for the dying and orphaned, and providing some comfort and food. Obstacles abound and she pushes through them to the end.